NC State football holds off Marshall. Three takeaways from the Pack’s wild 48-41 win
Vegas predicted this would be a high-scoring game, and it was right.
N.C. State won its non-conference matchup against Marshall, 48-41, on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The game was headlined by the teams trading touchdowns, especially in the second half, as the Pack (4-2, 1-1 ACC) came away with points on five of its last seven drives.
N.C. State now leads the all-time series, 6-0, after taking a five-year break.
Here are three takeaways from the Wolfpack’s first win with sophomore quarterback MJ Morris in the backfield.
MJ Morris leads Pack to victory
Dave Doeren said the N.C. State offense needed a spark when he announced Morris as N.C. State’s starting quarterback this week. The sophomore’s first outing of the season was certainly a mixed bag.
He threw three interceptions, two coming in the first half. Marshall (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) turned one of the miscues into a pick six and scored first. Morris threw another interception to start the third quarter, but the Wolfpack was bailed out by a turnover on downs. Defensive linemen Davin Vann and Savion Jackson sacked Marshall quarterback Cam Fancher for a loss of 11 on fourth down.
Morris, however, added six explosive passing plays for a gain of 15-plus yards. Two of his touchdown passes were for 39 yards and 62 yards, respectively, to tight end Trent Pennix. The 39-yard pass put N.C. State up 21-14 after a fumble recovery.
Additionally, Morris handed the ball off to running back Delbert Mimms for a touchdown in the first quarter. Mimms’ rush into the end zone — his longest run of the season — followed five straight completions from his quarterback.
He completed 17-of-32 yards for 265 yards, a career high. His four touchdowns were also a career high, so Morris’ performance was far from perfect but he showed a lot of positives.
Controversial game management
Fans on social media criticized the game management at the end of the first half. They said conservative play calling led to three straight drives resulting in punts and a 24-21 lead for Marshall at halftime.
It’s hard to blame them. The Wolfpack scored an 18-yard rushing touchdown at the 11:43 mark in the second quarter. About two minutes later, linebacker Payton Wilson recovered a fumble forced by defensive lineman Davin Vann. Wilson returned that for 10 yards, and then Morris found tight end Trent Pennix for a 39-yard score. N.C. State was rolling with 2:34 left.
On the Wolfpack’s following drives, most of the passing attempts were for short yardage, and the Marshall defense limited production on the ground. Even with the limited gains, the team found itself on 4th and 5 twice and 4th and 6 once. When the Pack was on its own 40, the team opted to punt instead of go for it.
It felt like N.C. State was trying to run out the clock instead of taking risks to extend the lead. Sure, it pulled off the victory, but it squandered an advantage and made its job in the second half more difficult.
NC State defense comes up big
Once again, the Wolfpack defense deserves a lot of credit for its efforts. It wasn’t able to pull off the win against Louisville, in a 13-10 loss last week, but it played a key part in the win this week.
First, it did a great job stopping the Herd on third down. Marshall converted on 5-of-18 attempts and went 1-of-5 on fourth down.
Prior to the game, Marshall averaged 169 rushing yards per game and 4.31 yards per carry. The Pack held the visitors to 104 yards and 2.7 per attempt.
N.C. State picked off one Marshall pass and forced three fumbles, as well. Linebacker Payton Wilson returned one fumble for 10 yards. That turned into Pennix’s 39-yard touchdown. Wide receiver Kevin “KC” Concepcion scored an 8-yard TD after nickelback Robert Kennedy’s pick in the fourth.
The team’s pass rush efforts were worth praise, too. It recorded four sacks and six quarterback hurries, with six players contributing in each statistic. Vann and defensive lineman Brandon Cleveland contributed 1.5 sacks each, while Wilson finished with 14 tackles, one sack and a hurry.
Yes, it gave up 11 big plays — as seen by the second-highest opponent point total — but N.C. State’s defenders made up for those.
50th anniversary of 1973 ACC Championship
N.C. State recognized its 1973 football team, which won the ACC Championship 50 years ago, in Lou Holtz’s second season with the program.
The Wolfpack went 9-3 overall and 6-0 in ACC play, defeating Wake Forest in a 52-13 blowout. It finished No. 16 in the Associated Press poll.
This story was originally published October 7, 2023 at 1:42 PM.
