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Offensive line is the most thankless position in football, especially when it comes to the run game. When the backs are busting off big runs, the backs look great. When the backs are going nowhere, the offensive line must suck. This is the reality that NC State’s offensive line has lived in through four games.
The Pack’s offensive line has been good this year, increasingly good in fact. It had a shaky start in the first half of the Western Carolina game, but it’s been largely uphill from there. The middling 4.2 YPC number that the team is currently saddled with might lead you to think differently, but judging the offensive line off a yards-per-carry number is going to leave you shortsighted. It doesn’t mean you’ll always be wrong, but it doesn’t really even qualify as scratching the surface.
The NFL and its endless stream of gobbledygook from idiot talking heads like Mel Kiper, who have procured a death grip on the popular narratives around football, have managed to convince a lot of people that running backs don’t matter. While this isn’t true, it originates from the idea that a good run game starts with the line, so it's at least getting to square two. It’s still wrong though, and exceptionally wrong in college, where kids are much farther down the developmental ladder.
The run game is a unit. The offensive line is the most important component of that unit, but it’s far from the only one that matters. The same is true in pass protection. A good line can be made to look bad by a back that can’t read a play correctly or a quarterback that can’t get rid of the ball or move within the pocket. MJ Morris got sacked at almost twice the rate of Brennan Armstrong last year behind the same exact line, if you needed an example.
There are plenty of components of NC State's offense that haven't been working, and we won't even touch the defense here due to a Surgeon General's warning. But the offensive line against Clemson was at worst the second-best position group on the field for NC State.
Run Blocking
It is the nature of football that you will run the ball for two yards. YPC numbers are an average, not a median, and with a median measurement, the numbers would likely be much lower. If you know anything about basic statistics, you know what I’m saying here is that explosive runs have a large impact on these numbers. Every single team runs the ball for 2-4 yards a bunch of times in every game.
What’s been lacking for NC State this year is the explosive run, which has deflated those averages. Explosive runs also have the least to do with the offensive line. The difference between a one-yard run and eight-yard run often falls heavily on the line, but the difference between an eight-yard run and an 80-yard run does not as much. There are 11 guys that can make a tackle on a play, and the offensive line can only block five of them. 80-yard touchdown runs almost always feature at least one broken tackle or at least one bad fit from the defense that leaves a lane unoccupied. If the defense is sound, you’re not creating explosive runs unless you break tackles.
Kendrick Raphael has recorded 9 missed tackles forced on 26 carries, just over one every three carries. Jordan Waters has record 6 on 44 carries, under one every seven carries. Raphael is averaging 7 YPC. Waters is averaging 4.3. These numbers are not purely coincidental.
State’s top three backs forced a total of 7 missed tackles through the first two games. Waters had three of them on one carry. A theme to this point of the season is that State’s offensive line is opening lanes for these backs, and they’ve struggled to break tackles when they reach the support players. Both Waters and Smothers are under 4 YPC after contact.
Of course, if you follow this site at all, you know I’m not really a numbers guy. "Numbers never lie" is itself a lie. Stats can only paint so much of a picture. NC State at 4.2 YPC has been bad at running the ball. Yes, we know this. If you want to know why, you have to watch the tape. Tape > numbers, always. So let's do that. But first, some background.
State’s top two run plays this year have been inside zone and outside zone. The plays are different, and we’ll look at how, but the blocking assignments are what I want to cover first, and those are pretty much the same for both plays.
Zone assignments for linemen
Check your play-side gap
If there is a guy there, block him
If there is not a guy, look to create a double team
Double team works toward the linebackers
Things can get considerably more complex than this, but once you understand the basic assignments, it will be a lot easier to see who is doing their job.
This is an outside zone play with what’s called a split flow, meaning the play is ran to the left and the tight end (49) is crossing the formation to the right and picking up the unblocked end. The circled linemen all have a player in their play-side gap. Those are the guys that are blocking the defensive linemen. The ones that are not circled are the ones that do not have an immediate assignment. The linemen not circled will be looking to create a double team or getting a release to the linebackers.
Here is a very basic outside zone schematic that details the assignments and the way the play should develop.
This is State's outside zone, and it’s very well done, against a Tennessee front that is among the best and deepest in America.
Because of 7 for Tennessee aligning in a wide 9 technique, which just means way the hell over there, State is going to bump responsibilities over, asking Peak(65) to get to 7 and McKay(52) to get the end in the three-point stance. The point of outside zone is to use the defender’s leverage against them and make them wrong no matter what. The goal for each covered lineman is to try and reach block their blocking responsibility. This means controlling the outside shoulder of the player and essentially sealing said defender to the inside. If you can’t do this, you’re taught to flip it and drive your assignment toward the sideline the other way. So no matter what they do, they can lose.
