Ground Attack Leads to 33-21 Win Over UNC on Senior Day

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RALEIGH, N.C. – Running back Nyheim Hines is known for his speed and explosive plays, and he sent the 20 NC State seniors out in style with a pair of long TD runs to give NC State a 33-21 win over the visiting North Carolina on Senior Day in Carter-Finley Stadium.

Trailing 14-12 late in the third quarter, Hines had touchdown runs of 54 and then 48 yards to give the Pack (8-4, 6-2 ACC) a 27-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Tar Heels (3-9, 1-7) got within 27-21 with 8:16 left after an 11-play drive, but senior Jaylen Samuels capped off the win with a 10-yard TD rush with 1:33 left for the insurance score.

As a team, NC State outrushed UNC 292-83, with Hines going for a career-best 196 on the ground.

The Wolfpack jumped out to a 6-0 lead after scoring on its opening possession. After converting a fourth down, on the next play QB Ryan Finley scored his first rushing TD from 3 yards out.

The Tar Heels responded with a pair of unanswered scores – touchdown passes of 51 then 24 yards. NC State closed the gap to 14-12 at the half, when Finley once again got a rushing TD with 3:26 left in the half.

WOLFPACK SPOTLIGHT DRIVE – 1^st half
11 plays, 45 yards in 5:39 – Ryan Finley 3-yard TD rush

After NC State forced a UNC three-and-out to start the game, NC State's Gavin Locklear returned the ensuing punt 30 yards to set the Pack up at the UNC 45-yard line. NC State then went 11 plays in 5:39 to go up 6-0 eight minutes into the game. QB Ryan Finley scored on a rush from three yards out, one play after he converted a fourth down on a QB sneak.

WOLFPACK SPOTLIGHT DRIVE – 2nd half
1 play, 54 yards in 0:10 – Nyheim Hines 54-yard TD rush
1 play, 48 yards in 0:10 – Nyheim Hines 48-yard TD rush

On back-to-back offensive plays spanning the third and fourth quarters, RB Nyheim Hines capped off 1-play drives with long TD runs. First it was a 54-yard dash (his third 50+ yard TD rush this season) at the end of the third quarter to put the Pack up 19-14, then a 48-yard scamper in the beginning of the fourth to give the Pack a 27-14 lead.

STAT LEADERS
• RB Nyheim Hines
22 rushes for 196 yards, 2 TDs

• QB Ryan Finley
20-of-30 for 204 yards
9 rushes for 27 yards, 2 TDs

• H Jaylen Samuels
7 rushes for 53 yards, 1 TD
3 catches for 22 yards

• WR Jakobi Meyers
7 catches for 101 yards

• LB Germaine Pratt
10 tackles, 1 INT

• DT B.J. Hill
8 tackles, 1 sack

NOTABLES
• NC State posted six ACC victories for the first time since 1994 and tied the school record for conference wins in a single season.

• With a career-best 196 rushing yards on the day, RB Nyheim Hines went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season (1,040).

• NC State has now had back-to-back seasons with a 1,000-yard rusher (Matthew Dayes). NC State has had a 1,000-yard rusher in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1977 and 1978 campaigns, and it marks only the fourth time ever that NC State has fielded 1,000 yard rushers in consecutive seasons and only the second time ever it was accomplished by two different players.

• Today marked the fifth consecutive year a Wolfpack player has rushed for more than 100 yards against North Carolina, and the fifth different player to do so: 2013 – Brandon Mitchell (105), 2014 – Shadrach Thornton (167), 2015 – Jacoby Brissett (128), 2016 – Matthew Dayes (126).

• In the last five games vs. UNC, the Pack has rushed for an average of 292 yards.

• With an eight-yard reception in the first quarter, H-Back Jaylen Samuels now sits atop in the NC State record book with 40 consecutive games with at least one catch, breaking a tie with Jerricho Cotchery and Bryan Peterson. The last game Samuels did not record a catch was as a freshman in 2014 against Wake Forest.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
"I'm really proud of our players and the way they responded at halftime and came out and played a really good second half. You knew it was going to be a spirited game. We lost our poise in the first half and didn't handle some things well, but I thought we responded and played a really good football game in the second half. We got our run game going after a couple of stalled drives, and the defense just hung in there until the offense could get it going." - NC State head coach Dave Doeren

Ground Attack Leads to 33-21 Win Over UNC on Senior Day

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Team Stats

Ryan Finley

Players Mentioned

Ryan Finley

B.J. Hill

Nyheim Hines

Gavin Locklear

Jakobi Meyers

Germaine Pratt

Jaylen Samuels

Players Mentioned

Ryan Finley

B.J. Hill

Nyheim Hines

Gavin Locklear

Jakobi Meyers

Germaine Pratt

Jaylen Samuels