BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – Three fumbles and two interceptions spoiled NC State’s chance for a comeback victory over Louisville Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium, as the Wolfpack fell 29-10 to the Cardinals.
“It was a discouraging loss for our football team,” Wolfpack head coach Tom O’Brien said.
Junior quarterback Daniel Evans came off the bench to replace injured Harrison Beck and immediately led State to its first touchdown of the day, cutting Louisville’s lead to just six points with 5:01 remaining in the third quarter. Evans hit fullback Ced Hickman on a 2-yard pass on third down for the touchdown.
The Wolfpack (1-4 overall) quickly got the ball back, but the offense stalled again and Louisville pushed its lead to 12 points on fullback Brock Bolen’s 2-yard touchdown run with 11:54 remaining. Louisville’s two-point conversion attempt failed when defensive end Willie Wright batted down quarterback Brian Brohm’s pass.
But State could not mount an offensive threat until late in the fourth quarter, allowing the Cardinals to score on consecutive possessions to seal the lead. The latter score was set up when the Wolfpack committed its third fumble – and fifth turnover – of the game. Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm led his team to its final score of the day, hitting junior running back George Stripling on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 7:29 to play.
“The fumbles are hard to deal with, because we have momentum going a couple of times, getting into the scoring zone,” O’Brien said. “We had a penalty that moved us back and then the quarterback got hit and fumbled the ball away. That was a couple of tough series in there that we didn’t put points on the board that really could have turned this football game around.
“There is no excuse for fumbling the football. We will go back on the practice field and work hard at it and make sure we cover it and hope to stop fumbling the ball.”
Said junior tailback Andre Brown: “Turnovers killed us, and most of them were mine. Fumbling the ball away twice didn’t help us any.”
But, unlike last week’s 42-20 loss to Clemson, O’Brien found something positive in his team’s performance against the Cardinals, despite giving up 498 yards in total offense and the multiple turnovers. The Wolfpack offense amassed 334 yards and moved the ball well at times against the Cardinals. Brown ran for 92 yards in the contest and both Beck (17-28, 181 yards) and Evans (7-11, 68) consistently found their intended targets.
“We played hard and we gave ourselves a chance to win,” O’Brien said. “You can’t give up the rushing yards (251) that we gave up missing tackles. Offensively, we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. We worked and worked and worked and then we turn over the football. You have to be able to score in those situations.”
The first turnover came after the Wolfpack drove as far as the Louisville 22-yard line, when sophomore quarterback Harrison Beck was intercepted by Cardinal corner Johnny Patrick in the end zone.
NC State’s three first-half turnovers allowed the Cardinals to keep possession of the ball nearly 22 ½ minutes in the first half, compared to just 7 ½ for the Wolfpack. Louisville had almost twice as much total offense (281 to 150) as the Wolfpack, but State’s bending defense forced the Cards to attempt four field goals. The first one was blocked by NC State redshirt freshman De’Andre Morgan, but placekicker Art Carmody made the other three to give Louisville a 16-3 advantage at intermission.
State’s only score of the first half came on a 42-yard Matt Hauschka field goal with 47 seconds remaining.
The Wolfpack seemed to be better off early in the second half. On third and 10 on Louisville’s first possession of the second half, Cardinal quarterback Brian Brohm tried to get rid of the ball against a heavy Wolfpack rush. Brohm threw the ball at the feet of his offensive line, but State defensive tackle Alan-Michael Cash intercepted the ball, giving the Wolfpack offense possession near midfield.
Beck led the Wolfpack down to the Louisville 11-yard line, but fumbled the ball away for State’s fourth turnover of the game. The defense held again, the Wolfpack got the ball back, and Beck hit Donald Bowens on a 53-yard pass to the Louisville 14-yard line.
On the play, Beck suffered a collarbone injury and Evans, as he did last week against Clemson, replaced Beck under center. Evans handed the ball off to Andre Brown and Jamelle Eugene on three consecutive plays, then threw a 2-yard pass to fullback Ced Hickman with 5:01 remaining in the third quarter to pull the Wolfpack within six points.
“We got into a situation where we had it less than a touchdown going into the fourth quarter against a good football team,” O’Brien said. “We liked the position we were in.”
But the Cardinals (3-2 overall) quickly scored twice in the final period to seal the victory.
The X-rays Beck had taken on his shoulder after the game were negative. His status for next Saturday’s game against Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla., will be determined in the coming week.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
Courtesy: Peyton Williams/NC State
