Holliday: NC State lets big opportunity slip away

By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

Being the home team, NC State held a big advantage when the storm hit Carter-Finley Stadium. With play delayed nearly two hours, the Wolfpack could change into dry uniforms, and Coach Dave Doeren told TV sideline reporter Molly McGrath that players had access to plenty of nutritious snacks. Doeren openly hoped “that it would keep raining” after play resumed – without the lightning that actually knocked out NC State’s new-high tech scoreboard for a time. Doeren got his wish; rain continued to fall. The coach reasoned that the Wolfpack played its spring game in a downpour and should be prepared.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame, as the visiting team, had to sit around in wet unis. And the teams snacks were quite limited. McGrath reported the Irish actually went to the concession stand during the lengthy hiatus in play to buy hot dogs and bratwurst.

The storm delay and subsequent rain should have helped NC State. Alas, on the first play from scrimmage when the game resumed Audric Estime raced 80 yards for a touchdown, the longest play all day.

Tony Gibson’s 3-3-5 defense executed well on most snaps; it forced the Irish to punt six times. But the Wolfpack gave up several critical big plays, in addition to the Estime scamper.

One of the most costly came on the heels of NC State’s first touchdown, a pass from Brennan Armstrong to Rice transfer Bradley Rozner. With the Pack down just 10-7 50 seconds before intermission, the home crowd came alive. Sam Hartman and Chris Tyree were not intimidated. Hartman, who had faced the Gibson defense three times previously at Wake Forest, eluded the NC State rush and extended the play. Suggs caught Hartman’s pass and raced all the way to the Wolfpack 13. Hartman then threw a touchdown pass to Jaden Greathouse on the very next play. Notre Dame drove 78 yards in 36 seconds! Talk about a momentum shift.

After intermission State cut into the Irish lead for a second time on a 48-yard field goal by new kicker Brayden Narveson, only to give up one more big play on the next series. This time Hartman found tight end Holden Staes open for 29 yards. Two plays later Hartman threw a swing pass to Staes. The big 242-pounder tiptoed down the sideline for a 40-yard score. For the second time, Notre Dame had answered a Wolfpack score with a three play touchdown drive.

Late in the third quarter, NC State’s defense made its biggest play, sacking Hartman and forcing a fumble recovered by Noah Potter. Trailing just 24-17, State took custody of the football at the Notre Dame 17. But thanks to two incomplete passes and a false start, the Pack could gain just one yard in three plays. Narveson then hooked a 34-yard field goal. This was the beginning of the end.

As the fourth quarter began, Armstrong threw interceptions on consecutive series. The first pick, which bounced off the hands of freshman wide receiver K.C. Concepcion, set Notre Dame up at the NC State 33. The second pick gave the Irish possession at the Wolfpack 16. ND scored two touchdowns in less than a minute.

The Irish earned one more short field when State turned the ball over on downs near midfield. Marcus Freeman’s team tormented State with one last big play. Using misdirection, tight end Staes broke free. Hartman found him for a 35-yard touchdown. So, if you’re scoring at home, the Irish gained 220 yards on just four plays! On the other 57 snaps, Notre Dame mustered just 236 yards.

Wolfpack has work to do on ground game

Look for NC State’s veteran defensive group to rebound quickly. I know the Pack lost some starters who were great players. But most of the new starters played lots of minutes last year in this same Tony Gibson system. I would note that an injury to Jakeen Harris – and he will be out the rest of the season – left the Wolfpack a bit green in the secondary against Notre Dame. Harris’ replacement(s) will get better.

Also, NC State many not face another offensive line as good as Notre Dame’s. Highly unlikely.

Looking at the Pack’s next four games – VMI, Virginia, Louisville, and Marshall – NC State should be favored in all of them, although Louisville under new Coach Jeff Brohm is off to a 2-0 start. NC State’s defense should have plenty of time to coach up Jakeen Harris’ replacements and fix the breakdowns that occurred against Notre Dame.

Offense is another story. In fairness, Notre Dame’s defense is really old and experienced, with 10 of 11 starters being seniors or grad students. But still!

New offensive coordinator Robert Anae was hired to energize the offense, especially to rev up the run game. Remember, NC State averaged just 309 yards of total offense per game last year in conference play. Only Boston College and Virginia Tech were worse.

Dave Doeren, enamored of Anae’s 2021 offense at Virginia with Brennan Armstrong at quarterback, hired Anae and recruited Armstrong, a duo which generated 525 yards of offense each week, tops in the ACC.

Let’s look back at what Virginia accomplished two seasons ago. Armstrong passed for 3,368 yards and 20 touchdowns. The Cavaliers produced 4 of the league’s top 13 receivers in Dontayvious Wicks, Keytaon Thompson, Billy Kemp, and Ra’Shaun Henry. That 2021 team didn’t run that well, but Anae’s 2020 Virginia offense piled up 168 yards per game on the ground.

Can Anae replicate this success in West Raleigh?

NC State to be sure has holes to fill. The Wolfpack’s top receivers in 2022, Thayer Thomas and Devin Carter, have graduated. Also gone are guard Chander Zvala (who has joined former NC State star tackle Ikem Ekownu with the Panthers) and highly regarded center Grant Gibson. Gibson started an amazing 46 games in his long career at State.

How did these personnel losses play out? Against Notre Dame, NC State’s retooled receiving corps often failed to get separation from defenders. The Pack’s offensive line struggled to slow the Irish pass rush. And so Armstrong spent much of the game running for his life. Armstrong was off target on several throws. Receiver drops were an even bigger problem. And so the Wolfpack completed just 22 of 48 passes for 260 yards.

But passing produced some excitement. The ground game looked positively anemic. Armstrong gained 26 yards on 12 carries, mostly scrambling out of the pocket. Jordan Houston rushed 7 times for 26 yards, but 13 of those came on one play. State’s other backs ran 6 times for just 13 yards.

If there was a positive Saturday it was that Armstrong connected with 10 different receivers. Juice Vereen stood out, I thought, with 4 catches for 66 yards, Ditto Keyon Lesane, who after making a diving grab for 38 yards may be a legitimate deep threat. Rozner could be the answer at tight end. He only had two receptions but one of them came in the end zone. Concepcion made some freshman mistakes but led NC State’s receivers with five catches. He has potential.

State will not see another pass rush and secondary combination like they saw Saturday. Armstrong, with time to throw and time to get to know his new receiving targets (they’ve only played two games) will start putting up some better numbers.

But the running game is what most needs attention. Anae’s approach is to use the run to set up the passing game, as opposed to trying to overpower an opponent with the ground attack. Anae likes to use receivers as ball carriers-we saw that a lot at Virginia. His approach depends on the element of surprise, and it often works against many defenses.

But there will be times as we saw last Saturday, where State’s offensive line and biggest running backs need to push ahead for first downs. State was credited with 20 first downs against Notre Dame but only five came via the rush.

This team must find a way to rush for first downs more frequently to take some load off Armstrong and the passing game. They have four weeks to figure it out.