Raleigh, NC – Coming into Saturday’s matchup it was known that for NC State to win, its defense would have to lead the way. They did just that, producing timely turnovers and getting stops when needed to push the Wolfpack to a 27-14 win over the visiting Texas Tech Red Raiders.
The contest opened with both teams exchanging punts. The Red Raiders made the first costly mistake of the contest – muffing their return inside the 10-yard line. The Texas Tech defense stood tall to hold the Wolfpack to a 29-yard field goal, making the score 3-0 in favor of NC State with 7:39 left in the first. NC State added a 47-yard Chris Dunn field goal with 2:29 left in the quarter after a drive stalled after a short Red Raider punt.
After trading punts multiple times, another short field was all NC State needed as they went 43 yards in 4 plays, capped off by a 15-yard Sumo-Karngbaye touchdown run to make the score 13-0 in favor of the Wolfpack with 10:13 left before the half.
Tech strung together its best drive of the night, picking up three first downs before turning it over as Aydan White picked off a Donovan Smith pass and returned it 84 yards for a touchdown putting the Wolfpack ahead 20-0 with 4:40 left in the half.
Texas Tech finally took the zero off the board, as they went 60 yards in four plays with the result being a 24-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Myles Price with 50 seconds left before the break cutting the Wolfpack lead to 20-7.
After a quarter of punts in the third period, what looked to be an NC State touchdown was ruled a fumble through the endzone as Sumo-Karngbaye was stripped at the one-yard line just before the quarter break.
Texas Tech opened the fourth quarter with a puzzling decision to go for it on 4th down, which resulted in a turnover on downs. NC State took advantage, scoring on the next play as Thayer Thomas found a wide-open Sumo-Karngbaye from 38 yards out making the score 27-7 with 14:20 left in the game. The Red Raiders quickly answered going 75 yards in 12 plays, taking just 3:34 off the clock, slicing their deficit to 27-14 with 10:46 on the clock.
The Red Raiders followed with two potential drives to further cut into the lead, but were unable to put any more points on the board – leaving the final at 27-14.
NC State improves to 3-0 and hosts UCONN next Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 7 PM inside Carter-Finley Stadium.