RALEIGH, N.C.— Duke Scott ran for a career-best 196 yards in place of injured Atlantic Coast Conference rushing leader Hollywood Smothers to help N.C. State stun No. 8 Georgia Tech 48-36 on Saturday night, ending the Yellow Jackets’ unbeaten run.
Scott broke loose around the left side for a 30-yard TD with 4:07 left to effectively seal this one. The redshirt freshman ran tough all night and had home fans roaring “Duuuuuuuke!” after several of his gains.
CJ Bailey threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns while running for another for the Wolfpack (5-4, 2-3 ACC), which rode a crisp offensive showing from the opening possession to the program’s first win against a top-10 opponent in more than four years.
It came on a night with the Wolfpack missing multiple key players, notably Smothers and his league-best 103.1 yards rushing per game.
“Resiliency is what this place is about,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said, adding: “The harder it gets, sometimes I think the better we are.”
And it ended with Wolfpack fans storming to midfield to celebrate a massive win, coming after Caden Fordham intercepted Haynes King’s desperation throw to the end zone on the game’s final play.
N.C. State finished with 583 total yards and scored on eight of 10 drives, with six going for TDs.
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Georgia Tech (8-1, 5-1) entered with its first 8-0 start since 1966 and joined No. 15 Virginia as the only teams unbeaten in ACC play.
In an unusual twist, N.C. State has beaten both. The Wolfpack handed the Cavaliers their lone loss in September, though that was in a nonconference matchup added outside the league’s scheduling model and doesn’t count in the ACC standings.
King threw for two scores and ran for two more for Georgia Tech, which had 559 yards but settled for three field goals and also had a missed kick.
“They lined up and physically kicked our (butt) in a lot of ways,” Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said. “It is what it is. That’s on me. I take responsibility for it.”
The takeaway
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets compounded their defensive troubles with shaky red-zone play. They twice settled for third-quarter field goals after driving into the red zone. One even came after the Yellow Jackets committed a false-start penalty when going for it on a fourth-and-goal from the Wolfpack’s 1 — a problem when they were struggling to keep up.
N.C. State: The Wolfpack’s last win against a top-10 opponent had come in double overtime against then-No. 9 Clemson in September 2021, which was the only one in 13 tries under Doeren (now in his 13th year). This is the highest-ranked opponent N.C. State has beaten since taking down then-No. 3 Florida State in 2012.
