To Beat Tennessee, NC State Must . . .

NC State is rightfully an underdog in Saturday night’s monster matchup against Tennessee. Both teams started their season against highly-rated SoCon opponents, and the scores were rather different. It’s silly to take too much away from those games, but the Vols certainly have some juice on both sides of the ball. There’s a good chance this is the best team on the schedule for the Pack. So how does State overcome this and notch what would be a program-defining win? 

For more on the Vols, check out Joel's Tennessee preview.

Pressure the Quarterback

You wouldn’t know it from the stats, but NC State’s pass rush was pretty good against Western Carolina. The Catamounts looked to neutralize their shortcomings in pass protection with a huge volume of quick game pass plays and screens, and they executed it quite well. Tennessee’s offense will hit you with screens, but its base concept is exactly the opposite. 

The Volunteers’ offense does not ask a lot of the quarterback from a processing perspective. If you’re a Tennessee fan reading this, this is not me saying that Nico Iamaleava is a bad processor at quarterback. It’s merely a factual statement about the system. Its simplicity is part of what makes it so lethal. It asks for two things from its quarterbacks. Excellent chemistry with the wide receivers and superior arm talent, and the arm talent with Iamaleava is for real. Even against the 11 tackling dummies Chattanooga trotted out, there are some really impressive throws on the tape. 

The vulnerability of the veer and shoot offense is in its timing. There aren’t really progressions or quick hitters built into the deep choice plays that stand up the concept. The quarterback has one or two reads at most and then a checkdown, and he has to wait until the choice route declares before throwing the ball, which results in some longer developing plays. You can’t really confuse this offense with coverage. The best way to beat it is to crumble the pocket, force the quarterback to move, and help out your defensive backs by not allowing the quarterback to just stare at the route as it develops. State needs to create bad throwing angles, off-platform throws, and generally screw with the mechanics of this. This is much easier said than done. 

Tony Gibson has faced this system at its peak twice back in 2014 and 2015 while at West Virginia. In those games, his defense allowed 21 and 62 points and went 1-1. Gibson’s defense sacked Bryce Petty four times in the first game. After that game, Petty had this to say: “They loaded the box and pressed our receivers.”

Pressure is one of the hallmarks of Gibson’s defense. State has to be effective when it brings heat and it has to be able to make Iamaleava uncomfortable when it doesn’t. If he can stand back in the pocket and make platform throws down the field, it could be a long day. 

Hold up in Man Coverage

No matter what coverage you play against this offense, you’re essentially playing man on the outside. The ultra-wide splits make it so, and it’s part of what makes it a challenging system to play. Some teams opt to play cover 2 man, but Iamaleava is more than capable of engaging in locomotion via his lower extremities, and cover 2 man empties the box, leaving you vulnerable to that and a pretty strong run game. The Vols are known for the explosive vertical passing attack, but this team is not one-dimensional. 

State’s corners will have to hold up, and ideally their job is made easier by the pass rush. They aren’t going to win every rep, especially against a system designed to make them wrong no matter what. These two things have to work together to bail each other out. 

Aydan White is one of the best cover corners in America, and the word out of fall camp was all positive on the defensive backfield. We’re going to see, though. Brandon Cisse has not been tested like this. Ja’Had Carter has people itching to see him play, but he hasn’t played a game in a long time. State has to be on point, because this offense can change a game in one play. 

I’ll be interested to see how State plays this. If it opts for a lot of press man coverage, it probably forces more of the choice routes downfield as go routes, which is obviously risky but also presents a more difficult throw for the quarterback, particularly if he’s on the move. The problem with soft coverage against the veer and shoot is it becomes very easy for the receivers to break off the choice routes. Then the Vols are just matriculating down the field. That’s the rub with the whole thing, it’s really hard for the defense to be right, especially if you can’t match up guy for guy. 

Protect Grayson McCall

Even though Grayson McCall was hit or miss in the first game, I expect a big season from the signal caller who started his career during the Carter Administration and is one of most efficient passers in history. State has real talent at receiver, and with all of that, I don’t think there is a team in America McCall can’t be productive against if he’s protected. Tennessee is replacing its entire defensive backfield, and it has questions beyond the defensive line. There is a good chance there are plays to be had, but James Pearce Jr. will have something to say about that for the Vols. He is a force, and he will be a problem. 

State’s pass protection was excellent against Western Carolina, but this is obviously a different animal. I don’t see how State wins this game if it scores less than 30 points, and I don’t see it scoring more than 30 points without a strong showing from pass protection. Pass protection probably ends up as the big story in this game, and State must be better here than Tennessee on both sides of the ball to win.