NC State’s 30-33 Loss to ECU: What Went Wrong?

Alright. So where do I start?

ECU has now beaten NC State in their last three match ups, and 4 out of the last 6.

I think most NC State fans will admit that’s a statistic that is hard to swallow and unacceptable. Maybe we don’t deserve to feel that way, and ECU has genuinely put the better team on the field against the Wolfpack. Or, maybe we deserve to feel that way because we have had the more ‘talented’ team, but didn’t do enough to walk out of the stadium to win.

So what went wrong this past Saturday?

Special Teams

When kicker Kyle Bambard was a freshman last season, his field goal percentage was only 50%. ESPN ranked Bambard as the #12 kicker coming out of high school. His leg strength hasn’t been in question, rather it has been his accuracy. The remedy to the solution? Conor Haskins, a transfer kicker from UNC Pembroke, enters stage right. Bambard didn’t get a chance to kick a field goal in the William & Mary game, because there was never a need. When the need arose, Haskins ran out on the field instead of Bambard, and missed from 44 and 42.

Then in the second quarter, after a Jaylen Samuels Jet Sweep for a touchdown, with a 1 point lead, Doeren got greedy and sent out Kyle Bambard to throw a pass on a fake extra point attempt. Busted.

At the end of NC State’s first offensive drive in the second half, instead of letting Haskins or Bambard attempt to hit a 28-yard field goal, they fake the field goal and nearly get punter A.J. Cole III’s head knocked off attempting to run into the end zone. Keep in mind NC State did this with a 20-19 lead, and Bambard chipped in 5 nearly from this distance last week, on extra points.

Later in the third quarter, Bambard finally was allowed to go out there and kick a 30-yard field goal successfully.

It’s unacceptable to be a Division 1 football program in a Power 5 conference and not be able to kick field goals from a reasonable distance. It’s essential that you get one of these kickers to be able to confidentally be able to go out there and kick field goals. It won’t give them confidence when you don’t allow them the opportunity to kick a 28-yarder.

Between Haskins’ two missed field goals, the fake extra point, and the fake field goal, NC State left 10 points on the field in the kicking game.

This madness has to end.

Defense

Dave Huxtable’s defense gave up 445 yards of total offense to the Pirates.

It’s hard to do that and win.

They averaged 4.5 yards per carry and picked us apart with continuous passes close to the line of scrimmage.

Poise and Confidence

I know that ECU is a hard place to play. I expect them to be revved up. Even though I think NC State had their chances to win the game, from the very first snap ECU looked like they wanted it more, and that I can’t accept.

Doeren made comments earlier in the week that became bulletin board material for the East Carolina, which was extremely unwise. Acting like this is just another game and that you don’t recruit against one another would have looked awesome if you won. When you lose you have to eat your words. This isn’t any other game. For crying out loud, NC State’s slogan is “OUR STATE.” They are an in-state team and they are competing for bragging rights to deserve our slogan better than we do, and after beating us 4 out of the last 6 times, they are making a decent argument.