Friday night’s college football game between the University of Virginia and North Carolina State was a grind from start to finish. It escalated during the second half and reached its peak late in the third quarter with an eye poke.
The Cavaliers, at 0-3, were looking for their first win against the 2-1 Wolfpack at home. They saw a mass exodus during the offseason and starting quarterback Brennan Armstrong was among them.
He transferred to N.C. State to reunite with former Virginia offensive coordinator Robert Anae. This year’s matchup in Charlottesville marked his first (and only) matchup against his former school. It was Anae’s second.
Armstrong broke 15 records in five years at Virginia. His 2021 season was one of the best in school history.
Armstrong’s return was one component to the chippiness. As was the score, which was much closer than it should have been for the visiting team. On the flip side, there was some frustration on the Cavaliers side after starting the season on such a sour note.
All of those things combined to create some tension. It boiled over during the third quarter when Virginia’s 6-foot-3, 282-pound junior center Ty Furnish poked N.C. State linebacker and captain Payton Wilson.
It was essentially the same move as Shedeur Sanders against Colorado State. Some college football fans wanted Coach Prime’s son tossed for the move, but Colorado is choosing not to punish the star quarterback.
Furnish appears to be facing a similar fate, which will make the pro-ejection folks dissapointed. He was not punished on the field for his eye poke, and it seems unlikely that the Cavaliers will issue any sort of punishment either. No flag, no foul.
The third quarter was rough for Armstrong and the Wolfpack.
However, they did get going a little bit after the eye poke and took a lead into the fourth quarter. Perhaps the poke was the push that N.C. State needed to make it personal like Colorado?