Clemson vs. NC State Preview
The Game
•Clemson (9-0, 6-0) vs. NC State (4-4, 1-3)
•Clemson ranked #3 by USA Today and #4 by Associated Press
•ABC, 7:30 p.m. (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Maria Taylor)
•At Carter Finley Stadium (57,600), Raleigh, NC
The Series
•Clemson leads the series 58-28-1, including a 14-1 record over the last 15 games. Clemson has a 21-16 lead in games played in Raleigh and a 26-11 lead in games played in Clemson.
•Clemson has won three in a row in Raleigh with wins in 2013 (26-14), 2015 (56-41) and 38-31 in 2017.
•Clemson won last year at Clemson, 41-7 in a battle of unbeaten teams. NC State was ranked 16th entering the game and Clemson was ranked third. Trevor Lawrence completed 26 of 39 passes for 308 yards and a touchdown, while Travis Etienne was held to 15-39 rushing, but had three touchdowns. Isaiah Simmons had 11 tackles to lead the defense.
•NC State’s last win in the series took place in 2011 in Raleigh, by a 37-13 score. Clemson was ranked seventh in the nation going into the game and went on to win the ACC Championship. It is one of three times NC State has upset a top 10 Clemson team in Raleigh.
•Clemson and NC State have played the most freshmen in games in the nation so far this year. Clemson has played 49 and NC State has played 32.
The Coaches
• Dave Doeren, a 1994 Drake graduate, is in his seventh year as head coach at NC State. He has taken NC State to consecutive nine win seasons (9-4 each year) in 2017-18. With a 4-4 record so far this year, he has a career record of 70-42 in his ninth year as a head coach, including a 47-38 mark at NC State.
•Doeren, Dick Sheridan and Lou Holtz are the only coaches in NC State history to win at least nine games in consecutive years.
•Doeren started his career as an assistant coach at Shawnee Mission High School in 1994. His first college job was as a linebackers coach at Drake University, his alma mater. He has also coached at Southern California, Montana, Kansas, and Wisconsin as an assistant coach, and at Northern Illinois as a head coach. He was 23-4 in two years at Northern Illinois.
•He had a losing season at NC State his first year (3-9 in 2013), but has had five straight winning seasons since.
•He has a 0-6 record against Clemson, but two of the games have been decided by a touchdown, including one in overtime.
•Dabo Swinney is in his 11th full season (12th overall including seven games as interim head coach in 2008) at Clemson and has a 125-30 (.806) record entering Saturday’s game. It took him 155 games to reach 125 wins, the 10th fewest games need to reach that victory total in FBS history.
•Swinney is one of nine coaches in FBS history with at least 150 games coached and an 80 percent winning percentage. He moved ahead of Washington Coach Chris Petersen into first place among winningest active coaches (min five years) with the win at Louisville and Washington’s loss to Oregon. Petersen is now 144-37 for a .796 mark.
•Swinney’s record includes a 76-16 mark in ACC games and that .828 winning percentage is the best in league history.
Five Notes of Interest
•K’von Wallace has had an interception against NC State each of the last three years. No Clemson players has had an interception against the same team four years in a row.
•While NC State has struggled recently, the Wolfpack is 4-0 at home this year and 14-2 at home over the last three years. The only losses for NC State at home the last three years are to Clemson in 2017 by 38-31, and to Wake Forest, 27-23 in 2018.
•The co-holder of the NC State record for most tackles in a game in Carter-Finley Stadium is 24 by Bill Cowher against Clemson in 1978. Cowher went on to be a Super Bowl Championship coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
•If Clemson defeats NC State it will give the Tigers 10 wins for the ninth straight year. It would put Clemson in a tie for third on the list for most consecutive 10-win seasons in college football history.
•Trevor Lawrence has a higher completion percentage, passing efficiency, TD passes per game, and yards per attempt than he did last year.
Dabo Swinney on N.C. State
“NC State is a place that has always been a challenge. Our scores there in recent years have been close, 38-31 (2017) 56-41 (2015). It has been a grind. I remember we needed a (77-yard) punt return by Ray-Ray McCloud to win there two years ago.
“Carter-Finley Stadium is one of the better venues to play. Their crowd always shows up no matter what the record is and it is a tough environment.
