State 43, Liberty 21 (Sunday Morning)

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Photo by Ethan Hyman, News & Observer

It wasn’t pretty…and NC State’s offensive line could have been out played by a high school team tonight…but in the end, the Wolfpack forced seven turnovers (three fumbles recovered and four intercepted passes) to get the Pack past Liberty in the first game of the 2011 season.

The seven forced turnovers tied a school record last set in 1983.

All eyes were obviously on Mike Glennon in his first start. Glennon finished the night with an unspectacular 18 of 31 for 156 yards and one touchdown to Mario Carter (and no interceptions). He could have had close to 200 yards and another touchdown on a beautifully thrown ball that was dropped by George Bryan. Glennon took at least four sacks and saw consistent pressure as the Wolfpack offensive line did a poor job of both pass protecting and providing run support. State ultimately finished with 161 rushing yards led by 114 yards by Curtis Underwood and 67 yards (and 2 TDs) by James Washington; but much of that came in the fourth quarter.

ESPN had the following thoughts on the Wolfpack game. (Link)

This was sloppy. Ugly. And Liberty turned this game over as much as NC State won it.

Liberty had seven turnovers — nice job by NC State’s defense — four interceptions and three lost fumbles. NC State lost two fumbles as well. At one point, Liberty had five turnovers and only trailed by nine points. Liberty brought pressure, and quarterback Mike Glennon had to feel it in his debut as starter. He was sacked three times, and never really got into a groove. Running backs Curtis Underwood (114 yards, 1 touchdown), and James Washington (67 yards, 2 touchdowns), both had good games, but the Pack is missing Mustafa Greene. The defense was making plays left and right. The good news is that NC State got the win, bottom line, but if the Wolfpack is going to build upon last season’s success, it needs to get better quickly. That being said, the rest of the Atlantic Division hasn’t exactly lit it up this weekend, so NC State is in some pretty good company.

State travels to Winston-Salem next Saturday for a 3:30pm kickoff against Wake Forest on FS South.

Sunday Morning Update:

News & Observer
J.P. Giglio, “Pack Sloppy in Win Over Liberty”

Photo Gallery

Caulton Tudor: “Glennon Struggled but Kept His Cool”

Game Observations

GoPack.com
Game Summary

Stats

Postgame Comments

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77 Responses to State 43, Liberty 21 (Sunday Morning)

  1. freshmanin83 09/04/2011 at 1:07 PM #

    A few screens, draws and maybe some quick hit slants would have been nice to counter all of their blitzing. Hopefully our OC will adjust.

  2. 3boys 09/04/2011 at 1:49 PM #

    Just think . . .if the season goes well the only thing we will remember from this game is – hey – we took care of business – not close at all. The score does not indicate how competive the game was and that there was an “uh-oh” concern that we had going into the 4th quarter. Let’s hope it was a wake-up call and we will be 100% focused on Weak this week.

  3. mak4dpak 09/04/2011 at 2:06 PM #

    Time and experience. No Glennon didn’t have a stellar performance, but neither did Wilson when he started out, lest we forget his early days, and he could sure throw alot of interceptions. None last night. Give Glennon his time, and he will come around. We won the game, as it takes a team to win, not an individual. The season is young, and I still am optimistic!

  4. Tau837 09/04/2011 at 2:16 PM #

    1. “I thought Glennon’s only issue was failing to throw away two of the sacks – other than that, I thought he had good poise, patience, and execution.”

