NC State tops Florida State 21-11 behind Joly's TD, 2 late special-teams turnovers by Seminoles

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Justin Joly had a clinching fourth-down touchdown catch with 1:47 left — coming after Florida State committed turnovers on back-to-back late punt returns — to help N.C. State hang for a 21-11 win Friday night and become bowl eligible.

It marks the 11th time that N.C. State reached bowl eligiblility under 13th-year coach Dave Doeren, coming a week after an ugly loss at No. 14 Miami.

“There's no quit here,” Doeren said. “Hopefully by now you guys know that. My teams don't do that."

The Wolfpack (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) grinded to this win behind a defense that allowed one TD and got a huge showing from cornerback Devon Marshall with two interceptions and five pass breakups for an injury-hit secondary. The offense did its best work on a 15-play drive lasting nearly 9 minutes, ending with Will Wilson plowing through the left side for a 1-yard keeper and a 14-3 third-quarter lead.

But it was the special-teams miscues by the Seminoles (5-6, 2-6) that stood out most in what coach Mike Norvell called “catastrophic.”

Trailing 14-11, they forced the Wolfpack to punt near midfield, only for Caden Noonkester's short kick to hit the helmet of FSU blocker K.J. Kirkland — then bounce about 25 yards back to Noonkester, who dove on the ball near the original line of scrimmage with 3:53 left.

“Football’s that way,” Doeren said. “There’s all kinds of bounces in games. Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don’t. And that’s football."

“I've never seen anything like that,” FSU quarterback Tommy Castellanos said.

FSU again forced a punt, only to see Squirrel White muff the catch and have it bounce right to N.C. State's Tra Thomas with 2:21 left. C.J. Bailey followed with his second TD throw on the 12-yarder to Joly for the 21-11 lead.

Duce Robinson had a 9-yard TD catch from Castellanos midway through the fourth for FSU's lone touchdown.

FSU: That caps another rough year in league play. FSU is 3-13 in ACC play since the start of last year.

“No, we have not lived up to expectations,” Norvell said. “We're a fully capable football team. That's not good enough. And it's not been good enough for the six losses that we have.”

N.C. State: The Wolfpack went from handing No. 15 Georgia Tech its lone loss on Nov. 1 to the Miami loss, only to regroup for a fourth straight win against FSU.

FSU had a brief scare when Norvell said a player “went down” as the team came off the field. Wolfpack cheerleaders near the tunnel took a knee as trainers and medical staff crowded around with a cart near the tunnel, but Norvell said the player was eventually able to get back up and walk back for further evaluation.

"Lucky is when a ball bounces off a guy, back to us and your punter recovers it. That was lucky. And that's God's blessing, is what that is." — Doeren

FSU: The Seminoles visit instate rival Florida on Nov. 29.

N.C. State: Rival North Carolina visits the Wolfpack on Nov. 29.

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North Carolina State defensive back Devon Marshall (6) disrupts a pass intended for Florida State wide receiver Duce Robinson (0) during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

Home Depot got a lift in the first quarter from professionals and also homeowners stocking up on spring supplies.

"The underlying demand in our business was relatively similar to what we saw throughout fiscal 2025, despite greater consumer uncertainty and housing affordability pressure,” CEO Ted Decker said Tuesday.

The housing market has been static as Americans consumers wrestle with rising costs and other economic concerns.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat in April, another lackluster showing for the housing market during what’s traditionally its busiest time of the year. Existing home sales edged up 0.2% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said a week ago. Sales were unchanged compared to April last year.

The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, the year mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows that fueled a homebuying frenzy at the start of this decade. American consumers are cautious as gas prices fuel an inflation surge of 3.8% in the U.S. Labor Department figures last week showed that gasoline prices are up more than 28% compared with a year ago.

For the three months ended May 3, Home Depot earned $3.29 billion, or $3.30 per share. A year earlier the Atlanta company earned $3.43 billion, or $3.45 per share.

Removing certain items, earnings were $3.43 per share. That's better than the $3.41 per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet were calling for.

Revenue climbed to $41.77 billion from $39.86 billion, which topped Wall Street's expectations for revenue of $41.59 billion.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, rose 0.6%. In the U.S., comparable store sales climbed 0.4%.

Customer transactions declined 1.3% in the quarter, but the amount that shoppers spent increased to $92.76 per average receipt from $90.71 a year ago.

Home Depot still anticipates fiscal 2026 total sales growth of about 2.5% to 4.5% and comparable sales growth to be about flat to up 2%.

Shares rose more than 1% before the opening bell Tuesday.

FILE - A "For Sale" sign is displayed outside a home on Friday, July 11, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)