NC State football: Devin Leary, Emeka Emezie clutch in the victory
NC State football senior receiver Emeka Emezie sat in his chair for his postgame zoom with the media, he still seemed a bit shocked about what happened.
In his final game at Carter-Finley Stadium, Emezie, one of the best wide receivers to ever wear the red and white, provided a moment that will forever be remembered by his alma mater, a school famous for its “Don’t Ever Give Up’ mantra launched by legendary basketball coach Jim Valvano.
Ironically, Emezie saw a shirt in the stands that had those immortal words from Valvano just after NC State fell behind 30-21 with 2:12 to go.
“I just started praying,” Emezie remembered. “Like Jimmy V, I just started praying.
“Things just went our way. It was crazy.”
Emezie would score two touchdowns in the final two minutes to help give NC State its 34-30 stunning win over North Carolina.
The first was a 64-yard pass in which Emezie was inexplicably wide open down the sideline.
“They clouded the coverage. The safety had taken Thayer [Thomas],” Emezie noted. “I was just hoping Devin [Leary] would see me. He just launched it up, and I was wide open.”
“They did a great job of knowing where Emeka was each and every play,” Leary added. “They were being able to cloud towards his side, trap towards his side. It was almost like a busted coverage.
“I went through my progression, saw Emeka wide open and just gave him a shot and let him do the rest.”
The second with 1:09 left in which the coverage unfolded similarly, but UNC safety Cam’Ron Kelly recovered in time this time to be in position to make the interception. Emezie simply beat Kelly on the 50-50 ball.
“We had a different play call,” Emezie stated. “Devin just believes in me, and I believe in him. He just checked me to go ball, and he just threw it up.
“I came down with it.”
Emezie noted that UNC was running cover-2 throughout the game, and he thought at one point there might be a miscommunication.
“It just happened to happen at the later part of the game,” Emezie added.
The last score that Emezie caught allowed Leary to break Philip Rivers’ school record for touchdown passes in a year with 35.
“The dude works his butt off the most I’ve ever seen in my life,” Leary said of Emezie. “For him to be a part of this, and for him to be contributing this season the entire year, it’ s just a huge honor.”
Head coach Dave Doeren thought it was a poetic ending.
“It’s just good karma,” Doeren said. “Good things happen to good people. He’s one of these young men that’s just special. I’m very, very happy for him.”
Successful onside kick by NC State football sets up dramatic ending
NC State junior kicker Christopher Dunn is pretty good at the onside kick thing.
He successfully had one recovered at Mississippi State and was inches away from another at Wake Forest. This time he took matters into his own hand with a recovery himself on a kick up the middle.
“It’s a numbers deal,” Doeren explained on the onside kick strategy. “We line up in three pods and look at the count. They left two guys in the middle, and we’ve got two guys to block them plus the kicker to recover it.
“We’re just trying to play a matchup game. The percentages of getting an onside kick are very low to begin with, but you’re just trying to use the numbers in your favor whenever you can.”
After a pair of 15-yard penalties on UNC gave NC State a first and 10 at the North Carolina 24-yard line, Doeren decided to continue being aggressive rather than set up Dunn for a potential game-winning kick.
“Tim [Beck] asked me, ‘Do you want us to run the ball a little bit?’ I said, ‘No, Devin’s hot. Let’s just score,’” Doeren recalled. “Didn’t want to put it on the kicker and risk whatever could happen there, so we were going to be aggressive and go down the field.
“And the way Devin plays in the fourth quarter and in clutch situations, we knew something good was going to happen.”
Beyond short-handed defense
UNC put up some big numbers offensively that were uncharacteristic of NC State’s defense, specifically a whopping 297 yards rushing. Traditionally the team that runs more has won this rivalry game.
Yet, NC State’s defense was able to rise up and hold UNC to two field goals when the Heels had the football inside the 10-yard line.
Doeren was also quick to point out the shorthanded defense was even more so on Friday. Two more starters in the secondary were out: nickel Tyler Baker-Williams and safety Devan Boykin.
“You know what? I’d like to go play someone that has seven defensive starters out,” Doeren quipped. “I’d love go play that defense. To say that our guys are beat up, it’s a MASH unit. They’re tough. They just keep fighting and scrapping and finding ways to make plays.
“It’s hard. You have a rotation on defense for a reason. We don’t have much of a rotation anymore. We just don’t have that luxury.”
The defense almost rose to the occasion with a go-ahead touchdown itself. UNC had first and goal at the NC State 4 approaching eight minutes left, but two incomplete passes forced third down. That’s when sophomore safety Jakeen Harris almost came up with what could have been a pick six.
“It was a great stop,” Doeren noted. “We needed it.”
The defense and the entire team earned a day off after Friday.
“We need to get away from here for a day,” Doeren confirmed. “It’s been a lot, 10 night games, a short week.”
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