Why NC State’s offense struggled to find consistency in loss at No. 15 Miami

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — CJ Bailey was the first out of the tunnel, just behind NC State coach Dave Doeren, as the Wolfpack was just moments away from kickoff at No. 15 Miami. 

The sophomore quarterback bounced around the Bermuda grass field as he ran from where the visitor’s locker room is across to the sideline on the east side of Hard Rock Stadium. Once he reached the bench area, Bailey jumped up and down as his excitement to play near his hometown for the first time seemed to burst through the roof. 

Although Bailey and the rest of NC State’s roster told themselves that they were going to find a way to pull off back-to-back ranked upsets at this stage of the season during the Wolfpack’s open date last week, it didn’t happen. 

Instead of doing something that hadn’t been done at NC State since 2008 when it beat No. 24 Wake Forest and No. 22 UNC in back-to-back games, the Wolfpack offense struggled to find any rhythm or consistency at Miami. And it led to a 41-7 loss to the Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon in front of a reported 59,157 fans in South Florida. 

In a game that featured the Wolfpack failing to get past midfield until there was 5:26 left in the fourth quarter, there wasn’t much for Doeren to say postgame after punting nine times with two turnovers and a touchdown in the final 150 seconds. 

“We got it handed to us out there,” Doeren said. “It’s a bad feeling. Offense, defense wasn’t good enough. The highlight of our football team was our punter tonight. That’s sad when you have something to say like that.”

Miami’s offense outperformed NC State’s in nearly every offensive category kept in modern college football, including a 581-149 advantage and 28 first downs to the Wolfpack’s nine. 

How did NC State’s offense go from scoring 48 against then-No. 8 Georgia Tech two weeks ago back to what it looked like in road losses at Notre Dame and Pitt? Miami’s defensive line did almost anything it wanted to as the Hurricanes’ front overwhelmed the Wolfpack’s offensive line all night. 

From racing into the backfield to post a no gain or negative yardage run — NC State had six of those — to making Bailey as uncomfortable as possible, Miami’s front showed why the Canes still have hope to make the College Football Playoff. 

Bailey, who was limited to a season-low 120 passing yards with two interceptions on 17-of-30 passing, was throwing off his back foot for much of the loss. He had happy feet at times as he anticipated Miami’s defensive line was going to get into the backfield sooner or later. It led to errant throws, and a pair of first-quarter interceptions by Jakobe Thomas, who returned the first for a touchdown that seemed to flip the momentum towards the Hurricanes the rest of the afternoon.

Not only did it affect his pocket presence, but Bailey also struggled to find his checkdown in either of his running backs — redshirt sophomore Hollywood Smothers or redshirt freshman Duke Scott — as the defensive line ate them up in pass protection. 

Bailey kicked himself after for his up-and-down decision making to adjust to that in the loss. 

“When we get backed up behind the sticks, when it’s third-and-long, I need to just find my back. I’ll be honest with you, it was hard for our backs to get out. They were bumping into the d-linemen and stuff like that,” Bailey said. “Just in my mind, remembering that I’ve got a tailback. I need to find the back. Sometimes we lose the back with the blitzes. Just finding a way to get the protection slid to get our back out would have been better for us.”

In all, Bailey was just 4-of-11 passing for 14 yards with an interception on the 15 total drop backs Miami was able to generate a pressure against him. Despite not recording a tackle, standout star defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. led the Hurricanes with four pressures as he lived in the backfield against the Wolfpack’s pass protection.

It wasn’t just one part of Miami’s defensive line that caused issues for NC State’s offensive line. Standout edge rusher Akheem Mesidor had a sack and two tackles for a loss, while the interior of the Hurricanes’ front pushed the middle of the Pack’s line back on a regular basis. 

That combination didn’t make it easy for the Wolfpack to establish a run game against the ACC’s top ground defense as it posted a season-low 29 yards on 20 carries, averaging 1.5 per attempt. Even though NC State logged under 30 rushing yards, the Pack posted 52 yards after contact.

Doeren, the Wolfpack’s 13th-year coach, had a fairly straightforward response as to why the team struggled to move the ball consistently. Miami didn’t do anything special defensively, it just straight up beat NC State’s front with ease.

“We couldn’t block them,” Doeren said. “It doesn’t matter what you call. Every time you call a play, you see a guy in the backfield on the snap. They were splitting double teams, running around guys, blitzing through guys. They played way faster, way more physical than we did tonight. You’ve got to give them credit. Obviously, we need to get back to work.”

This was a game that Bailey wanted for a special reason. Of course he wants to be the victor each time he hits the field, but playing in front of more than a dozen friends and family in the Miami-region, Bailey wanted to leave his home area on top. 

Instead, he and the rest of the Pack are headed back to work this week in practice as Florida State visits Carter-Finley Stadium on Friday night (8 p.m., ESPN). Miami’s defensive line is the key reason why.

“It’s not good to lose any game. Even with me being back at home, it’s just as bad,” Bailey said. “But if they were at our house, I’d still be mad if we lost. I just want to rub it off and go to the next one.”