NC State Football: Wolfpack obliterate ECU in a 58-3 thrashing
A disappointing effort out of the East Carolina Pirates marked a dominant showing from NC State football with a 55-point victory in Raleigh.
In a rescheduled game that was originally supposed to be played against the West Virginia Mountaineers earlier this year, NC State football had a Dec. 1 Week 14 matchup against the East Carolina Pirates. NC State football entered as a 23-point favorite over East Carolina.
The fear for NC State football in this matchup would’ve been how the ECU Pirates were able to rise to the occasion in some non-conference games earlier in the season. ECU surprisingly knocked off a down North Carolina Tar Heels team by the final score of 41-19 back in September. The UNC Tar Heels did give the NC State Wolfpack a close battle in Week 13.
ECU was coming off a thorough defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bearcats from Week 13 and entered this game with a 3-8 record. NC State football was coming off a closer than expected overtime win over UNC in its rivalry week and carried an 8-3 record into the matchup with ECU.
This loss for ECU now marks two straight weeks where it lost by a margin of more than 50 points. Those two losses came to NC State and Cincy. While those two teams are borderline top 25 teams this year, ECU shouldn’t be in such a dip under head coach Scottie Montgomery that it loses two straight weeks by a combined margin of 105 points.
Senior NC State quarterback Ryan Finley had a big day in his final game at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC, with 409 passing yards and three touchdowns. Senior running back Reggie Gallaspy also had a huge game on the ground with 220 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
The discrepancies in the numbers between NC State and ECU was the real story here. NC State posted 655 total yards of offense while holding ECU to just 100. Both teams had three turnovers, so that didn’t give NC State any edge in this convincing victory.
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The win for the Wolfpack moves them to 9-3 on the season, while ECU gets yet another three win season under the direction of Montgomery. Head NC State football coach Dave Doeren could have his team within range of a double-digit win season in 2018.