A football team’s quarterback is the face of the team and provides a barometer for how well a team is going to do in a season. As the quarterback goes, the team goes.
Very few competent teams exist at any level without a competent quarterback. Of all the recent BCS Champions, all of them have had a very solid quarterback at the very least.
With that said, perhaps a significant reason N.C. State is struggling this season is the subpar play of whomever has been under center, be it redshirt junior Pete Thomas or graduate student Brandon Mitchell.
Mitchell won a hotly contested battle for the starting job in the preseason, but the Arkansas transfer went down with a foot injury in the first quarter of the season opener against Louisiana Tech.
Thomas filled in, aided by freshman Bryant Shirreffs, and he led the Wolfpack to a shaky 3-3 record before Mitchell returned against No. 2 Florida State on Oct. 26.
After the debacle in Tallahassee, Mitchell and Thomas have split time under center, but the poor results have continued. State currently has a five-game losing streak with the latest defeat coming at the hands of rival Duke Saturday in Durham.
Both Mitchell and Thomas struggled in that game. Both Mitchell and Thomas threw fourth-quarter interceptions, which Duke’s DeVon Edwards returned for touchdowns to ice the game for the Blue Devils. Additionally, Mitchell lost a costly second-quarter fumble in Duke territory, depriving the Pack of a chance to score.
During the first half of October, when the Wolfpack began its tailspin, State fans shoveled much of the blame on Thomas. Wolfpack Nation vowed that Mitchell’s return would revive the team, and the Pack would be back on track for a bowl game.
That hasn’t happened. Since returning, Mitchell has averaged more than 135 yards through the air per game, throwing six interceptions to just one passing touchdown.
The criticism of Thomas, who has three touchdown passes and nine interceptions, wasn’t exactly undeserved, but Mitchell sure hasn’t been much better. As a team, the Wolfpack has just five touchdown passes this season, which ranks second-to-last in the FBS. Army, the only team behind the Wolfpack. Army operates the run-heavy triple option offense, and even then, the Black Knights have only one fewer touchdown through the air than the Pack.
As I’ve alluded to in previous columns, State has struggled to find an offensive identity all season long, and part of that has to be attributed to the lack of a solid quarterback. Last week against Duke, head coach Dave Doeren rotated Mitchell and Thomas every couple of drives. I’m no fan of musical quarterbacks—not only does it rob the offense of consistency, it probably creeps into the quarterback’s head on the field. It’s hard to play with full confidence when you have to worry about getting taken out of the game after any given drive.
It hasn’t mattered who the Pack has had under center this season. It disappointed on offense. No one knows how Doeren will distribute playing time for Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. road clash with Boston College, but the performance can’t stoop much lower than it is now.
