Game One By The Numbers

by Akula Wolf on Sep 5, 2011 6:12 PM EDT

	Plays	Total Yds	Yds/Play	Yds/Carry*	Yds/PassAtt
NCSU	66	318	4.8	6.6	5.0
Liberty	74	406	5.5	4.8	7.0

(Yds/carry stats are calculated after removing sacks from the equation.)

The ground game looks much better once sacks are taken out of the picture. NC State lost 43 yards on four sacks allowed, which is an unusually big amount of yardage. We need you to take smaller sacks, Mike Glennon. Big sacks are not good. That all sounded vaguely dirty, didn't it.

TOB wasn't pleased with the number of pass attempts in the first half, and once the team made a point to lean on the ground game, Liberty started to wear down a bit. Curtis Underwood finished the evening with 114 yards, 68 of which came on runs of 33 and 35 yards in the second half.

Mike Brown handled the vast majority of Liberty's rushing attempts, and several of those were scrambles during pass plays, so I'm not sure that number is the most accurate indicator for how the defense handled running plays.

Something to which I may pay extra attention this season: receiver targets. I'm curious to see which guys emerge from the shuffle and become Glennon's favorites.

vs. Liberty	Targets	Receptions
Graham	5	1
J. Smith	5	1
Palmer	4	3
Gentry	4	4
Howard	3	3
Carter	3	2
Washington	2	1
Bryan	2	0
R. Smith	1	1
Underwood	1	1
Payton	1	1

Taylor Gentry averaged about one reception per game in 2010, so he definitely isn't used to having the ball in his hands this often. I wonder if we'll continue to see Glennon dump it off to him 3-4 times per week. If he does, I'm all for it. Putting the ball in Gentry's hands and letting him go run somebody over is not a bad strategy.

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Comments

Yikes!

Disappointed with Graham and Smith, and to some degree George Bryan. Graham and Smith because they looked sluggish in their passing routes and had hands of stone. Bryan only because he let that one catch go right thru his hands. Receivers are still the scariest part to me.

by chip24spb on Sep 6, 2011 10:53 AM EDT reply actions

ditto on the receiver comments.

i was disappointed with Graham. I expect much more from him as a senior receiver.
while the defense did create a number of turnovers, i also expected better from them. is Sweezy being missed?
if that big kid for Liberty had played nose guard, would R&R had to have chosen “death”?

by sbas2 on Sep 6, 2011 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't understand

the expectations for Graham. He has not been a good receiver for his entire NCSU career, so why expect him to be one his senior year? I have maintained that if Graham is our top WR target, we are in big trouble.

by PACKHOOLIGAN on Sep 6, 2011 11:23 AM EDT reply actions

I agree

as he settles in, we need T Palmer to continue to improve, and george bryan to step it up.

I am going to tell myself that the problem with the passing game was first game jitters complicated by our struggles with blitz pickup. All this is correctable. There now, I’ve said it, so it must be true. Yup.

by ginger avenger on Sep 6, 2011 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions