The NC State football team (4-3, 1-2 ACC) lost in an embarrassing fashion against Boston College (4-3, 2-2 ACC), 24-45. The offense began the game slowly behind redshirt sophomore Bailey Hockman, but seemed to find its groove when redshirt freshman Devin Leary was subbed into the game. Despite this, it was too late for the Pack to make any sort of comeback, and the defense’s failure to contain the run led to a hard loss, while the offense continued to fail to make impact plays early on. Here is how each offensive group graded out in the game.
Quarterbacks
There are both positives and negatives to take away from this group in this loss. Starting with the negatives, starter Hockman looked absolutely shell-shocked, throwing a pick-six almost immediately and finishing with just 27 yards on 10 passing attempts. Then, Leary was subbed in and he looked somewhat shaky to begin with.
As for the positives, it looks like NC State, now seven games into the season, has found its quarterback. In the last few minutes of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter, Leary looked like a man possessed. As a whole, Leary finished with 259 yards and three touchdowns; impressive, but on 45.5% completion, not so much.
While Leary looks far and away the best option at quarterback for this Wolfpack team, he still had his fair share of issues that need to be cleaned up, such as the completion percentage. Also of note, Leary had six passes broken up alone. Meanwhile, the Pack defense managed to put up a meager three pass deflections as a whole.
Grade: C
Running backs
The freshmen running back duo of Jordan Houston and Zonovan Knight looked impressive in small stints, especially on a handful of runs nearing the end of the game, but overall the run game was shut down.
The entire group finished with just 56 yards on 27 rushing attempts, good for 2.1 rushing yards per carry. This figure includes losses from both Hockman and Leary on quarterback rushes, while redshirt sophomore Matthew McKay saw some action on a couple of rushes, but finished with a net zero rushing yards.
Houston and Knight finished with 61 yards on 17 attempts, a slightly better marking than the entire group indicates, but overall this was a lackluster game for a group with a significant amount of talent.
Grade: D+
Wide receivers
The receiving game for the Pack was solid, with receivers accounting for 255 yards on 17 receptions, two touchdowns and an average of 15 yards per catch. Despite these stats, it was another game where the receivers get open and have the ball sail over their heads on key possessions, particularly in the red zone.
Redshirt sophomore Thayer Thomas ran a perfect route to the end zone late in the first, and the ball sailed over his head, costing the Pack a touchdown and a tied game at that point. One bright spot in the game was redshirt freshman Devin Carter, who impressed greatly with 140 yards on six receptions, with an impressive 55-yard catch at the beginning of the second half.
Grade: B
Tight ends
As for run-blocking, tight ends on the line failed for the most part, but as pass-catchers, redshirt junior Cary Angeline recorded 55 yards on three receptions, good for one touchdown. Angeline has continued to play as a big-time receiving threat, and he played a good game, but as for run-blocking goes, Angeline and redshirt junior Dylan Parham did not do as well as the team needed.
The tight end room has been above average this season, and Angeline continues to be a strong leader for the locker room, but it is evident that the team misses redshirt junior Dylan Autenrieth’s strength as a blocker.
Grade: C+
Offensive line
Like the tight ends, the offensive line failed to create many open looks for the running backs on the roster. The line helped give up ten tackles for loss, mostly from quarterbacks, but still an unimpressive marking. Yes, the o-line only allowed two sacks, but for comparison, the Boston College o-line gave up zero sacks and only four tackles for loss in the game. The Pack’s run game looked like the polar opposite of Boston College’s ground game, and it cost the team dearly.
This was not helped by the fact that true freshman Ikem Ekwonu had to start in place of the injured redshirt junior Justin Witt, but this is no excuse as Ekwonu can play well and has a good frame. Witt was injured for the win over Syracuse and the Pack has enough talent on the line that it should have been able to create more space for the quarterbacks and running backs.
Grade: C-
Next up:
The Pack gets a much needed bye week before traveling to the 25 ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons, a team that sits at 6-1 and has wins over Boston College and Florida State, as well as UNC-Chapel Hill. This looks to be an extremely difficult matchup for a struggling Pack team, but if the team can make a statement, it might have enough momentum to at least play a close game when the fourth-ranked Clemson Tigers roll into town the following week.
