Sophomore cornerback David Amerson set an ACC record with 13 interceptions in a season while the N.C. State Wolfpack defeated the Louisville Cardinals, 31-24, in front of 58,427 in attendance at the Belk Bowl in the Bank of America Stadium Tuesday evening.
“Certainly the game went how we thought it would,” Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien said. “I thought for sure that looking at Louisville on tape and how we matched up with them that the game would probably go down to the last play, which it did. We were fortunate enough, though, that we made enough plays to win the game.”
The first quarter began by kicking off to the Cards, who had no success passing the ball on their first drive, with limited success in their running game. The fault in their passing was further shown when Cardinal quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was intercepted by redshirt junior linebacker Terrell Manning with 11:45 left in the first quarter.
The Wolfpack slowly and steadily worked their way back down the field, finding success with short passing. The Pack started off the scoring with a six-yard pass to senior wide receiver T.J. Graham, bringing the game to 7-0 with 5:39 left in the first quarter.
Louisville fired back immediately with a 53-yard pass. Their momentum on the drive ended there, however, when a 52-yard field goal attempt failed after redshirt senior Markus Kuhn forced a 6-yard loss, giving the Pack the ball on their own 35-yard line.
The Wolfpack’s drive was unsuccessful, however, forcing freshman punter Wil Baumann to punt the ball, which he fumbled, giving the Cardinals possession on the Wolfpack five-yard line. After calling their first time out of the game, Louisville’s Bridgewater ran the ball into the end zone, tying the game at 7-7.
The Pack started the second quarter off on the wrong foot with redshirt junior quarterback Mike Glennon being sacked on their first drive, forcing Baumann to punt the ball back to the Cardinals. Glennon slipped up again with 9:56 left in the first half when he threw an interception to Louisville’s Calvin Pryor. Cardinal placekicker Chris Philpott followed with a 32-yard field goal, bringing the game to 10-7 in Louisville’s favor.
Glennon returned to form immediately after the Pack went down, throwing a 35-yard pass to junior wide receiver Tobais Palmer to bring the game to 14-10. Louisville responded with a 58-yard kick-off return but was unable to capitalize on the drive. Graham ended the first half with a 68-yard pass and run to give the Wolfpack a 21-10 advantage going into halftime.
“That first catch was probably the best catch I’ve seen all year and then T. J. where he made probably three guys miss him; that’s really something special. Those are big plays and it’s a quarterback’s favorite thing,” Glennon said.
The Pack had trouble moving the ball down the field at the beginning of the second half. Momentum returned to NCSU after Baumann was hit hard while punting, penalizing the Cardinals for 15 yards and giving the Wolfpack possession on Louisville’s 35-yard line. Another penalty, this time on Glennon for unnecessary roughness, putting the ball on the Cardinal’s 10-yard line, setting Sade up for a 32-yard field goal and increasing their advantage to 24-10.
On Louisville’s next drive, Amerson picked off Bridgewater’s pass and made a 65-yard return for a touchdown and his 12th interception of the year, momentarily setting the ACC record for interceptions in a season and bringing the Wolfpack’s lead to 14 points.
“The DBs had to step up and make a play at the end of the ball game and that is what we did,” Amerson said. “I really did not know that Donte [Johnson] had the ball, I just went for the ball and it was like tunnel vision and I was going to go get it. I really take pride in it; I just see the ball and go get it.”
The Cardinals’ tight end Nate Nord made a dramatic diving catch in the back of the end zone at the end of the third quarter after a lofted pass from a scrambling Bridgewater, closing in on the Pack and taking the game to 31-17. Louisville then went into the fourth quarter with possession after recovering an onside kick on their own 40-yard line.
The Cardinals closed in on State’s lead once again at the end of the fourth quarter, bringing the game to 31-24, but that was too little too late for Louisville after the Cards gave Amerson his second interception of the game, topping off his season of interceptions with 13, an ACC all-time record for interceptions in a season and the best of anyone in the nation for the 2011 season.
“He was going to take it away from everybody,” O’Brien said. “He took the one away for the touchdown. I think certainly he is deserving of the record he has.”