Instant observations: NC State survives to beat East Carolina in season opener

By Noah Fleischman

It came down to one play. NC State was on its heels after East Carolina drove 61 yards after the Wolfpack’s second missed field goal of the night, but it was able to keep its cool on fourth-and-1.

ECU quarterback Katin Houser connected with Desirrio Riles, who needed to turn upfield, but NC State graduate cornerback Jamel Johnson was able to wrap him up and force a turnover on downs.

That critical stop single-handedly allowed the Wolfpack to escape with a 24-17 win over the Pirates on Thursday night at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey was 24-for-34 passing for 318 yards, 2 total touchdowns and an interception. Redshirt sophomore running back Hollywood Smothers led the rushing attack with 22 attempts for 76 yards and a score, while senior wideout Wesley Grimes logged a career-best 121 yards with a touchdown on 4 receptions.

Here are three observations from the Wolfpack’s win over the Pirates. 

Defense started with its hair on fire, until …

Not many knew what to expect with new defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot at the controls of the Wolfpack’s unit — the first change in scheme since the 2020 season when Tony Gibson arrived in Raleigh with his 3-3-5. 

NC State kept its defense under wraps for much of the offseason, only mentioning that it would be “multiple” with three, four- or five-man fronts, and that approach seemed to work. The Wolfpack was able to rattle the Pirates throughout the first half, dominating most of the first 30 minutes. 

It forced four straight three-and-outs to open the game, holding ECU to minus-28 total yards of offense. Even when the Pirates were able to achieve a first down — which didn’t happen until there was 7:39 left in the first half — the Pack defense held strong to force a turnover on downs on its own 29-yard line.

NC State’s defense was able to confuse ECU’s protection, at times, with a unique four-man front that featured two edge linebackers (Cian Slone and Kenny Soares) and two defensive ends lined up as defensive tackles (Sabastian Harsh and Travali Price). That wrinkle proved to be effective for most of the night.

But as well as NC State’s defense seemed to be playing in the first half, its biggest error of the night was costly. 

Senior linebacker Caden Fordham, who is wearing the No. 1 jersey this fall, earned his first sack of the season to bring up third-and-20 with 2:21 left in the period. As he got up in celebration, NC State tried to substitute. ECU, though, took advantage of that and went fast to draw the penalty as quarterback Katin Houser connected with tight end Jayvontay Conner for a 79-yard score — the most-explosive play that the Pirates could muster against the Wolfpack defense.

Although that long touchdown pass gave ECU some momentum, NC State’s defense was able to settle down the rest of the night. The Wolfpack did enough to keep its lead, despite the Pirates scoring 10 second-half points with 281 yards in that span in its comeback effort, which fell short.

CJ Bailey looks confident in first start of 2025

After being thrown into the fire as a freshman last fall due to Grayson McCall’s two concussions, Bailey had the entire offseason to prepare as the starting signal-caller. That eight-month process appeared to pay off for most of the Pack’s tilt with ECU. 

Bailey looked cool, calm and collected from the start, keeping his eyes downfield to make the right reads. It was an improvement from last season, in which Bailey appeared to be rushed, at times. His ability to be confident in the pocket paid major dividends for the Wolfpack — he started 14-for-16 passing for 155 yards and a touchdown. 

Although Bailey regressed the rest of the first half — 3-for-7 for 20 yards and an interception — he was able to bounce back with authority in the final 30 minutes, going 7-for-11 passing for 143 yards to help pace the Wolfpack offense past the Pirates. 

Bailey, a former three-star recruit out of Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna, was able to avoid three consecutive incompletions throughout the game, consistently finding open receivers. Additionally, he was sacked just once — a 4-yard loss early in the fourth quarter.

Rough night for new kicker … and it was almost costly

NC State coach Dave Doeren stressed that nearly every position was up for grabs in fall camp. That included the Wolfpack’s placekicker, which featured redshirt junior Kanoah Vinesett, the incumbent, against redshirt freshman Nick Konieczynski.

Konieczynski, who was 4-for-10 with a long of 30 yards in his high school career, ended up winning the battle in camp, despite never attempting a field goal at the collegiate level. Doeren, the Pack’s 13th-year coach, explained his decision in his weekly radio show Wednesday night.

“It was a nice competition throughout camp,” Doeren said on the radio show. “Kanoah was in the lead going into it, and Nick beat him out throughout camp. He really impressed everybody with his consistency, his distance, ball height and ball flight. He has a really good accuracy and leg strength about him that puts us in a position to feel good about kicking longer field goals, if we need to.”

But Konieczynski’s collegiate debut didn’t go as smoothly as the Wolfpack might have hoped. He made his first attempt, a 29-yarder, but proceeded to miss his next two tries from 40 (wide left) and 46 (wide right) yards.

Those two missed kicks proved to be costly. They would have allowed the Wolfpack to hold a two-score advantage. Instead, ECU was able to make the game interesting, scoring 3 points off the misfires and threatening to either tie or take the lead in the final minute. NC State’s defense stood tall on ECU’s final drive, which stalled out at the Wolfpack’s 10-yard line to edge out a win.