Following a thorough 51-28 beat down at the hands of Mississippi State at the 2015 Belk Bowl, Wolfpack head football coach Dave Doeren decided it was time for a change. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who had pulled the strings behind an offense that ranked 32nd in rushing yards in the nation and ranked 40th in points per game, was relieved of his duties.
Eli Drinkwitz came in from Boise State, bringing transfer quarterback Ryan Finley along with him, setting off a tragic decision that has put Doeren on the hot seat and may cost the Wolfpack bowl eligibility.
There is no other way to put it, the NC State offense has regressed in nearly every metric. Behind a weak-armed quarterback and unimaginative offensive game plans, the Wolfpack’s once vaunted rushing attack has looked weak and its main playmakers have been silenced.
And to rub salt in the wound, Canada has orchestrated one of the best offenses in college football at Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh has the 23rd ranked rushing offense in the nation, averaging 231.8 yards per game. NC State, with senior Matt Dayes and junior Jaylen Samuels, is unbelievably 99th, averaging just over 145 yards per game. Pittsburgh is 23rd in scoring offense, averaging 38.1 points per game, while NC State sits at 79th, averaging 26.8.
Want more proof that Drinkwitz has been average compared to Canada? Just look at the stats from last year’s NC State offense led by Canada compared to this year’s led by Drinkwitz.
Under Canada, the Wolfpack rushed for an average of 202.5 yards per game, nearly 60 yards more per game than this year. The 2015 Wolfpack averaged nearly a touchdown more per game and scored 9 percent more in the red zone.
The 2015 Wolfpack also got off to better starts, scoring 131 points in the first quarter last season. Through eight games, this year’s squad has only scored 34 points in the first quarter.
Perhaps most damning is the penalties the Wolfpack have accrued this season, costing it points and perhaps wins. Costly formation penalties against Boston College and Notre Dame took touchdowns off the board.
The 2015 Wolfpack accrued 72 penalties in 13 games. Through eight games the 2016 Wolfpack have received 59 penalties, an astonishingly high number.
Some of this may be attributed to Canada having an NFL caliber quarterback running his offense in Jacoby Brissett, and Finley is anything but Brissett.
Finley struggles with deep passes and has looked shaky on the road this season. He was the man handpicked by Drinkwitz this season to be the quarterback and the coaching change wasted redshirt sophomore Jalan McClendon’s three seasons learning Canada’s system. McClendon has better arm strength and athleticism, and it’s fair to wonder where the Wolfpack would be right now if it had a more dynamic quarterback.
The subpar play of Finley and coaching of Drinkwitz has wasted a fine season by the Wolfpack defense, which ranks 28th in total defense this season. It has wasted the most talented defensive line the Wolfpack has had since the early 2000’s and most tragically has wasted the final season of Dayes.
One of the biggest knocks on Canada was that he didn’t get the ball to playmakers like Dayes and Samuels, but Drinkwitz has been even less effective in that regard. Under Canada, Samuels had 56 attempts rushing the football and 65 catches. This season Samuels is on pace for 30 rushing attempts and 55 catches. He recorded one catch and failed to record a rushing attempt as NC State’s offense sputtered against Boston College. The Wolfpack offense has suffered because of Samuels’ lack of involvement.
With NC State teetering on the brink of staying home for this bowl season, it’s time to reflect and realize that Drinkwitz’s first season has been a noticeable regression from Canada’s tenure at NC State.
Sometimes the scapegoat is fired and the new guy comes in and makes the head coach look like a hero again. In this situation the problem wasn’t with Canada or his offenses, it appears to go much higher up than that. With a tough slate of games left on the schedule, it’s time to come to terms that NC State’s season is going to end badly, and when it does there will be no one for Doeren to blame.
