Duke 41, NC State 3: Nate Sheppard's 217 yards decide it in Raleigh
Nate Sheppard ran for 217 yards and three touchdowns as Duke beat NC State 41-3 at Carter-Finley Stadium, covering easily and staying under.
Duke settled this one on the first snap that mattered. Nate Sheppard broke a 69-yard touchdown run 48 seconds into the game, and the Blue Devils ran over NC State for a 41-3 win at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday.
Sheppard finished with 217 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries. Duke ran for 238 yards as a team. NC State ran for 32.
How it was won
The Wolfpack answered the opening score with a 39-yard Kanoah Vinesett field goal at 10:26 of the first quarter. Those were their only points.
Sheppard scored again from 8 yards early in the second quarter to make it 14-3. G. Strange added a 25-yard field goal with 3:14 left in the half, and Walker Eget found Jaivon Solomon for an 18-yard touchdown with 26 seconds remaining.
The last play of the half turned a three-touchdown lead into a rout. NC State lined up for a 50-yard Vinesett field goal with one second left, and Duke's A. Pellicciotta returned it for a touchdown. That made it 31-3 at the break, a 14-point swing in the final half-minute.
Sheppard's 4-yard run at 3:52 of the third quarter and Strange's 46-yard field goal at 5:13 of the fourth closed the scoring.
The box score matches the scoreboard:
- Total yards: Duke 461, NC State 217
- Rushing: Duke 238, NC State 32
- First downs: Duke 26, NC State 12
- Possession: Duke 35:52, NC State 24:08
- Turnovers: none for either side
Eget was efficient, completing 22 of 31 for 208 yards and the touchdown. Solomon caught 5 passes for 71 yards and Jonah Burton had 5 for 52. Jayvian Tanelus added 20 yards on 9 carries behind Sheppard.
Third downs were poor on both sides. Duke converted 3 of 11, NC State 3 of 14. Duke did not need them; Sheppard's long runs made the chains a secondary concern.
For NC State, CJ Bailey went 15 of 24 for 123 yards without a touchdown. Hunter Provience caught 5 passes for 51 yards and Amiri Acker had 2 for 54. Davion Gause led the ground game with 26 yards on 8 carries. With no running game, the Wolfpack could not stay on the field or keep Duke's offense off it.
Against the number
Duke closed as a 4.5-point favorite and won by 38, an easy cover. The moneyline had Duke at -192 and NC State at +160.
The total closed at 53.5, and the game went under with 44 points. Duke scored 41 on its own, but NC State's three points kept the combined number well short. The special-teams touchdown helped Duke's side of the ledger without changing the result on the total.
Full pricing history is on the game page.
What's next
Duke moves to 7-2. Its two losses, 25-28 at Georgia Tech and 20-24 to North Carolina, came by a combined seven points, and it has won three straight since. The schedule now gets as hard as it can: the Blue Devils play at No. 1 Miami on Saturday, November 14, on ABC.
NC State falls to 4-5. The Wolfpack had won 31-10 over Cal the week before, but this was their third loss by 24 or more points, after 8-34 at Virginia and 14-38 against Wake Forest. They host Syracuse on Saturday, November 14, on ACC Network.
