NC State appeared to be on its way to its third ACC win of the season before Syracuse crept back into the game. 

State’s offense made its triumphant return today after being shut out of the end zone last weekend against Duke. 

NC State's Dominant Rushing Attack

Duke Scott (RB), who had been limited earlier this season due to injury, burst back onto the scene with an impressive 127-yard rushing performance today. 

Scott, Davion Gause (RB), and CJ Bailey (QB) were all effective at using their feet to find the end zone. 

CJ Bailey’s rushing touchdown came after he wisely tucked the ball and ran 9 yards past the Orange defense for an easy score with 3:40 left before halftime. 

Syracuse Thrives On Creating Turnovers

However, ’Cuse made this a game until the very end, trading scores with the Wolfpack in the second half.  

Its defense, which Interim Head Coach Todd Goebbel called opportunistic earlier this week, made CJ Bailey pay late in the fourth quarter when he threw a pick-six to Syracuse’s Tunmise Adeleye, who returned the ball 18 yards untouched for the score. 

Syracuse’s Steve Angeli (QB) threw for 272 yards and 2 touchdowns while managing to keep the Orange in this game down the stretch, including an 11-yard reception to Justus Ross-Simmons (WR) in the end zone with 48 seconds left. 

CJ Bailey was pressured a lot in the fourth quarter, limiting his ability to make plays. 

On the final drive of the game, when it appeared NC State would put itself in a position to tie the game, Bailey committed his second turnover, sealing the 34-31 victory for Syracuse. 

The turnovers have been brutal for NC State this season. Bailey has personally seen two wins slip through his hands due to his untimely mistakes. 

Goebbel now has the tough task of trying to rally this team after a bad loss today. 

Andre Cherry's Quick Thoughts

NC State showed some signs of life today against a Syracuse team that is better than its record indicates.

However, this was an embarrassing loss for Todd Goebbel’s program, which has tried to insulate itself from all of the Philip Rivers hoopla. 

Little hope remains for NC State to earn a bowl berth this season. The Wolfpack will need to win out their two remaining games to have any shot at a bowl game, which seems unlikely at this point.  

Now the most exciting thing to look forward to is Philip River’s introductory press conference at 1:30 pm ET on Monday.