    IMO this is off base. I went back to ESPN3.com and watched the first half again this morning, and focused on Glennon’s dropbacks. I watched most of them multiple times. Setting that aside, here is what I saw:

    26 dropbacks
    Bad decisions/plays:
    – Targeted Bryan incomplete in triple coverage once
    – Targeted Graham incomplete in double coverage (or single coverage with safety help)
    – Threw incomplete into tight coverage short of the 1st down marker once on 3rd down; there was no possibility of a 1st down
    – Took two sacks when he had time to throw the ball away and/or should have stepped up in the pocket to avoid the sack
    – Fumbled on the blindside sack; I don’t blame him for the sack, but he did see the DB at the last second and should have secured the ball
    – While his accuracy was mostly good, he overthrew or poorly placed the ball three times when he had receivers open or in single coverage

    That is 9 times in 26 dropbacks that he made a bad play or decision that I could see based on the ESPN camera angles. And, obviously, those camera angles are limited, so it’s hard to say where he might have missed open receivers not visible on camera… many posters have said that he missed a number of open receivers because he locked onto his primary receiver. So, if anything, I am probably underestimating his bad plays.

    There were also two plays where he was clearly not on the same page on throws where either he threw incorrectly or the receiver ran the wrong route. Not sure if Glennon was at fault on those.

    2. “There were several inexplicable drops, including a possible touchdown from our All American tight end.”

    I don’t recall any drops other than Bryan’s drop. I only watched the first half again, so maybe I’m not remembering some from the second half. But in his 26 first half dropbacks, Bryan’s was the only drop.

    3. A lot of people are saying Bryan’s drop would have been a TD. I think that is very unlikely, as there were two Liberty defenders coverging on him and in good position to make the tackle if he caught the ball. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why he dropped it. I think it would have been a completion of about 25 yards inside the 10 yard line.

    4. “18/31 is a 58% completion rate and Glennon was one dropped pass from another TD. 58% is in line with what Wilson had the last three years. As Glennon gets more playing time his completion percentage will go up.”

    I think it is rather futile to compare Glennon to Wilson, but I can’t let this go. Wilson may have had a completion percentage close to 58% at State, but he also averaged more than 7.2 ypa and produced 93 TDs. In short, he made big plays.

    I think that is the biggest problem with Glennon’s performance last night; he did not make many big plays. It’s fine to have a “slow and steady wins the race” approach, but that approach requires better decision making to be consistently successful.

    5. “Glennon had a YPA of around 5. That’s pathetic against anyone, but against a 1-aa team, it’s unspeakably putrid.”

    I have to agree with BJD here.

    6. Having said all that, I certainly think there is room for Glennon to improve, given it was just his first game. His accuracy was generally good. His arm seemed strong enough, though there weren’t many throws downfield.

    I just think some who are intent on defending him are not looking at Glennon’s play last night objectively. That was against a FCS team with a starting DL player suspended. The competition will obviously be much tougher in nearly every game going forward.

    7. Despite all the focus above on Glennon, I think the OL was much more worrisome. I thought this was the year O’Brien’s reputation for building strong OLs was going to show up on the field. It sure didn’t show up yesterday. They eventually wore down the Liberty DL, but I expected them to handle them from the opening kickoff. This will likely be the single biggest determining factor in the success of our season.

    8. I thought the RBs were fine. The playcalling was unimaginative, which didn’t help. Some have suggested that perhaps the coaching staff held back on part of the playbook. I hope that is the case. Regardless, I thought both Washington and Underwood had good moments, and Gentry was productive in the passing game.

    9. The WRs and TEs were unimpressive. Some people are asking where Bryan was last night; I think we can expect teams to give him a lot of defensive attention until and unless our other receiving options can prove themselves. Palmer seems to have good potential to be a playmaker; I would have liked to see him targeted a bit more last night.

    10. Overall, good outcome, and the defense and return teams were impressive. The Wake game will be a much better barometer of this team’s prospects this season.

  5. redcanine 09/04/2011 at 2:17 PM #

    If the D line comes to the party next week, we should be able to handle Wake. It’s likely that their first string qb will still be injured and Grobe will rely on their usually solid running attack.

    Our WRs need to make some plays to give Glennon and the rest of the offense some confidence. They can do it against WF.

  6. Tau837 09/04/2011 at 2:19 PM #

    “Time and experience. No Glennon didn’t have a stellar performance, but neither did Wilson when he started out, lest we forget his early days, and he could sure throw alot of interceptions.”

