An upset looked possible in the third quarter, but then the wheels came off.
NC State lost, 13-10, to Louisville on Friday night in its lowest-scoring offensive showing of the season.
The Wolfpack (3-2, 1-1 ACC) previously had scored 24 points in each of its FBS matchups. N.C. State’s defense had one of the best defensive showings, holding the Cardinals to their lowest offensive output of the season.
Louisville (5-0, 3-0 ACC) came into the game scoring at least 21 points in all of its games, including two 56-point contests.
Despite the big plays from N.C. State’s defense, the offense couldn’t capitalize consistently. The Cardinals now lead the series 9-4 and have won two in a row.
“There’s really not a whole lot to say. Defense played extremely well. Offense did not,” said N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren. “Got a lot to fix. This is a tough football team. They’re good kids, so (we’ve) gotta get back to work with them. I’m not gonna be able to give you the answers here without watching the film, but it’s pretty obvious what we need to get better at.”
Here are three key takeaways from the game, as N.C. State fell to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in the ACC.
Sean Brown and NC State defense carry team
The N.C. State defense takes home the award for most entertaining position group of the night, and it was led by safety Sean Brown – at least, until his controversial ejection for targeting. Brown finished with eight tackles, which led the team at the time of his departure, including two sacks.
The redshirt sophomore sacked Louisville quarterback Jack Plummer in the second quarter for a loss of 15 yards. That also went down as a forced fumble, which linebacker Payton Wilson recovered.
Brown added a drive-ending sack for a loss of 10 yards and forced the Cardinals to punt in the third quarter. He ended his night with a tough tackle against Louisville’s Josh Lifson, which was ultimately ruled as targeting. By rule, he’ll be suspended for the first half of Saturday’s game against Marshall.
“Sean’s playing well. He played really well last week, too. It’s unfortunate that he was ejected on that hit. I thought it was a great tackle, but he’s playing really good,” Doeren said. “He’s a great team player, too. Whatever you ask him to do, he does it as hard as you can.”
Wilson ended up leading the team with 10 tackles and added two sacks. He said Brown probably played the best game of his life up until his disqualification.
Brown wasn’t the only Pack player with impressive plays. Safety Bishop Fitzgerald intercepted a Louisville pass in the end zone. Cornerback Aydan White broke up two big passes.
Oh, and cornerback Shyheim Battle added his own interception and return. The redshirt junior’s play put the Wolfpack on the Louisville 32 yard line, and the offense turned that into a 48-yard field goal.
That next-man-up mentality served the Pack defense well. Wilson said those guys are “literally ready to die for each other,” which is why he said it had success. Still, it’s tough to see a teammate go out like that.
The defense held the Cardinals to 4-of-14 on third down, and had given up just 1-of-7 through the end of three. Louisville, one of the top offenses in the nation, only picked up 20 rushing yards.
“At the end of the day, we lost so I didn’t do enough,” Wilson said. “I always know I critique and grade myself as hard as I possibly can. When we don’t win, I feel like I didn’t do enough and I left plays on that field.”
In another game where the offense wasn’t rolling, the defense showed up and it showed up big. Even with mistakes, it put the team in a position to succeed.
Penalties made major impact
Both teams struggled with discipline in the game, racking up 20 accepted penalties for 169 yards through three quarters.
Louisville struggled early and picked up 51 yards of penalties in the first half. A holding call in the second quarter gave N.C. State a first down. The home squad ultimately turned that into its first touchdown of the game.
The Wolfpack had three penalties for 25 yards in that same time period, but it didn’t allow the Cardinals to capitalize on them.
N.C. State, however, didn’t carry its discipline into the second half. It finished with nine penalties for 83 yards, an increase of 58 yards after the break.
Two penalties came in the final drive of the third quarter for a loss of 10 yards. The Pack could’ve had another penalty in the scorebook on that drive, but it was ultimately declined.
Those mistakes – by both teams – hurt the momentum and directly impacted the result. It makes you wonder if N.C. State could’ve won had reduced its penalties by even two or three.
Will the offense ever get there?
N.C. State’s offense was painful to watch, scoring the fewest points of the season. It looked like the team could get something going after putting up two scoring drives in the second to take the lead, but it all fell apart in glorious – or maybe not-so-glorious fashion.
It finished with nine first downs. Nine. The Pack ended the game with 201 total yards and went 3-of-15 on third down.
Quarterback Brennan Armstrong shoulders a lot of the responsibility. He completed 13-of-25 passes with two interceptions, one of which came in the end zone. Of his complete passes, only two were dropped by the intended receivers.
He finished with 112 passing yards for 3.6 yards per pass. He added 61 yards.
“He’s hard on himself, first of all. Nobody feels worse than Brennan does right now,” Doeren said. “We’ve got work to do with the whole team, and I know he’s gonna own his part of it. There’s a lot of things that happened around him that made it a hard night at that position, too. But, I told them in the locker room, every player has a part in a win, every player has a part in a loss.”
Doeren said he wasn’t particularly concerned about pass protection last week at Virginia, but with another two sacks on Armstrong against Louisville, maybe he should be.
The defense showed up, but it didn’t have help once again. You’re not going to win many more without a semi-consistent offense, and that’s if you win any.
This story was originally published September 29, 2023, 6:53 PM.
