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Passing Game Looking to Stay Efficient After Bye Week

Game 4: NC State Wolfpack (2-1, 0-0 ACC) vs. Wake Forest (4-0, 1-0 ACC)
October 1, 2016 • 3:30 p.m. • ACC's RSN/ACC Network Extra
Raleigh, N.C. • Carter-Finley Stadium (58,200)

NC STATE VS. WAKE FOREST
The Wolfpack will open conference play versus the team that is has faced more times that any other In the history of NC State football. Saturday's game will mark the 110th meeting between the two squads, with NC State holding a 65-38-6 advantage. The Pack has won 14 of the last 15 meetings with Wake at Carter-Finley Stadium, with the only home loss since 1984 coming in 2006. Overall at home, State has posted a 43-21-5 mark.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
The Wolfpack and the Deacons have held serve on their home fields over the last 20 years. Dating back to the 1997 season, the home team in the series is 17-3.

Prior to last season's 35-17 win in Winston-Salem, the Pack had lost six games in a row played on the Deacons' home field, posting a 2-8 mark in the last 20 seasons on the road. In Carter-Finley, the Wolfpack has posted a 9-1 mark against WFU in the past 20 years.

FREQUENT 40
In the history of NC State football, which first kicked off in 1892, the Wolfpack has posted 90 40-point scoring games, with 69 of those coming since the advent of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953.

In the 3-1/3 seasons that Dave Doeren has been head coach of the Wolfpack, NC State has scored 40 or more points 13 times. So although he's been NC State's head coach for just 5% of the time the ACC has been in existence, his teams have accounted for 19% of the 40-point games.

PALTRY PUNTS
One Wolfpack starter has been pretty bored in 2016. Punter A.J. Cole has only been called on to kick six times in the last three games. That's the fewest number of punts to start the season in NC State history. In 2014, the Pack punted seven times in the first three contests, while the 1974 squad punted eight times in the first three games of the season.

Cole has definitely made the most of his opportunities, however, as he currently leads the ACC with a 46.6 yard average. The Pack ranks third in the FBS in net punting, as the opponent has not returned one of those six kicks.

In 2015, the opponent's punt return yardage was the lowest in school history (52) and the Wolfpack ranked eighth in the FBS in punt return defense. The Wolfpack has ranked in the top five in the ACC in kickoff return defense each of the past two seasons.

IN THE ZONE
Since the beginning of the 2014 season, NC State has been efficient in turning trips to the red zone into trips to the end zone.

In 2013, Dave Doeren's first year as head coach, the Pack struggled in the red zone, ranking 123rd in the FBS a TD in only 17 of its 39 (43.6%) red zone trips. Each of the last two seasons that figure went up dramatically, as NC State ranked fourth nationally in 2014 (73.1%) and 10th last season (72.2%).

So far in 2016, that percentage is even higher. NC State has found the red zone 19 times in the first three games, and has come away with 16 touchdowns. In the Pack's 49-22 win over Old Dominion, NC State was a perfect 7-for-7 in scoring a TD when reaching the red zone.

Year	Red Zone Trips	TDs	TD%	NCAA Rank
2016	19	16	84.2%	11th
2015	54	39	72.2%	10th
2014	52	38	73.1%	4th
2013	39	17	43.6%	123rd

FOCUSED FINLEY
With a .763 completion percentage, first-year Wolfpack quarterback Ryan Finley is the most accurate thrower in the FBS so far in 2016. He is one of just two ACC QBs who has not thrown an interception this season.

The Phoenix, Az., native has 80 pass attempts this season and has thrown for six touchdowns with no interceptions. In the last 37 seasons (dating back to Tol Avery in 1980), only one Wolfpack QB has attempted more passes before throwing his first interception as a starter at NC State: Philip Rivers.

