Quick hits from NC State football loss at Wake Forest

Here are quick hits and notes from NC State football’s 45-42 loss at Wake Forest in front of a crowd of 34,503 fans at Truist Field on a cold Saturday evening in Winston-Salem, N.C.

NC State football quarterback Devin Leary’s big game

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary completed 37 of 59 passes for 408 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions on Saturday.

He produced the 18th all-time single-game 400-yard passing effort in school history, and his total was the 16th most in a contest. Leary became the sixth quarterback at NC State to surpass 400 yards in a game, joining Jamie Barnette, Ryan Finley, Mike Glennon, Shane Montgomery and Philip Rivers.

The last 400-yard effort was by Finley against East Carolina in the 2018 regular season finale.

Leary’s 37 completions tied Rivers’ performance against Kansas in the 2003 Tangerine Bowl and Montgomery vs. Duke in 1989 for the fourth most pass completions in a single game at NC State. It is also the most completions in a Dave Doeren coached game in Raleigh.

Leary additionally attempted more passes than any QB under Doeren, and it goes down as the fourth most attempts in a single game ever for NC State football.

Leary is up to 29 touchdown passes on the year, moving past Russell Wilson’s total in 2010 for fifth most in a single year. The school record belongs to Rivers, who had 34 in 2003. Leary has thrown for four scores in three consecutive games and four times this year.

For the season, Leary has thrown for 2,884 yards, putting him on pace to become the sixth QB in NC State history to go over 3,000 yards in a single season.

Leary’s favorite targets were senior receiver Emeka Emezie (10 receptions for 133 yards and two touchdowns) and redshirt sophomore Devin Carter (seven catches for 132 yards and two scores). The duo marked the first time since a home loss to Wake Forest in 2018 that two NC State receivers went over 100 yards (Jakobi Meyers and Kelvin Harmon) in the same game.

Shorthanded defense

Sophomore defensive end Savion Jackson missed the game with a knee injury that he suffered last weekend at Florida State.

In addition, the defense suffered a further blow in the second half when redshirt freshman corner Shyheim Battle was ejected for targeting. Since it occurred after halftime, Battle will have to sit out the first half of next Saturday’s contest at home against Syracuse.

The game will be a 4 p.m. kickoff on ACC Network.

Furthermore, there were several defensive players who needed medical attention throughout the game. Redshirt senior defensive end Daniel Joseph was treated on the field at least four times by the medical training staff.

Also getting attended to at various points in the game were junior nickel Tyler Baker-Williams, who returned to the lineup after missing the FSU game, second-year freshman linebacker Devon Betty, redshirt freshman defensive end Terrell Dawkins, redshirt junior nose tackle Cory Durden, junior safety Tanner Ingle and second-year freshman defensive lineman Davin Vann.

The end result was NC State football allowing a season-high 42 points on 408 total yards, the fourth highest allowed in a game this year. That still was Wake’s lowest output since its season-opening win over Old Dominion, although it had fewer yards at the end of regulation of its overtime win at Syracuse.

Wake Forest’s 4.5 yards per play was also a season-low for the Deacons.

Third downs and penalties

Despite a big passing performance and a defense that had some success, relatively speaking, against Wake Forest’s prolific offense, the end result stemmed on two areas: third downs and penalties.

NC State football converted just 3 of 14 third downs on offense, tying an identical effort in a loss at Miami for its worst percentage on the season.

More troubling was allowing the Demon Deacons to convert 10 of 19. That’s the first time this season an opponent converted more than 50 percent of their third downs on the Wolfpack defense. The previous high percentage allowed by NC State was 40.0 in a home win over Louisville (6 of 15).

The Wolfpack was also hit with 14 flags for 119 yards. Both topped the 11 penalties for 105 yards in its double overtime win over Clemson for new season-highs.

NC State Football Freshman Watch

Players in the 2020 and 2021 classes, both listed as freshmen on the roster because eligibility was frozen a year ago, can play up to four games and preserve their redshirt status.

The following players in the freshman class with asterisks by their names played on Saturday.

We will keep track of this list throughout the season to see who burns their redshirt. Thus far Betty, Vann, defensive back Devan Boykin, nickel Joshua Pierre-Louis, receiver Porter Rooks, receiver Anthony Smith and corner Aydan White have officially played more than four games and cannot redshirt.

Safety Devan Boykin (class of 2020) — 10 games played*

Receiver Porter Rooks (class of 2020) — 10*

Receiver Anthony Smith (class of 2020) — 10*

Defensive lineman Davin Vann (class of 2020) — 10*

Cornerback Aydan White (class of 2020) — 10*

Nickel Joshua Pierre-Louis (class of 2020) — 9*

Linebacker Devon Betty (class of 2020) — 8*

Quarterback Ben Finley (class of 2020) — 4

Receiver Julian Gray (class of 2021) — 4

Tight end Ezemdi Udoh (class of 2020) — 4

Cornerback Nate Evans (class of 2021) — 3

Linebacker Caden Fordham (class of 2021) — 3

Linebacker Jayland Parker (class of 2020) — 3

Linebacker Jordan Poole (class of 2021) — 3

Running back Demie Sumo (class of 2021) — 3

Safety Sean Brown (class of 2021) — 3*

Receiver Jalen Coit (class of 2020) — 2

Center Lyndon Cooper (class of 2021) — 2

Receiver Joshua Crabtree (class of 2020) — 2

Defensive lineman Claude Larkins (class of 2020) — 2

Offensive lineman Patrick Matan (class of 2020) — 2

Cornerback Nehki Meredith (class of 2020) — 1*

Quarterback Aaron McLaughlin (class of 2021) — 1

What The Loss Means

NC State football falls to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in the ACC while the Deacons are now 9-1 and 6-0. Wake Forest needs one more win to clinch the ACC’s Atlantic Division. The Pack needs to win out and have the Demon Deacons lose out to make it to Charlotte on Dec. 4.

NC State has now lost 11 of its last 13 games at Winston-Salem and 4 of 5 overall to the Deacons. It still leads the all-time series 67-42-6, including 22-20-1 at Wake Forest.

This was the second straight game in the series to be decided by a 45-42 score. NC State defeated Wake Forest last season in Carter-Finley Stadium by that identical points total.

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