After a 24-3 beatdown at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils, there was not much hope surrounding NC State football, and for good reason. The offense looked abysmal against Duke and the usually stout defense gave up multiple big touchdowns. Something had to change for head coach Dave Doeren’s squad going into the bye for the Pack to revive its season.
So what did the Wolfpack lean on to get back on track?
The Pack went back to its core, which is a blue-collar and hard-working mentality that encompasses what NC State football has always been about. Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson embodies that mentality, and it has rubbed off on his defense the past two games.
Against Clemson and Miami, the defense forced six turnovers, including five interceptions and a fumble. Gibson’s unit has also only allowed two touchdowns in the past two games and none last week to Miami.
The defensive domination has been led by none other than graduate linebacker Payton Wilson, who was just named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award. During this two-game stretch, Wilson recorded 24 total tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss.
Not only has the captain of the defense been flying around the field and stopping the run wherever possible, but he’s terrorized opposing quarterbacks in terms of pass coverage. Against Miami, he broke up two passes, but his play of the season came against Clemson when he picked off quarterback Cade Klubnik and took it to the house for his first career touchdown.
While Wilson is the engine that makes everything go, the entire defense deserves credit for how it has bounced back. Out of the six turnovers NC State has forced the past two weeks, five were by different players, with junior nickel back Devan Boykin being the lone defender with multiple takeaways.
Despite being outgained offensively in its past two games, the Wolfpack has found a way to win and the reason for that is timely stops on defense. This was especially the case against Miami when the red-and-white limited the Hurricanes to three trips to the red zone and six points.
On both red zone stops, Miami was primed to take the lead, but an interception in the endzone by junior cornerback Aydan White and a backfield tackle on fourth down by redshirt junior cornerback Shyheim Battle kept the Hurricanes off the board.
It was a different story against Clemson as the Tigers converted on all three of their red zone trips, but stops on key downs propelled the red-and-white to victory. Wilson and company held the Tigers to seven of 18 on third down and one of two on fourth down. That fourth-down stop won the game for the Pack.
With just over four minutes left in the game, Clemson had the ball and needed a touchdown to send it into overtime. Klubnik drove his team just past midfield, but that was as far as the Tigers would get — a second-down sack eventually set up a fourth and long that the Tigers couldn’t convert due to the immense pressure put on Klubnik.
Turnovers and clutch stops are key reasons for the Pack’s success, but its ability to make both Miami and Clemson one-dimensional is what was most impressive. The defensive line held both squads to under four yards per carry and kept them under their rushing averages on the season.
Gibson’s dominant D-line forced Klubnik to attempt 50 passes, which is his most this season, and made Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke attempt 38 passes, which is the second most he’s had this year. Both quarterbacks struggled without a run game as they combined for five interceptions and were visibly uncomfortable in the pocket with the defensive line barreling down on them.
It’s already difficult to beat a team when you’re one-dimensional, but not being able to manufacture a run game against NC State is a recipe for disaster. The defensive line and linebackers can tee off on the quarterback and the secondary is freed up to make plays on the ball.
Just like Michael Jordan, the NC State defense took the Duke game personally and responded with its two best games of the season. Holding an explosive Miami offense to zero touchdowns and a talented Clemson roster to 17 points is as dominant as it comes.
