Monday morning quarterbacking: NC State 24, James Madison 13
NC State opened the season with a 24-13 victory over Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) powerhouse James Madison. Now it’s time for a final look at the contest with some Monday morning quarterbacking:
Key moment of the game
The final drive of the game had some big-boy football elements to it. The Pack faced third down on three separate occasions, including twice needing nine yards for a first down. It moved the chains each time.
One was thanks to a busted coverage on a well-designed screen and go that fooled the JMU secondary resulting in redshirt junior receiver Jakobi Meyers running free for a 39-yard pickup.
Another first down was when Meyers held on despite being sandwiched in a hard hit from two different Dukes defenders for a 10-yard gain when NCSU needed nine.
NC State used its physicality to finish the drive, with senior running back Reggie Gallaspy Jr. running for 12 and six yards to gain the final 18 of the touchdown-scoring drive, putting NC State up 24-13 with just 1:05 left in the contest.
Three things that worked
1. Passing game (to the receivers)
NC State had 309 yards and two touchdowns passing and was only sacked once. It did not have an interception and had only one turnover when freshman running back Tyler Baker-Williams coughed it up. The good news for the Pack is it was far from clicking on all cylinders, missing key pieces (fifth-year senior receiver Stephen Louis and redshirt sophomore tight end Cary Angeline, who must sit the first three games of the season) and not involving the running backs or tight ends in the attack much at all (Baker-Williams' fumbled catch was the only one for the group all day).
2. Containing the JMU running backs
James Madison features a trio of talented running backs in Marcus Marshall, Trai Sharp and Cardon Johnson, but for the most part they were held in check. The three combined to rush 23 times for 82 yards, and that included a late Marshall run of 26 yards. On the 22 other runs for JMU’s tailbacks, the longest run was just eight yards.
3. Bottom-line results
This is particularly the case on defense. There are plenty of things to work on, but NC State held JMU to 365 total yards and 13 points — that’s a good day’s work. NCSU was aided by either good red-zone defense or poor red-zone offense by James Madison. The Dukes turned it over inside the 10 and twice settled for 19-yard field goals on its five red-zone possessions (the other was a touchdown).
Three things that did not work
1. Running the football
It took a few games for the running game to gain traction last year as well, but NC State should have done better against an FCS opponent, albeit one as good as JMU that is probably talented enough to compete in some of the smaller Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences. The Wolfpack ran for just 83 yards on 29 carries, an anemic average of 2.9 yards per rush. The only time NC State ran for fewer yards last year was when it lost Nyheim Hines early in the Notre Dame contest with an ankle injury and finished with 50 yards on a cold afternoon in South Bend, Ind.
2. Containing QB Ben DiNucci
The Pitt graduate transfer threw his fair share of short, high-percentage passes. For a good chunk of the game he was averaging less than 7.0 yards per completion, but regardless he was still 23-of-27 passing on the game for 197 yards and ran for a game-high 79 yards on 14 carries. He was in complete control of the JMU offense.
3. Playing a clean game
An early turnover, four costly first-half penalties, a missed field goal, a semi-shanked punt, etc. There were a lot of what head coach Dave Doeren hopes can be chalked up to first-game mistakes.
Position-by-position battles
NC State’s offensive line vs. James Madison’s front seven
The Wolfpack front was not bad Saturday, especially in pass protection, but it will need to be better going forward. The zone run schemes were too ineffective against JMU.
James Madison’s offensive line vs. NC State’s front seven
For the most part the Wolfpack front held its own as JMU did not get a great push, and there were some promising flashes from younger players like redshirt freshman defensive end Ibrahim Kante (two sacks and a forced fumble). That said, the Pack will need a better pass rush going forward.
NC State’s wide receivers vs. James Madison’s secondary
An overwhelming victory for NC State here. Meyers’ 14 catches for 161 yards was one of the best individual performances for a Wolfpack receiver in school history, and the second string of redshirt sophomore C.J. Riley, redshirt freshman Thayer Thomas and sophomore Emeka Emezie each had their moments. The latter three combined to make 10 catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
James Madison’s wide receivers vs. NC State’s secondary
It will be interesting to see what the Wolfpack defensive coaches find on film. JMU only had one reception longer than 13 yards, but completing 24 of 29 passes is too high of a percentage. The corners in particular needed to do a better job on 50-50 balls.
Quarterbacks
DiNucci was really good, but Finley showed why NFL scouts will be closely monitoring his progression all year. Finley was not flawless as he missed a couple of open passes in the red zone while on the run and maybe got away with a couple of dangerous downfield passes, but overall he lived up to expectations.
Running backs
Gallaspy finished with 17 carries for 68 yards and a score, and you could even make an argument that NC State needed to commit earlier to giving him more carries. That said, the fact that JMU had a better game from its running backs even though they were well contained speaks to the need for the Wolfpack to improve the ground attack.
Tight ends/fullbacks
There was not much to speak for here for NC State. It was down to redshirt freshmen Damien Darden and Adam Boselli as its only healthy scholarship tight ends. Darden started but did not catch a pass. JMU’s tight ends combined to catch three passes for 25 yards.
Special teams
A slight win for NC State because Thomas made one of the plays of the game with his 40-yard punt return in the second quarter that helped set up the Wolfpack’s first touchdown this season (which ironically Thomas scored on a 16-yard reception).
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