RALEIGH – Wake Forest’s football season feels like it’s teetering between good and great after a second straight road loss in which the Deacons came apart in key situations.
No. 22 N.C. State turned Wake’s offense one-dimensional and found its own rhythm offensively in a 30-21 win at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday night.
Sam Hartman was intercepted another three times, Wake’s rushing offense was inept as it’s ever been since Dave Clawson’s first season, and the Deacons’ defense was repeatedly gashed by a freshman quarterback in his first start.
And yet … No. 21 Wake Forest was down 27-21 with 6:54 left after a 29-yard touchdown pass from Hartman to A.T. Perry in the back corner of the end zone on fourth down.
The vapors of another nighttime comeback in Raleigh were snuffed out by N.C. State’s ensuing drive, an eight-play drive that ended with a field goal and made it a two-score difference with 2:54 left.
N.C. State (7-2, 3-2 ACC) sucked all of the momentum in this game to its side with a 15-play drive that enveloped half of the third quarter.
After Wake Forest (6-3, 2-3) went three-and-out to begin the second half, the Wolfpack marched 80 yards — converting three third downs — and capped the drive with MJ Morris’ third touchdown of the night, a 1-yard pass to Darryl Jones.
That put N.C. State ahead 24-14, and the lead grew by three with Christopher Dunn’s 51-yard field goal a few minutes later.
Wake Forest lost consecutive games for the first time since losing the last three games of the 2020 season.
Stop if you’ve heard this before (don’t literally), but it was another slow start for Wake’s offense that turned into an efficient first-half showing.
The Deacons’ first three possessions resulted in an interception, a punt and a missed field goal, all with varying sources of frustration. Hartman’s interception made it seven straight possessions for him ending with a turnover — a string that mercifully ended.
Wake’s punt was from N.C. State’s 43-yard line on a possession hindered by two false starts.
The missed field goal had to be the most-frustrating — WF went from first-and-goal from the 1-yard line to fourth-and-goal from the 17 without committing a penalty. Matthew Dennis missed wide right from 35 yards; the second-year kicker’s second miss of the season.
What followed for Wake’s offense, though, was what you’ve come to expect from the Deacons: A rhythm was found and hence, two 75-yard touchdown drives were recorded.
Hartman was 4-for-5 for 41 yards—three of those completions to Ke’Shawn Williams for 30 yards—that helped set up Christian Turner’s 2-yard touchdown run. Later in the half, Hartman hit Taylor Morin for a one-handed 24-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone.
The problem for the Deacons—and why the score at halftime was the Wolfpack with a 17-14 lead—was that freshman quarterback MJ Morris got rolling in the second quarter.
N.C. State had 21 total yards on its first 18 plays, going three-and-out three times and getting a field off of good field position after Hartman’s interception.
The tenor of this game changed when Morris completed a 44-yard pass on third-and-10 to Keyon Lesane down the middle. Three plays later it was that connection again for a 12-yard touchdown, with Lesane hanging onto the ball through a vicious hit at the goal line by Brendon Harris.
After Hartman’s touchdown to Morin, N.C. State answered again with an eight-play, 64-yard drive — this time with Morris scrambling and tossing to Darryl Jones for a 13-yard touchdown in the final minutes of the first half.
