How NC State’s offense unraveled in loss to Tennessee

By Noah Fleischman

CHARLOTTE — It seemed like NC State had Tennessee’s defense just where it wanted it on the opening possession of the Duke’s Mayo Classic on Saturday night. The Wolfpack burned nearly seven minutes of the game clock as it used quick passing to move the ball down the field, even though the run game was ineffective. 

And while the 12-play, 29-yard drive stalled after quarterback Grayson McCall took a sack following an NC State timeout, the Pack seemed to have a recipe that would work against Tennessee’s elite defensive line: Get the ball out fast. 

But despite seeing the success of getting down to the Volunteers’ 39-yard line, which included screens to sophomore sensation Kevin “KC” Concepcion (3 receptions for 20 yards on the first drive), NC State seemed to be unable to find that consistency the rest of the night. 

And, well, that ended up costing the Wolfpack an opportunity to make a statement on the national stage. Instead of taking down one of the SEC’s best — or even playing them closely — NC State lost 51-10 with an anemic offense sputtering out of control at Bank of America Stadium. 

“Definitely not what I expected to see from our team,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said afterward. “As the head coach of a team that didn’t play well enough, I didn’t coach well enough, obviously. … We needed to play complementary football in this game.”

So, how did the Wolfpack go from being able to run what appeared to be an effective game plan to just 27 total yards in the second half and no drives that lasted longer than just over three minutes the rest of the way? A multitude of factors appeared to be the culprit. 

“We were very efficient the first drive and that’s what I thought we were going to do,” Doeren said. “Whether we scored or not, finish every drive with a kick, worst case a punt. Possess the football, keep our defense off the field. … It was working for a while, we were in the game. And then all [of a] sudden things started to unravel.”

“It was really frustrating,” Doeren continued, “and not what we expected.”

NC State stopped targeting Kevin Concepcion

The Wolfpack, which found success going to Concepcion early and often, seemed to shy away from that the rest of the game. He finished the night with 5 receptions for 53 yards — so 2 catches for 33 yards after NC State’s first series of the night. 

While Tennessee did a good job of defending Concepcion, NC State’s offense did not seem to put an emphasis on getting him the ball — especially in the second half. The Wolfpack targeted Concepcion just once after halftime, a second-and-12 pass that went 17 yards, but was broken up by Tennessee’s Will Brooks. 

The Charlotte native was targeted four times (3 receptions) in the first quarter, three times (all caught) in the second, just once in the third (incomplete) and none in the fourth quarter. 

That, in itself, is head-scratching. A year ago, when NC State’s offense began to sputter, finding creative ways to get Concepcion the ball was the Wolfpack’s top priority. But when things started to turn against the NC State offense, No. 10 did not seem to be the game-changing player that he is due to the team’s inability to put the ball in his hands when it mattered the most. 

Stuck behind the sticks

NC State’s offense could not help itself, either. When it seemed to get momentum going, at times, a penalty would be a killer. Or, it was Tennessee’s defense knocking the Wolfpack’s running backs well behind the line of scrimmage. In both scenarios, NC State had a difficult time creating easy opportunities to move the chains. 

In fact, the Wolfpack began the game 3-for-3 on third down as it moved the ball well on the opening drive. McCall connected with redshirt junior wide receiver Dacari Collins for a pair of conversions, while he found Concepcion on one as well. 

All three of those, however, were with six or fewer yards to go. And, well, after that opening drive, NC State did not have many of those third-and-short or -moderate lengths to pick up a first down. In all, the Wolfpack’s average third-down distance was with nine yards to go — and it was 0-for-6 when the distance was that total or greater in the game. 

NC State finished the game just 3-of-12 on third down — or in other words, 0-for-9 after the opening series (Tennessee was 7-of-14 on the money-making down).

McCall, the Pack’s veteran quarterback, was not pleased with NC State’s inability to create 3rd-and-manageable situations. 

“We got behind the sticks a lot,” McCall said. “We’re hurting ourselves with penalties and dumb mistakes that we usually don’t make. Things like that were setting us behind the chains. We weren’t able to sustain drives. And when we did and got to the red zone, we couldn’t finish.”

NC State made just two trips to the red zone — a 24-yard field goal from Kanoah Vinesett and a pick six. Not exactly what the Wolfpack was looking for on either drive, which ended up costing NC State the game. 

McCall felt pressure to step up and create offense on his own, but it was a struggle to do so as the Volunteers’ defensive line lived in the NC State backfield. 

“It sucks. When you’re in that situation, somebody’s gotta step up and make a play,” McCall said of the sputtering offense. “I think I’m usually the guy to do that. Tonight I just wasn’t there. Some things went wrong. … Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong tonight. We’ve got a lot of learning to do.”

But it was NC State’s inability to drive down the field that ended up keeping the Wolfpack offense out of the end zone. The long series that were required of the Pack were left to be desired as NC State ran just 28 percent of its plays inside Tennessee’s territory. That compared to the Volunteers’ 66 percent of plays being run inside the Wolfpack’s side of the 50-yard line was a back-breaker, according to Doeren. 

“When you have a long field on offense and a short field on defense, against a team like that, you can’t win,” Doeren said. “You have to play field position football and you have to have sustained drives and you have to get off the field on third-and-long. That’s how you have a chance to win against teams like that. We did the opposite.”

Inability to run the football

In NC State’s season-opening win over Western Carolina, the Wolfpack’s run game left much to be desired. The Pack talked about feeling like it was just little things holding them back in the running department, and it thought that was fixed ahead of Tennessee. 

Spoiler alert, it wasn’t. 

NC State rushed for just 39 yards on 28 attempts, a paltry 1.4 yards per carry, in the defeat. Redshirt freshman running back Hollywood Smothers was the only Wolfpack ball carrier to finish with double-digit rushing yards (25). Outside of the Oklahoma transfer, NC State’s running backs combined for 1 yard — sophomore Kendrick Rapahel had four carries for 5 yards and graduate Jordan Waters had seven attempts for minus-4 yards. 

The Wolfpack’s run game struggles appeared to be a two-part problem. NC State’s offensive line struggled to find push against Tennessee’s defensive line — save for the drive where Smothers had a 15-yard run and a 12-yard carry, but it was all for naught with McCall’s pick six in the red zone. Plus, NC State’s running backs, for the most part, could not burst to the outside before the Volunteers’ defenders were already in the backfield. 

Tennessee finished the game with 13 tackles for a loss, and only three of those were sacks. 

In all, NC State’s rushing success rate was 24 (40 is average), while it was stuffed on 46 percent of its carries against Tennessee. The Pack also rushed for just 13 yards on 14 carries in the second half, which was good for 0.9 yards per attempt.