With a 36-29 victory over Syracuse, NC State improved to 7-3 on the year, and with a 6-3 conference record, it sits tied with UNC-Chapel Hill for fourth in the ACC standings. Just one game remains, a home matchup with Georgia Tech, but let’s do a quick post-mortem of the Wolfpack’s final road game.
Offensive line
Offensive line coach John Garrison’s had his work cut out for him with injuries taking a toll on his players, specifically at tackle. Redshirt freshman Tim McKay is out for the regular season, while starting graduate left tackle Tyrone Riley has missed the past five games with an injury. Redshirt sophomore tackle Derrick Eason, who figured to factor into the rotation, has missed six straight games with injury. Even redshirt senior Justin Witt, who starts at right tackle, has struggled with an injury recently.
What initially should have been a strong rotation has been reduced to just six men, and we are seeing the effects of that passed on to the starting quarterback. Redshirt junior Bailey Hockman may look like he’s Jekyll and Hyde, but it’s really a matter of whether the line is able to give him time or not. After Hockman was sacked four times in the first half against Syracuse, the line adjusted and Hockman’s second half reflected that with a stat line of 11 for 16, 166 yards and three touchdowns. The line may not be dominating anymore, but it’s still capable of doing just enough to allow the offense to shine.
Thayer Thomas
One man was the main beneficiary of Hockman’s downfield passes, redshirt junior receiver Thayer Thomas, who put up his best performance of the year with 102 yards and three touchdowns on nine receptions. Thomas’s performances have been hot and cold this year, but every so often, he reminds us that any team trying to cover him one on one is making a mistake. Between Thomas and redshirt senior tight end Cary Angeline, NC State’s got two scary slot receivers, and Hockman loves to target them.
Solid recruiting yields immediate results
Between slot receiver Porter Rooks, quarterback Ben Finley and nickel Joshua Pierre-Louis, multiple true freshmen have flashed for the Wolfpack, and some are still emerging. With sophomore cornerback Cecil Powell injured against Syracuse and redshirt sophomore corner Malik Dunlap seeing reduced snaps, cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell has turned increasingly to freshman corner Aydan White the past couple games, and he’s proved he’s worthy of the snaps.
For NC State’s 2020 recruiting class to have players making impacts as true freshmen speaks to how strong that class, which ranked seventh in the ACC, was. Between that crop, NC State’s veteran players and the 2021 class (currently ranked fifth in the ACC), there will be no shortage of talented players on the roster in coming years.
Rush defense
It’s taken some time, but it looks like this defense is really coming together as the season ends. The unit entered the Florida State game giving up over 35 points a game, but in its last three matchups, opponents have scored just over 21, a two-touchdown difference. While the return of junior safety Tanner Ingle and some strong secondary play have helped, it all starts with the team’s rush defense, which has steadily improved.
Florida State rushed for 147 yards against NC State while Liberty went for 107 on 2.8 yards per carry. Syracuse, though, managed just 3 yards on 0.1 yards per carry. Shutting teams down on the ground puts them behind the chains, gives opposing teams third-and-long situations, and gets the defense off the field. Given who NC State plays next week, it’s a good time to be playing this well in this phase of the game.
Looking forward
NC State closes the regular season against Georgia Tech. Last year in Atlanta, two points were all that separated the teams, and if NC State defends the run as badly as it did in 2019, we may see a repeat of that result. And there’s history on the line: The Wolfpack has never won seven ACC games in a regular season, and it has a chance to this year. Does it have two extra conference games to get the job done this time around? Sure, but don’t rain on the hypothetical parade.
