'A lost opportunity': Wolfpack overpowered on the road again
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- One of these days, the NC State football team is going to win a road game against a nonconference Power Five opponent.
It just wasn’t this day.
Despite being favored against a West Virginia team that had struggled mightily in its first two games -- especially running the ball -- the Wolfpack failed its first real test of the season. In the process, it wasted what appeared to be a golden opportunity to end a road drought against major conference competition that dates all the way back to an overtime win at Texas Tech in 2002.
The Mountaineers rushed for 173 yards, nearly triple their combined total coming into the game, and pulled away in the second half for an all-too-familiar 44-27 win at Milan Puskar Stadium.
“Most definitely, this was a lost opportunity,” said senior safety Jarius Morehead. “We had opportunities to make plays and we didn’t. That’s on us. We just had mental errors, to be honest.”
The Wolfpack (2-1) came into the game riding high after opening the season with two straight lopsided home victories. But it became obvious from the opening possessions Saturday that the Mountaineers presented an entirely different level of competition than East Carolina and Western Carolina.
It didn’t help that State played the game without starting defensive ends James Smith-Williams and Joseph Boletepeli, along with cornerback Nick McCloud, all presumably out with injuries.
Whether their presence in the lineup would have made a significant difference is debatable on a spectacular fall afternoon in which WVU caught the Wolfpack by surprise by getting the ball out of quarterback Austin Kendall’s hands quickly, relentlessly attacking the edges and spreading the ball around to a multitude of playmakers.
Kendall completed 27 of 40 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Sam Jones had nine catches for 155 yards and a score while running back Kennedy McKoy rushed for 66 yards on 10 carries -- a significant number since as a team, WVU had accounted for only 64 net yards on the ground for the year prior to Saturday.
“Offensively, they did a lot of different things than we’ve seen,” State coach Dave Doeren said afterward. “We adjusted as we went and didn’t do a good job of getting the players to understand the adjustments. We have to own that, first and foremost as coaches. The players have to be able to take the coaching like we’ve done.
“I thought we did a really good job of that in the first two games. We just weren’t ourselves in that football game.”
Thayer Thomas rears back to throw a second quarter touchdown pass to tight end Cary Angeline (Ben Queen/USAToday sports)
Cary Angeline hauls in a touchdown pass from wide receiver Thayer Thomas during the first half of Saturday's game in Morgantown (Ben Queen/USAToday sports)
Drake Thomas runs with the ball after intercepting a pass in the third quarter of Saturday's game against West Virginia (Ben Queen/USAToday sports)
Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren shows his displeasure with the officiating during Saturday's loss at West Virginia (Ben Queen/USAToday sports)
West Virginia's Kennedy McKoy breaks a tackle by State defensive back Tyler Baker-Williams (Ben Queen/USAToday sports)
A big reason for that is the way they responded -- or in this case didn’t respond -- to the physicality with which their opponent played right from the opening snap. Still stinging from a 38-7 loss at Missouri last week, the Mountaineers were determined to make an early statement -- even if it wasn’t always within the rules.
On the opening two possessions, WVU was called for a roughing the passer penalty, had a player ejected for targeting and was flagged for another late hit when cornerback Keith Washington laid out wide receiver Thayer Thomas after a pass sailed over his head.
State took advantage of the latter two of those infractions to put together a touchdown drive. But in the long run, the Mountaineers’ aggressiveness eventually took its toll on the Wolfpack.
“I know their coaches were preaching about being more physical,” said Thomas, who caught a touchdown pass and three a touchdown pass on an emotional afternoon for him and his brother Drake -- both of whom grew up in the shadow of Puskar Stadium attended many games there as youngsters.
“I told (the team) that they got embarrassed last week in Missouri and you’re going to get their best,” Doeren said. “They were disappointed. They wanted to come home and not show that to their fan base. I knew what was coming. I told them that was coming. We just didn’t do a good enough job.”
While WVU knocked the Wolfpack back by steamrolling down the field for touchdowns on its first two possessions, State was able to stay in contention by answering with scores of its own. It even took the lead briefly late in the first half when Thayer Thomas hit tight end Cary Angeline in the end zone for a touchdown that put the Wolfpack ahead 21-14.
Thomas also caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Matthew McKay while Jordan Houston scored on a short run for State’s other first half points.
But whatever momentum the Wolfpack might have gotten heading into halftime, it gave it right back by allowing WVU bounce right back and tie the game on a drive that was aided considerably by a roughing the passer penalty on replacement defensive end Ibrahim Kante.
Things only went downhill from there as State’s offense sputtered to just 97 yards and a pair of Dunn field goals in the second half. In the meantime, the Mountaineers were taking advantage of virtually every opportunity -- including a blocked punt midway through the third quarter that helped them open up a 31-21 lead.
State had one final chance to battle back. But a Drake Thomas interception deep in WVU territory yielded only a field goal and the Wolfpack never seriously threatened again.
“The blocked punt was a major mistake,” Doeren said. “We were trying to play catchup from that point on and we weren’t throwing the ball well enough to do that.”
McKay finished the game 23 of 48 for 208 yards and a touchdown. But he had his problems with accuracy -- throwing too many balls over the heads of receivers or behind them. He also became too reliant on favorite receiver Emeke Emezie, targeting him 23 times -- nearly half of his passing attempts.
Although the Wolfpack rushed for 144 yards -- with 72 coming from freshman Zonovan Knight -- McKay’s struggles left Doeren hinting that a change could potentially be in the works.
“For me to sit here and say I know where I’m at with or without watching the film, I couldn’t do that,” Doeren said. “There are a lot of things that happen out there that are out of (the quarterback’s) control. We have to look at that. It’s easy to point the blame at the quarterback, but there are a lot of people involved and we all have to own it.”
Add us as a preferred source on Google