Gameday Live Blog/Open Thread: State vs. Louisville
The last time Louisville came to NC State, a packed house jammed Carter-Finley for the matchup between reigning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson and eventual Nagursky Trophy winner Brandon Chubb.
The crowd is considerably smaller tonight for the rematch between the Wolfpack and Cardinals. That's the product of the cold, windy conditions, combined with the home team's three-game losing streak.
As bad as things have been lately for State, coach Dave Doeren's team is still in contention for a bowl bid. A win tonight would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal. But it won't be easy, especially with the injury situation being what it is.
Among those already listed as out -- including seven with season-ending injuries -- it has been announced that cornerbacks Nick McCloud and De'Von Graves, along with linebackers Louis Acceus and Payton Wilson will both miss tonight's game.
Goal No. 1 for the Wolfpack … make it through the first quarter without digging a hole too deep to recover. That's been a problem the past two weeks. ...
Louisville wins the toss and elects to defer. State gets the ball first. And here we go ...
FIRST QUARTER
Wolfpack wearing black jerseys, red pants and red helmets. It's a nice look.
And the self-destructive ways start early. A holding penalty nullifies what would have been a 23-yard pass to Keyon Lesane. ... But Leary hits Emezie on third and seven to move the chains. Promising start ...
An offside penalty by the Cardinals and a scramble by Leary extend the drive to near midfield ...
Lesane attempts a pass and overthrows Carter. Why not have Thayer Thomas throw that ball? He's 3 of 4 with two touchdowns this season. ...
Drive stalls and Trenton Gill punts it into the end zone for a touchback ...
Louisville tries for a home run on its first snap and Tyler Baker-Williams gets away with pass interference to break it up. Maybe that's a good sign for things to come tonight ...
A false start, a TFL by Larrell Murchison and a pass underneath for #Louisville and #NCState defense gets a stop on its first possession … again, a promising start ...
Zonovan Knight picks up 23 yards on a first quarter run
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Just as Zonovan Knight appeared to be getting cranked up (24 yards on six carries), he puts the ball on the ground and Louisville recovers. More self-inflicted pain for the Wolfpack ...
The Wolfpack hasn't forced a turnover since the Ball State game. It had one right there, but Drake Thomas couldn't hold onto a ball that hit him right between the numbers, But then Jarius Morehead blitzes and sacks Louisville QB Malik Cunning ham , forcing a 44-yard field goal that goes wide left. ...
This one is there for the taking. That is, if the Wolfpack has the ability to take it ...
That was a very quick first quarter. And State is still in contention.
No score after 15 minutes ...
SECOND QUARTER
Not sure what the point of that shovel pass was, especially the way State has been running. But in any case, it's an interception on the first play of the second quarter, another turnover and another self-inflicted mistake. Can't win doing things like that ...
Kishawn Miller is burned bad, leaving Dez Fitzpatrick WIDE open for a 43-yard Louisville touchdown that puts State into a familiar hole … Cardinals 7, Wolfpack 0 11:54 left second quarter ...
Dez Fitzpatrick hauls in a 43-yard touchdown pass as Kishawn Miller and Tanner Ingle chase in vain
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Knight trying to make up for his fumble with a very determined 23-yard run in which he broke several tackles. Maybe instead of throwing the ball much, maybe State should keep it on the ground a little more?
Ricky Person Jr. is back … and he just carried the ball for the first time since Florida State ...
Good news is that Murchison is on the sideline limbering up as though he's going to come back into the game. The bad news is that TV just showed a Wolfpack player being helped off the sideline by trainers. ...
Leary tries a QB draw on third-and-seven. Very safe call. Almost as if Doeren didn't want to jeopardize the three points. And he doesn't. Dunn with a chip shot and it's ...Louisville 7, State 3
The injured player that they showed on TV was Bam Knight. But he's still on the sideline and looking like he might be okay. State deserves a break or two when it comes to injuries ...
A Drake Thomas sack leads to another Wolfpack stop. The defense is playing well enough to win tonight. But the offense has to do its part and stop turning the ball over ... There's a shanked punt that will give Leary and that offense a short field to work with ... Wolfpack has to turn this into points ...
It's nice to see Person running hard again. It sure looked like his season was over when he was carted off in Tallahassee six games ago ...
Emeka Emezie tries to break free trom the tackle of Louisville's Anthony Johnson
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Leary hits Emeka Emezie for a 15-yard touchdown and #NCState has its first lead since the Syracuse game on Oct. 10. Dunn's extra point makes it Wolfpack 10, Cardinals 7 with 4:01 left in the half ...
Good news on Knight. He's back on the field and carried the ball on the final play of the half ...
