NC State upon review: 5 observations after rewatching the Notre Dame game

NC State dropped its home opener to Notre Dame over the weekend, so what went wrong during the game that led to the 45-24 blowout? The Wolfpack turned the ball over at critical moments, committed procedural penalties and could not handle the Fighting Irish front seven at times.

With the program now focused on the week of practice ahead and preparation for an FCS showdown with VMI, let’s take a look back at some of the positive and negative takeaways from Saturday’s loss.

One of the most important conclusions from the rewatch: A lot of the Wolfpack’s mistakes, especially defensively, are certainly fixable.

NC State upon review: Notre Dame

Notre Dame forced NC State’s defensive backs into tough situations

Notre Dame’s offensive line blocked extremely well on running plays, eating up Wolfpack defenders at the line of scrimmage so, even when the Pack filled a play perfectly, it was often up to one defensive back in the box to make the play.

That is exactly what happed on first play after the weather delay. NC State filled the run pretty well, but cornerback Shyheim Battle did make the stop, and Audric Estime broke the play open for an 80-yard touchdown. The Wolfpack cornerback recovered well from that moment, making multiple tackles in the box, including one in the third quarter that might have saved another massive touchdown run.

Notre Dame used its tight ends in some creative ways, and NC State really struggled to cover Holden Staes, who finished the matchup with 115 receiving yards. He broke off a 40-yard touchdown play in the third quarter after motioning right and taking a play action pass for a long gain. In a rare miscue for the cornerback, Aydan White bit on the play action fake, which helped spring the score.

Staes went in motion quite a bit throughout the game, and it looked like the Pack struggled to keep track of who was responsible for covering him at times. Part of that was an impressive Notre Dame scheme that took advantage of gaps in the NC State defense, but some of the plays are errors that can be remedied with improved communication in the secondary.

The defensive line was extremely impressive

Tony Gibson’s preseason praise of this unit was 100-percent deserved. Davin Vann has been an absolute wrecking ball through 2 games with 3 sacks, and he was consistently collapsing the right side of Sam Hartman’s pocket Saturday. He has All-ACC potential this season.

C.J. Clark recorded just 1 tackle against the Irish, but his disruption stood out on rewatch. He was moving Notre Dame interior linemen out of the way and creating space for the Pack to make plays. Brandon Cleveland showed off some serious pass rushing skill as well. Having those two player rotating at nose tackle is a huge asset to this team.

Savion Jackson had a tough matchup Saturday, frequently going up against future NFL first round pick left tackle Joe Alt. The veteran defensive end still did a good job in run support.

Brennan Armstrong relied heavily on the middle of the field

A loud criticisms of last year’s offense early in the season was its insentience on throwing down the sidelines despite minimal success in that area. This year, NC State’s offense is really taking advantage of the middle of the field. So far, that seems to be the area Armstrong is the most comfortable throwing to.

Against Notre Dame, 30 of his 44 passing attempts were between the numbers, Per Pro Football Focus (PFF). Those attempts ranged from a shovel pass to tight end Trent Pennix to a pair of deep seam passes that were both dropped.

He looks confident and throws with a ton of velocity when targeting the middle of the field, and he still took the occasional shot down the sideline. That number probably should be a little more balanced to the outside, but it is encouraging to see the Pack stick with what was working against Notre Dame.

Armstrong stood in the pocket well, which led to mixed results

After rushing 19 times again UConn, Notre Dame spied Armstrong with a linebacker and limited his chances to scramble. He kept his eyes downfield longer, and the results yielded a great touchdown pass to Bradley Rozner while taking a hit, a bad interception in the fourth quarter on a forced pass and he also drew a roughing the passing penalty in the third quarter that helped the Pack move into Irish territory.

Per PFF, Armstrong’s average depth of target was 10.7 in a clean pocket but increased to 15.4 when pressured. Sometimes, that was Armstrong realizing he had a matchup to take advantage of downfield thanks a blitz, but his first interception was a rushed, forced throw because he had a defender closing in on him quickly.

NC State continues to neutralize the return game

One thing TheWolfpacker.com did not account for in its post-game special teams report card was how well NC State handled punt coverage. Defensive back Cecil Powell played a huge role in covering Notre Dame’s returners and making sure the Irish did not have an opportunity to help out its offense with improved field position.

The Pack won the field position battle in the first quarter, but the offense just could not capitalize. Caden Noonkester is a good punter and, if NC State continues to cover his kicks well, that will be a field-flipping unit that could help change a game or two this season.

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