NC State 48 Central Michigan 14

Pete Thomas threw his first touchdown pass as an NC State quarterback and the Wolfpack looked as sharp as anyone could hope in route to a 48-14 win over Central Michigan on a gorgeous fall afternoon in Carter-Finley Stadium. Coach Doeren’s staff clearly saw something in in the Chippewa defense that the Pack wanted to exploit as State racked up 239 rushing yards (4.6 yards per carry), with a large portion of rushes called on wide sweeps that utilized wide receivers more than usual. For example, Bryan Underwood ran three jet sweeps while Rashard Smith rushed the ball five times. All told, State ran the ball on almost 3 of every 4 plays for scrimmage.

Defensively, State was without defensive ends Darryl Cato-Bishop and Forrest West, but Robert Caldwell continued his stellar play and once again led the Pack with tackles. D.J. Green set the tone for the day when he intercepted a MCU pass on the Chippewas first possession and returned it 37 yards for the first score of the day.

ncsu-pick6-cmu-small

While the News & Observer and Fayetteville Observer both highlighted Shadrach Thornton’s growing role, Backing the Pack took a broader approach and highlighted the roles of the ‘primary ball touchers’ on Saturday.

For the game, CMU gained just 259 yards on 64 plays, an average of just over four yards per play. In 72 plays, the Pack ran up 483 yards, a 6.7 per play average. But a truer representation of N.C. State’s dominance is evident in the first half stats. The Pack put up 285 yards (8.1 per play) before intermission compared to 94 (2.7) for CMU.

Walking with one of his sons on the way to a team dinner at Vaughn Towers on Friday, N.C. State football coach Dave Doeren addressed running back Shadrach Thornton.

When you walk over coals to get what you want, Doeren told Thornton, it means a lot more to you.

Doeren offered two more words.

Show me.

Thornton, who was suspended for the Wolfpack’s season opener because of a June arrest on a misdemeanor assault charge, has seen his role gradually increase. After appearing only on special teams against Richmond and capitalizing on his only two offensive touches against Clemson, he rushed 13 times for 71 yards as N.C. State’s primary ball carrier in a 48-14 win against Central Michigan on Saturday.

Doeren’s message a day earlier about overcoming adversity and gaining strength from it resonated with Thornton.

“I’m a firm believer in perseverance,” Thornton said. “It’ll make you a better person. If you go through a lot, go through so much to get what you really want, once you’ve got it, it means a lot. It’s a blessing to be here.”

Shadrach Thornton got a second chance from N.C. State coach Dave Doeren. The sophomore running back made sure he made the most of it in Saturday’s 48-14 win over Central Michigan.

Thornton ran for 71 yards and scored a 29-yard touchdown, his second in as many weeks, since returning from a one-game suspension.

Thornton was grateful for a bigger role in the Wolfpack’s offense on Saturday.

[snip]

Doeren said earlier this week that Thornton had to earn a bigger role in the offense. That’s fine with Thornton, who ran for 694 yards last season.

“Really, I’m just here to do what they need me to do,” Thornton said. “They told me that my role would increase as the weeks progressed and I continue to get better.”

 

NC State will play its first game of the season outside of Carter-Finley this coming Saturday when the Wolfpack travel to Winston-Salem and take on Wake Forest in the house of horrors that has become BB&T Field. Kickoff is set for 3:30pm.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

'13 Football

71 Responses to NC State 48 Central Michigan 14

  1. MrPlywood 09/29/2013 at 8:03 PM #

    2 out of 3 today for State QBs in the NFL, and both of the wins were comebacks. Glennon now gets 2 weeks to recruit an O-line.

    I’m not a Pete Carroll fan, but I have to give him huge credit for choosing RW last year especially after the S’hawks signed Flynn to a pretty big contract.

  2. TheCOWDOG 09/29/2013 at 8:07 PM #

    I was too early, and mispoken. Rivers is the Pack player of the day.

    In a day you could pick and choose.

  3. NCSU84 09/29/2013 at 8:12 PM #

    Just heard a stat: 10% of the NFL starting QBs are from NC State – Awesome

  4. Alpha Wolf 09/29/2013 at 8:33 PM #

    “Hauschka drills a 48 yarder. He and Blair Walsh are the best in the league, by far.”

    I would include Prater from Denver in the list, but that’s my opinion.

    Rivers is the Pack player of the day.

    Can’t really disagree, but then again, Wilson made some key scrambles to get a near-dead Seahawks team back into the game. Rivers had a great day, though, so I will give the old man his due.

  5. YogiNC 09/29/2013 at 8:43 PM #

    Hauschka, Amerson, Rivers & Wilson. Four pack players that made BIG impacts in the won loss columns today, and I heard quite a few other names in the OT on Fox. So sad to hear about LC Greenwood. THAT was a special bunch who really knew what playing defense was all about.