An inspired effort thus far by the Wolfpack defense. State has held Louisville to just 28 yards on the ground and 136 yards total, has three sacks and five TFLs. If the offense doesn't self-destruct, this could be a season-changing win ...
Halftime: State 10, Louisville 7
THIRD QUARTER
Another blown coverage, another wide open receiver and another long #Louisville touchdown … This one 74 yards to Tutu Atwell. … Just like that it's 14-10 Cardinals less than two minutes into the second half ...
Time for the offense to pick up the defense that had played so well until that last play ...
Instead, Lesane coughs it up and Louisville recovers. Third turnover tonight for the Wolfpack, 10th in the last three games combined. You can't win games with a minus-three turnover margin ...
And there's another long TD pass, this one 42-yards to Marshon Ford and within the span of 2 1/2 minutes this one goes from a four-point #NCState lead to a 10-point deficit (after a shtoinked extra point). This is how bad teams find ways to lose games. ...
After that fumble, Lesane is replaced by Tanner Ingle as the kick returner. And he brings it back all the way to the 38-yard line. Return of 26 yards ...
Now the ball slips out of Leary's hand as he cocks to throw. Lost of 11 ... Comedy of errors
Two pass interference calls, one obvious the other very marginal, has helped extend this drive as Louisville looks to put the Wolfpack away here in the third quarter ...
Cunningham hits TE Ian Pfiefer for a 1-yard TD … Louisville's third of the quarter and it's now 27-10 Cardinals. ...
Total plays in the third quarter: Louisville 18, NC State 14. Instead of throwing the game away in the first period, tonight the Wolfpack waited until the third to do it. ...
Fourth and three from the Louisville 45. State is going for it ... Thayer Thomas with an opportune time for his first catch of the night … 10 yard gain on fourth and three from the Louisville 45 ...
Third quarter mercifully ends .... Louisville 27, State 10
FOURTH QUARTER
Ricky Person Jr. gets wide open for a 16-yard touchdown pass that gets State back to within 10. There's still time, but the Wolfpack has to stop self-destructing on both sides of the ball for any kind of comeback to happen ... Louisville 27, State 17
State tries to catch Louisville by surprise with an onside kick .... but executes it VERY poorly. Ball goes out of bounds the Cardinals will start in Wolfpack territory ...
Yet another pass interference call on a deep ball. This one on Malik Dunlap ...
And this pretty much sums up State's season ... after seemingly holding Louisville to a field goal attempt that would have kept it a two-score game, the Wolfpack gets caught napping on a fake and the kicker -- Ryan Chalifoux -- throws a 7-yard touchdown pass that pretty much puts this one away ... Louisville 34, State 17, 9:42 left
Thomas had a man wide open, but his pass hung up there in the wind and it was broken up. Fans want interference, but it was clean. ...
Devin Leary throws a pass on the run as Louisville defenders pursue
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Another fourth down conversion. This one to Devin Carter ... Leary is 17 of 28 for 148 yards, two TDs and an INT ... And there's a third fourth down conversion of the night ... this one to Devin Carter ...
Down by 17 with 4 1/2 minutes left, Doeren's going to kick a field goal. I guess Dunn needs the stats for his Groza Award candidacy .. It's good. Louisville 34, State 20
Cardinals recover the onside kick ...
Stop me if you've heard this one before … James Smith-Williams is the injured Wolfpack player. This time, though, it looks bad. They're bringing out a back board and a lot of players milling around. Here comes the cart ...
Louisville QB Malik Cunningham is also down. Not sure which one the back board is for yet ….
A lot of concerned players from both sides kneeling on the field watching medical personnel work on the two players ...
Smith-Williams is up ... Louisville QB Malik Cunningham is also down. Not sure which one the back board is for yet ….
Louisville punt rolls out of bounds at the 1. … been that kind of half for the Wolfpack
Cardinals coach Scott Satterfield just got doused with water on the sideline. That HAS to be cold. Louisville will be bowl eligible as soon as this one is over ...
Leary's head just got turned in a direction it's not supposed to go ... 15 yard facemask penalty on Louisville. Leary looks like he survived it ...
And now a roughing the passer call on the Cardinals. Leary limping visibly. He is taking a beating right now. Hockman warming up on the sideline while the officials talk about this ...
Leary stays in the game and takes another hit on a scramble to the 5 .... State uses its last timeout with 55 seconds left ...
Emezie can't hold onto the ball in the end zone on fourth down and that will finally do it.
Two games remaining and the Wolfpack needs to win them both to become bowl eligible. This one was there for the taking, but one bad quarter and an offense that can't get out of its way does State in.
Final: Louisville 34, State 20