Because of that wide 9, Jacarrius Peak has no chance to execute a reach block, so he just needs to seal that guy outside. McKay delivers one of the most dominant reach blocks you’ll ever see, winning the outside, turning his body, and then throwing the five-technique on the ground. McKay has struggled more than any of the other starting lineman this year, but this is a great play.
Because of the outside seal and the inside seal/body slam, a big hole opens. You can also see Anthony Carter(75) winning the outside shoulder of his assignment, which prevents the tackle from running down the play. Correll(56) helps establish that block and then releases to the linebacker. He can’t quite get the outside shoulder, but it’s an explosive run and an extremely well-blocked play. Blocking the linebackers cleanly every time is not going to happen. The perfect picture is not going to exist often no matter who you are. This is dang good though.
State truthfully had some juice here in the second quarter in the Tennessee game, even against a dominant front. It all went away after halftime, along with any mojo State could have conjured up. The following week against an inferior Louisiana Tech team, State really dominated at the line.
This is an inside zone play. The same rules apply, but your linemen are trying to create more of a vertical displacement of the defensive line as opposed to outside zone. This is pretty much a perfectly blocked play.
Belton at left tackle, who has been fantastic this year, wins easily against the tiny guy on the end. Correll at center and McKay at right guard double the nose tackle and drive him two yards backwards, which is excellent. Carter at left guard gets a free release to the linebacker, who gets driven into the pile trying to get underneath. You also get some beautiful blocking from Noah Rogers(5). You really can’t block this any better.
The play gains three yards.
There is no assignment for number eight. There isn’t supposed to be. The offensive line can only block five guys, and they easily did that. Rogers makes six. Raphael is going to get to the first unblocked player without even being touched, and he gets brought down.
These are the plays that are really well done by the offensive line and don’t get remembered at all because they did not amount to anything. Every rep here from every blocker is great, but it produces little because the back didn’t make a play. If Raphael breaks this tackle and busts this for a 61-yard touchdown, imagine how different the numbers start to look.
You can’t reasonably expect every tackle to get broken, but that one broken tackle is often the difference between a five-yard run and a fifty-yard run. Maybe Raphael gets tracked down by the safeties here, it’s hard to say, but this next one is 100% a 75-yard touchdown with one broken tackle.
Smothers gets brought down by the back of his shirt with nobody in front of him and nobody with a good angle. Arguably 69 yards left on the field. The kick block here from McKay is destructive, one of the best he's put on tape. If Smothers gets free of that hand and houses this, his YPC for the season goes from 5.2 to 8.3 off of one run. The whole team's average would go from 4.2 to 4.7. Undoubtedly, this would change the perception of a lot of things. Imagine the difference just three more broken tackles in these situations could make in the numbers, national rushing rankings, and perception of the run game.
The Clemson game was better, but there was a lot of this through the first three games. Here’s another.
Western is trying to spill this G lead play. That's why you see the end try to get under Carter(75) on the pull. State gets the wrong-way flow with the jet motion, and in an ideal world gets the edge player there blocked by Jones(28). Regardless of all that, the actual line is getting good initial push and it's the back one-on-one in space, where he gets shoe strung. A loss that, with a single broken tackle, becomes an explosive run an a touchdown.
Another, this time outside zone
Belton has largely been excellent this year. I think on this play, you would like to see him turn this end more, and the lack of that allows the end to bump Waters, but there isn't a lot here. This should be a first down run. A 6’2 220 back should run through that easily. It's a fantastic play by the double of Zeke Correll and Anthony Carter (56 & 75) to reach the DT and get to the linebacker. You can't do a whole lot better than they do here.
And another, this one inside zone
Just watch the whole line here. Talk about push. That's what it looks like. This isn't a failure to break a tackle, but rather a bad read. The back should be in the C gap between the tight end and the tackle. That's what the blocking leverage dictates here in inside zone. Hitting outside the tight end is a big miss by the back, and instead of one-on-one with that linebacker, he's getting hit at the line of scrimmage. Great blocking, viced in and wrapped up two yards down the field.
Here is a positive example.
It's another really well-blocked outside zone play. Watch the double team from the center and left guard reach the defensive tackle and then drive to the linebacker, cutting of his pursuit. The great development gets Smothers to a one-on-one three yards down the field. He breaks the tackle and gets all the way to the one. A single broken tackle adds 20 yards to the play.
