Allowing explosive runs has become an issue for NC State’s defense

By Noah Fleischman

Scroll through the ACC’s rushing defense statistics and a head-scratching number appears next to NC State’s entry: 4.9 yards per carry allowed. That’s the second-worst total in the league, while the Wolfpack’s overall run defense is 15th in the conference through the first five games. 

But is it truly that bad? A deeper dive into what has played out on the field tells the complete story. 

Overall, NC State has allowed 724 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 149 attempts, which isn’t the usual bar that the Wolfpack defense holds itself to under Dave Doeren. The 13th-year coach was asked about why the unit has appeared to struggle, and he was quick to respond.

“It’s explosive runs, that’s what it is,” Doeren said. “If you look at these games, they’re averaging less than 3 yards per carry, and then you add a 95-yard run or an 85-yard run and the stats go way different, right? But they had that run, so that’s the stats.”

Although the total run defense is not the team’s standard, five plays tell the story as to why the Wolfpack’s totals are near the basement of the ACC through the team’s first five games.

NC State has conceded five explosive runs of 30 yards or more this season, three of which ended in the end zone. Add them up and it totals 298 yards — in other words, 41.1 percent of the rushing yards that the Wolfpack has been gashed by this season. 

So, what’s the difference between those five carries and the 144 others that the Pack has faced? Missed tackles have been the biggest contributing issue for an inconsistent run defense, which has allowed just 2.95 yards per attempt outside of the five game-changing carries. 

What went wrong on the explosive runs?

TheWolfpacker.com rewatched all five plays to get a better understanding of what broke down on each, and here’s what we found: Of those runs, three have been byproducts of missed tackles, while one was due to a missed assignment and one was a quarterback draw that led to a large gain on the ground. 

In all, NC State is just one of eight programs nationally to allow four or more carries of 40-plus yards, while it’s just one of three teams to give up an 80-yard rush this season.

“The consistent issue is we’re not getting guys on the ground when we’re supposed to,” Doeren said. “We’ve got to get that fixed.”

Week 2 vs. Virginia

The Cavaliers had three explosive runs to power through the Wolfpack’s defense, a week after NC State held East Carolina in check with just 30 total rushing yards. But Virginia running back J’Mari Taylor was able to post a pair of big-time rushing attempts through missed tackles. 

The former NC Central standout took a fourth-and-1 carry 39 yards for a touchdown early in the first quarter as he seemed to be stopped for a short-yardage gain. Instead, he shook free from redshirt senior linebacker Sean Brown and graduate safety JJ Johnson to score. 

Taylor was able to be effective late in the third quarter, too, on a third-and-1 carry as redshirt sophomore corner Brian Nelson II came off the edge and met the tailback in space, but wasn’t able to wrap him up, and he was off to the races for a 66-yard touchdown. 

Virginia’s final explosive run of the game came late in the third quarter as quarterback Chandler Morris kept for a quarterback draw to weave his way upfield for a 42-yard carry after he got redshirt freshman defensive end Chase Bond to bite on a read option. The Wolfpack defense didn’t have a missed tackle on this play, rather it was blocked well and Morris had the vision to find the space in the middle of the field for a large gain. He was guided out of bounds by redshirt freshman safety Brody Barnhardt. 

Week 4 at Duke

NC State had a chance to stop Duke deep in its own territory with just over two minutes left in the game, down by 5. But instead of stuffing the Blue Devils on third-and-1, the opposite happened. Tailback Anderson Castle went right up the middle to get through the Wolfpack’s defensive line, but when it appeared he would be met in the hole by graduate linebacker Kenny Soares Jr., the defender left his gap and ended up out of position. That play led to a game-sealing 66-yard touchdown run for Duke’s power back.

Week 5 vs. Virginia Tech

Just after NC State pinned Virginia Tech on its own 11-yard line with a 66-yard punt while the Wolfpack clung to a 1-point lead in the third quarter, the Hokies were able to take advantage of more missed tackles. 

It appeared that Terion Stewart was going to be stopped for a minimal gain, but he was able to wrestle away from graduate linebacker Caden Fordham, who tried to lunge with both arms to make the tackle. As he climbed into the second level, Stewart made three defenders all converge together, none of whom could make the tackle, before Johnson whiffed on a tackle. The tailback was off to the races before graduate defensive end Sabastian Harsh and redshirt freshman nickel Asaad Brown Jr. chased him down at the 4-yard line. In all, it was an 85-yard carry — the longest run allowed by NC State this fall.

How can NC State fix it?

With missed tackles mounting — NC State had a season-most 14 in the loss to Virginia Tech this past weekend to bring the defense’s 2025 total to 49, the eighth-most in the ACC — the Wolfpack has returned to the basics at practice this week. 

“As coaches, you have to drill it. Get out there in our periods of [individual work], and you drill it, drill it, drill it. You just keep trying to get better. That’s all you can do,” Doeren said. “It’s back to the basics here. You don’t give up on them, you just keep working it. Eventually, it’s like anything, it becomes a habit. Habits are formed through practice and repetition.”

NC State’s missed tackles, though, haven’t all been created equal so far. Some of them have been a lack of wrapping up, instead trying to lay a brutal blow on an opponent, while others have come from a lack of positioning or poor footwork in a given situation.

So far, as the Wolfpack’s emphasis on tackling has shown itself in its Tuesday and Wednesday practices going into this weekend’s tilt against Campbell (Sat., 2 p.m., ACCNX). Soares, who had a misfit on the explosive run at Duke, felt like the drill work has gone well as the NC State defense looks to put the back-to-back losses behind them. 

“We’ve just been harnessing ourselves, holding each other accountable in practice, no matter if we’re wearing shoulder pads and helmets or just helmets,” Soares said Wednesday. “We need to be getting our feet through the tackles and bringing our hips through, bringing our pads through the tackle.”

NC State hopes its added focus on tackling will pay off against Campbell this weekend with a road trip to Notre Dame set for next weekend. And even if it’s improved against the Camels, the Wolfpack will continue to drill it into its defenders as the Irish’s standout running back Jeremyiah Love is more than capable of ripping off his own explosive runs.

“It’s an everyday thing,” Doeren said. “It’s emphasized, and it’s going to have to come down to guys using coached technique, leverage, fundamentals and getting the job done. It’s more than I’ve seen in this many games for a long time. 

“Last year, we gave up a lot of explosive runs on quarterbacks scrambling. This year, it’s tailback runs. We all see the game thing you do, and we’ve got to get it fixed.”