By Bob Holliday, WRALSportsFan contributor

This was the spotlight NC State desperately wanted.

Dave Doeren’s team, a trendy pick in preseason to win the ACC Championship, getting a rare Saturday night slot on network tv against Tennessee of the SEC. But the Wolfpack was vanquished by the Vols, their large red clad crowd leaving Bank of America Stadium long before the game ended.

Doeren wanted to play complementary football, using his offense to control the pace of the game and limit his defense’s exposure to Tennessee’s full-throttle attack. We saw the value in this approach on the opening drive, as the Wolfpack consumed nearly half of the first quarter with a slow march into Tennessee territory. The Pack reached the Vols’ 39, but then Grayson McCall was sacked and State punted.

On Tennessee’s first drive, State’s well rested defense kept the Volunteers on their side of the 50, and they punted after seven plays.

However, the Wolfpack went three and out on the second series, not exactly the kind of complementary football Doeren had expected. And so Tony Gibson’s unit had to trot right back onto the field, and this time the Vols moved 62 yards in nine plays, pushing the tempo after each and every attained first down.

Now to be sure, Tennessee’s talent is elite. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava is extremely athletic with a strong right arm, and the Vols have at least half a dozen receiving options. Dylan Sampson is a bruising runner who becomes even more effective when UT pushes the pace and moves the chains. Tennessee’s defensive front may be the best position group in Josh Heupel’s program. The Vols rotate 12 different big men without a drop off in performance. That defensive line helped limit NC State to just 39 yards rushing while recording a whopping 13 tackles for loss with three sacks. Tennessee’s secondary is a bit green, though quick. McCall never really got a chance to test that secondary because of defensive pressure against an NC State offense that had become one dimensional.

NC State kept the game close for most of the first half. Bishop Fitzgerald intercepted a pass from Iamaleava, and returned it to the Tennessee 47. Six plays later Kanoah Vinesett kicked a 24-yard field goal. 7-3. Tennessee answered with its own field goal, but with six minutes left in the first half, NC State mounted its longest drive of the game.

Offensive coordinator Robert Anae reached deep into his bag of creative schemes and formations, calling a doozy on first down at the 25. Anae called for a pass out of what I might call a double bunch formation. There was one cluster of players on the left side of the field and another on the right side. It was the one time all night the Tennessee defense looked confused. KC Concepcion emerged from one of the bunches with no defender close by. McCall found him for a 28 yard gain. Then, with Hollywood Smothers replacing an ineffective Jordan Waters, State reeled off chunk runs of 15 and 12 yards.

NC State was 16 yards from tying the game 10-10. But on 2nd and 6, McCall threw a pick six. Will Brooks stepped in front of a receiver and took it home 84 yards. That was the end for NC State.

Except the Pack made matters worse by going three and out on the ensuing possession, giving Tennessee time to kick a field goal before halftime. And now it was 20-3.

In the second half, McCall fumbled, leading to another UT field goal. The Pack was also stopped on 4th & 1 at its own 34, which led directly to a Volunteer touchdown. McCall fumbled a second time.

At 37-3, Aydan White provided one thrill for the Wolfpack fans still watching when he intercepted Iamaleava’s pass and ran it back 87 yards for State’s only touchdown of the night.

Doeren said after the game that “things snowballed.”Indeed they did. Tennessee is explosive but NC State assisted the Vols with three turnovers, 52 penalty yards, and its failure to convert on third and fourth downs.

The Wolfpack’s loss casts a large shadow over the perception of the program nationally. Ranked teams don’t generally lose by 41 points.

But in the ACC, State still has eight chances to play its way into the league’s championship game. The Pack must regroup at home next Saturday against Louisiana Tech, before a road trip to Clemson, and we now know the game in Death Valley will take place at high noon. The Tigers by the way, looked more like their old selves Saturday in a 66-20 thumping of Appalachian. NC State hasn’t played a conference game yet, but the conference race already looks a bit different than it did a week ago.

Blue Devils win in OT

Neither Duke nor Northwestern generated much offense on a windy Friday night along the shores of Lake Michigan. The only two touchdowns in regulation came on short fields. Duke drove 29 yards for six after Terry Moore intercepted Mike Wright’s pass. Northwestern needed to cover just 11 yards after Que’Sean Brown muffed a Wildcat punt.

Duke Coach Manny Diaz praised his team’s perseverance after the game. Indeed, there was much the Blue Devils had to overcome.