    True, Wilson wasn’t always impressive in his early days. But he didn’t throw a lot of interceptions in those early days – he threw 1 interception in his entire first season as a starter.

    Wilson threw more interceptions in his second and third seasons as a starter, but he also produced 72 TDs in those seasons.

    You are mixing timeframes on Wilson in an attempt to rationalize Glennon’s performance. The best thing to do is just avoid comparing him to Wilson, period. That comparison will likely never work out in Glennon’s favor, no matter how many games he has played when the comparison is made.

  7. runwiththepack 09/04/2011 at 3:17 PM #

    TBK, good posts.

    Disappointed, but i’m merely “v.concerned” at this point, vs. cynical. I suspect Coach kept most of his play book closed vs. Liberty throwing the kitchen sink at NCSU.

    But I may turn cynical after next week’s gm vs. WF! Don’t expect W vs WF, but now worry about blowout. WF lost to a mediocre Syr, but a BCS rd. win is always nice, and WF threw it away with the missed PAT.

    Liberty may be a blessing in disguise, since we managed a W in a tough win, which is just what a team needs to start the year. Being that they’re probably very good for FCS, we benefited much more than an easy win over WCU. No false sense of security/accomplishment from last night’s game.

    I think Glennon did OK last night, considering how poor the OL played. Jury still out. He was harried, but didn’t lose his poise. Played better over time. I was also really glad to see him take a few runs.

    Glennon’s forte will be the long throw. I know they’re ALL important, but if NCS can learn and improve while winning from this game and the next 2 or 3, then Glennon and receivers can get something good going. I still look for a very good deep ball from NCSU after some practice like last night.

    Then, (please, Jesus) Moose and Sweezey return just when the going gets tough. Liberty may be as good as Richmond or App St.

    Cole looked like he had fun out there last night! And 4 interceptions vs. v. good qb/wr’s (almost 3/4 more, too), make me happy.

    I hope this game is a blessing in disguise.

  8. pack76 09/04/2011 at 3:36 PM #

    Last nights game is not the way I ever want to see an N.C. State team play! I don’t know if it was first game gitters or lack of preparation by the coaching staff. I’ll wait until after the Wake game to give an opinion but if we look like we did last night, we won’t win that game or many more. Look for a 5-7 season unless there is marked improvement. Still time, but we need to see fast and marked improvement in every phase of the game.

  9. Wolfy__79 09/04/2011 at 3:51 PM #

    the length of the game i was on the fence whether or not we just sucked or if liberty was good. after much thought, i remembered that this is how a TOB team kind of starts off. i was a little let down by the offensive line play… i certainly don’t want to take anything away from a liberty defense that certainly was ready to play! speaking of liberty, they are a pretty solid team offensively and defensively.. the presented a few things last night that i think will help us down the road… maybe against the likes of gt.

    as all state fans, my attention was really focused on mg and how he played. i didn’t think it was terrible, he met my expectations as a passer.
    the running game left alot to be desired.. but i guess moreso, in year five i’m still waiting on what bible can really do as an offensive coordinator. this year will be very telling for me with the absence of rw. i think he both helped and handicapped our offense. but, back to the running game or lack thereof.. where was the offensive line. if nothing else, i EXPECT a TOB line to push everybody ntm an fcs d line around!
    defensively, i was both impressed and disappointed. the flames aren’t all that straight forward of an offense to defend.. and we didn’t really surrender alot of offensive points.. but they sure as hell put up some monster yards on us! i liked the flashes of brilliance i saw from the secondary. what i’m missing at this point from a year ago is where is the leadership. i know nate isn’t out there but i’m still waiting on the real leader to step up on defense.

    overall, i think this game was a good warmup for wf next week.. i hope we have a good week at practice and whip wakes’ tales!

  10. tuckerdorm1983 09/04/2011 at 4:14 PM #

    after the game last night I had more questions about this team than I did before it started.

