Monday morning quarterbacking: NC State at Wake Forest
NC State football was pounded for a second straight game Saturday, this time at Wake Forest, 44-10, in Winston-Salem.
It’s time for a final look at the contest with some Monday morning quarterbacking.
Key Moment Of The Game
Any hopes of a Wolfpack win was going to require a strong start for NC State. Instead, the Pack got the reverse.
The opening drive started promisingly with a pair of first downs, but a flea-flicker at the NC State 45-yard line ended up being thrown away. The next play was a sack for a three-yard loss, and NC State’s shallow crossing route with fifth-year senior receiver Tabari Hines was well defended, leading to a punt.
NC State could have had Wake on a three-and-out, but Wake Forest redshirt junior quarterback Jamie Newman completed a nine-yard pass to fifth-year senior wide receiver Kendall Hinton when WFU needed five yards. Three plays after that, Newman found Hinton for 15 yards on third-and-11. Later in the drive, a third-and-eight was converted when Newman hit fifth-year senior wide receiver Scotty Washington for a 10-yard pass. Eventually Newman ran for a 20-yard touchdown to finish the possession.
Then came the backbreaker. Freshman wide receiver Keyon Lesane fumbled the kickoff return at the 12-yard line. The collision knocked the ball all the way to the 3-yard line where Wake Forest recovered. It took the Deacons two plays to score and just like that they were quickly up 14-0.
Three Things That Worked
1. Controlling Wake’s running game
The Deacons finished the game with 46 rushes for 123 yards, an average of 2.7 yards per carry. Even if you remove two kneel downs and two sacks that lost a combined 16 yards, WFU had 42 runs for 141 yards, or just 3.4 yards per rush.
Overall, it was Wake Forest’s second lowest output in rushing yards in a game this year. In its prior seven games, WFU had rushed for at least 178 yards in all but one.
2. Kicking game
The highlight of State’s season thus far is the dynamic sophomore kicking duo of punter Trenton Gill and kicker Christopher Dunn. Gill averaged 46.9 yards on eight punts, while dropping a pair inside the 20. Gill also had touchbacks on two of three kickoffs. Dunn successfully made a 40-yard field goal.
3. Containing Sage Surratt’s receiving yards
Truthfully, the nature of the game was such that it was small victories like this that highlighted NC State’s afternoon. Surratt, WFU’s likely first-team all-conference redshirt sophomore wideout, had five 100-yard receiving games going into the contest, four of them over 150 yards. He caught nine passes versus State, but only for 67 yards with his longest catch just 11 yards. The 7.4 yards per catch was Surratt’s lowest of the season.
Three Things That Did Not Work
1. Getting off the field on defense
At halftime, Wake Forest was officially 6 of 9 on third downs. However, that did not include a pair of third down penalties by NC State that resulted in two more Wake first downs. Add to that a fourth straight ACC game in which NC State did not get a takeaway, and it’s easy to see how the Deacons scored on all but one of their first-half possessions and rolled to a 34-10 halftime advantage.
2. Avoiding mistakes
Against a veteran Wake Forest team, NC State needed a clean game to have a chance. Instead it committed 10 penalties (compared to one for WFU) and had three turnovers.
3. Offense
There’s no way to sugarcoat it. This offense just cannot seem to string together drives and garner any sort of consistency. The Pack had 265 total yards, almost 100 yards fewer than any previous contest this year. NCSU was the first team aside from Elon from the Football Championship Subdivision not to have at least 300 yards of offense on WFU. In its prior three games, all against ACC teams, the Deacons had allowed at least 449 yards in each one and over 500 yards twice.
Position-By-Position Battles
NC State’s offensive line vs. Wake Forest’s front
A look at the numbers suggest it wasn’t that bad for NC State. The Pack ran for an average of 4.5 yards per carry and only allowed two sacks (redshirt freshman quarterback Devin Leary threw 45 passes as well). Grades from PFF suggest the the line was the one solid point in NC State’s offense on Saturday.
Wake Forest’s offensive line vs. NC State’s front
NC State picked up a pair of sacks and held the Deacs to 2.7 yards per carry. However, an inability to generate a consistent pass rush (despite the sacks) was a problem. Too many third downs, especially early in the game, allowed Newman to sit back and eventually find open receivers.
NC State’s wide receivers vs. Wake Forest’s secondary
Not a good game for the Pack’s receivers as the Deacons dominated here. Wake Forest senior corner Amari Henderson turned in an All-American type performance with a pair of interceptions and four passes broken up.
Wake Forest’s wide receivers vs. NC State’s secondary
NCSU did solid work on Surratt, but Wake’s receiver corps includes two other high-quality wideouts in Hinton and Washington, and both of them hurt the Wolfpack. Hinton caught six passes for 93 yards, and Washington had three receptions for 84 yards, including a 59-yard pass. This was another matchup that Wake dominated.
Quarterbacks
The glaring difference in the margin of victory can be explained by where the two teams are at the quarterback position. Newman is a strong first-team All-ACC contender and he completed 25 of 38 passes for 287 yards and three scores, and also rushed for 30 yards and two touchdowns.
Leary, in his first career start, was put in a tough spot and labored through the afternoon, completing just 17 of 45 passes for 149 yards with one score and two picks.
Running backs
Neither team received excellent performances. The NCSU tandem of freshman Jordan Houston and redshirt freshman Trent Pennix had 16 rushes for 92 yards compared to the WFU duo of fifth-year senior Cade Carney and freshman Kenneth Walker’s 26 runs for 88 yards.
Tight ends/fullbacks
NCSU redshirt junior Cary Angeline continues his solid season with three receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown, but that was outshone by Wake fifth-year senior and Pack-killer Jack Freudenthal’s three touchdown receptions.
Special teams
Both teams kicked the ball very well, but Wake gets the win on special teams because of the huge first quarter turnover.
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