FSU football: 3 takeaways from ‘Noles loss against NC State
By Kelvin Hunt
Defense
The FSU defense allowed 5.79 yards per play, which was good considering they were on the field for the entire first half. NC State wasn’t a good matchup style-wise, so I knew they’d struggle to get off the field.
NC State converted 8 of 18 third-down opportunities and was 0-1 on fourth down. They did a great job of stopping the run, as their running backs only averaged 3.5 yards per carry for 103 yards.
NC State did almost all of their damage through the air as Devin Leary finished the game 21 of 32 for 314 yards, with three touchdowns and an interception.
FSU allowed three passing touchdowns of 62, 45, and 43 yards, with each of those as a result of missed tackles.
That’s 37.5 percent of their total yards on three plays. Missed tackles were the Achilles heel for the team as the defense forced eight punts and four three-and-outs.
They had three sacks and six tackles for loss, and four QB hurries, not to mention NC State’s offensive line did a lot of holding that didn’t get called in the game.
If they clean up the missed tackles, they likely have a real shot to win the game. It was a solid effort aside from the missed tackles, considering they had players affected by the flu earlier in the week.