Brennan Armstrong was back as North Carolina State’s starting quarterback and he made time in that role count by throwing and rushing for touchdowns in the Wolfpack’s 26-6 road victory against Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Armstrong had been a backup for the previous four games as MJ Morris was at the controls, but Morris’ decision to sit out the rest of the season to qualify for a redshirt thrust Armstrong, a graduate transfer from Virginia, back into the starting position.
Armstrong completed 12 of 17 passes for 111 yards and rushed for 96 yards on 15 attempts.
The Wolfpack (7-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their third straight game. It marked just the second NC State victory in Winston-Salem in the last 11 trips to its in-state rival.
Morris was 3-1 as a starter this year before the midweek revelation that he has opted to take a redshirt season. Another game played would have put him over the maximum number of games permitted to preserve a redshirt season.
Wake Forest (4-6, 1-6) has dropped three in a row and six of its last seven games.
Wake Forest tried quarterbacks Mitch Griffis and Michael Kern. The Demon Deacons avoided a shutout when Kern’s fourth-down pass was caught by diving receiver Deuce Alexander for a 19-yard touchdown with 7:15 remaining. Even that thrill lasted only so long because Jaylon Scott intercepted a two-point conversion pass and raced 100 yards for a two-point defensive conversion.
NC State went 84 in three plays for the game’s first points on Armstrong’s 20-yard pass to Julian Gray. The big play was KC Concepcion’s possession-opening 65-yard run on a reverse.
The Wolfpack were up 14-0 early in the second quarter. Armstrong plowed into the end zone on a fourth-down run from 1 yard out.
Armstrong’s 38-yard run to the Wake Forest 1 set up Delbert Mimms III’s 1-yard plunge for a 21-0 lead.
The Wolfpack’s only second-half points on offense came when NC State turned Sean Brown’s interception and 33-yard return into Brayden Narveson’s 45-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
–Field Level Media
