Jordan Waters and Hollywood Smothers each rushed for two touchdowns and 100 yards apiece as North Carolina State rolled to a 59-28 home victory over Stanford on Saturday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.
NC State (5-4, 2-3 ACC) has won consecutive games for the first time this season, while Stanford (2-7, 1-5) lost its sixth in a row.
Smothers reached a career-high 100 yards rushing on 16 carries, while Waters totaled 115 yards on just five touches. One of Waters’ two touchdown runs came on a 94-yard breakaway in the third quarter, which followed Smothers’ 52-yard sprint to the end zone. It was a banner day for NC State’s running game, which piled up a season-high 281 yards.
Complementing the ground attack was the steady play of true freshman CJ Bailey, as he completed 18-of-20 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns. KC Concepcion caught and ran for touchdowns, totaling 46 yards on total offense on seven touches, as the Wolfpack totaled 527 offensive yards.
Stanford was paced by Ashton Daniels, who threw for 70 yards while completing 6-of-8 attempts and rushed for a game-high 129 yards and two touchdowns.
NC State scored touchdowns on four of its five first-half possessions — settling for a field goal on the other — helping it jump out to a 31-14 lead at the break. The Wolfpack kept clicking on offense in the second half, with touchdowns on each of their first four possessions after intermission.
Stanford was a combined 4-of-12 on third and fourth downs, while NC State was 7-of-11.
It was the Wolfpack’s highest scoring total of the season.
Defensively, NC State came up with three sacks, 13 tackles for losses and two turnovers.
–Field Level Media
