‘Hate it for these seniors’: What we learned about NC State in loss to Boston College
N.C. State’s Isaiah Moore and Tanner Ingle were the last two players to leave the field Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium, slowly making their way to the tunnel to the Wolfpack locker room.
To what surely was a very somber Wolfpack locker room.
It had to be hard for the Wolfpack to grasp: losing to Boston College, 21-20, at home. Ruining Senior Day. Seeing a 16-game winning streak at Carter-Finley come to a shocking end, beaten on a touchdown with just seconds left.
The No. 17 Pack was a 19.5-point favorite. The Eagles are not a good team and had a redshirt freshman making his second college start at quarterback.
And yet, there were Moore and Ingle, beaten in their last home game by the Eagles (3-7, 2-5 ACC), slowing realizing there would be no other game at home, no way to make up for the disappointment.
“I don’t know what to say,” NCSU coach Dave Doeren said. “I’m pretty down for these kids. Obviously we didn’t play well enough to win and didn’t coach well enough to win, and I always put that on me.
“I hate it for these seniors. Great group of young men. And we didn’t get it done.”
The Wolfpack (7-3, 3-3), despite its struggles in the game, came within a judgment call by an official of getting it done. The Eagles had a fourth-down pass over the middle to tight end George Takacs knocked away by linebacker Drake Thomas with 18 seconds left, but Thomas was called for pass interference, quickly quieting Wolfpack cheers.
BC quarterback Emmett Morehead then hit Joe Griffin for a 2-yard scoring pass and the winning TD with 14 seconds remaining.
“I thought Drake made a fantastic play,” Doeren said. “I thought it was a bang-bang play to win the game. I don’t know how you throw that flag. But there were other plays, other calls, we could have made.”
What was learned about the Wolfpack in the loss? Three things to consider:
MJ Morris is a freshman
A week after Pack quarterback MJ Morris was being touted on the ACC Network for his poised play in beating Wake Forest, the freshman realized again Saturday how much he still has to learn about the college game.
He lost three fumbles in the second half. He had a pass picked off and nearly one or two others as he forced some throws. He was sacked twice and never hurt the Eagles on quarterback runs and scrambles.
His final numbers: 12-of-24 passing for 135 yards and 22 yards in 13 carries. Nothing special there.
“It wasn’t my best game, but I feel like I did play hard,” Morris said. “I feel like I did play with heart. There were some mistakes that I made I wish I hadn’t, but everybody is not perfect and everybody is going to make those mistakes. It’s how you go from now on.
“We’re going to learn from it, we’re going to fix those mistakes we made, and we’re going to get better from them. As long as we learn from it, it’s a win. I’ve still got (some) more years to show everybody who I am. I’m mad and disappointed, but I’ll keep my head down and keep working.”
Playing at home no guarantee
In winning 16 straight games at home, tying the school record, the Pack came to believe it could and would win at Carter-Finley, regardless of the time or score. There was something about playing at “The Carter” that stoked the players’ confidence, helped them rise to the occasion, and especially when Wolfpack fans were at full throat.
The Pack trailed Florida State by 14 points this year and won. The Wolfpack trailed Virginia Tech by 18 and won. There was always a way to victory at home, or so it seemed.
No longer. The Eagles found the way this day as Morehead, who was 29-of-48 for 330 yards, twice hit dangerous wideout Zay Flowers for TDs, then Griffin for the winner, not leaving enough time for another Wolfpack comeback.
“They were playing hard,” Morris said of the Eagles, “and we didn’t play to our full ability. We slowed down a lot. In the first half we were playing pretty fast and then we slowed down. They got some momentum and they just ran away with it.”
Bounce back or bottom out?
Wolfpack linebacker Payton Wilson was one of those seniors heartbroken after losing his last home game. He also was a senior who mentally was preparing for two more games this season — at Louisville, at North Carolina.
“I hurt for everyone, but at the end of the day we’ve still got two more games to go out there and give it our all,” Wilson said. “It’s a big thing for the young guys to understand college football is hard. It’s hard to win whether you’re playing the best team in the nation or one that’s not one of the best. Every team has talent and can make plays and if you don’t show up you’ll go out there and get your tail whipped like we just did.”
Wilson said the first thing he did in the locker room after the game was to tell Thomas to forget about the pass-interference call in the final seconds.
“Personally it was a bad call, tight game and all,” Wilson said. “I told Drake, ‘Don’t even think twice about it, it’s a bad call.’ He made a helluva play.
“It’s tough. We’ve all worked really hard to get to where we’re at. To not be able to walk out of Carter-Finley with a win is disheartening.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2022 at 6:40 AM with the headline "‘Hate it for these seniors’: What we learned about NC State in loss to Boston College."
