Previewing NC State’s Opponent: Western Carolina

A win for Western Carolina today would be the biggest victory in school history. Period.

The FCS program is 0-55 all-time against FBS opponents.

That would seem like a big ask today, considering the fact that the 44.5-point underdogs have lost 9 straight games dating back to last season.

The Catamounts return 6 starters on offense and 5 starters on defense.

Their offense is built around the option, like Doeren described at his weekly press conference earlier this week.

“It’s a spread option, zone read option spread out, RPO offense so it’ll be a really good fundamental game for our defense,” said Doeren. “A lot of formations.”

The guy that makes the whole offense happen is Redshirt Senior Tyrie Adams, who is the SoCon Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. He earned 1st Team All-SoCon honors last year, and is a preseason FCS All-American this year. Adams threw for 1,714 yards last season (64.6%) with 16 touchdowns (4 interceptions) last season679. He also rushed for 678 yards (5.5 yards per carry) last year with 7 touchdowns. In the season opener last week against Mercer, he threw for 318 yards (65.8%) with 2 touchdowns (1 interception), and rushed for 34 yards and a touchdown.

NC State is familiar with Western Carolina’s True Freshman Running Back Syheam McQueen, who played for Scotland County. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry last week in his debut.

Junior Tight End Owen Cosenke only had 19 receptions last season, but half of them were touchdowns. Last week he came out with a bang, collecting 6 receptions for 63 yards and a touchdown. Cosenke is preseason all-conference.

Redshirt Senior Wide Receiver Nate Mullen is the Catamounts leading returning receiver, snatching 55 passes last year for 600 yards and 2 touchdowns. He is the only other team captain alongside Adams.

In Week 1, Mullen wasn’t the top receiver though. Redshirt Sophomore D.J. Thorpe was the star receiver last week, reeling in 6 receptions for 130 yards. Mullen is only playing his second season at receiver, being converted from quarterback to wideout prior to last season. The 6 receptions last week match his total from all of last season.

Doeren mentioned all three Western Carolina receivers at his press conference, and the third is Redshirt Junior Daquan Patten. He might stand only 5’6″, but he had 39 receptions for 567 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2018. He received a scholarship at the first team meeting this preseason, and is a preseason all-conference player. Last week Patten had 6 receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown.

Describing the Catamounts defense, Doeren said they do a lot of things to mix up their looks.

“Defensively they are very multiple so a lot different than last week’s defense. These guys run a lot of different looks,” said Doeren. “They are in three-down, they’re in four-down. They are a multiple coverage team.”

Doeren singled out Sophomore Nose Tackle Adam Henderson, who had 28 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks as a True Freshman last year. Last week he had 7 tackles against Mercer, which is an impressive total for a Nose Tackle.

Western Carolina’s returning leading tackler is Redshirt Junior SAM Linebacker Michael Murphy, who had 92 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, and 5 passes defended. Junior BUCK Linebacker Trevor Childers was the star last week, exploding for 10 tackles against Mercer, with 2 of those going for a loss. Childers is stepping up in 2019, playing as a reserve all last season, finishing the year with only 9 stops.