Analyzing NC State’s Promotion of Kurt Roper to Offensive Coordinator

NC State has promoted Quarterbacks Coach Kurt Roper to replace Robert Anae at Offensive Coordinator. Roper has 9 years of experience as an Offensive Coordinator. Below is an in depth look at how his offense ranked when he was the Offensive Coordinator at Duke, Florida and South Carolina.

Serving as a Quarterbacks coach for most his career, it’s not shocking that the offense at Duke (2008-13) was oriented around the passing game. In those 6 seasons, Duke was 1 of the best passing teams in the ACC, ranking in the Top-5 four times. In 2009, Duke ranked 9th nationally in Passing Offense, and they ranked 22nd in 2010. The Blue Devils ranked in the Top-50 in Passing Offense in 5 of the 6 years. In Roper’s final two seasons with Duke, they ranked in the Top-50 in Scoring Offense. In 2013, Duke pretty much ranked in the Top-50 in Total Offense, Passing Offense, Rushing Offense and Scoring Offense.

Roper helped lead the Blue Devils to the ACC Championship game in 2013, which is something NC State hasn’t been able to do since the ACC installed the Championship Game in 2005. For 6 seasons, he guided Duke to have one of the best air attacks in the ACC on a consistent basis.

While the passing numbers at Duke were great, they only ranked in the Top-6 in the ACC one time in 6 years, and were easily the worst running team in the conference.

In his final season in Durham, when they went to the Championship game, they finally produced a formidable running game to compliment the passing game, with the run game ranking 5th and the passing game ranking 6th. The result…they ranked 4th in Total Offense in the ACC.

Roper took Duke’s offense places they hadn’t been in almost 2 decades. In 2010, the Blue Devils averaged 381.3 yards of total offense, which was the highest average since 1989. Roper would lead Duke to top that number again in 2012 and 2013.

The offensive numbers at Florida (2014) and South Carolina (2016-17) weren’t nearly as impressive. I don’t want to read too much into those numbers, considering he was only with the Gators one season, and was a Co-Offensive Coordinator for the Gamecocks (though he was the play caller).

Here’s the deal. In some ways, I can understand the promotion of Roper. He’s been a heck of a recruiter for NC State, was probably instrumental in keeping CJ Bailey, and gets the culture.

With that being said, this was by no means a swing-for-the-fence hire by Doeren. Roper has been a part of NC State’s Offensive Coaching staff for the past 6 seasons, and in that span, the Wolfpack hasn’t had a single season ranked in the Top-50 in Total Offense. In fact, they have only been in the Top-70 one time in that span.

Roper is a respected football coach, and what he did at Duke was truly impressive (though I’d love to have seen a stronger emphasis on the running game, and a more balanced approach), but he hasn’t been an Offensive Coordinator since 2017, and to be honest, he hasn’t done it well since 2013.

With NC State truly needing an overhaul in their Offensive philosophy, I was hoping that Doeren would make a pick that would stretch him, and transform and rework the Wolfpack’s offensive attack.

Maybe Roper will be that guy. I hope he is, truly, but if this doesn’t work next season, Doeren’s seat will be flaming hot, having made a conservative choice, when he had the opportunity to make an aggressive hire.

Roper at Duke

In 2008, the Duke Blue Devils football team ranked as follows in their offensive categories:

Total Offense: 102nd
Passing Offense: 75th
Rushing Offense: 104th
Scoring Offense: 101st

Total Offense: 10th in the ACC (303.8)
Passing Offense: 6th in the ACC (197.7)
Rushing Offense: 11th in the ACC (106.2)
Scoring Offense: 11th in the ACC (20.1)

In 2009, the Duke Blue Devils football team had the following rankings in their offensive categories:

Total Offense: 69th
Passing Offense: 9th
Rushing Offense: 120th (last)
Scoring Offense: 74th

Total Offense: 7th in the ACC (368.5)
Passing Offense: 1st in the ACC (305)
Rushing Offense: Last in the ACC (63.5)
Scoring Offense: 9th in the ACC (24.5)

In the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the Duke Blue Devils football team had the following offensive rankings:

Total Offense: 60th
Passing Offense: 22nd
Rushing Offense: 104th
Scoring Offense: 75th

Total Offense: 7th in the ACC (381.3)
Passing Offense: 2nd in the ACC (271.3)
Rushing Offense: Last in the ACC (110)
Scoring Offense: 9th in the ACC (25.3)

In the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the Duke Blue Devils football team had the following offensive rankings:

Total Offense: 79th
Passing Offense: 28th
Rushing Offense: 115th
Scoring Offense: 93rd

Total Offense: 10th in the ACC (366.3)
Passing Offense: 2nd in the ACC (272.2)
Rushing Offense: Last in the ACC (94.1)
Scoring Offense: 11th in the ACC (22.5)

In the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the Duke Blue Devils football team had the following offensive rankings:

Total Offense: 55th
Passing Offense: 31st
Rushing Offense: 100th
Scoring Offense: 44th

Total Offense: 7th in the ACC (409.2)
Passing Offense: 5th in the ACC (283.9)
Rushing Offense: 8th in the ACC (125.2)
Scoring Offense: 5th in the ACC (31.5)

In the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the Duke Blue Devils had the following offensive rankings:

Total Offense: 47th
Passing Offense: 50th
Rushing Offense: 54th
Scoring Offense: 42nd

Total Offense: 4th in the ACC (426.1)
Passing Offense: 6th in the ACC (248.1)
Rushing Offense: 5th in the ACC (178)
Scoring Offense: 5th in the ACC (32.8)

Roper at Florida

In the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the Florida Gators ranked in the following offensive categories:

Total Offense: 96th
Passing Offense: 106th
Rushing Offense: 43rd
Scoring Offense: 56th

Total Offense: 12th in the SEC (367.6)
Passing Offense: 12th in the SEC (179.9)
Rushing Offense: 7th in the SEC (187.7)
Scoring Offense: 8th in the SEC (30.3)

Roper at South Carolina

In the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the South Carolina Gamecocks had the following offensive rankings:

Total Offense: 115th
Passing Offense: 83rd
Rushing Offense: 108th
Scoring Offense: 116th

Total Offense: 13th in the SEC (347.5)
Passing Offense: 7th in the SEC (213.2)
Rushing Offense: 13th in the SEC (134.4)
Scoring Offense: Last in the SEC (20.8)

In the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the South Carolina Gamecocks had the following offensive rankings:

Total Offense: 109th
Passing Offense: 77th
Rushing Offense: 11th
Scoring Offense: 99th

Total Offense: 12th in the SEC (337.1)
Passing Offense: 6th in the SEC (214.9)
Rushing Offense: 12th in the SEC (122.2)
Scoring Offense: 12th in the SEC (24.2)