Analyzing NC State’s Defense vs. Troy

On Saturday night, the NC State defense gave up 305 yards to the Troy Trojans, and allowed them to put 21 points on the board.  I’m not going to make excuses for the defense, but it is worth noting that 157 of those yards were from 4 big plays.  That’s 51% of Troy’s total yards.  (The 4 plays are all in the video at the bottom.)

Two of those plays were runs by Brandon Burks and the other two were receptions by Bryan Holmes.

Let’s look at Brandon Burks’ two big plays first.  Burks had a 30-yard run that led to a Troy score at the end of the first half, and then busted loose for a 57-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.  On the 30-yard run at the end of the first half, a Troy defender was holding NC State Nickel Dravious Wright, begging for the referee to throw a flag.  Burks should have been brought down earlier, but Linebacker Jerod Fernandez was slow in making a read, because he was blocked by a double-team on Defensive Tackle Kentavius Street.  On the 57-yard touchdown run, Defensive End Mike Rose and Nickel Dravious Wright miss-fit the play, and Safety Josh Jones was completely out of position.  If you take away those two runs, he had 12 carries for 37 yards, for an average of 3.01 yards per carry.  Troy averaged 4.8 yards per carry on Saturday, which is an eyesore on the Wolfpack stat sheet, but if you take out those two runs, the Trojans would have averaged 1.48 yards per carry.

Now let’s look at Holmes’ two big plays.  Holmes had two big catches of 33 and 37 yards.  For what it’s worth, each of these plays had two things in common: Brandon Silver threw a perfect pass and Bryan Holmes made an incredible catch.  Holmes was covered by Wolfpack cornerback Jack Tocho on each of these plays, and they both came in the first half.  The first was 33-yard strike on the sideline, that led to a Troy touchdown.  Tocho couldn’t have been in much better coverage, and even managed to get his hand up, but not high enough.  If he would have gotten his inside hand up, it could have been a different story.  The other one was a 37-yard touchdown pass that Silver laid perfectly over the shoulder of Holmes.  Truth be told, Tocho was adjusting and playing catch up on this play, tackling him as he caught it in the end zone.  If you take away those two plays, Silvers still would have completed 10 of his 14 passes, but he would have only been good for 79 yards.

You obviously can’t take away these 4 big plays, or ignore them as if they don’t count.  They absolutely do.  Games are won off of big “chunk” plays.  They change the momentum of the game.  In a matter of seconds, everything can change. NC State cannot afford to give up these types of big plays to Troy, or any other opponent.

With that being said, I don’t believe in this particular game that the defense was playing awful football outside of these four plays.  I don’t think there was anything distinctly impressive about any players individual performance, but as a unit, they did well consistently outside of these 4 big plays.  They held Troy to a 3-and-out on 6 out of their 13 possessions.  NC State forced a turnover on two of the other possessions.

What I think the defense lacked was a spark that comes with players that lead with passion and energy.  Big time defenders make big time plays, and their passion and energy is contagious.  The Wolfpack will have to eliminate the big “chunk” plays going forward, and a passionate leader might be the recipe for success.