NC State Defeats The Citadel, 52-14

Despite what concerns we might have had, justified or excessively paranoid, NC State had no trouble whatsoever with The Citadel. The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage all night, which gave Mike Glennon plenty of time to throw and eased Shadrach Thornton into his college debut. On the other side of the ball, State was able to contain The Citadel's offense, the Bulldogs' first touchdown excepted.

Thornton took advantage of his first career start by running for 145 yards on 21 carries, and he scored a pair of touchdowns. Glennon completed 19 of 24 pass attempts for 233 yards and finished with more rushing touchdowns than passing touchdowns. Football is a strange game sometimes.

Setting the opposition aside, this was the most complete game we've seen from NC State in 2012. Thornton made a mistake or two in pass protection, but he was decisive with the football and took what he got from the offensive line. State ended up with 282 yards rushing, which is the team's highest total since at least 2006 and the first time it has broken 200 yards on the ground since the win over Pittsburgh in 2009.

Thornton did a great job of taking what was available to him, but there are lingering questions surrounding Mustafa Greene, Tony Creecy, and James Washington. Apparently the latter two were too hurt to play tonight, and Greene is clearly still in the dog house. Shit starts to get serious next week. Will we have more depth at running back, or is Thornton/Barnes the situation for the weeks to come?