It’s not all on the backs either. State just has not been able to put together a full team effort. A lot of these plays are close to springing and one thing goes wrong. This is an outside zone play with really strong development on the front side. Bailey keeps the ball on the read option even though the end is far too wide to do so, and he loses six yards.
Nobody, zero people, will ever care what the offensive line was doing front side on this play, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good rep. There are a lot of good reps that aren’t producing big gains for a couple different ticky-tack reasons, whether it’s mickey mouse tackles, bad reads, or something else.
An explosive run against Clemson was called back for a holding that wasn’t even necessary, and that holding was committed by a backup guard. Anthony Carter has been the story of the line to me. He was questioned a lot coming out of the offseason, and he’s been excellent. I don’t know why he was out of the game here, but he shouldn’t have been, and it cost State.
The point of all of this is to say that State is getting really good first level development in run blocking, and there is always something there to stop the play from breaking open. It doesn’t all fall on one guy or one position group, but it certainly isn’t falling on the line.
This run game is on its way, and it’s about to start hitting at some point. There is too much opportunity. I don't know how much it will mean in the win-loss column, but this ground game is close. You never want the backs to be improvising, and State isn’t getting that. It's getting the backs where they need to go, and the backs are reading the plays well for the most part. It’s truly above average here, and it looked the part against a really good front in Clemson. It just needs more plays with a complete effort. You saw more of what you wanted to see from the backs on Saturday.
Pass Protection
Hopefully, saying that State is really good in pass protection isn’t as controversial as saying the run blocking is good. State has protected the quarterback at a very high level. Anthony Belton is really good in pass protection. I want to specifically call him out because he has caught more crap than maybe anyone on this team other than McCall, and McCall was at least playing poorly. Belton has been a dude.
State has allowed six sacks through four games, which is not bad. This was the one that got everyone upset at Belton, and it’s probably not even his fault.
State is running what’s called a pull protection here. It’s a component of play action. Linebackers and run fit players have to adjust their gap responsibilities when you get pulling linemen (you can read about how NC State has been horrible at this here). Pulling the guard can get them to trigger and really enable the effectiveness of play action. When you do it, though, you’re leaving space. Carter is going to pull here, and Belton needs to step inside to seal that gap and prevent the defensive tackle from just blowing right through. It's called a hinge step, and if you watch 74, you can see him do it at the snap. He’s doing what he’s supposed to do.
The back probably should have eyes on the edge rusher here to help Belton. He doesn’t do that, and the sack happens. It’s hard to put this one exclusively on Belton when the back is definitely not in the right place. Asking Belton to hinge and then pick up this edge rush isn't going to work.
Just like the run game, there are a lot of other things that aren’t working, and it’s creating some issues that cloud the perception of a good line. This play against Tennessee’s elite pass rush is not going to make any how-to videos, but hold on.
McKay at right guard definitely does lose, but the protection holds up long enough for McCall to get to his third read, who falls down on the route. This probably isn’t a sack if that doesn’t happen. I would put this play on the offensive line, but it’s not egregious.
This one is on the back, at least responsibility wise. He got fooled and was late. It's a nicely designed blitz.
Wow, we’re really starting to hurt here for sacks given up by the offensive line. Down to four now through four games.
Conclusion
If you want to be critical of NC State Football in 2024, I will be right there with you. Just let me grab my coat. State has been bad this year. Defensively, it’s been a trainwreck. On the offensive line though, the train is clearly on the track. It’s not fair to use run game numbers like YPC to judge their performance when literally hundreds of yards that would pump up those numbers dramatically have been left on the table, and through no significant fault of the line.
None of this is to say that the line is perfect, is top 5 in America, or has been good at every juncture of every game. I ripped them pretty good for a poor first half against Western Carolina, and I still think McKay can play better than he has to this point, but his nightmare game was really the first half of Tennessee and he's been better since. Belton, Carter, Correll, and Peak have been really strong for multiple weeks now, and the fruits of their labor should come around sooner rather than later for the run game. Even McCabe has played better after a truly gruesome start to the season. They will continue to lose some reps. You can’t win every rep. No team is running for 15 yards on every touch against anyone with a pulse. But my ask to the fanbase is to judge the line based on the line’s reps, not purely the results of the play, not on yards per carry, and not on vibes. You’d be hard pressed to find a position group on this team that is less of the problem than the offensive line.
Anyway, here’s Anthony Belton with a great pass pro rep against possible number one pick James Pearce Jr.
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