It’s been a week since NC State’s final game and their season is finished. Dave Doeren has made one change so far and it is one that the fan base had been clamoring for. Doeren fired Defensive Coordinator Dave Huxtable and replaced him with Tony Gibson who was brought in from WVU this past season. You could see Gibson’s fingerprints on this defense from the start of the season. NC State switched from a 4-2-5 to a 3-3-5. However, even with the switch in scheme’s Huxtable still made the defensive calls. Tony Gibson has experience with uptempo spread offenses like Oaklahoma, the Art Briles Baylor teams, and Texas Tech under Kliff Kingsbury.
Fans can debate what kind of defense Huxtable coached. NC State’s defense was based on stopping the run and making the offense kick field goals when it gets into the red zone. Which, in today’s college football is the best you can hope for. Offenses have outpaced defenses. The NC State defense was riddled with injuries and by the end of the season, they were playing their 6th and 7th cornerbacks. We will see what happens next season and if this was the right move.
Now, let’s take a look at the other side of the ball. The offense has been abysmal and that’s putting it lightly. Against Power 5 programs here is the list of the number of points the offense scored, 27, 13, 16, 24, 10, 10, 20, 26, 10. That comes to averaging 17 points per game against Power 5 schools. The Co-Offensive Coordinators have not worked out well. There was no identity, no one thing that NC State did well. The QB situation was unsettled most of the season and it seems as though the QB’s never developed and got better. If you go to @CFB_Data on twitter you can see how truly awful the NC State offense.
As of this writing, no offensive coaching changes have happened. It is obvious that a staff shakeup has to happen because of how bad NC State was offensively. An experience OC with a true identity needs to be brought in. An OC who can call plays and also recruit. With Mack Brown, Dabo Swinney, what looks to be Mike Norvell at Florida State, Scott Satterfield at Louisville, NC State is going to have to bring in a proven recruiter. The neighborhood is getting crowded with coaches who can recruit and have an offensive identity. NC State is going to have to continue to make defensive coaching changes and some on the offensive side of the ball
