NC State is coming off a beating. Actually NC State is coming off back to back beatings, with a bye week in between. The offense hasn’t looked very good and the defense has looked worse. The ineptitude of the offense can be explained away by the loss of 3 offensive linemen, a 1,000-yard rusher, 2 1,000 yard receiver, an all-time NC State quarterback, their offensive line coach, offensive coordinator, and QB coach. They brought in an offensive line coach from FAU, brought in Kurt Roper from Colorado to coach the QB’s.
The QB play has been uneven at best this year, and NC State has finally seemed to land on Devin Leary as the starter. Honestly, I believed this should have been the choice going into this year. My reasoning was, this was a rebuilding year and get Leary (the QB of the future) in there and let him develop.
The offensive line has had a rash of injuries and has not gelled. Now, I am not blaming the coaching on the problems that NC State has had at QB or O-Line, yet. It is obvious that there are issues with the Co-Offensive Coordinators. The playcalling has been unimaginative. I will use this last beatdown that NC State suffered as an example. If you watched the game, you saw the wide receivers running comeback routes or curl routes along the sidelines.
Wake Forest’s DB’s were sitting on this route and saw it coming. It lead to 2 interceptions and could have been at least 2 more. An experienced Offensive Coordinator would have seen this coverage and made an adjustment. Run a pump and go, do something to make that corner pay for jumping that route.
That did not happen in the game. We have seen what kind of plays are being called and very few adjustments are being made. Dave Doeren needs to bring in an experienced play-caller with an offense that can take advantage of the skill sets that the quarterback, running backs, and wide receivers have.
A play-caller who brings with him an identity. I would like to put 2 names out there for this job. They are 2 Group of 5 offensive coordinators who are having success and who’s offense I believe can translate to Power 5 programs. Will Hall of Tulane and Rhett Lashlee of SMU.
If you have ever scrolled through NC State twitter there has always been some angst when it comes to the defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable. Coach Huxtable plays a style of defense that keeps everything in front of them and does not want to give up the big play.
He also believes in stopping the run and forcing the opposing team to throw the ball. That kind of philosophy can be maddening to a fanbase. Watching a team methodically move the ball on this defense has left me tearing my hair out. They cannot stop the run, like, at all. Against inferior opponents, NC State’s rush defense looked great. However, against P5 teams, WVU they gave up 175 yards rushing, Boston College they gave up 429. NC State did not allow a lot of rushing yards against Florida State, Syracuse, and Wake Forest.
However, they lost 2 of those 3 games and not only did they lose those games they got blown out. They need a new philosophy, and it seems as though they tried this year. Dave Doeren brought in Tony Gibson who brought with him a 3-3-5 defense.
The problem with this is, the defense is also not adjusting to what the opponent’s offense is trying to do. Against BC the NC State front was getting shredded. There was no attempt to go to a 4 or 5 man front. The argument against that NC State is so decimated by injuries (which is true) that they don’t have the bodies. Okay, then why not move the linebackers into the gaps. Bring the safeties down and play the run.
It is this inflexibility on both sides of the ball that drive fans crazy. I do not believe that Dave Doeren deserves to be fired. He has proven he can bring in kids and develop them into NFL players. He has upgraded the talent on the roster. However, if Dave Doeren does not recognize that there is a problem with his choices as OC and DC and refuses to make the moves necessary to take this program to the next level.
I won’t have the ability to disagree if NC State moves on to another coach.
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