NC State's Brennan Armstrong returns to UVA, leaves with win in an emotional night
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — With just under an hour before NC State was set to kick off at Virginia inside Scott Stadium on Friday night, a familiar face to many Cavaliers fans emerged from an unfamiliar tunnel in the Wolfpack’s red and white.
He’d spent the previous five seasons at UVA, but in his final game in Charlottesville, graduate quarterback Brennan Armstrong was the opponent after he transferred to NC State in January.
When he walked out of the tunnel in full uniform for the first time, he wasn’t all fired up. Instead, the signal-caller was calm and reserved as he got a pat on the back from an NC State support staffer before he set foot on the Cavaliers’ natural grass playing surface.
But when the game started — and Armstrong started with the ball first in front of UVA’s packed student section — a smattering of boos and cheers filled the air. And though he didn’t appear to be fired up on the outside, his energy levels seemed to be high with multiple off-target throws through his first two drives of the night.
“I didn’t know what to expect going into it with emotions, right,” Armstrong said. “I thought I handled it fine. It was pretty surreal, pretty weird coming back and playing, and being on the other side. … I’ll go back and be like, ‘missed that, that’s my fault.’ I felt like I handled it well.”
Armstrong started the night 2-for-6 for nine yards passing, but in his third drive, he appeared to settle in. The Shelby, Ohio, native placed three consecutive passes where they needed to be, which led to a 4-for-5 drive with 43 yards through the air en route to a 12-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Kevin Concepcion in the back of the end zone — right in front of the ‘Hoos student section.
While his accuracy was up and down, NC State coach Dave Doeren thought Armstrong did a good job relaxing as much as he could.
“I think he settled in,” Doeren said. “The first quarter, the wind was behind us, and it was blowing pretty good, and he had a lot of energy, which you expect playing in this stadium — overthrew a few guys. I think as he settled in, [he] started playing better.”
Armstrong’s passing numbers weren’t the flashiest against his former team — 15-of-30 for 180 yards with two touchdowns and an interception — but he used his legs when he needed to, which helped set up NC State’s game-winning field goal.
NC State only needed about 15 yards to get into field goal range on its final drive, and it kept the ball in Armstrong’s hands to gain the needed yards. He said the first down play was supposed to be a pass, but Armstrong tucked the ball and ran instead to pick up eight yards.
His next two carries went for eight and two yards, respectively, which eventually allowed Wolfpack kicker Brayden Narveson to split the uprights from 33 yards away as time expired to give NC State a 21-24 win.
Once the game was over, Armstrong was able to reconnect with many of his former teammates near midfield as it rained on a gloomy fall night.
“I saw so many guys,” Armstrong said. “I remember the older guys I came in with, some of them are still there. … Just a bunch of the older guys that I know because there’s so many new players now. Seeing those guys again was really nice because we built a really good relationship over the five years I was there. Just getting to see those guys again was cool.”
In what was a highly-anticipated return to UVA’s grounds, Concepcion, who led NC State with six receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns, said the team knew what the game meant to Armstrong — and they were going to do what it took to help secure the win with a little added motivation from their quarterback.
“It was definitely interesting because we already knew that he had came from here,” Concepcion said, “so we just had to have his back even more.”
While there was added juice from the Wolfpack offensive players, and the Cavalier fans in the stands, UVA coach Tony Elliott didn’t take a page out of Colorado coach Deion Sanders’ playbook.
It wasn’t personal.
“My message to the guys is we weren’t going to make this personal because there’s nothing to make it personal about,” Elliott said. “He did everything the right way while he was here. He did everything the right way when it was time for him to transition. And it was time for us to line up across from him and see if we can put together a game plan to handle him and give ourselves a chance to win.”
Elliott, who inherited Armstrong on his roster in year one at UVA last fall, wasn’t afraid to display his appreciation for his former quarterback — even after the southpaw led the Wolfpack to a win.
“Great player man. And I’ll say this, and I mean this with all sincerity, I’m a Brennan Armstrong fan,” Elliott said. “He did so much for this University. He did so much for me last year, and he really put his heart and soul into trying to help with the transition, and so really excited to see him get an opportunity to come back.”
While Armstrong’s return to Scott Stadium was unique, its ending wasn’t — a win. The left-handed quarterback was happy to board the plane back to Raleigh 1-0 in ACC play, and undefeated against the Cavaliers.
