NC State football’s season-opening, 24-13 win over James Madison at Carter-Finley Stadium Saturday brought a mixed bag. There were overwhelming strengths on display and big days from star players, and also some errors and facets of the game that need improvement. While the Pack will definitely be glad to start 1-0, there’s a lot to work on after week one. Let’s take a look at some good, bad and ugly from the opening game.
The good: Passing offense
Coming into the season, the notion around the Wolfpack was that graduate quarterback Ryan Finley and his receivers would be the team’s overwhelming strength, and Saturday did nothing to change that.
Finley completed 29 of 43 pass attempts for 309 yards, two scores, no picks and a 143.2 passer rating against the Dukes. It was the first time in his career the Pack won a game in which he attempted 40 passes or more.
Finley had the passing game operating very efficiently Saturday, making several throws that show why he’ll be an NFL quarterback after this season. Perhaps the best of these was a perfectly placed throw to redshirt sophomore wideout C.J. Riley in the corner of the end zone late in the second quarter to give the Pack a 17-7 lead.
“That was a great play,” head coach Dave Doeren said. “Last year, I know [Riley] was a little more nervous and timid in those kind of situations, where now I think he’s playing with his size.”
As Technician highlighted after the game, redshirt junior Jakobi Meyers had a special game for the Pack, with a career-high 14 catches for 161 yards, leading the way and putting the team on his back.
“Jakobi really played his heart out today,” Finley said. “He came down with some really, really tough grabs. He says just put it in his area code; I think he means it. Just give Jakobi a chance and he’s going to come down with it. He played really well today, really proud of how Jakobi played.”
The passing game was not perfect, with junior Kelvin Harmon, last year’s leading receiver, only bringing in four catches for 33 yards, and Finley overthrowing a few open receivers. However, Saturday was a strong start for what should be a dynamic passing attack this season.
The bad: Red-zone offense
One area for improvement will be finishing drives and putting points on the board, particularly in the form of touchdowns. In six trips inside the Dukes’ 35-yard line, NC State only scored three touchdowns. The Pack got better as the game went along, as the first two drives saw a fumble at the James Madison 32 and a drive that stalled out at the 7, leading to a field goal.
NC State later missed a 42-yarder in the third quarter. Especially in the games against West Virginia and ACC opponents, the Wolfpack will have to capitalize on opportunities to put points on the board, and put up six instead of settling for field goals. With the number of skilled jump-ball receivers the Wolfpack has, and a bruising, power back in senior Reggie Gallaspy, there’s no excuse to be stalling out in the red zone.
The ugly: Rushing offense
Simply put, NC State could not run the football Saturday. The team picked up just 83 yards on 29 attempts for a paltry 2.86 yards per carry. That won’t get the job done. Gallaspy led the way with 68 yards and a score on 17 carries, and that’s probably what you can expect from him. NC State will need to get one of its trio of freshmen in Ricky Person, Trent Pennix and Nakia Robinson to be a solid complimentary back.
The good news for the Pack is the run game will improve with time and reinforcements, as those three youngsters are all working their way back from injuries during fall camp, and NC State was without its blocking tight ends in redshirt sophomores Dylan Parham and Dylan Autenrieth against the Dukes.
“Reggie ran hard,” Doeren said. “I didn’t think our run game was as good as it will be in time. We’re missing some parts right now, particularly at tight end.”
The Pack will have to get the run game going, though. Doeren and offensive coordinator Eliah Drinkwitz need to be able to run a balanced offense and use the run game to set up play-action passing. A good rush attack could also be one of NC State’s best defensive weapons in the games against the likes of West Virginia, Syracuse, Clemson and Florida State to keep the high-powered offenses it will face off the field.