• Injuries: Jacquez Moore suffered a lower body injury. Tight end Jeremiah Hasley was injured on a special teams play. He left the field on a medical cart.
• Penalties: 9-for-80 yards. After playing penalty free in the opener against Elon, Duke’s lack of discipline was a big surprise.
• Sluggish offense: Through three quarters, Maalik Murphy compiled only about 100 yards passing. Duke rushed for just 93 yards over the entire game-four quarters and two overtimes.
• Third down conversions: Duke moved the chains just 4 times in 15 tries. Notably tight end Nicky Dalmolin dropped a sure first down in the fourth quarter when Duke trailed 13-10.
• Kicking game: This was Duke’s biggest deficiency. In addition to Brown’s muffed punt, the Blue Devils suffered a blocked punt. And the usually reliable Todd Pelino missed a 33 yard field goal with just over two minutes to go.

Duke’s defense was stellar all night, forcing a quick three and out by the Wildcats after Pelino’s miss. Duke took possession at its own 45 and with Murphy completing four passes, quickly drove deep into Northwestern territory. Pelino got another chance in the closing seconds. This time he converted to force overtime.

Murphy stayed hot in OT, passing 25 yards to Jordan Moore for one touchdown and 3 yards to Eli Pancol for the game winner. Northwestern scored in the first overtime, but Duke’s Chandler Rivers sacked the Wildcats’ Mike Wright in OT #2 on third down. Then on fourth down Wright threw incomplete.

Score one for the ACC against the Big Ten. And Duke does not face another Power Four team until the late September showdown with North Carolina. The Blue Devils should be 4-0 then, especially if they can fix all the things that went wrong in Evanston.

Heels outmuscle 49ers

North Carolina dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The Tar Heels rushed for 269 yards even though All America candidate Omarion Hampton left the game early in the second quarter and did not return. And the Heels held the 49ers to appropriately, 49 yards on the ground. This of course was expected. Passing was more of an unknown.

What pleased Mack Brown most was the way Conner Harrell transitioned at quarterback, stepping in for the injured Max Johnson. Harrell, who runs a 4.4 40 yard dash, was UNC’s third leading rusher with 39 yards in 9 carries. He actually gained 51, but lost 12 after taking a sack. Harrell also passed efficiently, completing 16-25 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns.

The sophomore did look tentative to start the game. On the first series, he threw an incompletion, in addition to the aforementioned sack, as Carolina went three and out against a defense from the American Athletic Conference.

On the second possession, Harrell ran for 5 yards, but then threw his second incomplete pass. He actually completed 16-23 once the nerves settled down. Anyway, the beginning of the third down play at UNC’s 11 yard line did not look good. Harrell was chased into the end zone by Charlotte’s pass rushers. Yet on 3rd and 5, Harrell rolled right and threw back across his body while being hit—a somewhat risky play to be sure. But the ball found J.J. Jones for a first down.

Harrell was a different quarterback after that.

Chunk plays by the hard running Hampton, and the pass catching Kobe Paysour moved UNC into Charlotte territory. Harrell put the exclamation point on a 94 yard drive with a 30 yard touchdown pass to tight end Bryson Nesbit.

Most of UNC’s five touchdowns came on the ground. However Harrell did have one other high profile touchdown pass. Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey called a flea flicker off a double reverse. Harrell hit a wide open Christian Hamilton for a 58 yard touchdown.

UNC’s pass defense was another story. Defensive Coordinator Geoff Collins certainly turned up the heat on 49ers’ quarterbacks Max Brown and Deshawn Purdie. Javari Ritzie got two sacks and Amare Campbell got one. But when Brown and Purdie were able to get rid of the football before contact, their passes usually went for completions.

Jairus Mack got behind UNC’s Kaleb Cost and caught Brown’s pass for 37 yards. This led to a field goal. Mack then beat Marcus Allen for 54 yards, setting up a second 49ers field goal. Early in the second half, Mack beat Cost for a second time. This pass from Purdy went for 34 and led directly to a Charlotte touchdown. Niners trailed just 21-13 at this point.

UNC then scored 17 unanswered points to put the game away. That enabled Mack Brown to focus on the positives.

• The running of freshman Davion Gause (16 carries for 105 yards and one touchdown) after Hampton was shaken up.
• Line play after starting center Austin Blaske left the game.
• Tight end performance after Nesbit departed with an injury.
• The defensive pressure with star edge rusher Kaimon Rucker in street clothes.

Rucker will miss another 2-to-3 weeks with a lower body injury. Brown believes the other players will all be back this week.

UNC welcomes MEAC power North Carolina Central to Kenan Stadium Saturday. The Eagles outscored Alabama State to win the Orange Blossom Classic in week one, then came up short against Elon in week two.

Meanwhile UNC has three weeks to get ready for conference competition. The Tar Heel offense was more than good enough to overcome that porous pass defense against the AAC, but play in the ACC will require a much higher standard of play in the secondary.

Source: wralsportsfan.com