How NC State football hopes to turn a negative into a positive at FSU
N.C. State’s first road trip of the season was a dress rehearsal for ACC play.
That’s the way Wolfpack (3-1) coach Dave Doeren is looking at Saturday’s ACC opener (7:30 p.m., ACC Network) at Florida State (2-2). Doeren is hopeful his young team will be able to learn from the mistakes in its 44-27 loss at West Virginia on Sept. 14.
“It was a great experience in a bad way,” Doeren said. “They learned a lot from that trip. Not that I’m glad we lost that game, I’m not, but I’m glad that we had the opportunity to go on the road before we start conference play.”
N.C. State needs more energy on the sideline, Doeren noted, and the return of senior defensive end James Smith-Williams should help on the leadership front. Smith-Williams and senior cornerback Nick McCloud missed the WVU loss and Doeren felt there was a leadership void for that trip. McCloud is expected to miss his fourth straight game with a knee injury.
Doeren is also hoping his team can get back to the way it played the first two games, with minimal penalties. N.C. State was flagged nine times in the loss at WVU and nine in the subsequent 34-23 home win over Ball State. It had only nine total penalties in its first two wins of the season (ECU and Western Carolina).
“For us, it’s eliminate the penalties, make the layups and let’s see what happens,” Doeren said. “That to me is the biggest thing we have to do: be the team that doesn’t beat itself, takes advantage of the plays that are there and then go make the great play.”
While this is N.C. State’s conference opener, the Seminoles have already played a pair of ACC games. They lost at Virginia (31-24) on Sept. 14 and beat Louisville at home (35-24) last week.
Quarterback Alex Hornibrook came off the bench to lead the Noles to the win after they had fallen behind 24-21 in the fourth quarter. Hornibrook completed 15 of 20 passes for 255 yards with two touchdowns after starter James Blackman suffered a knee injury.
FSU coach Willie Taggart has said Blackman will start if he’s healthy but Taggart hasn’t said if Blackman, who threw 421 yards and four touchdowns in a loss at N.C. State last year, is healthy.
N.C. State used sophomore quarterback Bailey Hockman in two series in the Ball State win. Doeren hasn’t said how much Hockman, who started his career at FSU before he transferred to a junior college, will play against his former team.
Sophomore starter Matt McKay ran for a pair of touchdowns in the Ball State win but only completed one pass in the second half. Regardless of who takes the snaps, Doeren said the receivers need to do more to help the quarterbacks.
N.C. State has had nine dropped passes in the past two games. Doeren said his pass-catchers need to make more of their “layups.”
“I’m more concerned about the layups we’re missing,” Doeren said.
NC State at Florida State
When: 7 p.m., Saturday
Where: Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee
Watch: ACC Network
Listen: WRAL-101.5 Triangle; WXRC-95.7 Charlotte
This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 2:51 PM with the headline "How NC State football hopes to turn a negative into a positive at FSU."