    I hope it was just jitters, rust and getting use to each other.

    I am going to be optimistic and put us down for a win next week, especially with the Wake starting QB out. Our defense will shut them down.

  11. packalum44 09/04/2011 at 4:40 PM #

    We ran all vanilla plays.

    O-Line is the biggest disappointment, but they still have time to gel. The talent and size is there so I expect to see a rapid improvement hopefully next week. We have to run the football to win this year. Period.

  12. NCStatePride 09/04/2011 at 7:22 PM #

    It’s all been covered by everyone in these comments and in this article, but I’ll just say this bit about Glennon:

    Making excuses for Glennon is a wasted effort and I’m happy that most people seem pretty even-keel about Glennon’s performance. Did he have a crappy O-line? Yes. Did he have issues with the pressure Bible was putting on him the first half? Yes. In that respect, Glennon had some things working against him.

    That being said, my concern… my only concern… is that he seemed to make a few foolish passing decisions and it made me wonder if he was pulling a “Jay Davis” meaning that he had already decided in his head which route he would throw and threw what the D was doing out the window after the snap. This is how you make a good quarterback look terrible.

    Still, it’s his first game so I’m not “against” him at all. He still “may be” an amazing quarterback, but he hasn’t proven the rumor true that he is the second coming. After hearing so much from a quarter for the Wolfpack nation about the legend that Glennon will leave, the first game didn’t wow me.

    Here’s hoping to a ground-breaking performance against Wake Forest!

  13. wolfonthehill 09/04/2011 at 8:13 PM #

    All of the above still points to one thing…

    If the O-line can open holes and give Glennon time, we’re gonna win a lot of games. If they can’t, we’ll lose a lot of games.

    And we don’t yet know how that’s going to play out… we have to sit back & watch…

  14. packplantpath 09/04/2011 at 9:41 PM #

    “I saw top 25 potential. I also saw a damn good DII team. ”

    LOL. Me too. Unfortunately, we looked like the damn good DII team.

  15. mak4dpak 09/04/2011 at 10:25 PM #

    My point was some of you seem to be sending Glennon up the river for one game, and others want to compare his performance to Wilson. He is a different type of quarterback, and as for my interceptions comment on Wilson, I did say early years, which doesn’t have to mean his first season. So no I am not mixed up on time frames. How many quarterbacks are gonna come out smokin their first game? We have yet to see what kind on career Glennon may have, so until it is over, I will not pass judgement on his abilities. Glennon is the quarterback and leader of the team, and as long he leads us to victory, I really don’t care how he does it. But thanks for your evaluation of me, Tau837/Psychic Guru

  16. NOT A FAN OF BLUE 09/04/2011 at 11:02 PM #

    It’s hard to get up (I mean A-game up) for a team like Div I-AA Liberty. Add the typical first game mistakes; a green QB; deliberate, conservative play calling and the fact that Liberty smacked us in the mouth (repeatedly) and you have a recipe for a potential disaster. In the end, our guys answered the call – ultimately this is all that matters. Liberty is a good team and a solid program. A strong test like this makes us better.

  17. ryebread 09/04/2011 at 11:54 PM #

    I wasn’t at the game and watched on ESPN3. Some quick thoughts:
    1) Tau had a very nice breakdown. I agree with everything he said. 🙂
    2) I said before the season started that the OL was going to be the key to our success — not the receivers and not Glennon. I still think that. The OL did virtually NOTHING last night. If you can’t protect a QB and blast a FCS team off the line (especially one missing its 380 lb nose tackle) from the get go, then something is wrong. This unit better improve in a hurry.
    3) Let’s please stop with the “Liberty is really good” and “Liberty would have beaten BCS team X” mess. We do this every single year in football and basketball to rationalize early season losses or close calls. Liberty is a good FCS program. App State is a better FCS program and we saw how VT took them behind the woodshed. We should have done the same.
    4) I was flabbergasted by the use of the shotgun. WTF?!?!? Glennon is NOT mobile and is NOT a running threat. In that shotgun formation, with our OL, we’re effectively conceding the running game. That puts it all on Glennon. We should have that kid under center in an I formation. When there, the offense performed much better. Bible — please fix this.
    5) DBs had a nice game. We finally look like we know what we’re doing in a zone. Amerson is a stud.
    6) Glennon did himself and TOB no favors. He was shaky his first start. Liberty dared him to beat them, and he really couldn’t. He’s going to see a LOT of blitzes until he proves he can quickly move through progressions and find the open man.
    7) The kicking game was as I expected — shaky given the freshman.
    8) Our kick coverage continues to be awful. We look incredibly slow.
    9) Graham has the potential to be a very special return man.

