NC State’s 15-14 win against No. 21 Liberty on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium featured a little bit of everything, from a quick kick that set up a safety to a pass intended for an offensive tackle on a two-point conversion try and a frantic finish punctuated by a blocked field goal.
It was an eventful game that made for an interesting night on social media.
And not just because of the usual passion and angst of a Wolfpack fan base that went through the full range of emotions in a tense game that wasn’t decided until the final minute.
Former State wide receiver Kelvin Harmon created the first stir with a seemingly innocuous tweet after Zonovan Knight broke several tackles on the way to a 19-yard touchdown run that gave the Wolfpack a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
Harmon, who is currently on injured reserve with the Washington Football Team after tearing an ACL during preseason training, posted a comment that said “7 will be playing on Sundays,” referring to Knight’s jersey number.
It was meant to say that the sophomore running back, who gained 94 yards and scored twice on 14 carries against the Flames, will eventually play in the NFL when it college career is over.
But not everyone understood that.
Fans of Harmon’s current team thought he was advocating for benched quarterback Dwayne Haskins — who also wears No. 7 — to regain his starting job in Washington. The debate over that subject became so heated in the replies to Harmon’s original post that he had to go back onto Twitter to clarify his intentions.
“Lol. I’m talking about from NC State, sheesshh,” he wrote.
Unlike Harmon’s comment, there was no misunderstanding the intent of a tweet posted during halftime by current Wolfpack safety Tanner Ingle.
The junior co-captain, playing for the first time since missing the past three games with a hamstring injury, was ejected for targeting after laying out Liberty tight end Johnny Huntley following an interception by teammate Jakeen Harris. It was his second targeting ejection this season.
Unhappy about being disqualified from a close game, Ingle made his frustration public with a Twitter post that read: “Y’all done made the game so soft.”
The comment was eventually taken down, but it sparked plenty of reaction among Wolfpack faithful that have never been fans of ACC officiating.
There’s a good chance that the reaction from his coaches wasn’t quite as supportive.
