NC State coasts past Campbell with a dominant offensive performance, 56-10

By Noah Fleischman

NC State coach Dave Doeren could spend hours talking about senior tight end Cody Hardy’s run-blocking this season. He’s raved about it on several occasions, calling the Monroe, N.C., native one of the best he’s seen — high marks coming from someone who played the same position in college. 

But even though Hardy has drawn praise for his blocking skills, he has become more of a focal point in the pass game. And as NC State rolled through Campbell 56-10 on Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium, Hardy’s first touchdown in a Wolfpack uniform seemed to help spark the onslaught. 

The former Elon transfer, playing against an FCS squad for the first time since he made the transition to the ACC level, caught a 37-yard touchdown pass that had nothing but green grass in front of him for the easiest score of his four-year collegiate career. 

Hardy’s touchdown, in a way, was a glimpse of how easy the pass game was for NC State as Campbell’s porous secondary had no answer for anything Wolfpack offensive coordinator Kurt Roper dialed up through the air. 

Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey was 20-of-23 passing for 337 yards and a career-best 4 touchdowns in his just over two quarters of action. Redshirt sophomore running back Hollywood Smothers, meanwhile, logged 4 carries for 123 yards and a touchdown (he added 30 receiving yards and a score through the air, too). Senior tight end Justin Joly led the Pack with 4 receptions for 43 yards and a touchdown. 

Here are TheWolfpacker.com’s observations from NC State’s lopsided romp over the Camels. 

Offense clicks on all cylinders

NC State’s offense hadn’t scored more than 33 points all season. But with Campbell in town, it was able to find the end zone with ease. It was almost as if the Wolfpack’s playmakers were a hot knife through butter going against the Camels’ defense. 

The Pack scored touchdowns on its first eight drives of the game (every series the team’s starters played) as it racked up 607 yards of total offense. NC State’s 49 first-half points were the program’s most since it scored  the same total in an eventual 55-31 win at Duke in 2001. 

And it didn’t take long for the Wolfpack’s offense to get rolling, either. NC State, uncharacteristically, won the coin toss and received before it marched down the field on a 5-play, 75-yard drive capped by a freshman quarterback Will Wilson touchdown run. 

After Campbell leveled the score with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mike Chandler II, NC State’s offense hit another gear as Smothers ripped off a 59-yard touchdown run, and Hardy added his score. 

From then on, it was all Wolfpack. Smothers added a receiving touchdown, while sophomore Terrell Anderson caught a 34-yard touchdown pass, redshirt freshman running back Duke Scott had a 14-yard rushing score and a 2-yard plunge, while Joly had a 10-yard touchdown reception. 

As NC State’s offense clicked on all cylinders, it posted 482 total yards of offense in the first 30 minutes — the most of any FBS team this season in a first half. The Wolfpack’s starters didn’t turn the ball over, a key area of improvement, and they averaged just over 14 yards per play as they reached the end zone on every drive they were on the field. 

Even though NC State overmatched Campbell in terms of talent, the performance was still one the Wolfpack needed to go out and put on film. The team’s schedule is ready to take a jump in difficulty with four ranked teams left in the final six games, so this could be a confidence booster for Bailey and company moving forward.

Special teams …

Through the first four games, NC State’s special teams unit seemed to find a new way to make errors. The Wolfpack missed two field goal attempts in the season opener, allowed a 48-yard punt return against Virginia in Week 2, gave up a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown at Wake Forest in Week 3 and logged an all-time blunder at Duke the following week. 

Although NC State was able to play a clean game on special teams in its 23-21 loss to Virginia Tech last Saturday, the issues came flying back against Campbell. 

The Wolfpack logged two muffed punts by freshman wideout Teddy Hoffmann — one he lost and one he recovered — while redshirt freshman kicker Charlie Birtwistle had a kickoff go out of bounds and Anderson had a punt return touchdown brought back by a holding penalty. 

Hoffmann, who had been the Wolfpack’s go-to punt returner for much of the season, appeared to be replaced by Anderson after his second fumble. Despite the former four-star recruit out of Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley having his punt return score called back due to a penalty, he proved that he is a threat on special teams. Anderson seemed to glide across the field, which led to his ability to find a seam to break free.

Even though Anderson was a bright spot for the special teams unit, the constant mistakes appear to be a trend with the group this fall. That has been a source of frustration for Doeren all season, and despite winning by a landslide, it is likely something that will continue going into the Wolfpack’s road trip to Notre Dame next weekend.