Rumors of Cam Sexton starting against NC State may have been exaggerated as was the head coach actually naming him as the starter.
Apparently, Butch Davis had a staff meeting Monday morning which may or may not have involved large quantities of Starbucks coffee. Once the caffeine kicked in and following a raucous game of rock-paper-scissors, Davis has decided to tell both TJ Yates and Cam Sexton to get ready for Saturday against NC State. No word on what led to the change of heart other than the possibility John Shoop always throws scissors after he throws rock something Davis picked up on fairly early in the contest.
Seriously, the official position at THF is Yates should have been given a shot during the 2nd half of the Maryland game when it was obvious the offense was stalled. Sexton has done a good job but when you are playing the backup QB and he is struggling it makes sense to give the newly recovered starting QB a shot to see if he can make something happen. Davis opted not to so all we can do is speculate the same way we speculate about where the officials put those lost 25 seconds(INSERT RALPH FRIEDGEN JOKE HERE.) As for the next game, concerns about Yates being rusty are legitimate but that was a bridge which had to be crossed no matter when he came back. A two QB situation would not be surprising either.
You also have to at least give thought to the possibility this is a stab at gamemanship. Given that the only difference between Yates and Sexton is that the former can throw a football harder, I am not sure if it buys you anything by keeping it a secret. However this is the NC State game and by act of the General Assembly shenanigans are not only expected but required between these two. Since Chuck Amato is at FSU the shenanigans are a lot harder to come by which is why we appreciate Davis injecting some drama into the game.