College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the NC State season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– NC State Wolfpack Schedule Analysis
– NC State Wolfpack Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2020 Record: 8-4 overall, 7-3 in ACC
Head Coach: Dave Doeren, 9th year, 55-46 (78-50 overall)
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 37
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 44
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 112
NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: Offense
– The offense bounced back nicely from a rough and rebuilding 2019. It stalled late in the year, and it only averaged 385 yards and 30 points per game overall, but there’s a whole lot of pop and firepower returning to what should be one of the best attacks yet in the Dave Doeren era.
– The quarterback situation will supposedly be locked down in fall camp, but it’ll be Devin Leary’s gig. Bailey Hockman – last year’s leading passer – is off to Middle Tennessee, and Ben Finley is a good option, but Leary is back from the broken leg he suffered early last year after throwing eight touchdown passes with two picks in four games.
The three top targets are all back. 6-3, 220-pound Emeka Emezie is a matchup problem – he caught 47 passes for 738 yards yards and five scores – and Thayer Thomas led the team with six touchdown passes in the slot. Throw in 6-4, 215-pound Devin Carter, and there’s size, experience, and options. The only slight hiccup is at tight end with Cary Angeline done, and the 6-5, 245-pound Dylan Parham is more of a big blocker.
– There will be some shuffling on a line that gets back four starters, but has to be stronger in pass protection and more dominant for the ground game. It’s not a big line, but 325-pound sophomore Ikem Ekwonu brings the size at left tackle. The shuffling will go on at guard, but there’s depth and a few options to play with. Center is set with veteran Grant Gibson a true quarterback up front.
There’s a nice 1-2 rushing punch with ten-touchdown leading rusher Zonovan Knight and Ricky Person two good-sized backs who can move. Third leading rusher Jordan Houston is back, too, adding some potential flash.
– What You Need To Know: Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– NC State Wolfpack Schedule Analysis
NEXT: NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: Defense
4. NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: Defense
– The defensive production wasn’t always great – the D allowed 415 yards and 29 points per game – but there were a whole lot of plays made behind the line and just enough takeaways to offset the gajillion turnovers from the other side of the ball.
Nine starters return with linebacker potentially the team’s biggest strength. 6-4, 240-pound Payton Wilson eats up everything on the weakside, 242-pound Isaiah Moore is a veteran force in the middle, and 236-pound Drake Thomas adds even more size to the mix. The corps is outstanding at getting into the backfield.
– The line loses heart-and-soul anchor Alim McNeill on the nose, but top pass rusher Daniel Joseph returns at one end 285-pound Savion Jackson returns on the other, and the line gets Cory Durden from Florida State to play where needed. The front three’s job is to hold up against the run, and there’s depth to go along with the size to keep everyone fresh. More on the nose tackle gig a bit later.
– The secondary got production from everywhere, but there wasn’t a true interception threat at any one of the five spots. Tyler Baker-Williams is the best of the bunch from his nickel spot – he made 60 stops last year – and the rest of the safety position is terrific – helped even more by the addition of Cyrus Fagan from Florid State – as long as big-hitting Tanner Ingle can stay healthy.
The corner spots are a bit more up in the air, but in a positive way. Shyheim Battle all but has one spot locked down, but the other side is up in the air with Marshall transfer Derrek Pitts an outstanding option to make a push.
– What You Need To Know: Offense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– NC State Wolfpack Schedule Analysis
NEXT: NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Best NC State Wolfpack Offensive Player
RB Zonovan Knight, Soph.
He showed a burst right away in 2019, running for well over five yards per carry with 745 yards and five scores as a good part of the rotation. There might have been just one 100-yard day in 2020, but he led the team with 788 yards and ten rushing scores, coming up with one in each of the last six games as a steady all-around producer.
He’s not a workhorse – Ricky Person will get more than his share of carries – but he’s effective when he gets the ball in his hands as a runner or a kick returner.
2. WR Emeka Emezie, Sr.
3. OT Ikem Ekwonu, Soph.
4. QB Devin Leary, Soph.
5. WR Thayer Thomas, Jr.
Best NC State Wolfpack Defensive Player
LB Payton Wilson, Soph.
While he has to get back healthy after having shoulder problems, when he’s right, he’s one of the best all-around linebackers in the ACC. At 6-4 and 235 pounds he’s got the size to go along with good range and pass rushing ability, coming up with 177 tackles with 3.5 sacks and 16.5 tackles for loss. Good in pass coverage on the weakside, he came up with three interceptions over the last two seasons, too.
2. LB Isaiah Moore, Jr.
3. DE Daniel Joseph, Sr.
4. CB Shyheim Battle, RFr.
5. S Tanner Ingle, Jr.
Top Incoming NC State Wolfpack Transfer
DT Cory Durden, Jr.
