North Carolina State University Athletics
HAYNES: View from the Booth
10/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
The numbers do tend to defy common sense and boggle the mind: NC State's beleaguered defense has given up 79 points and 820 passing yards the last two games. Between them, Riley Skinner of Wake Forest and Duke's Thad Lewis were a combined 71-of-95 (74.7 %) with eight touchdown passes.
Maybe it's no consolation for the Wolfpack defense, but there have been a total of 16 300-yard passing performances produced by ACC quarterbacks at the midway point of the season.
But the staggering stats just keep on coming.
Wake Forest and Duke were on the field for 80 and 85 offensive plays, respectively, and converted 21-of-34 third down plays (61.7%).
Clearly, a defense that spends that much time on the field has no chance to get better or stronger during the course of a game, even if it does have representative depth, as NC State does on the defensive line.
The Deacons had the ball for 35 minutes, while the Blue Devils possessed it for a whopping 40 minutes. Put into perspective, that's 75 minutes out of a 120 that quarterback Russell Wilson and his offense spent watching from the sidelines the last two weeks.
The secondary shuffle continues for NC State (3-3, 0-2) this week with freshman Rashard Smith returning to the starting line-up at the boundary corner spot. Duke made a comfortable living throwing to the boundary side last week, so Smith's return to health after seeing some snaps as a nickel back last week could help the cause.
All told, this will be the Wolfpack's sixth different secondary combination in seven games when the ball is first snapped at Boston College (4-2, 2-2) Saturday afternoon at 3:30.
Continuity? What continuity?
"Obviously, it's extremely important," said starting safety Clem Johnson. "With the flip-flopping and the changing of positions, it's been tough getting into a rhythm. The coach has been trying to get a feel for what different guys can do and what guys can do with different individuals out there on the field."
Perhaps the best change for NC State will actually occur on the other side of the ball where Boston College will likely call on a pair of still wet-behind-the-ears freshmen quarterbacks. David Shinskie has certainly had his moments, but when he struggled in last week's 48-14 loss at Virginia Tech, another rookie, Mike Marscovetra, came into complete 10-of-16 for 114 yards and two touchdowns.
"They ran into the Skinner-Lewis buzzsaw," B.C. coach Frank Spaziani answered when asked about the NC State defense. "We are who were are and we certainly don't have Thaddeus Lewis and Riley Skinner."
The Eagles do have sophomore tailback Montel Harris, who shredded Florida State to the tune of 179 yards on 25 carries a few weeks back. Harris averages 82 yards per game.
Now here's a look at what we'll be looking for from the radio booth during Saturday afternoon's tilt between the Eagles and Wolfpack.
Early success: How well the NC State defense plays early on should give us a pretty good clue as to what will happen most of the afternoon. A unit that has struggled, has been under the spotlight and incurred its share of criticism this week needs some positive vibes to work with in the first quarter.
"It seems like a lot of people have lost faith in us," said Johnson, who tallied 10 tackles in last week's loss to Duke. "It just motivates a lot of guys to work harder. We realize we lost to Duke, but we still have a chance to turn the season around. There's a lot of time left."
Johnson and the other NC State upperclassmen have every reason to think that way since the Wolfpack has gone 8-4 over the second half of the last two seasons.
The interesting question is will Boston College look at the Wolfpack's vulnerable secondary and break with its normal 'run-first' mentality to become the high-flying Eagles? Unlike Wake Forest and Duke, B.C. doesn't it appear to be the type of team that is necessarily equipped to come out and throw the football around 50 times, but the temptation to air it out a little more will certainly be there.
Harrris is probably Boston College's best offensive player and he'll still need to get his hands on the football.
"The tailback and the offensive line are good," said NC State head coach Tom O'Brien, who'll be making his second trip up to Chestnut Hill since leaving there to become the Wolfpack's head coach three years ago. "For the first time, we'll be going against an inexperienced quarterback, but he's probably licking his chops after watching us play pass defense the last two games."
Even though NC State tried to change defenses last week and probably used about every scheme it had in the game-plan for Duke, Lewis made quick decisions and seeme to know where he wanted to go with the ball every play. It remains to be seen if the Boston College quarterbacks will be as decisive.
Spaz-Bible Rematch: Here we go again...When they were O'Brien's coordinators at Boston College, Spaziani and his defense regularly sparred with offensive coordinator Dana Bible's offense in practices and scrimmages.
They know each other's strategies and tendencies, yet that isn't always a precursor for success. Football is still about blocking, tackling and execution, so even if you know what's coming, it doesn't always mean you can stop it.
To be sure, however, the two longtime associates will have a few new wrinkles to throw at each other on Saturday.
"Dana is a great football coach," Spaziani said. "Now he's got some real big league weapons. He's got two tailbacks, he's got an experienced line, he's got a big-league tight end, he's got speed at wideout and he's got the All-ACC quarterback and rookie of the year in Wilson. We've got our hands full. Dana's got a full deck."
Caught in a shootout last week and constantly facing deficits on the scoreboard throughout the game against Duke, NC State ran the football just 23 times. Tailback Toney Baker, who seems to be getting stronger and stronger with each game, averaged 8.1 yards on nine attempts.
While O'Brien has said the Wolfpack is more of a 'throw-first' team this year because of the presence of Wilson and a deep corps of receivers, he did acknowledge on his weekly radio show on Monday that running the ball and featuring Baker and Jamelle Eugene is still a workable option.
The Pack offensive line did have its best day blocking for the run against Duke, but again, the opposition has something to do with it as well. Boston College defends the run much better than the Blue Devils, giving up a respectable 123 yards per game.
Staying away from turnovers will be a big challenge for NC State in this game. Boston College is solid in its zone coverages and doesn't allow a lot of big plays. The Eagles keep everything in front of them, tackle well and generally force offenses to use a lot of plays to get into the end zone. And they become particularly stingy in the red zone. In a 25-7 loss at Clemson on September 19, B.C. did not allow a single offensive touchdown, forcing the Tigers to kick six field goals. Over the last three years, Boston College has intercepted 56 passes.
Playing on the road against a team that's 4-0 in its home stadium, NC State will have very little margin for error on Saturday.
