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House-Warming Gift for Tuffy III
NC State gifted the Wolfpack fanbase & Tuffy III a 45-0 thumping of South Florida on Thursday night at the Carter. A wondrous night for a football-starved community.
The Wolfpack dominated the Bulls in every facet of the game. Amassing 525 total yards of offense with 232 through the air & 293 on the ground; compared to USF’s 271-167-104. State ran 66 offensive plays compared to the Bulls’ 65, while almost doubling yards/play with eight vs USF’s 4.2. State was a perfect 5-5 in redzone possessions while USF obviously went scoreless in their two redzone trips. The Bulls also committed three turnovers in the game (two fumbles) on which NC State capitalized by scoring two touchdowns off the turnovers alone.
South Florida never could establish an offensive rhythm, partly because they ran their QB share like Michael Scott’s vasectomies; snip-snap-snip-snap. Cade Fortin (former U*NC QB) started the game, was replaced by backup Timmy McClain before the end of the 1st half, only to replace McClain later. Both quarterbacks played in the final three quarters of football.
Meanwhile, NC State had their way with the under-gunned Bulls defense. Devin Leary finished the contest with 232 passing yards, 1 rushing yard (the lone sack resulted in a 7-yard loss), two touchdowns, and Leary’s one lazy pass that just so happened to be intercepted; a 158 QB Rating for the game.
NC State’s Pair of Bulls
The story of the game, however, was the production the Pack got out of the backfield. Zonovan “Bam” Knight logged 163 rushing yards on 16 carries for an average of 10.2 yards with a long of 46 yards, and a score. While Ricky Person Jr. rushed for 105 yards on 16 carries for an average of 6.6 yards with a long of 32 yards, and two touchdowns. The running backs caught five passes combining for 59 yards, while Person added a receiving touchdown. Jordan Houston got in on the action late, adding 15 yards on 5 carries, and a touchdown.
No USF player rushed for over 26 yards; two Bulls finished with negative rushing yards. Latrell Williams even finished with negative receiving yards, YIKES.
I can throw all the numbers I want at you, but the long and the short of it is that NC State beat South Florida exactly how they should have, given expectations. This game was never supposed to be close, Vegas even had the Pack as 18-point favorites.
We Are Who You Thought We Were
The score wasn’t really a statement any deeper than “we are who you thought we were”; RIP Dennis Green.
Also…LT Ikem Ekwonu is a menace to society. VIDEO EVIDENCE BELOW:
#NCState LT Ikem Ekwonu picking up right where he left off 😤 pic.twitter.com/sxqu3hiXJL
— A🕳ron Bloch (@PFF_Aaron) September 3, 2021
