RALEIGH — NC State moved to 5-0 Monday night at Carter-Finley Stadium with a dominating 35-14 victory over #6 Florida State in front of 63,500 screaming fans. The Wolfpack thouroughly dominated the Seminoles (3-2) on both sides of the ball, and moved into the AP Top 25 for the first time this season, landing at #23.
Andre Brown continued his Heisman Trophy campaign in front of a national ESPN audience, carrying the ball 32 times for 143 yards and five touchdowns. The Wolfpack had 16 first downs to the Seminoles’ three, was 5-for-5 in the red zone, and had a 275-56 advantage in total offense.
It was a performace typical of FSU in this rivalry with NC State.
The State defense swarmed sophomore quarterback Christian Ponder relentlessly after knocking starting quarterback Xavier Lee out of the game on the second play. Willie Young and DeMario Pressley had two sacks each and the defensive added eight hurries to take away the FSU passing attack.Â
“Those ends gave me fits the whole game,” Ponder, the Coleyville, TX 5-star recruit said after the game. Ponder was sacked four times and finished 1-for-2 on the game. His only completion was a 51-yard touchdown strike against broken coverage. That was the most offense FSU would see on this evening.
Lorenzo booker, who many have as their pre-season ACC player of the year, had 11 carries for 24 yards.
The Pack D set the tone early, knocking Lee out of the game on the first series. It took the offense a little longer to get going, but Andre Brown found the end zone for the first time with a 2-yard TD run with 1:33 left in the first quarter.Â
The defense again set up the offense, intercepting Ponder on the next drive and returning the ball to the FSU four yard line, where Brown was called on and scored for the second time of the day on a 1-yard run.
The Pack led the Noles 21-7 at the half, but FSU made it interesting on the first drive of the second half, as Marcus Stone unleashed a Jay Davis-esque pass that was promptly intercepted and returned 61 yards for a touchdown to close the score to 21-14. It would turn out to be the only positive note for the Noles though, as State recovered and regained control.
Stone would finish a modest 8-for-16 for 124 yards with two interceptions. Darrell Blackman led all receivers with 68 yards on four catches. Lamart Barrett pulled in one catch for 15 yards, and Geron James had one catch for 18 yards. The ACC’s leading receiver John Dunlap left the game with a bruised rib after his only catch of the game. He should be ready to go for Wake Forest (2-3) next week.
Brown would go on to add touchdown runs of four, one, and two yards on his way to being named the national player of the week. He was even featured on the cover of this week’s ESPN The Magazine under the title “Hostility Abounds in Raleigh as NC State downs FSU to move to 5-0.”
“Daggumit, them boys just have our number,” Bobby Bowden said after the game, where he met his former protege Quack Amato at midfield to have a quick makeout session.Â
Coach Amato was hoarse as usual after the game, but he was fired up about something other than the game. Apparently someone in Section 30, Row Y left the game at the end of the 3rd quarter to go drink in the parking lot. “I tell you what, he’s a bad fan!”
The Pack are at home next weekend against 2-3 Wake Forest.Â