Coming off a nail-biter in Greenville, North Carolina in week one, No. 18 NC State football looks to regroup and address some concerns in its week two home opener against Charleston Southern.

Things got ugly quickly for the Pack in its first game of the season, relying on a miracle to walk out of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium with a win against an unranked ECU unit. Issues with the passing game, stalling drives and pass coverage between the numbers were almost NC State’s downfall. Heading into a matchup against an FCS opponent, the Wolfpack will have every opportunity to get these areas tuned up for the rest of the year.

The Buccaneers faced issues of their own in week one, opening their season with a 52-38 loss against Western Carolina at home. While the final scoreline suggests defense was hard to come by for this Charleston Southern squad, an offense capable of scoring 38 points is not something NC State can claim to have itself.

Offensive Comparison

Buccaneers quarterback Ross Malmgren stepped up to the plate in the aforementioned season opener, completing 30 of 45 attempts through the air for 392 yards, five touchdowns and an interception. The high-volume stat line is made even more impressive by the fact that Malmgren was working out of a consistently collapsing pocket where he was sacked five times on the afternoon.

Redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary faced a similar struggle with pocket security but was far less successful in the face of adversity. In one of his worst outings as a starter at NC State, Leary completed 17 of 33 attempts for 211 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The Wolfpack’s signal caller looked much different than the player fans got used to seeing deliver in big moments a season ago, especially in the second half.

Despite the game script calling on Malmgren to move his team downfield, Charleston Southern’s running back tandem of TJ Ruff and JD Moore made the most out of their respective opportunities against the Catamounts. Ruff was the leading rusher on the day, totaling 60 yards on nine attempts, while Moore finished just behind him in the box score with six attempts for 58 yards.

One of the few bright spots in the Pack’s near-disaster was the breakout of sophomore back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye, who served as the muscle to junior Jordan Houston’s finesse in the backfield. Sumo-Karngbaye ended the contest as NC State’s No. 1 option at running back, netting 79 yards on 14 attempts with a touchdown. With all the uncertainties surrounding this pair of backs heading into the season, Sumo-Karngbaye showed more promise than anyone else on the offense to move the chains consistently.

One area of offense that Charleston Southern has far more figured out is the receiving corps, with their guys proving reliable early in the year. Seth Anderson led the way for the Buccaneers pass catchers, reeling in eight receptions for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Ruff didn’t fall too far behind him, racking up 99 yards on nine catches and a touchdown of his own out of the backfield.

That reliability is nowhere to be found in NC State’s offense, with the only target seeming capable of stepping up into a No. 1 wideout role being graduate receiver Thayer Thomas. Thomas paced all Wolfpack pass catchers with four receptions for 58 yards and caught the lone Leary touchdown.

Early signs pointed to redshirt junior wideout Devin Carter making the jump to fill Emeka Emzie’s high-volume role, but he looked far from ready for that pressure against the Pirates.

Defensive Comparison

Sumo-Karngbaye may have been the lone bright spot on offense, but the Wolfpack defense showed plenty to get excited about in week one. Defensive backs were swarming to break up passes, the first two levels excelled at creating pressure in the opposing backfield, and a pair of interceptions created turnovers that could have been the deciding factor in the game.

Junior linebacker Jaylon Scott recorded the best day as a tackler, leading the team with eight total tackles, while familiar faces at linebacker in junior Drake Thomas and graduate student Isaiah Moore followed right behind him with seven and six total tackles, respectively. The latter pair also recorded one tackle for loss each.

Despite week two’s matchup shaping up as a true warm-up for NC State, Leary and the rest of the offense will have to manage the pressure from a number of Buccaneer defenders that showed up to play against Western Carolina. Safety Hombre Kennedy and linebacker Garret Sayegh each recorded seven total tackles to lead the defense, with Kennedy forcing a fumble that Sayegh would recover and the latter recording a tackle for loss himself.

Leary will have to be especially mindful of a pair of ball hawks in the secondary that made Catamounts quarterback Carlos Davis pay for his mistakes, cornerback Geordan Livingston and safety Lawson Cook.

All-in-all, week two shouldn’t pose much of a challenge for the Pack. Charleston Southern enters the matchup 0-23 against FBS programs, and NC State has all the tangibles to not be the first member of the Buccaneers’ win column in that category.

Saturday, Sept. 10’s matchup is slated for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. Plans for the broadcast are currently scheduled for a regional sports network, but live coverage of the game can be found on @TechSports on Twitter.