NC State’s loss to ECU Saturday was, in the grand scheme of things, not that big a deal. After all, it was not a conference opponent, and NC State’s chances of winning the division still rest on what happens a week from Thursday against Florida State. Nothing that happened in Greenville has altered what its going to take for State to play in the Orange Bowl.
However, only the biggest fool would say the game was “irrelevant.” If Virginia Tech exposed State’s run defense, than ECU just blew a giant hole through what remains of the pass defense. Make no mistake, the fact that State only gave up 12 points after the first quarter is not indicative of some strong defensive adjustments or anything of the sort. ECU, if it could have managed not to trip over itself, would have blown the State defense out. It was only the ECU’s offense’s inability to hold on to the football - FOUR FUMBLES? REALLY? –that kept State in the game.
Now it’s not like ECU’s defense really made a bold stand against State either. State did its fair share of self-harm as well on offense, with Russell fumbling once on a botched handoff exchange and throwing three interceptions, the last of which ended the game in overtime. Russell’s accuracy was at best questionable all game, and his receivers, who had played so well, seemed to revert to their old ways, dropping huge receptions left and right that could have swung the game.
The bottom line: NC State walked out there and laid an egg on offense. If you read my preview of the game, you’ll know that ECU’s 496 total yards wasn’t exactly a shocker. And yes, NC State managed to move the ball as well, totaling 476 total yards. They even managed 158 yards on the ground. So it’s not like the game was a total loss for the Pack.
But whereas the defenses on both sides were expected to have difficulty defending the opposition, the Wolfpack offense was not supposed to be so off. Yes, they got yards. But the Man for all Seasons looked less like a dark horse Heisman candidate, and more like someone with no chance of beating the top level of the ACC. Again, this was ECU, who has possibly the worst defense of any FBS team State has on its schedule this year. There was no excuse for 4 turnovers. If it wasn’t for ECU letting them back into the game, we’d be talking about where NC State would go from a 49-24 drubbing instead of a heartbreaker.
So that question still hangs: where DOES this team go from here? Hopefully, Russell will find that telephone booth he once used to change into Superman, before he started throwing three picks a week. This looks like a team that is not handling their brief flirtation with the polls well, and unless they can stabilize this ship, this team will be lucky to not get mercy rule’d by Florida State.
If all this sounds like panicking, well, it probably is. People usually panic when the ship starts to sink.
