NC State Football
NC State Football Looking to Score Early & Often in 2020
In 2019, NC State was a snail coming out the gate offensively. The tides were turned on Saturday in the season opener against Wake Forest, and Wolfpack fans have to hope this is a sign of more to come.
In a stat that’s hard to believe, in 2019 NC State didn’t score a single touchdown in the 1st quarter in ACC play. Against the Demon Deacons last week, the Wolfpack scored three touchdowns on all three 1st quarter possessions. All 3 touchdowns were rushing touchdowns (Knight, Hockman, Person).
“Bam” Knight is all too familiar with fast starts. As a Freshman last year, he scored a touchdown on his first touch of the year, and on Saturday he pulled the trick for the 2nd year in a row.
The offensive production in the 1st quarter against Wake was one of the best in Doeren’s tenure. The 185 total yards in the 1st were the most for the Pack against an ACC foe since 2014 against…welp…Wake Forest (214 yards).
Trenton Gill was bored in the 1st quarter last week, not getting the chance to punt a single time. Last year, the Wolfpack called Gill’s name on average almost 2x (1.75) in the 1st against ACC opponents.
Doeren said in his press conference this week that this was an area of weakness in 2019 that they worked all offseason to correct.
It’s gratifying to see something you work on extensively come to fruition.