After easily handling William & Mary in Week 1, the Wolfpack travel to East Carolina for an early season nonconference road game against the Pirates. Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is a tough environment for opposing teams and the Wolfpack will surely be tested on Saturday.
The Wolfpack held a sizeable position advantage last week against the Tribe, and it showed on the field. This week the Pirates bring more skill at several positions, which should keep the game tight.
In part one, we break down the team’s offenses and you can read our breakdown of the team’s defenses Friday.
Quarterback
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Ryan Finley won the quarterback battle coming out of camp for the Wolfpack and certainly showed why last week against the Tribe. Finley was 17-of-21 for 174 yards, and threw for two touchdowns. Finley was calm and poised in the pocket, completing throws to keep the chains moving, but never testing the Tribe secondary downfield. He will likely need to this weekend, as the more talented Pirates secondary should force Finley to take some shots.
We may also see more of redshirt sophomore Jalan McClendon, who didn’t look bad in the opener but threw a costly pick on a throw where he appeared to try and do too much.
Pirates’ senior quarterback Philip Nelson was solid against Western Carolina, completing 28-of-32 passes for 398 yards and five touchdowns. Nelson has had a turbulent path to ECU, as he transferred into the program after stops at Minnesota and Rutgers, the latter of which he was kicked out of after an assault arrest.
He is getting his first opportunity to start since 2013, when he was a productive starter for Minnesota. Regardless, Nelson has talent and is a major threat for the Wolfpack defense.
The Wolfpack secondary will be heavily tested this weekend.
Advantage: Push– Neither program really knows what it has in either of its quarterbacks yet, but both Finley and Nelson performed well against lesser opponents.
Running Back
Senior running back Matt Dayes showed why he is the workhorse in the NC State backfield last week, rushing for 138 yards and two touchdowns against the Tribe. Redshirt freshman Johnny Frasier also scored his first career touchdown, while redshirt junior Dakwa Nichols earned four carries in a reserve role behind Dayes.
The leader in the Pirates backfield is junior Anthony Scott, who is a small back that rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown against the Catamounts last weekend. Senior James Summers also got double-digit carries last weekend, gaining 95 yards.
Advantage: NC State– The Pirates backfield is talented, but they don’t have a Dayes-type feature back.
Wide Receivers
The opening game didn’t tell us much about the receiving corps for the Wolfpack, as most of the passing plays were short routes to move the chains. What we did see was an impressive performance from true freshman receiver Kelvin Harmon, who had two catches for 53 yards.
Pirates’ senior wide receiver Zay Jones picked up right where he left off last season, catching 10 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown in the win. The 6-foot-1 playmaker is a stud for the Pirates and will create match-up problems for the Wolfpack secondary. Scott also provides catching ability out of the backfield, as he reeled in nine catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns against Western Carolina.
Advantage: East Carolina
Tight Ends
NC State has junior tight end Jaylen Samuels, who is a match-up nightmare for every team in the FBS. Since everyone knows how good Samuels is, let’s talk instead about redshirt senior Clark Eyers, who blocked extremely well, and freshman Thaddeus Moss, who had two catches for 16 yards. The duo provides good depth for the Wolfpack behind Samuels and reliable junior Cole Cook.
Junior tight end Steve Baggett caught two passes for 43 yards against Western Carolina, but neither he nor anyone on the Pirates roster can match the playmaking ability of Samuels.
Advantage: NC State
Offensive Line
The Wolfpack offensive line kept Finley clean all game and opened large holes for Dayes, Samuels and Frasier to run. The offensive line was a potential trouble spot for the Wolfpack and as it gets to tougher competition, we’ll see if they have any cracks.
The ECU offensive line didn’t allow a sack and allowed Scott and Summers to gain 10.9 and 9.5 yards per carry, respectively. Again, the competition wasn’t great, but it took care of business. The team returned three starters from last season, including All-Conference senior guard J.T. Boyd.
Advantage: ECU– Until we know for sure that NC State’s offensive line is solid, we’ll go with ECU’s experience.
