Stressing Consistency Key to Besting Elite NC State Attack

Read Time:6 Minute, 42 Second

Stressing Consistency Key to Besting Elite NC State Attack

Throughout college football, different institutions lay claim to different titles. Some boast about gameday traditions and tailgating while others assert dominance for on-field achievements. Identities form from those contentions, especially when position groups become singularly successful over time.

Just as Boston College is “O-Line U,” NC State can declare itself as a cradle of quarterbacks. Last year, four former Wolfpack signal callers started games in the NFL. Philip Rivers is the most tenured, but consecutive starters Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon were under center last year, with Jacoby Brissett rounding out the total.

But Ryan Finley, the team’s current starter stands to pass them all.

“Their quarterback is among the elite in the country right now in terms of touchdown passes thrown and passing efficiencies,” BC head coach Steve Addazio said. “He’s outstanding. He’s got a great receiving corps, so they’re explosive.”

Finley entered this season already entrenched as one of NC State’s greatest quarterbacks. In leading a nationally-ranked Wolfpack, he moved to the brink of becoming the fourth player in program history with 8,000 yards, and he tied for fifth with 43 touchdowns passed.

“He’s a good player,” Addazio said. “I can remember talking to one of the pro coaches and them telling me that they really like him. They feel he’ll be a good pro player. He’s a good quarterback. He’s accurate. He sees the field well. He throws it really well. He is maybe the best quarterback in the league. He’s certainly one of them. He’s experienced. He’s good.”

Finley is a true field general, and NC State’s offense is reflective of that. The passing unit leads the ACC with over 340 yards per game, and his only interception came during a 41-7 blowout of Georgia State. He hasn’t thrown less than 30 passes in a game, and he went over 300 yards in each of the team’s first three games.

It’s a performance that has him soaring up NFL Draft boards. ESPN analyst Todd McShay recently moved Finley to the top QB slot in his 2019 draft class rankings, making him a likely first-round pick next offseason. It would also make him the first NC State QB taken in the first round since Rivers in 2006 and third overall while joining him with Wilson, Glennon, and Brissett, all of whom were chosen in the third round.

“Those guys are tough when you play (them),” Addazio said. “That’s a tough order. When your quarterback is one of those elite guys, it usually makes all the difference in the world. They’re playing with a heck of a player, and they’ve got a good receiving corps.”

How NC State utilizes Finley evolved over time due to changing pieces at receiver. The 2017 Wolfpack had two different running backs now in the NFL, including Jaylen Samuels, a “slash” type of player who featured in the passing game. Jokobi Meyers paired with Kelvin Harmon in as receivers, but Samuels was the feature with Nyheim Hines’ 1,000-plus yards of rushing pop out of the backfield.

The departure of both Hines and Samuels transformed the offense, and the running game is now shouldered predominantly by Reggie Gallaspy II. He’s behind Hines’ pace from last season, but it’s allowed Meyers and Harmon, both of whom returned to Raleigh, to blossom and flourish.

The tandem, along with Emeka Emezie, all have 20 receptions in NC State’s first four games. It’s a testament to Finley’s ability to spread the ball around, but it’s also a reflection of the receivers’ ability to get open. It’s a little bit of a different look from last year, though it retains the same principles installed by head coach Dave Doeren.

“Dave has had different systems since I’ve been here (at BC),” Addazio said. “I shouldn’t say different systems but different styles of guys. They’ve had the great backs, and when Matt Canada was in there, he had one kind of system. Like all of us, I think you have to evolve and just evolve with who your talent is and who your personnel is and everything else.”

Overall, a team that can control the clock can keep Finley on the sidelines, but a defense can limit his opportunities by making key stops. The Wolfpack only scored 24 points against James Madison and trailed 7-0 at the end of the first quarter because it only had four first-half drives.

Last week against Virginia was similar. NC State only had three drives in the first, the last of which spilled over into the second. It trailed 7-3 but used that crossover drive to score a touchdown, eventually rolling up 17 second-quarter points by scoring on two of its three later drives.

It creates a tax on the BC defense that can be controlled with the Eagles’ clock-control style of offense. Still, the tax creates a premium on getting off the field in situational football. James Madison, for example, held the ball for almost seven minutes in the first quarter and over nine minutes in the second. Only one of their drives ended in points, though, and a 13-play, 66-yard drive lasting over six minutes in the second ended with a fumble. That contrasts with the Wolfpack, who scored touchdowns on the only two NC State offensive drives of the second quarter.

The bottom line boils down to consistency. BC displayed an ability to create explosive plays in the first half of the season, but stressing fundamentals can improve the defense’s ability to simply do its job. The offense’s goal is to move the chains, first down by first down, with the anticipation that doing so eventually reaches the end zone. The defense, therefore, is to simply prevent that.

But it’s still walking a tightrope. Enhancing fundamentals requires drills, but each week has limited hours to get healthy for the next game. So there’s a balance to be found where a team can maintain its physical health while stressing the physical requirements of a football game.

“We’re all trying to keep our guys healthy, and we feel like if we just don’t tackle as much as we used to,” Addazio said. “It’s like anything else. You want to be good at something, you got to do it. We tag off a lot on 7-on-7 (drills). I don’t like it, but we do it because we can’t take the injuries. But I’m going to put a little more emphasis on it this week. If I see something I don’t like, I’m going to address it.

“You can attack without putting the whole team in harm’s way,” he continued. “You set up some tackling drills and things like that. I don’t want to insinuate that we’re going to go out and start tackling each other. That won’t happen, but we will put them in drills to tackle. We’ll probably have our DBs and linebackers in some much more aggressive drills (earlier in the week).”

BC is known as a defense capable of causing havoc. It ranks second in the conference in interceptions and enters this week as the second-best team in defensive passing efficiency. It tops the ACC in sacks, but it’s facing an offensive line ranked No. 1 in the conference with two sacks allowed. It creates a chess match between elite units, both of which enter the game with no quit and no surrender. That chess match will boil down to fundamental and situational football, all of which will be on display on Saturday.

Boston College and No. 23 NC State will play this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. from Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C. The game can be seen on the ACC Network RSN, which is broadcast locally on NESN, and on Fox Sports Go. The game can be heard via the BC IMG Sports Network and on satellite radio via Sirius channel 145, XM channel 202 and Internet channel 965.