Five key plays in NC State’s 37-20 win at Marshall
N.C. State was in control of Marshall from start to finish.
Ryan Finley put up another 300-yard game, the running game was better and the defense continued to exceed preseason expectations.
Five key plays from Saturday night’s 37-20 win at Marshall:
1. Kelvin Harmon’s home run, part I
Score: N.C. State 3, Marshall 0
Time: 1:18, first quarter
Field position: 1st and 10 at the 50
N.C. State receiver Kelvin Harmon was really good against Marshall last year. He had nine catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. It’s just that nobody really remembers because Marshall’s Tyre Brady was so good (11 catches, 248 yards).
Harmon had the spotlight against the Thundering Herd all to himself on Saturday. He was in “beast mode” in the first half with six catches for 150 yards.
He had three catches longer than 25 yards or more and four longer than 15. With the Wolfpack up 3-0, Ryan Finley used a little backfield fakery to set up his first deep shot to Harmon.
Finley faked the handoff to running back Trent Pennix on a normal play-action. Then receiver Emeka Emezie circled around the backfield and Finley turned to fake to him.
The line gave Finley plenty of time to pull off all of these fakes. Harmon ran by Marshall corner Chris Jackson and made a diving catch at the 4.
Three plays later, Reggie Gallaspy bulled in for the first of his two 1-yard touchdown runs.
2. Harmon’s home run, part II
Score: N.C. State 13, Marshall 7
Time: 6:03, second quarter
Field position: 2nd and 11 at the N.C. State 29
There’s not a lot a defense can do with Harmon. He’s big, has strong hands, fast enough and knows how to fight for the ball. After Marshall popped an 82-yard touchdown pass, Harmon got the Wolfpack offense going again.
On play-action, he got behind Jackson again. Finley underthrew the long pass but Harmon hauled it in for 38 yards. Gallaspy ran for 25 yards on five carries after Harmon’s catch to finish off the drive with another 1-yard TD run.
3. Good bounce
Score: N.C. State 20, Marshall 7
Time: 0:38, second quarter
Field position: 4th and 2 at the N.C. State 30
It’s better to be lucky than good but it also helps to be in the right position to take advantage of good luck.
On a short fourth down, with Marshall trying to tighten the game up before the end of the half, quarterback Isaiah Green bobbled the exchange with running back Keion Davis.
Green kept the ball on the read option, after pulled it away Davis, and then lost control of the ball. Defensive end James Smith-Williams was right on Davis and would have tackled him short of the first down.
That’s why Green hurriedly pulled the ball away. When the freshman quarterback did, he fumbled it and cornerback Nick McCloud was there to scoop it up.
McCloud returned it 12 yards to help set up kicker Chris Dunn’s third field goal of the first half.
Dunn knocked in a 26-yarder on the last play of the half to push N.C. State’s lead to 23-7.
4. A little help from Steph Louis
Score: N.C. State 23, Marshall 17
Time: 7:55, third quarter
Field position: 2nd and 9 at the N.C. State 38
N.C. State hasn’t been able to keep all of its receivers healthy at the same time this season.
Senior receiver Steph Louis missed the season-opener with a sore hamstring. Jakobi Meyers missed the Georgia State game with an ankle sprain.
Both were healthy on Saturday but freshman Thayer Thomas injured his shoulder on a hard collision in the first quarter after a fast start (he had two catches for 45 yards) and sophomore C.J. Riley got knocked out with a possible concussion on a kickoff return in the third quarter.
Louis, who didn’t have a catch in the first half, stepped up after Marshall cut the lead to 23-17 in the third quarter.
Earlier on the six-play scoring drive, he had a 12-yard run on option play. On this one, he made a more conventional pick up.
He fooled the defense initially on the route but taking a step back behind the line like he was going to run a “smoke” route.
After Marshall’s secondary thought he was staying in, he took off down the field. Finley found him wide open for an important 32-yard gain to Marshall’s 30-yard line.
On the next play, Emeka Emezie fooled Marshall’s secondary with a double-move and extended N.C. State’s lead to 30-17 with a 30-yard touchdown.
5. House call for Jarius Morehead
Score: N.C. State 30, Marshall 20
Time: 0:46, third quarter
Field position: 3rd and 9 at the Marshall 44
N.C. State’s secondary struggled against Brady last year. They paid extra attention to the Marshall senior on Saturday.
It was a revenge game, if you will, for the Wolfpack defensive backs. McCloud, in particular, did a good job of keeping Brady from getting loose.
Brady finished with three catches for 25 yards. He only had one catch for 5 yards in the first half.
“We had a great game plan against him,” linebacker Germaine Pratt said.
Without Brady piling up a record number of yards, Green had to go elsewhere. Down 10 and with a chance to put game pressure on the Wolfpack, Green tried to make something out of nothing.
He was flushed by Pratt out of the pocket from the right side of the field. He ran all the way across the field and tried to make a difficult throw to receiver Obi Obialo on the run from his own 25.
The ball sailed on Green, like an arm punt, and went right to safety Jarius Morehead at the N.C. State 43-yard line.
“I just started to read his eyes and follow where the ball was going,” Morehead said.
Morehead got a block from Pratt and then right guard Alex Mollette got a hand on him at the Marshall 30 but he made a cutback and returned the interception for a touchdown.
Marshall was toast after that.
“That was huge for our defense,” Pratt said. “We want to make more big plays in conference play.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2018 at 10:31 AM.