A 21-point lead becomes a five-minute scramble
NC State needed a lot more than it should have to beat Appalachian State on Saturday night in Raleigh, holding on for a 41-31 win after watching a 28-10 halftime lead nearly disappear. Duke Scott’s go-ahead touchdown with 5:08 left settled it, but the fourth quarter said more about this Wolfpack team than the first three combined.
App State scored 14 points in under two minutes late in the game to tie it at 31-31, a collapse that would have been the story of the night had NC State not answered immediately. Scott, who finished with 148 yards on 25 carries, capped the winning drive with a 44-yard burst, and Kanoah Vinesett’s field goal on the possession after put it out of reach.
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Bailey’s numbers hide the tighter margins underneath
CJ Bailey completed 24 of 33 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns, adding a rushing score of his own, and on paper it reads like a comfortable night. It was not. Bailey also threw an interception, and NC State’s defense allowed Malachi Singleton to throw for 317 yards and two more scores while adding a rushing touchdown. Singleton found Sam Pickett III on a diving 18-yard catch and Gavin Barber from nine yards out, and App State also got a 48-yard field goal from James London to stay within range all night.
This was NC State’s response to a loss at Vanderbilt last week that left plenty of questions about the Wolfpack’s ceiling under Dave Doeren. A win over a Group of Five program that had entered 3-0 will not silence those questions on its own, especially given how the fourth quarter unfolded, but it moves NC State to 2-2 with its confidence at least partly restored.
App State leaves with something to build on
The Mountaineers drop to 3-1, but they showed a Sun Belt roster with legitimate firepower can hang with a Power Four opponent for a full four quarters. Singleton’s dual-threat numbers and the receiving production from Pickett and Barber give App State a template it can lean on for the rest of its non-conference and Sun Belt schedule, even in a loss that will sting on the flight home.
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