NC State (4-5, 1-4 ACC) was completely outmatched Saturday night by Clemson (10-0, 7-0 ACC) by a score of 55-10. There were barely any bright spots at all for the Wolfpack defense with it giving up 549 total yards and 55 points. It didn’t help that the very young NC State defense had been plagued by injuries all year, with 11 defensive players currently out with injury — three of which came out against Clemson. 

Wolfpack Secondary

Despite struggling with passing for most of the year, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence had a field day against NC State’s secondary. Lawrence passed for 276 yards, completing 20 of 27 passes with three passing touchdowns. There were also only three pass deflections from the Wolfpack secondary the entire game.

Junior CB Chris Ingram, sophomore CB Teshaun Smith, redshirt freshman CB Taiyon Palmer, redshirt junior S Isaiah Stallings and sophomore S De’Von Graves were all missing due to injury against Clemson. More than 10 players from Clemson caught passes with the Wolfpack secondary looking helpless. 

The only bright spot in the Wolfpack secondary was senior safety Jarius Morehead leading the team in tackles with eight. 

Grade: F

Wolfpack D-Line

The Wolfpack unusually underperformed against Clemson, only sacking the quarterback once. Along with only three QB hurries, the D-line was ineffective the whole night.

There were no injuries for the D-line, so they simply did not play up to expectations against the Clemson O-line. Stars of the D-line, seniors James Smith-Williams and Larrell Murchison, could not get to the quarterback once. However, they did combine for 10 tackles, but just could not stop the power of Clemson’s offense

Grade: F

Wolfpack Linebackers

The only sack of the night came from senior linebacker Stephen Griffin. There was nothing the NC State linebackers could do to stop the Clemson rush game with the Tigers rushing for 246 yards. Wolfpack linebackers couldn’t stop Clemson’s run game in the red zone either, with Clemson compiling a stunning five rushing touchdowns, one coming from the QB himself. 

The linebackers’ corps was also plagued by injury with six injured members by the end of the Clemson game, two already before the game including junior Louis Acceus and redshirt sophomore Isaiah Moore. 

Injured during the game were redshirt freshman Payton Wilson, freshman Drake Thomas, redshirt junior Brock Miller and redshirt freshman Calvin “C.J.” Hart Jr.

There is not much that could have been done against the powerhouse Clemson with the substantial amount of injuries and youth from the linebackers’ corps.

Grade: F

With it being a rebuilding year full of youth and injuries, the Wolfpack defense looked utterly helpless against the potent Clemson offense. With the NC State defense giving up 144 points in the past three games, there needs to be serious adjustments made if the Wolfpack hopes to win another game this year.