SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A back-and-forth game throughout, NC State scored the game’s final 16 points to come away with a 36-29 road win at Syracuse.
The Wolfpack (7-3, 6-3 ACC) trailed 28-20 with 5:49 left in the third quarter, but totaled a pair of touchdowns and a field goal over the final 17:22 of the game.
QB Bailey Hockman threw for career-highs of 313 yards and four touchdowns, while WR Thayer Thomas also had a career-best with three receiving TDs.
The win is NC State’s third straight, and third ACC road win of the season.
After stopping Syracuse on the game’s first drive, the Pack took its first offensive possession for a touchdown to grab a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. RB Zonovan Knight capped the drive with a 6-yard score, his team leading ninth TD of the season.
Syracuse answered on the ensuing kick, with a 98-yard kickoff return for a TD, and the game was tied 7-7 after the first quarter.
Syracuse hit back-to-back field goals of 45 yards and then 23 yards within the first two minutes of the second quarter to take a 13-7 lead.
The lead shuffled back and forth with each team closing the half with a TD. First, QB Bailey Hockman found Thayer Thomas from 15 yards out, only to have the Orange answer on the ensuing drive with a 60-yard TD pass.
Syracuse then added a safety on their fourth of six first half sacks to lead at the break 22-14.
The Pack found once again found the end zone on its first drive of the second half, as Hockman once again found Thomas, this time from 31 yards out. After a failed two-point conversion, it was 22-20.
And just like the first half, Syracuse answered the very next drive with a 13-yard TD pass to go back up 29-20 with 5:49 left in the third quarter.
The third Hockman-Thomas TD connection of the game came near the end of the third quarter, this from 9 yards out, cut the lead to 29-27 going into the fourth quarter.
The Pack captured hits first lead since their opening drive, as Hockman threw for his career-high fourth TD of the game, this time finding WR Emeka Emezie from 26 yards out. After another failed two-point conversion, NC State was up 33-29 one minute into the fourth quarter.
Christopher Dunn’s 31-yard field goal with 5:20 left made it 16 straight points for NC State and a 36-29 lead.
Syracuse drove the ball down to Pack’s 9-yard line in the final seconds, but LB Payton Wilson scored a sack that ended the game.
WOLFPACK SPOTLIGHT DRIVE – 1st half
9 plays, 80 yards, 4:04 – Zonovan Knight 6-yd TD
The Pack’s took its first offensive possession in for a touchdown for the fifth time this season, and jumped out to a 7-0 lead after a 9-play, 80-yard drive. Knight capped the drive with a 6-yard score, his fourth straight game with a rushing TD. On the drive, Hockman was 3-of-3 for 40 yards.
WOLFPACK SPOTLIGHT DRIVE – 2nd half
8 plays, 59 yards, 1:56 – Bailey Hockman to Emeka Emezie 26-yard TD pass
The Pack captured its first lead since starting the game 7-0 less then a minute into the fourth quarter. Hockman threw his fourth TD of the game, this time finding Emezie in the corner of the end zone for the 26-yard score that put NC State ahead 33-29.
STAT LEADERS
• QB Bailey Hockman
23-of-31 for 313 yards, 4 TDs
• RB Ricky Person, Jr.
17 rushes for 61 yards
• WR Thayer Thomas
9 catches for 102 yards, 3 TDs
• LB Payton Wilson
10 tackles, 1 sack
NOTABLES
• WR Thayer Thomas’ three receiving TDs are tied for the third-most in school history in a single game, and the most since Jaylen Samuels also had three in the 2016 bowl win over Vanderbilt.
UP NEXT
NC State will return home for the final regular season game of the 2020 season next weekend, as the Pack will host Georgia Tech. The game time will be announced tomorrow.
