Last Saturday, NC State Wolfpack football lost 24-10 at Mississippi State. We go beyond the traditional box score with the help of Rivals' partnership with Pro Football Focus (PFF).
Three observations
1. The team, perhaps surprisingly, received a slightly passing grade. Overall, PFF gave the Pack a score of 65.5, slightly above the 64.0 that is considered average. As perhaps explained below, that is largely due to the defense,
2. The offense score, especially the run game, was not good. NC State graded out at 56.7, and the only good mark it received was a 70.8 for pass blocking, despite allowing four sacks. The next best score 60.3 for the passing game. The receiving, run blocking and running game grades were all below 60, with the run game in particular a low 46.0.
It is the first time dating back to the PFF archives back through the 2014 season that NC State ever had a run game score below 50.0.
3. Defense's grade was pretty good. The Pack which had a 78.5 in week one after more analysis was done, has a 73.0 for the Mississippi State loss. The only negative PFF found was the pass rush, which graded at just 56.8, an unsurprising number given NC State had just one sack against a suspect Bulldogs offensive line.
The run defense picked up a stout grade of 80.0.
Through two weeks, NC State's overall score of 80.9 on defense ranks tied for 27th out of 130 FBS teams nationally on PFF. Its run defense grade of 86.4 is 13th and coverage mark of 81.9 is 23rd. The tackling score of 75.1 is 22nd.
