Virginia Tech jumps on NC State early as Wolfpack suffers first loss of season

Virginia Tech was missing players and some staff members.

N.C. State was without just about everything else that would be needed once Saturday night’s game began.

The No. 20 Hokies, finally playing their opener, throttled the Wolfpack 45-24 at Lane Stadium.

Virginia Tech scored 17 points in the ACC game’s opening eight minutes, a jarring beginning to the first of the Wolfpack’s three consecutive road games.

“There were a lot of things we were trying to do and none of them were good enough,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said.

Almost two dozen Hokies, including quarterback Hendon Hooker, were out. Defensive coordinator Justin Hamilton was also absent.

For the Wolfpack, starting linebacker Payton Wilson and defensive backs Teshaun Smith and Tanner Ingle weren’t on the field because of apparent injuries. That became too much to overcome.

N.C. State quarterback Bailey Hockman was 7-for-16 for 82 yards and two interceptions. And the Wolfpack’s rushing attack, which churned out 270 yards a week earlier against Wake Forest, was held to 122 yards on the ground through three quarters.

“We just weren’t executing,” NC State running back Ricky Person Jr. said.

Backup quarterback Devin Leary was 12-for-16 for 165 yards.

A week after opening the season by completing 12 consecutive passes, Hockman’s second throw was intercepted by Divine Deablo. Hockman completed only one pass to a teammate until the final minute of the first half.

In the meantime, the Hokies were piling up points.

After Brian Johnson’s 46-yard field goal, Khalil Herbert ran 37 yards for the first touchdown. Hockman was picked off, so Virginia Tech had its second touchdown just 79 seconds after the first one when Raheem Blackshear ran in from 8 yards out.

“We came out slow,” NC State linebacker Isaiah Moore said. “We’ve got to fix it (through film).”

The opening stretch had to be comforting for Braxton Burmeister, the transfer from Oregon who became the unexpected starting quarterback when Hooker was held out. Burmeister completed six of his first seven passes.

“We didn’t know what we were going to get,” Doeren said regarding Virginia Tech’s change in personnel.

The Wolfpack (1-1, 1-1 ACC) used seven consecutive rushing plays — four carries for Zonovan Knight followed by three for Ricky Person – to cover 49 yards and produce a touchdown midway through the second quarter. Person scored from 3 yards out.

Burmeister exited with an apparent hand cramp so it was third-stringer Quincy Patterson II with the first touchdown of throw of the season for the Hokies, a 15-yard toss to Tayvion Robinson with 2:48 left in the first half.

With Patterson’s 16-yard pass to James Mitchell, it was 31-7 just 42 seconds before halftime. NC State answered with Christopher Dunn’s 53-yard field goal to end the half.

Yet the first half was so out of order for the Wolfpack that even standout punter Trenton Gill was upstaged. Gill hit a 57-yard boot, but Virginia Tech’s Oscar Bradburn boomed a 63-yarder.

Hockman began the second half before the Wolfpack turned to Leary.

“We thought we’d be able to come out and regroup and get some things going and we didn’t,” Doeren said of the early stages of the second half.

Burmeister returned in the second half, with the Hokies in cruise control by then. Herbert, a transfer from Kansas, rushed for 104 yards on six carries and caught two passes for 46 yards. Patterson added a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

N.C. State had second half-touchdowns on Leary’s 7-yard pass to C.J. Riley and Jordan Houston’s 1-yard run. Knight finished with 94 rushing yards on 14 attempts.

Also in the third quarter, N.C. State safety Khalid Martin was taken from the field in an ambulance and was later to be transferred to a Roanoke hospital.

This story was originally published September 26, 2020 at 11:57 PM.