Wolfpack Players: One Good Half Not Enough

Linebacker Isaiah Moore, quarterback Devin Leary and wide receiver Tabari Hines react to Thursday's 28-26 loss at Georgia Tech

For the second week in a row, the NC State football team played one strong half. And for the second straight week, that effort was undone by a sloppy performance during the other two quarters.

It's a pattern that cleary disappointed the three Wolfpack players that were brought to the interview room after Thursday's 28-26 loss at Georgia Tech.

Here's what linebacker Isaiah Moore, quarterback Devin Leary and wide receiver Tabari Hines had to say about their team's fifth straight -- and by most frustrating -- defeat:

"I said early in the week that we want to play a four quarter football game. We haven't done that yet this season. We have one more opportunity to do that. We've got to get it done."

How much did Tech's long pass completion on the first play of the game knock you back?

"I wouldn’t say it knocked us back. It was a double move on our side and we didn’t make the play. We have a put the ball down mentality, a next-play mentality. So we’ve just got to go back out there and get a stop."

How frustrating was it to stage such a dramatic comeback, only to have it fall short?

"It’s obviously frustrating. We felt like we left it all out there in the second half. I feel like we played some good football in the second half. We just couldn’t overcome our first half woes and we’ve got to live with it. "

What clicked in the second half that didn't in the first?

"I would just say getting into a rhythm. Coming into this game we knew that we couldn’t beat ourselves and I think we did a really good job of that. We just have to finish better."

What was the halftime locker room like with the team trailing 21-3?

"We were all really motivated. We were all really hungry. It was kind of just a bunch of players just stepping up in front of the team, speaking to the team, just encouraging them to continue to go hard that eventually it’s going to click. It was more so just the players stepping up instead of the coaches."

"I wouldn’t say we were angry. I would just say that we knew that we were capable of doing better. Each and every week we know what we are capable of doing."

What was supposed to happen on the two-point play and what went wrong?

"We would have liked to convert it, obviously. It’s just a part of football. It didn’t happen the way we wanted it to and that was really it."

"It’s just something that we have designed up that we work on. During the week we have a whole bunch of plays for that certain scenario. Like I said, they covered it pretty well the way that we ran it and it just didn’t work out for us."

What the second half more of what you'd like to see from this offense?

"Like I said, we just know what we’re capable of doing. Football is four quarters not one half. Just being able to play two really good halves is what we strive for. Like I said, we know what we’re capable of doing putting those two together."

"This whole year we've been up-and-down. We've been through some things. At halftime we were just thinking in our heads, like, why us? We realized we had another half to play and that this team, Georgia Tech, was 2-8 coming into this game. We felt like we're a better team than we showed in the first half. In the second half we knew we could hit them on certain plays we didn't hit in the first half and that's what we did. We just hoped we had one more play here to win the game."

What clicked in the second half?

"We were just exploiting match ups, exploiting the coverages. We kept going with tempo. They were getting tired. I feel like we just drove the ball in the second half the best that we could because we pushed the O-line. We just hit the open gaps."