After a disappointing loss on the road to East Carolina, the NC State football team responded by crushing the Old Dominion Monarchs 49-22 on Saturday night. The NC State offense racked up 470 yards, easily slicing through the Monarchs defense. Here’s what we learned in NC State’s second win of the season.
1. NC State has a new red-zone weapon
With redshirt sophomore Ryan Finley impressing at quarterback, the position battle between him and redshirt sophomore Jalan McClendon is all but over. That doesn’t mean McClendon won’t be making a contribution, however, as he racked up three touchdowns: one through the air and two on the ground in the win.
McClendon was used in goal-line packages, starting in the shotgun. On two occasions he used himself as a battering ram to blast through the Old Dominion defensive line for a touchdown. On the third attempt, he faked the run and zipped a touchdown pass to freshman tight end Thad Moss. The system works, as McClendon is a better and stronger runner down at the goal line than Finley.
2. The offense had several wrinkles
Offensive coordinator Eli Drinkwitz broke out several wrinkles to the NC State offense, making it unpredictable and keeping the Monarchs off-balance all night. Early in the contest, Drinkwitz called a shovel pass to junior Jaylen Samuels, who took the ball in for the score. Later, he called the identical play only using junior Cole Cook as the receiver, who surprised the Monarchs and ran untouched into the end zone.
The offense also ran a reverse that started off looking like a pass to the flat to senior Matt Dayes. These offensive variations make it tougher to defend. It also shows that Drinkwitz will use his star players as workhorses, but also as effective decoys to help the offense run smoothly.
3. The defense was impressive
The defense held star Old Dominion running back Ray Lawry to only 14 yards on nine carries, a far cry from his usual production. In all, NC State defense gave up 321 yards, which looks worse than they actually performed. Most of the yards came on a 65-yard touchdown run by sophomore Jeremy Cox when the game was well out of reach.
The defense also swapped out some personnel at different times, using sophomore linebacker Riley Nicholson on some third downs in passing situations and giving redshirt freshman Jarius Morehead snaps in place of junior Shawn Boone.
4. The special teams are still struggling
The Wolfpack didn’t attempt a field goal in the win, but there were still mistakes by the special teams unit. It started in the first quarter, when senior wide receiver Bra’Lon Cherry ran back the punt for a touchdown, only to have it called back for an illegal block in the back. Kicker Kyle Bambard failed to get a touchback on five of his six kickoffs. NC State was also called for a debatable unnecessary roughness penalty on a kickoff.
5. This doesn’t change anything
NC State was the heavy favorite against a weak Old Dominion team at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack had the position advantage at nearly every spot, and were overall a much better team. However, this win shouldn’t wash away the bad taste in your mouth from the East Carolina loss, nor does it do anything to get head coach Dave Doeren off the hot seat.
The Wolfpack has two weeks to prepare for a must-win game against Wake Forest, a team that has started 3-0 for the first time since 2008. The Demon Deacons could be without quarterback Kendall Hinton, who is expected to miss two to four weeks with a sprained PCL. Kickoff has been set for 3:30 p.m. for that game.
Beating Old Dominion was just a formality. The real season starts now for Doeren and the Wolfpack.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback carries the ball into the endzone for a touchdown during the Wolfpack's game against Old Dominion University on Sept. 17, 2016. McClendonrushed for two touchdowns and completed 3 of 4 pass attepmts in the Wolfpack's 49-22 win at Carter-Finley Stadium.
