NC State Football struggles early, secures 38-21 win late over Western Carolina

last night not exactly how NC State fans envisioned it did they but it's not all bad it's not all bad and I and I want to emphasize that because there there is a instinct to say hey Western Carolina gave us a game there's no way Tennessee is going to not blow us out that's double negative but you got what I'm saying what what what I'm getting at here is there's still the bones of a very very good team on NC State and you saw some of those bones yesterday the issue was it just didn't come together and they are racing against the clock to come together now it wasn't all bad Dave Doran head coach spoke to the media after the game obviously they wanted to play better great to be one and0 and uh really proud of how we finished uh obviously game we would love to have playing better in the first half but I'm not going to apologize for winning either I think uh Western Carolina played a heart game you know I thought defensively we didn't tackle well uh in the first half gave up some third Downs that that we usually don't offensively didn't convert on some drives uh went forward on fourth down twice and U didn't get it and so there was some frustration there we came in 1414 and really love how we responded you know I thought third quarter even though there weren't a lot of points we had the ball for eight minutes on the opening drive got a field goal took a lead let's start with the defense defense did not look dominant against Western Carolina Jihad Carter the expected starting Nickelback didn't play they they said that in in the interest of making sure he's 100% for Tennessee Kaden forom was ejected less than three minutes into the game for targeting a player that you expected to play a whole bunch of snaps at the linebacker position those would be reasons why maybe they didn't look great and I know we're sitting here talking about this game completely different let's say forom grabs that ball that was thrown on the very first play of the game and runs into the end zone for a pick six and then maybe even on the first play the second drive backto back attempts where he could have had seven points just like that I'm I'm leery of changing plays because you know I I I one of my pet peeves and once you're kind of on the record with this you can't go against it I hate when coaches say after like a 14-point loss hey we were four plays away from winning that game I'm like yeah but you can't go back and change those four plays he we didn't give up those three long touchdown passes our defense played pretty good it's like well your defense didn't play Pretty good overall the defense was trying to replace pton Wilson uh they they were up against to I would I mean I'm not going to knock Western Carolina's overall talent but at least it's unfamiliar offense not a team that they're used to uh and and there were a couple lapses in in tackling or laps in in assignment on the offensive side they sputtered at times I would say Grayson McCall even though he threw for 300 plus yards underwhelmed missed some shots that I think he should have been able to make uh at least completions easily if he put it on the money probably could have been touchdowns Dave Doran on Grayson mccoll's overall performance yeah I do I think you know he hit it on the head and I'm sure he'll tell you the same thing there were some balls that you know if he would have put a little bit to the right or a little bit to the left would have been completions and and some of them potentially big gains but he played a good football game kept drives alive used his feet you know protected the football uh had the one pick early and after that I thought he settled in and played a good football game but I know he's going to watch it and his accuracy is one of his strengths and so that'll be something that he'll continue to improve here's the thing with with Grayson McCall and I said this before the break he's going to watch the film today probably two or three times once with the coach once with the coach and quarterbacks maybe once by himself and he's going to see some things that he really doesn't like that interception I think there was either a wrong route or a bad route I could explain why but that just take me way too long either way double coverage and I don't even think it was double coverage I think that the receivers were too close together so one defensive back could kind of guard both right he didn't have to make a decision between do I go with this guy or or try to bait you into a throw to to this guy uh I think it was either a bad route or a wrong route that's just an inference that's just from me watching but the quarterback is the one that avoids the catastrophe right as soon as you see the the colored Jersey as soon as get off it get to your your next read he threw it even if Casey concepion makes that catch I believe it was casy running the little out route even if he makes that catch he's getting his head taken off by the guy that made the interception so it wasn't a good play it wasn't a good design he's going to want that back Grayson McCall is not going to love watching that one there were throws I know there's at least one deep ball across the middle uh where Casey concepion was open and Grayson McCall had to drive it meaning throw a a harder pass less air on it and instead he put a lot of touch on it which gave the safety time to get back into the mix ended up being incomplete should have really stepped on it and showed off the gun like there's going to be a lot of that but I'll tell you what Grayson McCall will absolutely love watching the film how good his wide receivers are we talk we we talk about having the bones of a good team NC state has Playmakers yeah Casey concepion had three touchdowns a couple of them were highlights like he the dude is legit he's looking more and more like he's going to be a top half of the first round pick whenever he's eligible he's he can't even GoPro after this year he has to stay in college another year he looked stronger to me too last night running through tackles dude's a beast Noah Rogers made a couple of very he the First Catch of the game was a toe tap on the sideline uh he caught one on a downfield ball where the ball was way behind him slammed on the brakes leaning backwards made the catch just unbelievable body control Wesley Grimes on the sideline had I don't even know what it was like a 35 yard back shoulder throw and he jumped way too early but used his body control to catch it and keep his feet inbounds that's that's three wide receivers that made Big Time plays mix in uh I think it was Anderson the the the Freshman made a couple plays mix in Justin Jolie a tight end that got the ball in his hands and and was making dudes Miss Collins too uh darari Collins uh you could throw in Keenan Jackson was even open on a deep ball that was missed by by Grayson Allen the wide receiver look fantastic the pass catchers right cuz I threw in Justin Jolie fantastic and I think the running back room is still very good now I want to get your thoughts because at times it felt like Jordan Waters uh when he was going left to or east to west on a couple of runs I feel like he would have been better off just hitting the hole right up the middle I this is my my like you know uh 10-cent psychiatrist look at Jordan Waters last night I think he's somebody you got to get mad I think early in the game he was having a good time uh trying to you know be Barry Sanders in the open field make dudes Miss by the end of the game I think he was a little upset maybe the fumble upset him maybe the the lack of success in the Run game upset him there was a point where he was like I'm going to stop with the the moving and shaking and I'm just going to run through arm tackles uh I might like I might if I were a leader on this team right and I had his utmost trust and confidence he might be one of the dudes that I I would walk up to after a three and out and go come on man that's on you that's all you got to say right watch his his his uh eyebrows Furrow and then suddenly it's like good now we got now we got Jordan Waters who recognizes he's 220 pounds and strong uh rather than the Jordan Waters that thinks he's uh you know Devon Anan out there and he's going to try to to wiggle to the sideline and get up like just run through everybody once you see open green grass then you then you turn on the Jets here's here's everything that I'm I'm I'm saying about this offense there's really one thing they have to do better it's a big thing but it's one thing let get the ball to the playmaker's hands better that means protect Grayson mcll and that means Grayson MCO has to deliver with accuracy if you think NC State can do that this season is still very much in the in the same ballpark of where we thought it was preseason if you think they can't do that this is going to be a wildly frustrating season you can make that decision I'm choosing to believe that the guy who has played five years in college football and completed 70% of his passes over those five years is probably going to be able to throw a high completion percentage this season and once he does that that's 70% of the time these Playmakers will have the ball in space offensive line lock it in yeah lock it in and maybe they thought they were going to bully Western Carolina and Western Carolina showed up a little bit uh you know more stocky than than NC State was believing I'll tell you right now you better gear up for a much more physical game next week against Tennessee and and you better give Grayson McCall time to find those guys downfield I know coming to the game last night you and I kind of been joking around saying that it was a tuneup game well after you took the car to the shop you realize that you may have had the uh the check engine light on there some need some air in the tires a little bit you got a big road trip coming up to Charlotte next weekend you want to make sure your radiator transmission engine is all is all gassed up because if you don't fix it Tennessee will show you where it's not fixed yeah that's that's pretty much for certain luckily you play it on a Thursday so you have a couple extra days to fix it