BLACKSBURG, V.A. — NC State was outplayed, out-executed and out-toughed in a 45-24 loss to No. 20 Virginia Tech that should end the seesaw under center for NC State. Somebody once said, “If you have two quarterbacks, you have none.” That guy was pretty smart. Case in point, the 2019 and 2020 NC State Wolfpack football teams.
After charting double-digit big plays last week, the Wolfpack charted just nine on Saturday, two of those coming in the passing game. Redshirt junior quarterback Bailey Hockman proved last week’s performance was fool’s gold with an atrocious stat line, which included going seven of 16 with two interceptions.
Hockman showed why he could never see the field at Florida State, continuing to make the same mistakes he showed last year. He stared down Porter Rooks on an out route, eventually throwing a ball that was promptly undercut and intercepted. On a levels concept, he eschewed his two main options — both of which were open — to throw back across the far side of the field for an interception that nearly went all the way to the house.
“We didn’t talk about [replacing Hockman] at halftime; we thought we’d be able to regroup and come out and get some things going and just didn’t,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “After the second interception, we said ‘Give him another series, see how he responds,’ and we went three and out that drive.”
As Hockman struggled to stop the bleeding, in came redshirt sophomore Devin Leary to lead an eight play, 75-yard touchdown drive. While inaccurate at times, Leary showed a grasp of the offense that Hockman lacked and glimpses of why he was NC State’s starter from spring ball through parts of fall camp. While stats don’t tell the full story, Leary ended the game at 12 of 16 for 165 yards and a touchdown, and there are no questions about who NC State’s starter will be going forward.
“We needed a spark, needed to see what Devin could do,” Doeren said. “[He] led us on two scoring drives, so [he] did some good things. Also did some things that he’s got to learn from. But [I] was happy with the way he came in the game cold and moved the offense, for the most part.”
Wait a second, there goes that deja vu again. Devin Leary’s first start last year came after he took over for Bailey Hockman, who seemed out of his element on the road against an ACC opponent, eventually leading NC State to a 45-24 loss while looking impressive. That Boston College game in 2019 ended up being Leary’s best performance of the year as regression was the theme of his campaign as a starter, and hopefully that won’t be true for this season.
Regardless of who’s the man at quarterback, another issue for offensive coordinator Tim Beck is how the offensive line sputtered against one of the better fronts in the ACC. After making easy work of the Demon Deacons last week, the unit struggled, going from a 5.5 average yards per carry to a more pedestrian 3.3. The explosive plays weren’t there.
“We hurt ourselves with the penalties,” said junior running back Ricky Person Jr. “Couple false starts, turning the ball over, some stuff we have to fix on our own. They didn’t do anything special, we just weren’t executing.”
That lack of execution led to just 386 total yards for the Wolfpack, which also gave up six sacks. The Hokies seemed to create pressure on the Wolfpack at will as NC State struggled to reciprocate.
Down 20-something players or not, Virginia Tech is a ranked team, and one of the best teams NC State will come up against this year, along with Pittsburgh and Miami. This was just a taste of what the Wolfpack will have to deal with during the rest of its schedule. And if NC State is going to come out of Pittsburgh with a victory next week, it will need its offense to find itself again. Redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Moore told the media after the game that this wasn’t the team NC State is, and the team has nine games left to prove that.
