A thoroughly battered NC State football offense barely managed to score double digits in its 25-10 defeat to the Louisville Cardinals. Factoring in sloppy weather conditions, the Wolfpack looked far from its best in the road loss.
Quarterbacks
NC State took on Louisville without its top two QBs, so graduate quarterback Jack Chambers started for the Wolfpack. The offensive line relied heavily upon its run game — In a little of a quarter of play, Chambers only threw the ball seven times for two completions.
At the end of the first quarter, NC State sent out redshirt freshman quarterback Ben Finley to try and spark an offense struggling to get the ball into Louisville territory. Finley, who was called up from the scout team during the week, threw for 201 yards and completed 16 of his 35 passes. Finley engineered the Pack’s only touchdown of the game, a 34-yard pass to freshman running back Michael Allen halfway through the third quarter.
Finley’s lack of experience showed against a strong Louisville defense which ranks second in FBS in forced turnovers. Finley struggled to complete throws to receivers beyond the first read and often forced dangerous throws Louisville could not take advantage of until intercepting Finley’s Hail Mary attempt in the end zone on the final play of the game.
For an offense plagued with injuries, it wasn’t entirely unexpected that NC State struggled to throw the ball consistently given the weather conditions and who it was playing. Chambers wasn’t asked to do much, and Finley looked fine for someone who hasn’t really seen the field since 2020.
Grade: B-
Running Backs
The running backs played well given the game script — Allen and junior running back Jordan Houston combined for 17 carries and 72 yards. With Chambers in the game, the running backs saw a lot of touches. However, once Louisville saw that the Pack was not throwing the ball, the defense stacked the box, making it harder for NC State to get good consistent run plays going.
As previously mentioned, Allen scored NC State’s only touchdown on a wheel route in the third quarter, but the running back crew was relatively quiet outside of that play. With a surprisingly low amount of carries given to the running backs over the course of the whole game, the RBs did their job both in the running and receiving game.
Grade: A-
Wide Receivers
The receiving core has been catching balls from four different NC State quarterbacks this season. Against the Cardinals, it was clear that the receivers and Finley were not on the same page. On more than one occasion, we saw option routes fail to connect as the receiver went one way and Finley threw the ball somewhere else.
The Pack sorely missed redshirt junior receiver Devin Carter and redshirt junior tight end Trent Pennix. Without two of NC State’s top receivers, the Louisville secondary locked up the rest of NC State’s receiving core. Since the Pack relied on fourth-stringer Finley to go on the road against a top defense in the country, it’s hard to criticize the effort made by the receivers given all the circumstances. However, the result is still the result.
Grade: C+
Offensive Line
The offensive line got off to a horrible start without graduate center Grant Gibson. Two of the five sacks NC State allowed occurred on the first drive. Finley faced pressure or hurried on almost every throw he made throughout the game, which didn’t make his job of getting the ball out accurately any easier. NC State’s pass protection clearly struggled with mixed looks and stunts, which is not all that surprising considering veteran leader Gibson missed the entirety of the game.
Early on, the offensive line was able to create gaps for the running backs to find; however, once Louisville learned NC State’s passing attack and stacked the box, the linemen fought an uphill battle and struggled to create space.
Grade: C-
