N.C. State's depth chart lists freshman Brandan Bishop and redshirt freshman Earl Wolff as starting safeties.
Wake Forest has Riley Skinner, who's on pace to be the ACC's career completion percentage leader at .675, at quarterback. Marshall Williams of Durham is tied for the ACC lead in receptions per game for the Deacons.
On paper, the Wake Forest passing game seems poised for a big day Saturday when N.C. State visits the Deacons.
"We've had some problems with the secondary, with inexperience and making some mistakes," said N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien. "We'll be holding our breath on Saturday, I'm sure."
O'Brien particularly likes the way Skinner has rallied the Deacons late for game-winning and game-tying drives, respectively, against Stanford and Boston College.
Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe's ability to target certain defenders, which O'Brien said probably originated when he was an assistant coach at Air Force, also concerns the N.C. State staff.
"One thing that Wake Forest does is they're very innovative in how they do things," O'Brien said. "They're very good at exploiting weaknesses."
That's why N.C. State's young defensive backs might face their biggest test yet Saturday.
One thing that
Comments
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Should be a good game, but I
Thu, 10/01/2009 - 18:17 — mad_maxShould be a good game, but I have to agree with everyone that has posted already...State SHOULD win this one based on what we've seen, unless Grobe has some big time tricks up his sleeve, though I'm not putting that past him.
Away
Thu, 10/01/2009 - 13:02 — SurferThe only problem State will have is whether the players can adjust to an extra hour and a half on the bus (away in Winston as opposed to a local hotel).
I mean, they have the #1 defense in the country. ;)
Seriously though, agree with G'ville, Wake seems to be missing something and State seems to have a lot of confidence going in. Only way Wake wins is if Skinner has his way all day.
#1 Defense in the Country
Thu, 10/01/2009 - 13:27 — JPDOhioThankfully, no one is taking that designation to seriously.
Playing two 1-AA teams in four games helps that yards against stat quite a bit. The stats against Pitt were helped by two things:
1. State's pathetic kick return coverage. Pitt started with great field position all day and didn't have to cover much ground to score.
2. Time of possession. I think the Pack had the ball twice as much as Pitt.
State's defense at this moment is decent, but young with quite a bit of potential. So that #1 ranking should be taken with a grain of salt.
The Score
Thu, 10/01/2009 - 15:23 — SurferThanks. Yep, I know the score, thus the ;).
Some fans, in real life, have stuck out their chest bragging about this claim, but I have a hard time maintaining my composure.
The points per game: http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/sortableStatsTeam?stable=def-points&stat=PPG&dir=ascending
actually has two other teams in the ACC ahead of NCSU, at this point in time, but after last weekend it is not even worth mentioning.
i dunno
Wed, 09/30/2009 - 22:21 — gvillegatryou have to like ncsu in this one even though they play all their games at home.
This Wake team is missing something this year. defense isn't all there, of course, but Riley Skinner seems to be lacking something, too, even though he has the game winner and game tier (msp?) already.
Pack by 7.
I like the Pack in this one too
Wed, 09/30/2009 - 23:11 — JPDOhioNo surprise there, although it would obviously be a mistake for them to take Wake (or anyone else) lightly. I don't think that it likely given TOB's comments after the Pitt game. The Pack is good enough to win the rest of there games, but only if they cut back on the mental errors that lead to penalties and mistakes.
I think State had trouble early with Pitt because they weren't ready for the Panthers' size and speed after two weeks of 1-AA opponents. But they adjusted in the second half and made plays when they had too.
The secondary is young, but talented. The best way to protect them is to keep Wake's offense off the field. State needs to run the ball the way it did in the 4th quarter last Saturday, but do it from start to finish. In any event, a one touchdown State win sounds about right to me.
This game
Wed, 09/30/2009 - 17:24 — YAR8packis going to be quite the tough contest for NC State. No real fan needs a history lesson as to what the Deacs have been able to do as of late.
Coach'em up this week, TOB and Co.
Go Pack.