  6. Alpha Wolf 09/29/2013 at 8:45 PM #

    NFL playoffs probably going to expand to 14 teams:

    Playoffs Expanding?

    Commissioner Roger Goodell recently hinted at it, and Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports that the end result could be a three-week preseason and two more playoff teams.

    The expansion to 14 would add two more playoff games, with the No. 2 seed in each conference playing the No. 7 seed. Under that scenario, only the No. 1 seed in each conference would have a bye, and wild-card weekend would have six games instead of four.

  7. PackFamily 09/29/2013 at 9:32 PM #

    El Scrotcho, I have my own hex:

    2009: Started off 3-1. Left for Disney right after the Pitt game (where we won by holding them on the last 4th and goal). The following Saturday we played Wake in W-S. Started off strong with a sack and went up 7-0 (I think). Took the kids to dinner at Chef Mickeys and all hell broke loose. I checked my phone and RW threw 2 INT’s and broke his NCAA record streak. We lost.

    2011: We were 1-0 with Glennon as our new QB when the family and I leave for Disney again. We play Wake in W-S that Saturday. You guessed it. We lost.

    2013: The family and I had a great time at the game yesterday when we whipped CMU. We are down in FL today (non-Disney parks). We’ll see how we do Saturday but we all will be watching.

  8. redcanine 09/29/2013 at 10:03 PM #

    Damn you Mickey Mouse!!

  9. packpowerfan 09/29/2013 at 10:04 PM #

    PF, you get out. You get out right now.

  10. packpowerfan 09/29/2013 at 10:07 PM #

    “Dead skins win, eagles, giants, girls lose.”

    The NFC East is a straight dumpster fire. I would rather watch a colonoscopy in slow motion than any of those teams the rest of the year.

  11. choppack1 09/29/2013 at 10:59 PM #

    Pack family think you… with that info I shall bet the mortgage on wake forest.

  12. tjfoose1 09/30/2013 at 12:25 AM #

    Have to question Schiano. Rookie QB making first start, has a small lead for most of the game, and he calls 45 pass plays?

  13. Fastback68 09/30/2013 at 7:40 AM #

    I think dumpster fires are awesome. I especially enjoyed opening day of Jerry Jones’ billion dollar dumpster when the Giants came in and won. Also LMAO when I saw Romo’s new contract. Danny White was an awesome QB back in the day as well. Is he in the HOF yet???

  14. Wulfpack 09/30/2013 at 8:18 AM #

    Only 4 NFC teams have winning records. Looks like Denver and Seattle are destined. Peyton is on pace to break all kinds of records. Amazing start.

  15. ncsu1987 09/30/2013 at 8:34 AM #

    “Have to question Schiano. Rookie QB making first start, has a small lead for most of the game, and he calls 45 pass plays?”

    Agree. Reeks of desperation. He has reason.

  16. coach13 09/30/2013 at 9:12 AM #

    Did not read all the posts so if it was mentioned and it is a little off topic from the Pack’s game, I listened to some of the UNC game on the radio. That Jones Whatever guy was so ticked…can’t imagine how many times he kept mentioning with disgust that it was a C-USA officiating crew as if that’s how the Pie-rats were able to thump the Holes around.

    I AM however more concerned with the Rats coming to Raleigh now vs the classless want shake hands when we lose kick like little girls after plays can’t read ignorant riff raff tarholes.

  17. WolfInVolCountry 09/30/2013 at 9:16 AM #

    He may not have had the impact of the other State players today… but Nate Irving has been holding his own in his fill in for Von Miller as the Broncos (and Peyton) continue to roll. Cotchery had a decent day for Pukesburgh as he went 5/103 with a TD.

  18. Mike 09/30/2013 at 11:07 AM #

    Good article in the N&O this AM from a Tampa writer. I am sure N&O picked it up in syndication.

    Very funny article. The writer spoke of no running game, a poor O-line not able to protect him, a couple late INT’s that were poor decisions to throw, a sack for holding on to the ball too long and not unloading it, and lack of mobility to escape.

    Deja vu all over again!

  19. Mike 09/30/2013 at 11:09 AM #

    And speaking of Amerson, he did have the pick 6 yesterday but I have not watched any of their games. I do remember reading Peter King of SI.com after week 2 writing Amerson had one of the worst games ever for a DB. It must have been pretty bad for a national writer to single him out (I mean a writer with no pro-UNX bias) as an awful game.

    More deja-vu all over again.

  20. ancsu87 10/01/2013 at 2:42 AM #

    It was on the MMQB “bad day” list for week 2. It did not day he had one of worst days ever for a DB. The entire Skins D had a bad day against GB.

  21. ancsu87 10/01/2013 at 2:43 AM #

    Was the article about TB and Glennon or NYG and Eli???

Leave a Reply