North Carolina State rallies to defeat Florida State
The North Carolina State Wolfpack rallied in the second half to a thrilling victory over no. 16 ranked Florida State Seminoles on Thursday, 28-24. The win puts the Wolfpack’s record 6-2 overall and keeps their bid for a bowl berth very much alive
in the ACC. The Seminoles fall to 6-2 overall but still find themselves in first place in the competitive ACC due to their higher conference record.
First Half
Florida State started slowly in the first quarter, not really doing much of anything, and finding themselves down by a touchdown to the Wolfpack at the end of the first. The second quarter belonged to the Seminoles. Senior Seminoles quarterback Christian
Ponder ran for two touchdowns from within the Wolfpack five-yard line, and then completed an 11-yard pass to wide receiver Willie Haulstead with only 47 seconds left in the half.
Quarterback Russell Wilson of the North Carolina State Wolfpack also ran for a touchdown in the first half, but the home team found themselves down 21-7 by half time.
Second Half
The second half of the game proved to be exhilarating as the Wolfpack defence came out and shut down the Seminoles’ offence. Conversely, Florida State could not find an answer to Wilson’s second half heroics.
Wilson ran for a 10-yard touchdown at the ten minute mark of the third quarter, and then he promptly followed that up with a 20-yard touchdown two minutes and 24 seconds later, knotting the score at 21-21.
In the fourth quarter, Seminoles kicker Dustin Hopkins hit a 31-yard field goal to put Florida State up 24-21 with just over nine minutes left in the game. Once again, it was time for Wolfpack quarterback Russell Wilson to shine.
Wilson lead his team down the field in the dying minutes, and threw for a one-yard touchdown pass to George Bryan, giving the lead back to the Wolfpack. However, there was still two minutes and 40 seconds on the clock, more than enough time for the Seminoles
to engineer some heroics of their own.
Christian Ponder lead his Seminoles offence all the way down to the North Carolina State four-yard line, and with under a minute to go, called for a play-action fake. Unfortunately, the running back Ty Jones ran into the ball in Ponder’s hands, causing him
to fumble, which the Wolfpack recovered, sealing the deal.
"His (Wilson’s) legs won the game," FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said according to ESPN. "It was two quarterbacks making plays, and they made one more than we did at the end."
Key Stats
Seminoles quarterback Christian Ponder had an up-and-down day, completing 17 of 28 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown, while his counterpart for the Wolfpack, Russell Wilson, had a day of his own, rushing for three touchdowns and throwing for another.
He finished the game with 178 yards and completing 18 of 28 throws.
Running back Ty Jones had a good day on the ground, but that was up until the play action fake in the final moments of the game, which cost his team the game. With ten touches, he finished with 108 yards, which brings his season total to 426 total yards.
What’s up next?
The win puts North Carolina State in a great position for their next week's match-up at Clemson. The Seminoles on the other hand will try and put this heart breaker behind them and take care of business at home against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
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