NC State Preview

Its gameday at Sun Life Stadium as this afternoon, the CANES will take on the NC State Wolfpack at Noon. Both teams are 3-1, however, this will be the conference opener for NC State, while for the CANES, this will be their 3rd conference game of the season. 

Let's look at both teams by the numbers: 

(Note: National rankings in parenthesis)

Rushing vs Rush D
NC State 145.5 ypg (83rd) vs CANES 226 ypg allowed (109th)
CANES 159 ypg (T-67 {WVU} vs NC State 119 ypg allowed (35th)

Passing vs Pass D
NC State 245.5 ypg (53rd) vs CANES 226.25 ypg allowed (65th)
CANES 269 ypg (37th) vs NC State 206.75 ypg allowed (40th)

Total O vs Total D
NC State 391 ypg (76th) vs CANES 452.25 ypg allowed (98th)
CANES 428 ypg (50th) vs NC State 325.75 ypg allowed (30th)

Scoring O vs Scoring D

NC State 28.5 ppg (T-63rd {Michigan}) vs. CANES 32.5 ppg allowed (T-95th {FAU})
CANES 33.5 ppg (T-46th {L'Ville}) vs NC State 15.75 ppg allowed (27th)

TFLs allowed vs TFLs
NC State 7.75 TFLs allowed (T-111th {SC, UCLA}) vs CANES 6 TFLs pg (T-53rd {K-State, Duke, Minnesota, UCF, Wake})
CANES 4.5 TFLs allowed (T-31st {Minnesota, L'Ville}) vs NC State 8.5 TFLs pg (T-8th {UConn, BYU, LSU, Cincinnati})

Sacks Allowed vs Sacks 
NC State 3.5 spg allowed (T-113th {New Mexico State}) vs CANES 1.25 spg (T-94th {TN, UF, Miss. State, Wyoming, Miami (OH), Iowa})
CANES 1.5 spg allowed (T-42nd {UGa, Cuse, Cincinnati, Clemson, WMU, UVa, Akron, EMU, Fresno, Wyoming, Iowa}) vs NC State 2.75 spg (T-23rd {Bama, WKU, Fresno, Minnesota, Utah, Utah State, Toledo, WMU})

3rd Down O vs 3rd Down D
NC State 30-68 44.1% (47th) vs CANES 27-57 47.3% (105th)
CANES 31-61 50.8% (20th) vs NC State 13-51 25.5% (12th)

Turnover Margin
NC State +3
CANES -2

When you see the video of the TN game in the opener you can see that if we give Morris time to throw, he will torch that NC State secondary like TN did in Atlanta. We have faster and better receivers than TN does. You'll notice the pressure their defense puts on Glennon. One of the keys today will be to pressure Glennon and make him uncomfortable in the pocket. The D needs to build off the win @GT and continue to get better. 

Another key to this game will be to get Duke going and need another solid game out of Mike James. The receivers are the question, how much will they step up in the absence of Malcolm Lewis? We need to get the TEs going in this game today. 

I think in the end, this game will be close for a half, but in the 2nd half, I think the CANES will be too much and just too many weapons for NC State to overcome. 

My prediction: CANES 35 NC State 17

Report Card and Game Balls @GT

Well, what can you say about the miracle in Atlanta yesterday? This team did not quit, though it could have after giving up 36 unanswered points after being up 19-0 after one quarter. This team kept battling back and found a way to win. I believe yesterday, we turned the corner and hopefully, we build off this win and move ahead to where we need to get to. 

With that said, on to the report card:

Offense - A-: We were 11-16 on 3rd Down conversions. We had 609 yards of total offense. The O-Line had a very solid game allowing 0 sacks and doing an excellent job opening up the running lanes and protecting Morris in the pocket. The running game with Duke and MJ were very solid. Solid game all around here. However, Stephen did throw a pick and we lost a fumble. 

Defense - B-: The good side is that they came up big when they had in the OT session stopping GT on the 4th and Goal play. However, there are a few concerns here. For one, we allowed 419 yards total offense (287 of those on the ground, and 248 of those from the 2nd quarter on). We did sack Tevin Washington once. GT was 6-13 on 3rd downs. We had 8 TFLs for 27 yards and broke up a pass. The downer here is that we didn't force a turnover and that needs to change going forward. There is some improvement that can be made here, but still a solid game when it needed to have it. 

Special Teams - B: No touchbacks on the Punts. No touchbacks on Kicks, and Jake kicked one out of bounds, giving GT good field position on the first drive of the 2nd half and they scored the TD on that. He was 2-3 on FGs as well. We had one inside the 20 and Dalton had a punt downed inside the 10. In a game where field position was critical, GT started their drives from an average of their own 34, while we started drives from an average of our own 25. Gotta be better in that area. We had 101 yards in kick returns yesterday and 18 on Punts, while we allowed 84 yards on Punt returns and 93 on Kick returns. The Special Teams defense needs to clamp down on that a little more. Overall, solid effort, with room for more improvement. 

Now its on to the Game Balls. This week, I'm giving six game balls out. 

1. Phillip Dorsett - 9 receptions, 184 yards 1 TD and 202 yards all-purpose. 
2. Stephen Morris - 31-52, 436 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT. 
3. Davon Johnson - 7 receptions, 107 yards. 
4. Dalton Botts - 2 punts, 1 inside the 20
5. The Entire Defense - Came up big when it had to in that OT session stopping Tech on 4th and Goal
6. Mike James - 15 carries, 89 yards, 3 TDs (including the GW in OT). 

Solid effort all-around yesterday, there are areas on the Defense where we could still get better at, but I think yesterday, we finally turned the corner and hopefully we build off this win and keep getting better as the season goes on.