Tony Gibson is not surprised by Syracuse's success
There were no fancy halftime adjustments made by NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson Saturday against Florida State. In the words of Gibson, after giving up 17 first-half points and nearly 300 yards of offense to the Seminoles, “We just started doing our job a little better.”
“In the first half, we got out of gaps, gave up some big plays,” Gibson added. “The second half, we didn’t, and we executed and made plays when we needed to make plays.”
The end result was what Gibson admitted was a bit of a masterpiece in the second half, holding Florida State scoreless and under 100 yards of offense.
Coming out strong in the second half has not been new for the NC State defense thus far this year.
“Those guys are older,” Gibson said. “They understand it. It’s not like we are drawing up a new defense. We just tweak a few things here and there.”
The next challenge is Syracuse, which is coming off a bye. Gibson anticipates that the Orange have been doing some self-scouting in their time off and also using the two weeks to find the weaknesses in the NC State defense.
“We have to play assignment football and be sound in what we’re doing and not giving up big plays,” Gibson said.
Syracuse is ranked No. 18 in both polls after a 5-0 start that includes a pair of ACC wins over Louisville and Virginia, both of which were also at home.
A big reason for that was adding former Virginia offensive coordinator Robert Anae to that position at Syracuse. In 2021, the Cavaliers were third in the country in total yards. Gibson worked with Anae during the 2012 season when both were assistants at Arizona.
Gibson noted that Anae has done a good job utilizing the Syracuse weapons like running back Sean Tucker, whom Gibson noted is “the best tailback in the league.”
The improvement of Charlotte native and quarterback Garrett Shrader is perhaps most noticeable. A season ago in 12 games, he completed 52.6 percent of his passes for 1,445 yards and 9 touchdowns with 4 interceptions while rushing for 781 yards and 14 more scores.
Against NC State and Gibson’s defense last year, Shrader was 8-of-20 passing for 63 yards and threw a pick-six, although he did rush for 70 yards and a touchdown.
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This year in 5 games, Shrader is completing 70.9 percent of his attempts for 1,224 yards and 10 TDs with only 1 pick. He has also rushed for 219 yards and 5 scores.
“He is throwing the ball so much better now,” Gibson noted.
The last two quarterbacks to have played NC State — Clemson’s DJ Uiagalelei and Florida State’s Jordan Travis — had success using their legs against the Pack defense.
Gibson said that staying fundamentally strong against Shrader’s dual threat while sharing a backfield with Tucker is key.
“What happens is we get too excited on the running backs,” Gibson explained. “Everybody tries to get to the running back and forgets to take care of the quarterback. Every defense we have, we have somebody accounting for the quarterback.
“Obviously, the other night it didn’t look like it at times. We went in at halftime, talked about it, came out in second half and were really good.”
Perhaps helping Gibson and the defense is a return of super senior nickel back Tyler Baker-Williams, who has missed the last three weeks with an ankle injury.
“I’ve raved about Tyler all year along,” Gibson admitted. “He’s very skilled. He does a great job and has played a lot of football for us. Getting him back allows us to do some things with other guys that we haven’t been able to do the last couple of weeks.
“We are expecting him full-go and ready to roll.”
