The Wolfpacker Show: Reaction to NC State's loss to Louisville
NC State lost to Louisville Friday night, dropping its ACC home opener 13-10 despite a prime-time, sold out atmosphere at Carter-Finley Stadium. The defense played its best game of the season, but the offense could not take advantage of the opportunity.
Coming into the game, the Cardinals led the conference in rushing offense at 237.3 yards per game. NC State held its opponent to 20 yards rushing and forced 3 turnovers from quarterback Jack Plummer. The Pack, which fell to 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC, punted or turned the ball over on all 7 of its second-half possessions, which decided the game.
Following the loss, The Wolfpacker Show hosts Ethan McDowell and Noah Fleischman sat down to break down the loss and share their takes on the outlook for the rest of NC State’s season.
In this episode, they talked about:
*** Their initial takeaways from the loss, focusing on a dominant defensive performance on the same caliber of the standout 2022 squad. Louisville ended the game averaging 0.7 yards per rush after allowing 4 sacks.
*** Then, focus shifted over to NC State’s offense, which put together one good first-half drive that went for a touchdown but, otherwise, struggled mightily. Ethan and Noah shared their serious concerns around that side of the ball and outlined what could be next for the unit.
*** Both hosts also shared their respective turning points of the game. Ethan focused on the first drive of the second half, while Noah broke down the Wolfpack’s fourth-quarter struggles.
*** After a quick break, they gave out their NC State game balls, recognizing a few key members of the defense and Terrell Timmons Jr., who was the only standout performer on that unit after hauling in 3 passes for 71 yards.
*** To wrap things up, Noah and Ethan discussed their expectations for the rest of the season, outlining a tough stretch of conference play for NC State that begins after a Sun Belt showdown with Marshall next weekend. They also discussed the Wolfpack quarterback situation and shared why fans should not expect a change under center any time soon.
All of those topics and more are discussed on Sunday’s show, which is available on audio and video on TheWolfpacker.com’s YouTube channel.
