The Brennan Armstrong Experiment Needs to be Over

The Brennan Armstrong experiment needs to be over.

I get why the coaching staff brought in Armstrong as a Graduate Transfer. NC State was entering their 1st season in a new offensive system under new Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae. The combination of Armstrong and Anae at UVA created one of the best offensive seasons in ACC history in 2021. Sure, Armstrong wasn’t great last year for Virginia, but maybe that was simply because Anae left for Syracuse, and he was learning a new system.

M.J. Morris came in last season, and grabbed the heart of Wolfpack nation, and rightfully so. His passing efficiency rating was an impressive 148.3. He threw 7 touchdowns, and only 1 interception. The hype was high, but the talent was also obvious. With that being said, Morris played in 5 games last year, and only started 2. Entering 2023, Morris was coming off of a knee injury. In 2022, he was playing as a True Freshman, and in 2023 he would be learning a new offensive scheme. Morris seemingly accepted the fact that Armstrong was named the starter in the Spring, choosing to not enter his name in the Transfer Portal. In fact, Morris doubled down in the preseason on his desire to be one of the greats to play the Quarterback position at NC State.

Obviously, the plan has been to redshirt Morris in 2023. It wasn’t Morris who was brought in for mop up duty against VMI. Doeren expressed after the game that Morris didn’t need mop up duty reps, and doubled down on the fact that the plan was to redshirt Morris.

After last night’s offensive debacle, we have five games of data and film to examine how the Brennan Armstrong experiment is going, and…well…it’s not going well. It appears that last year wasn’t a fluke. Armstrong ranked 2nd-to-last in Passing Efficiency Rating in the ACC in 2022 (108.3). We didn’t know which version of Armstrong we were going to get in ’23. Would it be the 2021 version, or the 2022 version? Well, it looks like we got the 2022 version. Truthfully, Armstrong’s Passing Efficiency Rating is higher this year than last year (currently 112.5), but his current numbers are inflated by an easy VMI performance.

This article isn’t an overreaction to last nights performance. The concerns have been there since the season opener against UCONN. Through 5 games, Armstrong doesn’t look like an ACC Quarterback. His arm hasn’t proven to be accurate, but his decision making gives me the greatest pause. I knew there would be risks of more interceptions with Armstrong at Quarterback in an offense run by Anae that was supposed to push the ball down the field. This offense hasn’t pushed the ball down the field, and most of Armstrong’s interceptions or “could have been interceptions” haven’t been trying to thread the needle attempting to create explosive plays. They’ve seemingly been elementary and mind numbing mistakes.

At this point, the coaching staff finds themselves in a precarious position. The hope was to redshirt Morris, but with Armstrong at Quarterback, I’m not confident in another W on the schedule. Carter-Finley Stadium on numerous occasions throughout the game last night chanted in unison the name “MJ Morris” or “Put in Morris.”

Now, to be completely honest, and completely fair to Armstrong, the offensive problems don’t all fall on his shoulders by any means. The offensive line wouldn’t all of a sudden become better simply because Morris was behind center.

With that being said, through the five games we saw of Morris last year, and the five games we’ve seen of Armstrong this year, there is no question in my mind who the better Quarterback is. There is no question which one gives you a better chance of winning. If they were to put in Morris, would I feel slightly bad for him, knowing that the “redshirt” was wasted? Sure. But at the end of the day, NC State needs to try to win games, and I bet Morris would love to help them do that.

Every single home game is sold out. The fans deserve to see the coaching staff to do whatever they can do to put a winning product on the field, and I can’t see a scenario where that includes Brennan Armstrong any longer.