NC State hit some milestones on Friday night. Jaylen Samuels became the school’s all-time receptions leader, while Kelvin Harmon crossed the 1000-yard receiving mark, and also NC State won nine games in a season, which has been a rare thing around here.
A slow and confused start aside, NC State controlled the vast majority of the Sun Bowl against Arizona State and prevailed, 52-31. Ryan Finley was outstanding, completing 24 of 29 attempts for 318 yards and a touchdown. While the ground game struggled early, Finley kept the offense on schedule.
And NC State did not punt once during the first half, navigating around some poor play calls—and one bad fake field goal—to give the Wolfpack the obvious edge heading into the break.