NC State leads the overall series (2-0) against the Jaguars with wins coming in 2011 and 2012 by a combined score of 66-20.

“I think it’s natural when you’re in a conference game for the hair to stand up on your neck maybe a little bit more, ” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said Monday.

But Dayes answered quickly with a 77-yard touchdown run, Thornton added a 39-yard scoring run and Dayes made the Jags pay for a pair of interceptions by turning them into TD runs of 2 and 8 yards. In his first game back last week, Thornton rushed for 92 yards and a touchdown behind Dayes, who had 108 yards and a score in a 38-14 win at Old Dominion.

“The danger when you play teams like this, the Nebraskas and N.C. States, there’s times they’re going to run it off on you and they did”.

“It’s just a good sign of how much we’ve grown to just go out there and dominant no matter who we are playing against”, Thornton said.

A pass interference penalty against N.C. State in the end zone late in the quarter set up US with a first and goal at the 6.

What the loss means for South Alabama: After an impressive win over San Diego State last week, there was some hope that the Jaguars could hang tough with NC State in a rare appearance of a Power 5 team playing in Mobile, Alabama.

The running game has been a big reason for the fast start to this season and the improvement since a 3-9 record in 2013. But Dayes ran for three touchdowns in the first quarter, including a 77-yarder on his first carry of the game. But NC State quarterback Jacoby Brissett found Jaylen Samuels with a 33-yard touchdown pass and, after the Wolfpack recovered a muffed punt, hit Samuels again with a 2-yard scoring strike for a 42-10 halftime lead. North Carolina State won those games by an average of more than 34 points. The Wolfpack lead the nation in time of possession (40 minutes, 36 seconds per game) while the Jaguars are 107th, at less than 27 minutes a game. “They’ve really benefited from another program’s demise”, Doeren said. Freshman running back Reggie Gallaspy tacked on 12- and 10-yard scoring runs in the fourth quarter.

NO APOLOGIES: Doeren is defending N.C. State’s nonconference schedule, which includes one FCS team (Eastern Kentucky), two teams that recently were at that level before moving up (Old Dominion and South Alabama), plus another Sun Belt school (Troy). “We’re definitely an improved football team”.