NC State is a member of the ACC, but when the UVA Football entourage travels down to Raleigh for the Saturday noon game (TV: ESPN2), it will officially be a nonconference contest.
This is superconference college football at its best, or rather, worst.
Virginia, we know, won its opener with Coastal Carolina by a 48-7 final score.
NC State won its opener with East Carolina on Thursday, building leads of 17-0 and 24-7, before holding on for the 24-17 victory.
NC State-ECU: Counting stats
The stats showed how tight this one was – State outgained ECU 423-413, had 21 first downs to the Pirates’ 18, was 7-of-15 on third downs to ECU’s 6-of-16, and the Pack had the game’s only turnover, a CJ Bailey INT, on a pass near midfield with 33 seconds left in the first half.
Bailey passed for 318 yards, completing 24 of his 34 pass attempts, and tailback Hollywood Smothers – All-Name Team nominee – had 76 yards and a TD on 22 carries.
The receiver duo of Wesley Grimes (four catches/five targets, 121 yards) and Teddy Hoffman (five catches/six targets, 93 yards) had big days.
The O line allowed one sack and nine total pressures on 37 dropbacks.
The D held ECU to 35 sack-adjusted rushing yards on 28 attempts, which, good, but, not good, ECU quarterback Katin Houser was 30-of-44 passing for 366 yards.
In depth: Offense
Bailey was perfect on his underneath throws – 17-of-17 within nine yards of the line of scrimmage, for 110 yards.
He was 3-of-8 for 37 yards with an INT on passes that went between 10 and 19 yards in the air, and 4-of-7 for 171 yards and a TD on passes that traveled 20-plus yards through the air.
Hoffman, a true freshman, did his damage on limited snaps – he was on the field for 13 pass snaps, so five catches on six targets is rather productive.
Hoffman, at 6’1”, and Grimes, a 6’2” senior, got the bulk of their snaps at wideout.
Two other 6’2” guys got wideout snaps – Noah Rogers (21 pass snaps, two catches/four targets, 19 yards) and Terrell Anderson (18 pass snaps, three catches/six targets, 17 yards).
The slot guy, 6’3” redshirt sophomore Keenan Jackson, got 32 pass snaps in the slot, and had a single 11-yard catch on his two targets.
Smothers had four catches on four targets for 30 yards out of the backfield.
In the run game, Smothers, at 5’11”, 195, did the bulk of his work around the left end – seven carries for 38 yards out that way.
Between the tackles, not so much – nine carries, just 15 yards.
The left tackle clearing the way for the run game is 6’4”, 308-pound redshirt junior Jacarrius Peak, who got a 78.7 season grade from Pro Football Focus for his work in 2024, which included a 75.7 run-block season grade.
In depth: Defense
The front seven got pressure on Houser on 16 of his 46 pass dropbacks, and on those pressure snaps, Houser was just 5-of-14 for 62 yards, with a 50.3 NFL passer rating.
The pressure came from grad transfer outside linebacker Sabastian Harsh – another All-Name Team nominee – who had a sack and six total pressures on 39 pass-rush snaps, and his bookend at the other outside ‘backer spot, Cian Stone, who had three pressures on 27 pass-rush snaps.
Cian Stone: good name, but not quite All-Name Team-worthy.
Problem for the State D in the passing game was, with a clean pocket, Houser was 25-of-30 for 304 yards and a 120.0 NFL passer rating.
Keep the pocket clean, and, you can have success against that secondary, presumably.
The State secondary had two pass breakups, both from senior Devon Marshall, who has put up good career numbers as a cover corner – 65 receptions on 125 targets, 644 yards, three TDs, two INTs and 16 pass breakups, and a cumulative 68.2 NFL passer rating against.
More secondary numbers:
- Redshirt freshman safety Ronnie Royal allowed four catches on six targets for 57 yards on 48 coverage snaps.
- Redshirt junior corner Jackson Vick allowed five catches on six targets, albeit for just 12 yards, on 46 coverage snaps.
- Senior corner Jamel Johnson allowed six catches on eight targets for 71 yards on 39 coverage snaps.
- Grad transfer safety JJ Johnson only had one target, and no completions allowed, on 32 coverage snaps.
- Redshirt sophomore corner Brian Nelson allowed five catches on five targets for 28 yards on 22 coverage snaps.
- Redshirt freshman safety Brody Barnhardt allowed two catches on two targets for 54 yards on 18 coverage snaps.
The inside ‘backers, Caden Fordham (11 tackles, two TFLs) and Sean Brown (10 tackles, 1.5 TFLs) led the run-stuffing (Fordham had five run tackles, Brown and Stone had four each).
In depth: Special teams
The field-goal guy, Nick Koniecznski, was 1-of-3, with a make from 29, and misses from 40 and 46, both of those in the fourth quarter, when the Pack was trying to get the lead back to two scores.
Kickoff specialist Charlie Birtwistle had three touchbacks on five kickoffs; the two returns averaged 24.0 yards per.
Punter Caden Noonkester averaged 46.0 yards on his four kicks, with two downed inside the 20, and none of the four returned.
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Chris Graham
