Written by Darrell Wilkinson
St. Petersburg, Fla- It may have been new technology that was being advertised and showcased at the 2014 Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl but it was good old fashion hard nose football that won the day at Tropicana Field. After a closely contested fight in the first half of the game (NCSU 17- UCF 10) Jacoby Brissett and North Carolina State really firmed their grip and took control of the game, holding off UCF in the end 34-27. Brissett had a monster game himself, almost single handedly beating the Knights defense with 262 yards passing and 53 yards on the ground with one passing touchdown and was named the games MVP. Shadrach Thornton with 96 yards on the ground himself helped ice the game at the end to secure victory. It just all went wrong for the Knights coming out of the tunnel despite arguably carrying alot of the momentum at the half, sacking Brissett in the redzone to end the half instead of the WolfPack scoring. It was a tale of two halves.
Unfortunately for the UCF Knights, they played two halves of Football tonight one much different from the other. NC States offensive line played a phenomenal game and although you probably wont hear any of their names mentioned or seen in box scores, I assure you they were the catalyst for this game. NC State Quarterback Jacoby Brissett looked extremely comfortable in the pocket, rarely making contact with any defensive lineman on any throw or handoff, and always had the ability to escape and gain extra yards when he couldn’t find a target downfield. Led by left Tackle Rob Crisp, the NC State offensive line dominated in every sense of the word, a forceful push off the snap of the ball in the run game, and looking even better in pass protection. Wolfpack runner Shadrach Thornton benefitted the most from the "big ugglies" having a relatively quite 24 yards on 7 carries in the first half, but finishing strong with 10 carries for 72 yards in the second half. Bo Hines was a reliable target on the night for the Wolfpack offense, bailing out Brissett and making big plays on his own when his team needed it. Hines's long 45 yard catch really brought momentum to the offense at the time and once the NC State offense started rolling, it was unstoppable if not getting better (on the ground) with every play. UCF began to mount a comeback in the middle of the fourth quarter but it was too late by this point. UCF threw the ball 53 times and got away from the style of game that they like to play. That as well as an offense that struggled mightily until the end did not help the Knights case.
"You just can never give up, that’s the important thing" said UCF Head Coach George O'Leary after the game.
"Credit to NC State, but defensively we had too many opportunities we didn’t take advantage of (as far as missed tackles) and broken plays they made for first downs that you cant allow to happen, I thought that was the difference in the game"
Echoing Coach O'Leary, the Knights just plain let too many big plays happen. Brissett got very relaxed, the defense couldn’t find a way to get NC State off the field on third downs. NC State was 6 for 15 on third downs while UCF was 7 for 20 on their own. In short conversions, offensively and/or defensively can swing football games in your teams favor.
On a positive note for the Knights, senior Wide out Josh Reese, was named UCF's team MVP award for the game for his 6 catch 75 yard and 3 touchdown performance. Josh after the game was visibly upset despite winning the team MVP for the game. In his final game as a Knight Reese said he was "disappointed his team didn’t get to the 10 win mark". Reese shared the receiving spotlight with fellow wideout Breshad Perriman, who caught a game high 9 catches for 138 yards. Holman looked decent for a young quarterback and his potential to grow should be something to look forward to in the 2015 campaign.
For NC State there are plenty of positives to look forward to Brissett coming off another good game, looking more comfortable in the offense and making Florida Gators fans wish that he never transferred away from Gainsville. As a redshirt Junior, along with his running back Shandrach Thornton the WolfPack will retain most of their explosive nature on offense looking to make a better run at the ACC title next year. It may take some catching up to Costal division Champs FSU but NC State looks well on their way. With a young offensive line all set to return next season the WolfPack will be an interesting team to watch and it was a great win for the ACC conference.
With Bitcoin currency being passed along via twitter and other forms of the Internet Saturday night were left with an interesting and slightly unique experience at the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. The ACC shows it dominance and the AAC shows its just a little behind, but probably not as far as most of us would like to think.
From Beautiful St. Petersburg Florida we were left with NC State 34 UCF 27
- Darrell WIlkinson TheSkyBoat.com
- Twitter: @Darrell_Canes
Unfortunately for the UCF Knights, they played two halves of Football tonight one much different from the other. NC States offensive line played a phenomenal game and although you probably wont hear any of their names mentioned or seen in box scores, I assure you they were the catalyst for this game. NC State Quarterback Jacoby Brissett looked extremely comfortable in the pocket, rarely making contact with any defensive lineman on any throw or handoff, and always had the ability to escape and gain extra yards when he couldn’t find a target downfield. Led by left Tackle Rob Crisp, the NC State offensive line dominated in every sense of the word, a forceful push off the snap of the ball in the run game, and looking even better in pass protection. Wolfpack runner Shadrach Thornton benefitted the most from the "big ugglies" having a relatively quite 24 yards on 7 carries in the first half, but finishing strong with 10 carries for 72 yards in the second half. Bo Hines was a reliable target on the night for the Wolfpack offense, bailing out Brissett and making big plays on his own when his team needed it. Hines's long 45 yard catch really brought momentum to the offense at the time and once the NC State offense started rolling, it was unstoppable if not getting better (on the ground) with every play. UCF began to mount a comeback in the middle of the fourth quarter but it was too late by this point. UCF threw the ball 53 times and got away from the style of game that they like to play. That as well as an offense that struggled mightily until the end did not help the Knights case.
"You just can never give up, that’s the important thing" said UCF Head Coach George O'Leary after the game.
"Credit to NC State, but defensively we had too many opportunities we didn’t take advantage of (as far as missed tackles) and broken plays they made for first downs that you cant allow to happen, I thought that was the difference in the game"
Echoing Coach O'Leary, the Knights just plain let too many big plays happen. Brissett got very relaxed, the defense couldn’t find a way to get NC State off the field on third downs. NC State was 6 for 15 on third downs while UCF was 7 for 20 on their own. In short conversions, offensively and/or defensively can swing football games in your teams favor.
On a positive note for the Knights, senior Wide out Josh Reese, was named UCF's team MVP award for the game for his 6 catch 75 yard and 3 touchdown performance. Josh after the game was visibly upset despite winning the team MVP for the game. In his final game as a Knight Reese said he was "disappointed his team didn’t get to the 10 win mark". Reese shared the receiving spotlight with fellow wideout Breshad Perriman, who caught a game high 9 catches for 138 yards. Holman looked decent for a young quarterback and his potential to grow should be something to look forward to in the 2015 campaign.
For NC State there are plenty of positives to look forward to Brissett coming off another good game, looking more comfortable in the offense and making Florida Gators fans wish that he never transferred away from Gainsville. As a redshirt Junior, along with his running back Shandrach Thornton the WolfPack will retain most of their explosive nature on offense looking to make a better run at the ACC title next year. It may take some catching up to Costal division Champs FSU but NC State looks well on their way. With a young offensive line all set to return next season the WolfPack will be an interesting team to watch and it was a great win for the ACC conference.
With Bitcoin currency being passed along via twitter and other forms of the Internet Saturday night were left with an interesting and slightly unique experience at the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. The ACC shows it dominance and the AAC shows its just a little behind, but probably not as far as most of us would like to think.
From Beautiful St. Petersburg Florida we were left with NC State 34 UCF 27
- Darrell WIlkinson TheSkyBoat.com
- Twitter: @Darrell_Canes
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