N.C. State holds on to beat UCF 34-27
There will be no 10-win season for Central Florida.
N.C. State scored twice in the third quarter to turn a 17-10 halftime lead into a 31-13 margin at the beginning of the fourth and held on for a 34-27 win in the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl.
Had UCF won, the Knights would have had at least 10 wins in each of the last three seasons. Instead, N.C. State got its eighth win of the season, the most the program has had since 2011.
The Wolfpack piled up 486 yards of offense on UCF's defense, which entered the game third in the country in total defense at 283 yards per game. The Knights couldn't stop N.C. State's passing attack, which picked up huge chunks of yardage. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett finished 15-of-26 passing for 262 yards and a touchdown.
Brissett, however, wasn't the only one who did damage throwing the ball. The Wolfpack's first score of the game came on a pass from running back Shadrach Thornton to receiver Jaylen Samuels for an 18-yard touchdown. And in the second half, Brissett caught a 20-yard pass from receiver Bo Hines.
Thornton finished with 96 yards rushing and Matt Dayes had 78 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
UCF QB Justin Holman threw 53 passes and completed just 23 of them. He was forced to go almost exclusively to the air when UCF went down three scores in the second half and kept chucking. He hit Josh Reese for Reese's third touchdown of the game with 1:44 left to cut N.C. State's lead to a touchdown, but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Wolfpack and three kneeldowns ended the game.
N.C. State finishes 8-5 while UCF ends the year 9-4.
For more N.C. State news, visit TheWolfpacker.com
For more UCF news, visit UCFSports.com.
- - - - - - -
Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
