NC State cruises past Florida State 21-11 to achieve bowl eligibility

By Noah Fleischman

NC State was shorthanded. Its availability report was filled with 17 players listed out, including a starting cornerback and the team’s right tackle. But even though the injured player list was longer than a CVS receipt, it didn’t seem to be too much of an issue for the Wolfpack with Florida State in town. 

Instead, the Pack was able to control the game from start to finish in a wire-to-wire 21-11 win over the Seminoles on Friday night at Carter-Finley Stadium. With the win, NC State has achieved bowl eligibility for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons under coach Dave Doeren.

Florida State, which has now lost eight straight conference road games, muffed a pair of punts inside the last three minutes to allow NC State to salt the game away with a 12-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey to senior tight end Justin Joly to put the nail in the coffin.

Bailey was 18-of-25 passing for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns, while redshirt sophomore Hollywood Smothers led the Wolfpack with 84 rushing yards on 21 attempts. Joly paced NC State with 66 receiving yards and a touchdown on five receptions in another balanced passing effort. 

Here are TheWolfpacker.com’s observations from the team’s sixth victory of the season.

CB steps up in injured secondary

In a game where NC State was missing six defensive backs, including senior cornerback Jamel Johnson, the Wolfpack needed someone to step up to take pressure off the secondary. Senior corner Devon Marshall, who was in his penultimate regular-season game of his career, was the one to answer the bell. 

The former Villanova transfer posted four tackles with a career-best 5 passes defended (he had 7 total through the first 10 games of the season) and an interception as he starred on the back end of the Pack’s defense. 

Marshall, who stood out in the early going at Miami last week with a forced fumble and critical pass breakup, picked up where he left off with Florida State in town. 

The defensive back posted 2 pass breakups on the first drive of the game, both deep shots downfield. And on the ensuing drive? Another pass breakup and an interception to turn the tide in the Wolfpack’s favor in the early going. 

Marshall continued his standout play with a pass breakup on third down as Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos went to the end zone, forcing a Seminoles field goal. Oh, and he wasn’t done either as Marshall nearly hauled in his second interception late in the second quarter. Although he dropped it, the defensive back set a new career high with 4 passes defended in the first 30 minutes of play.

In all, Marshall was able to be disruptive on what Florida State wanted to do in the pass game, which helped NC State’s defense limit the Seminoles to just 3 first-half points and 8 more in the final 30 minutes.

Run game takes step forward

NC State’s run game — if you want to call it that — was nearly non-existent at Miami a week ago. The Wolfpack rushed for 23 total yards against the Hurricanes’ defensive line that seemingly blew up nearly every play, which featured just 12 total yards between the team’s two running backs. 

But when Florida State arrived in Raleigh, NC State’s rushing attack seemed to find its gear. The Wolfpack rushed for 134 yards on 42 total carries, averaging 3.2 per attempt, gashing the Seminoles for most of the night. 

Smothers, who had minus-2 yards rushing at Miami, was able to establish himself as a runner with more room to find space to be elusive back. In fact, his first carry went for 27 yards to open the night as he led the Wolfpack’s rushing attack.

Redshirt freshman back Duke Scott posted 15 yards, while Bailey had 2 and freshman signal-caller Will Wilson posted eight carries for 33 yards and a touchdown to help round out the rushing attack. 

Protection could still use some work

After Miami’s defensive line lived in the backfield a week ago, Doeren said the line “couldn’t block them.” While Florida State’s defensive line wasn’t nearly as disruptive, the Seminoles were able to put the Wolfpack behind the chains at a rather consistent rate. 

Florida State posted 7 tackles for a loss, including 4 sacks, for a loss of 40 yards in the game. It wasn’t just one player, either, as linebacker Stefon Thompson had 1.5 sacks, while defensive lineman Mandrell Desir and Deante McCray had one apiece, and defensive lineman James Williams had 0.5. 

Additionally, the Seminoles had 3 quarterback hurries to pressure Bailey throughout the game. NC State rotated its guards as graduate Anthony Carter Jr. was cycled off the field after giving up a sack. The Pack’s offensive line, for most of the game, utilized redshirt sophomore Rico Jackson at right tackle (in place of an injured Teague Andersen) with redshirt senior Yousef Mugharbil and freshman Spike Sowells at the guard spots.