Postgame Observations: State 30, Pitt 29

Devin Leary finally got his first start of the season Saturday. But it was the way he finished the game at Pittsburgh that made the real headlines.

The redshirt sophomore, who was brought along slowly after missing 20 days of preseason camp while in contact tracing, capped an impressive performance by leading NC State from behind for a 30-29 victory against the 24th-ranked Panthers.

Taking over at his own 20 with 1:44 remaining and no timeouts, Leary drove the Wolfpack 80 yards on eight plays -- converting a fourth down along the way -- before hitting Emeka Emezie for the game-winning 13-yard touchdown with 23 seconds remaining.

The win broke a five-game road losing streak for the Wolfpack and gave coach Dave Doeren his first road win against a ranked ACC opponent since 2017.

Here are some postgame observations from what could turn out to be a springboard victory for a 2020 season that's looking a lot promising than it did a week ago at Virginia Tech:

Leary may have looked like a different quarterback from the one that completed only 48 percent of his passes during his six starts at the end of last season. But as it turns out, it was the offense that surrounded him that was different. The redshirt sophomore has always had a cannon for an arm and his confidence in himself was never in question. He simply didn't have a fighting chance to succeed while running for his life behind a patchwork offensive line while throwing to an inexperienced set of receivers. Saturday, given the time to throw by a motivated, veteran line with a viable running game behind him to keep the Pitt defense honest, Leary completed passes to nine different receivers while going 28 of 44 for 336 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. He is the first Wolfpack passer with 330 yards, four TDs and no interception since Russell Wilson did it in 2009. In doing so, he ended any discussion over who the Wolfpack's QB1 is the rest of the way. 'Devin was nails," Doeren said afterward. "He did a great job of reading coverage and putting the ball where it needed to be."
Leary wasn't the only member of the offense to have a breakout game. Emezie finished with seven catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner. Several of his catches were on contested balls in which he either outjumped our outfought his defender for the catch while managing to get his foot down before going out of bounds. They were catches reminicent of former Wolfpack star Kelvin Harmon, the player for whom Emezie has always tried to pattern himself. It's taken a full year and two games for it to happen, but the senior may finally have emerged as the reliable go-to receiver State has needed him to be.
On the defensive side of the ball, the big story was how the Wolfpack fared against the run. After getting torched for 314 yards on the ground by Virginia Tech last week against a Pitt team that likes to run, State held the Panthers to just 92 rushing yards. And 40 of those came on scrambles by quarterback Kenny Pickett. The longest non-quarterback run it allowed was five yards. The highlight of the afternoon was the goal line stand that saw the Wolfpack turn Pitt away on four straight plays from inside the 2-yard line. Linebacker Isaiah Moore and tackle Joshua Harris combined for the fourth down stop that helped State hang on to a slim lead late in the third quarter. A big reason for the dramatic improvement against the run was the play of Alim McNeill up front. But as Doeren pointed out, it was a team effort. "It’s not one guy," he said. "Obviously having Alim in the middle helps. It always starts inside-out, but as you guys know we didn’t play well in the rushing defense the first week because of our edges and in the second week for a myriad of reasons. It was great to see them get that shored up in Game Three."
While State's run defense showed major improvement, it's pass defense was less successful against the Panthers. Pickett threw for a 75-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game and finished with 411 yards through the air. That was almost to be expected considering how many defensive backs the Wolfpack was missing in the game. In addition to cornerback Chris Ingram and safeties Rakeim Ashford and Khalid Martin being out with injuries, the Wolfpack lost Tyler Baker-Williams and Jaylen Frazier to contact tracing protocol. Then midway through the second quarter, true freshman Josh Pierre-Louis -- who was forced into his first career start -- was ejected for targeting for a penalty that nullified a pick six by teammate Jakeen Harris. That left Doeren and his staff to start juggling players around. Tayion Palmer was moved from corner to safety, wide receiver Max Fisher was moved to defense and several linebackers were used as safeties despite having had only one, maybe two practices at the position. And in the end, both Palmer and corner Cecil Powell made big plays to keep force the Panthers into kicking field goals rather than scoring touchdowns while helping the defense keep the game in reach for Leary to win at the end.
Another key factor was Tanner Ingle. Despite going down several times with injuries -- remember, he missed last week's game because he was hurt -- the senior co-captain kept coming back onto the field and contributing. He finished the game with a team-leading nine tackles. It was fitting that he made the stop on Pitt's final play, sealing the victory. But more important than his performance on the field was the grit and resilience he showed, qualities that were contageous throughout the entire roster and helped lead to a hard-earned come-from-behind win.

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