While he’s not officially on the roster as this is being written, the Florida State transfer is a very big, talented player filling a very big hole. Alim McNeill was a 6-2, 320-pound all-around anchor who’s now a Detroit Lion after being selected in the third round.
No one’s expecting Durden to step in and be McNeill, but the one-time great recruit has the 6-5, 315-pound frame to work on the nose, but he’s got the athleticism to be a big end in the 3-4. At FSU he made 68 tackles with 7.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss in his 26 games.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– NC State Wolfpack Schedule Analysis
NEXT: NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
NC State Wolfpack Biggest Key: Offense
Enough with all of the turnovers. The talent is there on offense, but the mistakes have to stop after giving up the ball 40 times in the last 21 games. Not surprisingly, the Wolfpack are 1-6 the last seven times they turned it over three times or more, and 3-9 when they give it up more than once.
The offensive line hasn’t been great in pass protection, but that’s only part of the problem. Fumbles, ill-timed interceptions – as opposed to the well-timed ones – and too many big errors have been a killer. The team fell off the map in 2019 when it started screwing up, and last year it went 6-1 when it gave it up fewer than twice.
NC State Wolfpack Biggest Key: Defense
Stop the run. Duh, along with not turning the ball over it’s what every team wants to do, but it’s a bigger deal for NC State than it is for most.
It’s been a bad combination for the program to have a turnover issue on one side while the other side can’t control teams from taking over games on the ground. The O starts to press, and bad things happen.
NC State allowed more than 150 rushing yards five times last year. Four of those games were the four losses, and the one win was against the run-first-run-only Georgia Tech squad.
Giving up 150 rushing yards isn’t all that bad, but NC State is 1-10 over the last two seasons when it does. That’s after giving up over 400 to Texas A&M in the 52-13 nail-biter of a TaxSlayer Bowl to close out the 2018 season.
NC State Wolfpack Key Player To A Successful Season
DT CJ Clark, RFr.
The idea is for Florida State transfer Cody Durden to potentially step in and be the rock in the middle who gums up everything against the run, but the 300-pound Clark isn’t a bad option to get the starting nod on the nose in the team’s attempt to replace Alim McNeill. The talent is there, he’s got the size, and he’s got a little experience making 24 stops in his redshirt freshman campaign.
NC State Wolfpack Key Game To The 2021 Season
at Boston College, Oct. 16
Of course the program will be jacked for its ACC opener against Clemson at home on September 25th, but let’s just assume that will go the other way. With USF, at Mississippi State, Furman and Louisiana Tech all before the week off in mid-October, the Pack should be at worst 3-2, and reasonable best 4-1.
And then comes the trip to Boston College. It’s not that the Eagles are amazing, but it’s the start of a brutal run of four road games in five weeks. NC State is good enough to be everyone on the slate during the stretch, but lost to BC, and the trip to Miami the next week is a really, really big deal to avoid a likely 0-3 ACC start.
– NC State Wolfpack Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2020 NC State Wolfpack Fun Stats
– Time of Possession: Opponents 31:18 – NC State 28:42
– Field Goals: Opponents 21-of-24 – NC State 12-of-17
– Rushing Yards Per Game: Opponents 174 – NC State 123
NEXT: NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
NC State Wolfpack College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Now that’s more like it.
NC State hasn’t been a world-beater over the last eight years under head coach Dave Doeren, but it’s been consistently very, very solid.
Things fell apart in a weird rebuilding year in 2019, but that was a blip. Last year’s team had issues – and pretty much played everyone dead even – and it went 8-4. The 2018 team had issues, and it went 9-4.
Set The NC State Wolfpack Regular Season Win Total At … 7.5
Doeren went 3-9 in his first season in 2013 and then cranked up winning season after winning season. If you think coming up with six winning seasons in the last seven years is boring, can anyone else in the ACC other than Clemson make that claim?
Nope.
But no one’s going to jump up and down and scream that NC State has been the second-best ACC program over the last seven years – no, Notre Dame, you don’t count – mainly because that hasn’t been anything splashy.
The program’s last ACC Championship was back in 1979, there’s only been one top 25 finish under Doeren – it was 23rd back in 2017 – and the team has finished higher than fourth in the Atlantic just twice during the run.
Everyone comes back with experience across college football in this super-senior season, but getting back 16 starers to go along with a few nice transfers should make this one of Doeren’s best teams yet.
The Pack miss Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Virginia and Pitt, get North Carolina at home, and for whatever it’s worth in a take-your-big-shot sort of way, Clemson has to come to Raleigh.
The pieces are there and the schedule is manageable enough to get back to the nine-win bar the program hit in 2017 and 2018, but going to Miami, Mississippi State, Boston College, Florida State and Wake Forest might be just sneaky-tough enough to keep that from happening.
But don’t yawn if it’s yet another winning season with another bowl trip for the program that’s overdue for sensational, but might simply remain steady.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– NC State Wolfpack Schedule Analysis
