RALEIGH — In an otherwise disappointing season, NC State has a victory to remember.
The Wolfpack defeated Clemson 24-17 on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium, just the second time they have topped the Tigers in the last decade.
Despite it being a down year for each program, the game again delivered a familiar tense finish, and it was the Wolfpack’s defense that proved to be the difference.
“Super proud of our players and coaches,” said NC State coach Dave Doeren. “The faith that they showed in each other and what we just did against a good football team coming off of the worst we’ve played in my tenure as a head coach. To rebound like that says a lot about our perseverance and our toughness and our willingness to change and get better.”
The victory was also NC State’s first ACC win of the season and pushed Doeren into a tie with Earle Edwards for the most in program history with 77.
It was a banner night for the defense, which held the Tigers to just 264 yards of total offense through three quarters before it lost graduate linebacker — and heart and soul of the team — Payton Wilson to injury.
Wilson went down at the end of the third quarter and did not return, and Clemson started to crawl back at that point, putting up 10 points in the fourth quarter. But NC State’s defense rallied and held firm in the final drive.
“If we’re the last ones on the field, that’s the situation we want to be in as an elite defense,” said junior defensive back Devan Boykin. “We want these types of games in our hands. We’ve got big-time players on defense. When we’re on that field, fourth down or third down, that’s the type of situations we want to be in and those are the types of moments we thrive in.”
The defense picked off Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik twice, one of those a pick-six for Wilson, sacked him twice — one of those a crucial 7-yard sack by junior tackle Davin Vaan on the final drive of the game — forced a trio of three-and-outs, had nine tackles for loss and had five pass breakups.
The Wolfpack finally started playing some complementary football again too, picking up 14 points off of defensive turnovers.
“We just came out with the mindset to execute,” said senior linebacker Jaylon Scott. “That’s what we know, as a defense, that we’ve been lacking over the previous few weeks. Just managing to execute flawlessly. I know nobody’s going to play perfectly, but I do believe the execution part was our main focus. Making sure we were sound all over the field.”
Another huge factor in the game was freshman receiver KC Concepcion.
Concepcion, who has been the Wolfpack’s lone consistent offensive playmaker, had another terrific outing with two touchdowns and 134 all-purpose yards.
His first touchdown was a 9-yard sweep that was preceded by him breaking through for a 50-yard run. His second touchdown was 72 yards to the house after he broke a tackle following a 5-yard slant.
“The defender started out in press coverage and then he had backed off,” Concepcion said on his second touchdown. “I looked inside and I didn’t see anybody inside of me, so I just felt like I had to make one miss and get to racing.”
Concepcion accounted for nearly two-thirds of the team’s 202 yards of total offense. He had more than 80% of the team’s rushing yards on one run and over 50% of the team’s total receiving yards on one catch.
“We knew he was going to be an elite player for us the day that he stepped on campus,” Boykin said. “He’s unbelievable. The things he does for our offense, how explosive he is, the plays he’s able to make. It’s just unbelievable, especially as a freshman.”
So whether he’s rushing or receiving, the freshman is noticeable — and he’s had to be given the offense’s overall struggles. The Wolfpack were 3-for-13 on third-down conversions, had seven three-and-outs, and it seemed that the training wheels were back on sophomore quarterback MJ Morris a bit as his passing count was drastically limited against the Tigers.
Morris had just 20 attempts through the air, with a few of those being push passes for runs, and just 11 of those resulted in catches. He had two deep ball attempts, each being slightly overthrown. Beyond that, most of the offense was on the ground, and NC State couldn’t gain much against a tough Clemson defense.
However, with as good as its defense is, the Wolfpack only need their offense to not lose them games, and that’s exactly what they did with zero turnovers and just a single false start penalty.
“[Clemson’s] a good defense,” Doeren said. “Statistically one of better defenses you’re going to play year in and year out. So not satisfied by any means, but happy with some of the things we did. There was growth in some areas. The biggest thing I saw was that we weren’t beating ourselves. We didn’t have a drop until the end on the last drive, limited our presnap penalties. So our efficiency was better that way, but we just didn’t do a good enough job in some other areas to help the defense in the second half.”
The Wolfpack will hope to keep the momentum of their big win as they look ahead to next week when they host the Miami Hurricanes.
