NC State 33 Syracuse 25: What Went Wrong

This afternoon NC State defeated Syracuse 33-25 in their ACC opener, and in this piece I will dissect what the Wolfpack didn’t go well:

Offense

• Syracuse’s secondary wasn’t supposed to be a strength, but NC State made them look pretty good. They were extremely active, breaking up passes, and never being far from their man. Ryan Finley only completed 20 of his 33 pass attempts, which is his lowest completion percentage of the season (60.6%), and only threw for 186 yards.
• Dropped passes. NC State punted on their 1st three offensive possessions of the second half, and on two of those drives, it was because of dropped passes on 3rd down by Stephen Louis and and Kelvin Harmon that would have extended the drives.
• Kelvin Harmon left the game with an injury.
• Scored only 7 points in the second half. They can’t afford to not play 4 quarters.
• Coming out of halftime it seemed like the play calling became much more conservative, way to early in the game.
• Ryan Finley seemed out of sync at times, and didn’t seem to survey the field well. He seemed glued on a particular player, and didn’t check down.

Defense

• They gave up 444 yards of offense (385 through the air).
• Syracuse picked the NC State defense apart on passes down the middle. The zone was picked apart. Jerod Fernandez was matched up on Ervin Phillips a painful number of times, and pass coverage has never been his strength.
• NC State allowed the Orangemen to have two 100-yard receivers (Phillips – 188 and Ishmael – 120)
• Carson Wise missed a 36-yard field goal and an extra-point.

This team has to learn how to put a team away. That goes for the offense and the defense.