Giglio: Now what for NC State?
Posted October 25, 2020 3:31 p.m. EDT
The humbling 48-21 loss at North Carolina on Saturday leaves NC State with two major questions:
1. Now what?
2. What kind of team do you want to be?
Both leave the Wolfpack, still a surprise with a 4-2 record as it heads into a scheduled break on its 11-game slate, in an existential quandary.
The first relates to motivation. The UNC game has closed the ACC schedule since 2014. That has been a good thing for NC State, since win or lose, playing the week after the UNC game has always been a challenge.
When NC State beats UNC, it's tough to duplicate the emotional high. When NC State loses to UNC, it's difficult to get over the emotional low. Eighth-year coach Dave Doeren hasn't had to deal with that type of mood swing since 2013.
The open date on the schedule comes at the right time. Doeren can thank the ACC for that but what's left on the schedule to really sell?
After playing four of its six first games on the road, the Wolfpack gets four of its final five games at home. That’s good but there’s not exactly a lot of sizzle left in the schedule steak.
The five games left for NC State are against Miami (Nov. 6), Florida State (Nov. 14), Liberty (Nov. 21), at Syracuse (Nov. 28) and Georgia Tech (Dec. 5).
Miami’s ranked and that game is a primetime matchup. There’s a familiarity with FSU, their annual Atlantic Division foe, and then the last-season doldrums could set in. That’s where Doeren can typically use the UNC or Wake Forest game to keep his troops locked in.
The Wolfpack is done with its in-state schedule. In some years, a 2-1 mark against the Big Four (with wins over Wake and Duke) can give you a claim at best in the state. That won’t be good enough this year with UNC’s firepower.
The other motivational carrot built in to a schedule is qualifying for a bowl. With the pandemic, the normal bowl rules are out the window this year.
Certainly a winning record would make NC State a more appealing option but without fans and ticket sales, what’s really going to move the needle for bowl executives?
Geography will probably be the biggest factor. State’s bowl choices at 5-6 might not be all that different than if they go 7-4 or even 8-3.
Figuring out an identity, with quarterback Devin Leary sidelined for the foreseeable future with a broken leg, will prove to be more difficult for Doeren than stoking the motivational fires.
Quarterback Ben Finley breathed some life into the offense in the second quarter of Saturday’s loss but he also showed the learning curve involved for a true freshman in the third quarter.
Doeren was smart to bring the veteran Bailey Hockman back in the second half in the UNC loss to try to protect Finley’s confidence after Finley had three turnovers.
Given the talent on Miami’s defense and the overall talent on FSU’s roster (especially compared to the other three teams on the schedule), it might be best to use Finley in spots for the next two games until he is completely comfortable and then let him close the season out the more malleable portion of the schedule.
No matter who plays quarterback, NC State has to figure out how to run the ball. UNC held NC State to 34 rushing yards on 19 carries. Take out the sack yards and running backs Bam Knight and Ricky Person, who left the game with a concussion in the second quarter, only combined for 13 carries for 53 yards.
That’s not enough carries, especially since UNC didn’t crack the game open until the third quarter and especially since the best way to slow UNC’s offense was to keep it off the field.
Some improved health on the offensive line will boost the running game. The time off should help Person, too.
But running the ball takes a commitment, the kind Virginia Tech (41 carries for 314 yards) and UNC (55 carries for 326 yards) made in NC State’s two losses this season.
Doeren made a switch to a 3-3-5 defense before the 2019 season in an attempt to slow down spread offenses.
It is disconcerting the way the Hokies and Tar Heels — the two most talented teams on NC State’s schedule — were able to run (out of the spread) at will on the Wolfpack defense.
While NC State won’t play another team as good as UNC this season it still has to figure out a way to tackle better than it did on Saturday.
NC State has a built-in excuse for the rest of the season with Leary sidelined. We’ll know the answer to the two key questions from the UNC loss if NC State has to use that excuse.
