NC STATE UPSETS NO. 9 CLEMSON IN DOUBLE OT.
North Carolina State beat No. 9 Clemson 27-21 on Saturday night in Raleigh,
N.C., with Devin Leary passing for 238 yards and four touchdowns, including one in each overtime.
It was the Wolfpack’s first win against Clemson since 2011,
ending an eight-game losing skid in a series in which Clemson had won 15 of the previous 16 games.
After Clemson (2-2, 1-1 ACC) took the lead in overtime on a 9-yard touchdown throw from quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei to Justyn Ross,
Leary tied it up with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Thayer Thomas,
then won it with a 22-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Devin Taylor in the right corner of the end zone.
To seal the win, NC State’s defence forced the Tigers to punt on four straight downs.
Clemson’s defence was limited to 214 total yards, while NC State’s offence piled up 386 against a Wolfpack defence that had held each of its first three opponents without an offensive score this season.
Clemson fell to NC State (3-1, 1-0) for the second time in four games – the Tigers were defeated 10-3 by Georgia in their season opener and have now dropped two regular-season games for the first time since 2014.
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The loss dealt a major blow not just to Clemson’s prospects of reaching the College Football Playoff for the seventh consecutive year,
but also to its chances of winning the ACC Championship for the seventh consecutive year.
On its second drive of the game, Clemson marched 80 yards in five plays for a 7-0 lead.
Uiagalelei fired a 32-yard touchdown pass to Ross in the back of the end zone.
However, NC State’s defence came back strong, limiting the Tigers to only 35 total yards over their next eight drives.
With five seconds remaining in the first quarter,
the Wolfpack knotted the game at 7-7 on a 9-yard touchdown throw from Leary to Emeka Emezie,
who had a career-high 14 catches for 114 yards.
With 5:10 remaining in the third quarter, NC State went up 14-7 on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Leary to Carter.
Clemson’s offence, which had been struggling this season since quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne left for the NFL, reawakened.
With 10:52 left in the game, Uiagalelei rushed for 37 yards to set up Will Shipley’s 5-yard touchdown run, tying the score at 14-14.
Uiagalelei threw for 111 yards on 12 of 26 passes, including eight for 77 yards to Ross.
Ricky Person of NC State ran for 91 yards on 21 runs, while Donovan “Bam” Knight rushed for 79 yards on 23 rushes.
Clemson was penalised 13 times for 94 yards, while State was penalised 11 times for 105 yards.
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