    I still think 8-4 is doable, but we’ve got a lot of work to do against Wake (a game that I had down as a win).

  18. drgreenhouse 09/05/2011 at 1:07 AM #

    VT may have taken Appalachian to the woodshed, but it has only been a year ago this week since James Madison (Yes the same JMU that was demolished by UNC on Saturday) went into Lane Stadium and shut down the Hokies. Virginia Tech recovered and won the ACC. As has been said many times before, the game against Wake will be a better barometer of our season’s potential.

  19. Ismael 09/05/2011 at 3:25 AM #

    Wow, most of the comments in this thread are just atrocious. Whoever allowed some of you assholes to get on the internet needs to be dealt with.

    Go back and look at RW’s first season, granted this is year 5, but he had some good receivers to throw the ball to. He had pretty pedestrian statistics, for most of the first year minus a few games, and he had 2 or 3 proven running backs.

    “Glennon needs to get an alarm clock in his head” thanks Captain Obvious. “He threw into double and triple coverage” so did RW, at some really brain dead times, where have you been, and this was last year after he had been starting for 2+ years. Btw, coaches who comment on games, if you aren’t a current or retired DivI or NFL coach, can you save your provincial analysis for the Waffle House!! you know, where all your fans thinks you’re really special and you’re a legend in your own mind game-scheming against Cooter County

  20. lonepacker 09/05/2011 at 9:31 AM #

    few thoughts

    win is a win–but,

    our offensive plan is weak–a number of times we had two receivers in line and could be covered by one defender

    when the defense was on the field Glennon was watching the game–what about being on the headset or talking with a field coach to evaluate what just happened and prepare for the next series

    finally, i could see how weak our plan is–in watching Wisc, first game of the season and their game plan was far more complex

    still first games

  21. 3boys 09/05/2011 at 10:01 AM #

    On the positive side, TP had a good game – need to get him more touches. Also, TJ is a highlight real waiting to happen on every return.

  22. packfanfornow 09/05/2011 at 1:39 PM #

    You guys are delusional if you think Glennon had a decent game. Did you not see Renner’s numbers? It was his first game too and he’s younger with less experience.

  23. mak4dpak 09/05/2011 at 5:36 PM #

    So how does Liberty, the 4x conference champ compare to James Madison this year? Let’s see what happens this week, and I think we will all have a better ideal of our opponent’s ability, as well as our own. We will improve, and I am sure the coaches will work on the weak aspects of our game. Let’s make the trip to WF, and cheer them on to another win. I will give my support, and presence.

  24. ancsu87 09/06/2011 at 12:59 AM #

    Agree with Ismael although I think he owes the people who go to Waffle House an apology…

  25. Go Army 89 09/06/2011 at 9:33 AM #

    THAT is the result of having our starting QB here to synch with the receivers in the spring. ??? Who cares about the spring starter. TOB lost a lot of credibility with me forcing RW out. It is not fair to Glennon. He should have been the back-up one more year then had one nice run to get on the NFL radars. If he was threatening to transfer, then let him go, we released the wrong guy. Once again STATE shoots itself instead putting some distance bw our rivals and really going for an ACC Title we do this random act of restart. RIDICULOUS!

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