"We're a work in progress right now."

Yeah, you could say that.

Ken Tysiac offers a few tips to State's struggling offense:

Attack the perimeter.

After years of dancing in the backfield and trying to bounce too many plays outside, senior Andre Brown finally has established himself as a physical running back willing to churn out the tough yards between the tackles.

As opponents begin crowding the middle of the field out of respect for Brown, opportunities will open up on the perimeter. N.C. State might find the open space there with quick throws and an occasional quarterback run.

Which brings up something I've been wondering about all of those RB draws we've seen so far: what percentage of those plays are hand offs mandated by Dana Bible, and what percentage are reads made by Russell Wilson? Has Wilson just been shy about hanging onto the ball himself, or does the staff not trust him to make those reads yet? Injury concerns could be a factor as well.

Be less predictable on first down.

If you disregard the final, pass-happy drive at the end of the game, N.C. State ran Brown or Curtis Underwood on 14 of its 24 first downs at Clemson.

Here's the full-season run/pass breakdown:

 Run Pass Run% Pass% Yds/Ru Yds/Pa
1st down 53 28 65.4 34.6 3.8 6.3
2nd down 36 23 61 39 2.4 5.4
3rd down 17 30 36.2 63.8 0.4 3.8

Adjusting for sacks...

 Run Pass Run% Pass% Yds/Ru Yds/Pa
1st down 52 29 64.2 35.8 3.9 5.9
2nd down 35 24 59.3 40.7 2.7 4.8
3rd down 13 34 17.7 72.3 3.1 2.4

I think the two-yard differential between Yds/Pass and Yds/Rush on 1st down is within the range of acceptable passing premiums (though definitely nearing the need-to-pass-more point), but that could easily change as more games are played and more film is available to opponents. So we probably should start throwing more frequently. Not that there's a right answer with this offense. Just a potentially less-wrong one. The fact that we've used three quarterbacks doesn't help either.