Wake Forest vs. NC State: Box score, stats and summary feat. CJ Bailey
One of the most interesting games of the first slate involved NC State against Wake Forest. The Wolfpack certainly have more talent on the roster, but although they boast a positive record, it's clear that they're playing below expectations, especially with injuries to Grayson McCall.
Wake Forest, on the other hand, is seeing a good improvement from senior quarterback Hank Bachmeier, but the talent gap looked massive from the start. However, as the game went on, the Demon Deacons simply refused to give up and moved the ball well, making this a more difficult game than expected.
In the end, however, the Wolfpack failed to transform their advantage into a win, leading into a massive upset for the Demon Deacons. Certainly, a lot of parlays were lost due to this game.
Wake Forest vs. NC State box score
Wake Forest box score
Quarterback:
Rushing and receiving:
Defense:
NC State box score
Quarterback:
Rushing and receiving:
Defense:
Wake Forest vs. NC State game summary
The upset was starting to get real in the second quarter, as the Wolfpack struggled to get anything going defensively. As the Demon Deacons consistently moved the ball up and down the field, it looked like NC State could never adjust to the way they were attacking.
Wake Forest amassed an excellent 5.2 yards per carry and, especially in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Demon Deacons would really get their second win of the season. That's exactly what happened: even though their defense is below average, NC State failed to control the game through the trenches.
3.6 yards per carry in a game where your starting quarterback was carted off the field is never going to help you win. And that's not the reason why the Wolfpack were upset, especially as CJ Bailey did have some good moments. He finished with 28 out of 42 completions, two touchdowns and one interception.
This is a game where NC State will look back later in the season and be really disappointed. They were the better team, they were playing at home and they had all the opportunities in the world to win.
Ultimately, this is another game were Dave Doeren will have to do some soul-searching as to why and how they left it escape from their hands. What happened on Saturday was a tough pill to swallow, and their bowl hopes could be dashed due to losses like this.