NC State Vs. Miami By The Numbers: Sadness Edition

Box Score

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

There are some things that were plain enough on first inspection--NC State's ground game was surprisingly effective, and Miami's was surprisingly absent. We did a great job containing a couple of running backs who've made some big plays early in the year, which put the bulk of responsibility on Stephen Morris. If you'd told me beforehand that we'd be able to accomplish that defensively, I'd have felt really good about the outcome. Instead...

One frustrating aspect of television coverage is the inability to see how plays develop while they're happening. David Amerson and company obviously blew some coverages. I have no clue how they let a guy who'd victimized them earlier in the day get behind everybody in the final minute. The dude had well over 100 yards receiving by that point. I'd like to understand, but it can be tough to get a definitive read on the circumstances based on replay.

But I guess that was just the way it went Saturday. There didn't seem to be whole lot of logic in play, and most of the proceedings were difficult to comprehend, so the TV cameras might as well have been fog machines. I know this much: Amerson has to figure out what it is exactly that he's trying to do out there. He can't bait every quarterback he sees into poor throws. That mindset will work on occasion, but it's no place to make a living; it's a place where, in general, assumptions result in disaster. There's being cute and then there's failing the fundamentals for overconfidence.