On Monday, we released a few areas that could stand to be statistically improved in 2021, but there were also some places where the Wolfpack stood out in 2020.
Here are some of the more notable examples.
Red Zone Defense
NC State’s defense bent but did not break quite a bit in 2020.
It allowed 53 trips into the red zone, and only one team allowed more at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level — Texas State (61). That is misleading since not all teams played 12 games like NC State. If you break down the average trips to the red zone per game, NC State was still quite high but there were 37 teams with higher averages.
What stood out however was the Wolfpack’s ability to prevent touchdowns in the red zone. Opponents scored TDs in just 52.83 percent of their trips inside the 20 on NC State, which was 20th best out of 127 teams at the FBS level and third in the ACC.
The goal line stand against Pittsburgh, one of three on the year for NC State, probably won the game for the Wolfpack. It also held Georgia Tech out of the end zone in three trips to the red zone, yielding just six points in what was a 23-13 NC State victory.
