Miami routs NC State in CJ Bailey’s return. What we learned in the Wolfpack loss
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Miami dominated N.C. State, forcing two interceptions and limiting offense.
- Wolfpack managed 149 total yards, struggled on third downs and runs.
- Offensive line lost trenches; pressure produced sacks, TFLs, and stalled drives.
The environment inside the N.C. State football center was good after the team’s upset win over Georgia Tech two weeks ago. Players and coaches were invigorated and practices went well.
But would the team have a post-win hangover? Could it replicate the same success against Miami on Saturday? That answer came quickly when the Wolfpack faced the Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
N.C. State Quarterback CJ Bailey’s homecoming turned sour in the first quarter after he threw a pair of interceptions and his team finished with 53 yards of total offense. The Pack trailed by 24 at halftime and things never really improved.
N.C. State fell to Miami, 41-7, in its final road game of the season and at no point looked like the same team that pulled off the upset against Georgia Tech.
Miami (8-2, 4-2 ACC) looked inspired as it worked to keep College Football Playoff hopes alive and send its seniors off in celebratory fashion.
The Hurricanes took a 3-0 lead at the end of one drive after being held to a 31-yard field goal. They added to that lead with a 55-yard pick six after Bailey’s pass to Justin Joly was intercepted by Jakobe Thomas.
Miami punched in a 1-yard touchdown early in the second to jump on top 17-0. Leading receiver Malachi Toney was quiet to start the game, but he served as the passer on a 44-yard throw to Joshisa “JoJo” Trader, which put the Canes in scoring position on the drive.
Quarterback Carson Beck threw a 14-yard touchdown with 33 seconds before the break, giving his team the four-possession lead.
N.C. State (5-5, 2-4) finished the first half with four first downs, while the defense gave up five explosive passing plays for 140 yards. At halftime, the Wolfpack had recorded 82 yards of total offense and nine yards on the ground. Miami finished with 249 total yards and 62 on the ground.
The Canes opened the second half with a 29-yard touchdown to go up 31-0. The 85-yard drive took nearly five minutes off the clock and sealed the Wolfpack’s fate.
“You’ve just got to really execute games like that, and find a way to get into the fourth quarter where it’s a game and then anything can happen,” N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren said. “We did the opposite. When we turned the football over twice in the first quarter, what a recipe for disaster. And, we weren’t able to, depth-wise on defense, play that many plays and play the way that we needed to play.”
N.C. State finished with its worst offensive performance of the season, topping the loss at Notre Dame. It did not cross midfield until four minutes remained in the game.
Bailey completed 17 of 30 passes for 120 yards and two interceptions. He scampered into the end zone with two minutes remaining to end the shutout.
Beck finished the day 21-of-27 passing for 291 yards and three touchdowns. As a team, Miami finished with 582 yards and held N.C. State to 143 yards. The Hurricanes accomplished the feat without leading rusher Mark Fletcher and a handful of key defensive players.
The Wolfpack was surprised it wasn’t a more competitive game, considering the numbers it put up in previous outings.
“I really thought that we were gonna go in and go win it,” Bailey said. “That was our thought throughout the whole week, even throughout the bye week. We were like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna play to win, win this game and move on to Florida State,’ and it didn’t happen, so we just move on to next week.”
Canes win up front
Miami won the line of defensive scrimmage, especially in the first half, holding the Wolfpack to just 53 yards of total offense and seven net rushing yards. Beyond that, the Hurricanes defensive line manhandled the Wolfpack’s offensive line.
It shut down potential running lanes and pressured Bailey with ease. The typically-clean quarterback threw two interceptions in the first quarter. Both of his interceptions were routine passes with a targeted receiver, but the pressure appeared to impact Bailey’s ability to see the defensive movement down field and make in-game adjustments.
Additionally, the Hurricanes entered the contest averaging 6.6 tackles for loss per game, which ranked No. 27 in the nation. They had four by halftime and finished with five tackles for loss, two quarterback pressures and one sack.
“Their D-line’s as good as anybody’s and we played Notre Dame,” Doeren said. “That’s a really, really good D-line that was out there tonight for them. [Miami’s] got a lot of talent, so our margin for error is very small.”
Miami shuts down Wolfpack run game
The ACC’s leading rusher returned to the field on Saturday during the Wolfpack’s final road game. After missing the Georgia Tech game, in which Duke Scott ran for 196 yards, Hollywood Smothers earned the start in the backfield. He entered the game with a league-best 825 total rushing yards, 103.1 yards per game, and six touchdowns in eight starts. Smothers also recorded 170 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Despite his return, neither he nor Scott were factors in the loss on Saturday.
Miami ranked No. 2 in the ACC and No. 7 in the country for run defense and proved it against the Wolfpack. As part of its success at the line of scrimmage, it stopped the Wolfpack rushing offense easily.
Through the first half, N.C. State recorded nine yards on nine rushing attempts. It finished with 23 yards on 20 attempts, averaging 1.2 yards per carry. Smothers ended the game with -2 yards, while Scott finished with 14.
Doeren said on Thursday it would be critical to not one dimensional and that part of the attack would likely be ugly.
“You’ve just got to keep the plays from being negative yardage plays,” Doeren said. “Sometimes a one- or a two-yard dirty run is good. Eventually those can become more and more if you have sustained drives and can get guys tired on the other side of the football.”
Except it only had one sustained drive and the Hurricanes never got tired.
NC State stopped on third down
N.C. State entered the game converting on 41.6% of its third down opportunities this season, good for No. 5 in the ACC. On the other side, Miami came into Saturday as one of the best third down defenses, having held opposing teams to 30.6%. That was second-best in the ACC behind only Virginia (28.7%)
Combining both of those things led to an abysmal conversion rate for the N.C. State offense, a number of different players responsible for the inability to pick up the first down. Bailey struggled to reach the line to gain when he kept the football, he over- and under-threw passes, receivers dropped the ball or had catches broken up.
“We had a couple third downs late in the game where he just stretched out to make a couple plays,” Bailey said of Thomas, the defender who had both interceptions. “He’s a great player, but we’ve just got to fix what we had to do offensively.”
N.C. State’s lone touchdown of the game took place on third down, but the Wolfpack finished 3 of 12 in the loss, which isn’t enough to win games like this one.
This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 7:16 PM.