Finley, a redshirt sophomore, who started three games at Boise State in 2015, completed 17 of 21 pass attempts for an .809 mark in the season opener - the best completion percentage for a Wolfpack quarterback in his debut as NC State's starter dating all the way back to 1971 (with the exception of Brandon Mitchell in 2013, who broke his foot after opening 3-3). His two touchdown throws in that contest tied with Erik Kramer as the second-highest tally for a starting debut in the past 45 years (Jacoby Brissett and Philip Rivers each threw for three scores in their first game as State's starter).

QB	First start	Att. before ast INT	Game w/ 1st INT
Philip Rivers	2000	99	2
Ryan Finley	2016	80 (Ongoing)	NA
Jose Laureano	1995	77	3
Tim Esposito	1983	60	3
Terry Harvey	1991	57	3

FIRST ON THIRD
The Wolfpack has posted the best third-down conversion mark in the ACC in the first quarter of its schedule. NC State has converted 21 of 37 third down attempts for a .568 mark - the third-best in the FBS.

AT A LOSS
The Wolfpack ranks 12th in the FBS in tackles for loss with an average of 9.3 per game in 2016. That's the third-best mark in the ACC.

With 28 total stops behind the line of scrimmage, the Wolfpack has gotten off to a much faster start in terms of getting in the opponent's backfield - doubling the total from the first three games of 2015. NC State tallied just 14 TFLs in the first three games last season and in 2014, managed 13 in the first three games.

J-MAC ATTACK
He may not have won the starting quarterback job, but that doesn't mean that redshirt sophomore Jalan McClendon can't score touchdowns. In the win against Old Dominion, McClendon was in for exactly one snap in each of the first three quarters. Here's a look at those results:

1st quarter - 3&G - 1 yard TD rush
2nd quarter - 2&G - 3 yard TD rush
3rd quarter - 3&G - 3 yard TD pass to Thaddeus Moss

McClendon played QB in the last two series of the 4th quarter (10 more snaps), completing 2-3 passes.

STEPH STEPS UP
Wide receiver Stephen Louis missed the entire 2015 campaign after undergoing surgery on each of his shoulders. The redshirt sophomore, who had started two games as a true freshman in 2014, looks to be staging quite a comeback.

Louis, who had just one catch (4 yards) in the opener, caught three balls for 142 yards (all in the first half) in week 2 at East Carolina, including an 80 yard catch and run for a touchdown. He was the first Pack receiver to go over 100 yards since the 2014 season opener and that yardage total was the second-highest under Dave Doeren.

Last week vs. ODU, Louis was the Pack's leading receiver with five grabs for 80 yards. He currently ranks seventh in the ACC in receiving yards with 75.3 ypg, despite having just four yards in game 1.

DAYES FOR 100
Senior RB Matthew Dayes became the 13th player in NC State history to go over the 2,000-yard mark in the Pack's last outing vs. ODU. Dayes' 71 rushing yards in that victory puts him at 2,002 for his career.

He now posts 3,263 career all-purpose yards, which ranks 14th in school history.

Dayes, who hadn't played a game in 306 days before the season opener, ranks fifth in the ACC and 29th in the FBS with 104 rushing yards per game. His 6.12 yards per carry ranks 32nd nationally. He has rushed for three TDs this season and has now posted 100-yard rushing games in seven his last 10-1/2 outings (he was injured in the first half of game 8 last season).

His 27 rushing touchdowns is the fourth-best mark ever for a Pack runner. In terms of overall scoring, he is tied for fourth in school history (with Torry Holt) with 33 TDs.

Last season Dayes, who was named to the 2016 watch lists for the Maxwell and Doak Walker Awards, was the first State runner since 2002 to rush for 100+ yard in five straight games. He is responsible for two of the 10 longest rushing plays in school history (85 yards vs. Wake Forest, 77 yards vs. South Alabama).

Players Mentioned

Jacoby Brissett

Matthew Dayes

Ryan Finley

Stephen Louis

Jalan McClendon

Thaddeus Moss

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