With all due respect to Duke and its rising football fortunes, NC State’s football program probably hit rock bottom yesterday in Durham.
After having taken the lead in a close game midway through the fourth quarter, the Wolfpack proceeded to implode with a ferocity rarely seen in major division college football: the defense gave the lead right back after a relentless Duke drive, and down four with around three and a half minutes to go, the offense proceeded to throw two pick-six interceptions on consecutive plays. That said, in the course of three short minutes, State went from leading a tight game by three with the clock starting to melt to having no chance at all of victory.
The usual suspects were the cause of this dumpster fire: poor tackling on defense, poor decision making at quarterback, poor blocking from the offensive line when State needed it most, and most importantly, a complete loss of poise from the skilled position players on the field. One of the Duke interceptions was made when quarterback Brandon Mitchell was on his way to the ground for a short sack, but instead of taking the loss of yardage and regrouping, Mitchell instead decided inexplicably to throw pass that was then batted into the air like a volleyball by Devon Edwards, who then caught the ball himself and strutted into the end zone to put the game away. Then, on the next series, Mitchell was replaced by Pete Thomas, who threw another pick six on the first play of the series by putting the ball into Edwards’ hands once again, resulting in another touchdown the wrong way.
Some may say that was the result of a having a quarterback onto the field who is not suited for ACC play, while other fans screamed in the direction of the coaches. Both are legitimate points, but perhaps the simplest answer is this: NC State is a team with no depth and little high caliber talent available in the 2013 season. Perhaps the only player who would have a chance to start on Florida State or Clemson, the league leaders, would be kicker Nicklas Sade, and perhaps of all of the players who were available for Duke, none would crack Clemson or Florida State’s second string — save for running back Shardrach Thornton and wide receiver Rashard Smith.
That leaves head coach Dave Doeren with a nearly impossible task — putting a winning team onto the field. One could question why, given the personnel problems, Doeren and offensive coordinator Matt Canada have chosen to change the offensive style and not to retain the incumbent Pro-Set style of offense that were the hallmarks of the Tom O’Brien and Dana Bible era, but the answer is that wouldn’t work well either — not with a banged-up patchwork offensive line that has trouble opening holes in the opposition defense and keeping the pass rush away from the quarterback. Coupled with QB’s who can’t pass well, that would result in an offense as poor as the one that went nuclear upon itself in the last few minutes inside Wallace Wade Stadium yesterday.
Then there is the quarterback position itself: gone is NFL starter Mike Glennon, a player who has acquitted himself well in his first year playing on Sundays. In his stead are a converted wide receiver who the game has never slowed down for, and he is backed up by a relatively immobile but somewhat weak-armed player who the game has also never slowed down for. Both quarterbacks have made horrible decisions throwing the ball at key points of tight games, and both seem to lock down on one receiver or one side of the field and not perform their check-downs to find the open guy who they could get positive yards from. While the running backs and receivers have played well enough, they can’t overcome those weaknesses, especially in the red zone and the recipe for a weak offense is thus mixed thoroughly and put in the oven. That’s left NC State eating its own humble pie more often than not this season, and it is something that has left a horrible taste in the mouths of its rabid fans.
What State needs are athletes at every position, players who have size, strength and speed, plus a desire to compete through the final whistle. Doeren and staff are busily recruiting players with those skills at the prep level, but this year he has nothing much to work with…and it shows. Doeren has put together a pretty solid group for next year, but integrating them into the team and molding an effective unit will take time.
Taken in summary, that leaves a team with no place to go but upwards…it can’t get much worse than it is right now.
And it leaves a simple question: when will that happen? The answer, right now, to that is equally simple: your guess is as good as mine. The only thing we know with any certainty is that it won’t be this year.
