There were a lot of issues to address on offense after its stumbling performance against Mississippi State on Sept. 11, a 24-10 loss in Starkville, Miss. From head coach Dave Doeren’s perspective, much of it revolved around not playing as one unit.

"I thought last week the offensive players, I don’t know the right way to explain this, but they weren’t playing 11 as one,” Doeren noted. “There were guys that wanted this play call or that play called, and weren’t just doing what they were supposed to do.

“We addressed it. We talked a lot about it.”

Granted it came against an inferior defense, but the Pack bounced back with a balanced attack Saturday in its 45-7 home win over Furman at Carter-Finley Stadium. NC State piled up 505 yards of total offense, 287 passing and 218 on the ground.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary was under a bit of a microscope after an inconsistent performance at Mississippi State, especially misfiring on several open deep passes, and was 23-of-29 passing for 259 yards with three touchdowns and also ran for a score. He did not turn it over once.

Doeren was quick to note, however, that Leary needed more help from his teammates at Mississippi State, and he got that Saturday against Furman.

“I thought they played for each other tonight on offense,” Doeren said. “The rhythm was better.

“For Devin, he just needs guys to be where they are supposed to be and play hard, and he’ll get the ball to him. I felt like that was accomplished tonight. … I think the players really learned a lot from last week’s game, and there were a lot more plays where you could see 11 guys doing what they were supposed to do.”

Leary confirmed there was better flow in the offense this week compared to at Mississippi State.

“Once we got to our rhythm and were able to execute on plays, it’s just a constant flow of executing and making the right plays, right blocks,” Leary said. “When you get out of that rhythm, it’s difficult.

“I would say the difference was the rhythm of the game and being able to execute this week.”

One of numerous plays that proved costly to NC State in its loss at Mississippi State was a fumble by sophomore running back Zonovan “Bam” Knight near midfield on the opening possession of the second half.

Knight was “a little emotional” on the sideline after that play, he admitted, and needed a pep talk from Doeren.

Fast forward to Saturday night at Carter-Finley Stadium.

In a game that proved to be less stressful, as anticipated, Knight fumbled on the first drive of the contest, ironically near midfield again. This time, Doeren and offensive coordinator Tim Beck sent Knight right back out there on the next possession.

Knight responded with four carries for 55 yards, the last six of which was for a score. One play prior to the touchdown, Knight had a 42-yard rush.

“It definitely helped my confidence out, a lot, especially after last week at Mississippi State,” Knight said.

Leary called it “rewarding” to see Knight bounce back so quickly from the fumble.

“We know that Zonovan wants to do everything possible to help us win,” Leary added. “If the ball is on the ground, he takes that very personal. He told us on the sideline that wasn’t going to happen again. That he was going to pick us up and pick himself up.”

Doeren added his appreciation for Knight’s evening, which consisted of 11 carries for 104 yards and a touchdown, all in the first half, but added going forward the fumbling has to get fixed.

“I’m proud of him for going back in and running the way he did,” Doeren said. “Disappointed, and I know he is too, with the fumble. It can’t happen. You’ve got to take care of the ball as runners and passers. Whoever has it, it’s the team.

“He’s got to get that fixed, but I am proud of how he went to the next play and didn’t let it affect him. He had some really nice runs after that.”

Knight said that he noticed an energy shift in practice this week that carried over the game. Junior nickel Tyler Baker-Williams added the buzzword of the week was “refocusing.”

Baker-Williams, who had an interception in the win over the Paladins, insists there was no looking forward to next Saturday’s home game against national powerhouse Clemson, the first ACC contest of the year for the Wolfpack.

“We don’t really look ahead,” Baker-Williams said. “We know who we play, but we don’t really look ahead. We really take that 1-0 mentality seriously within the team.

“We just go out each week and focus on our opponent that we’re playing and just prepare the same way each week for whoever we are playing.”

Doeren noted that Saturday was a good game to get a lot of players onto the field and repair some of the mistakes made at Mississippi State.

“It’s good to fix things that we needed to fix,” Doeren said. “There’s still more.”

Doeren knows that starting this coming Saturday, the games count a little more since they are all conference affairs with the exception of an Oct. 2 contest at home against Louisiana Tech.

“As we know, the league’s got a lot of teams in it that can win any Saturday,” Doeren noted. “We just need to build on each week and continue to try to get better than we were the week before.”

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