“On offense, schematically they do a little bit of everything . They have multiple personnel groups. They are not as tight-end oriented as they have been in the past. They are a little outside zone more than some teams.
“This is a well coached team. They give their guys a chance to win.
“They have had a lot of changes at quarterback this year. I assume freshman, Devin Leary will be their guy against us. But we will have to prepare for the others and some wildcat. While they have played three different quarterbacks, they don’t change what they do very much. They use a lot of sprint-out passes, a lot of movement out of the pocket. They are not a drop back team, but they do throw the ball down field.
“The strength of their offense is the offensive line. They do a lot of shifting and motion to try to create mismatches. They are a big stretch team so our pursuit will be critical.
“In the passing game last year they beat us on a double move. We will need to be disciplined in the secondary. They have some young, talented wideouts.
“They have had a lot of injuries on defense, especially in the secondary and at cornerback. They are unorthodox in what they do on defense from a pressure standpoint. They will attack you and will play man coverage. They bring pressure 50 percent of the time.
“We did not run the ball well against this team a year ago and they have done a good job stopping the run against everyone but Boston College. We need to improve in our running game compared to last year.”
Clemson Offense vs. NC State Defense
Clemson has been on a roll offensively the last four games and is now averaging 7.58 yards per play, on pace to be the best in Clemson history, and third best in the nation. Clemson is also third in the nation in total offense per game with an average of 545 yards per game. Clemson is the most balanced team in the nation, averaging 272 yards a game on the ground and 273 a game through the air. Clemson is the only school in the nation averaging at least 270 per game in both areas.
Running back Travis Etienne has been on a record pace this year. He went over the 1100 mark in rushing yards in the win over Wofford when he ran for 212 yards on just nine attempts. For the year he has 1,102 yards on 123 attempts, 9.0 per carry with 11 touchdowns. He has a 90-yard rushing TD and an 86-yard rushing TD this year. He is averaging 122.4 yards per game and needs just 441 rushing yards to break Raymond Priester’s career rushing record of 3,966 set between 1994-97.
Trevor Lawrence has completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 225 yards per game. He has 20 touchdown passes and six more rushing for 26 total TDs, just five short of what he had in 15 games last year. Lawrence’s 164.12 passing efficiency is better than his 157.56 mark of last year. He has risen to 11th in the nation in passing efficiency and 13th in yards per attempt this year.
Justyn Ross leads the Tigers in receptions with 36 for 444 yards and five scores. Tee Higgins leads in receiving yards with 662 on 32 receptions and four scores. His 20.7 yards per reception figure is fifth in the nation among players with at least 30 receptions. Amari Rodgers is a third productive option for Lawrence. The native of Tennessee has 22 catches for 365 yards and four scores. All three receivers caught a TD pass against Wofford.
NC State has been hurt with injuries in the secondary this year, especially at cornerback. Starting cornerback Chris Ingram , is out for the season and starting cornerback Nick McCloud has missed seven games. Six different players have had a start at cornerback for the Pack this year.
NC State’s defensive strength is in the defensive line. They rank 27th in the nation in rushing yards allowed per game at 119 per contest. In the first six games of the year NC State opponents averaged just 66.7 yards a game. Then Boston College gained 429 in the seventh game. The Pack came back strong against Wake Forest, allowing 124.
The Pack is eighth in the nation in quarterback sacks with an average of 3.71 per game. Sixteen of the sacks came in back to back games against Florida State and Syracuse, the most in consecutive games in school history.
Junior linebacker Louis Acceus ranks second on the team in tackles with 50, including a team best 28 over the last three games. He had 14 in the win over Syracuse. Larrell Murchison has been a standout on the defensive line. The graduate has 34 tackles, but 10 have been tackles for loss for a team best seven sacks. Safety Tanner Ingle leads the team in tackles as a sophomore with 56 and is tied for the team lead in passes broken up with four.
Clemson Defense vs. NC State Offense
Clemson’s defense has rankings just as high as the Tigers offense. Brent Venables defense leads the nation fewest first downs allowed per game (12.3), ranks second in passing yards allowed per game (134.0), is third in yards per play allowed (3.95), is third in opponent passer rating (92.32), is third in tackles for loss (76), is sixth in scoring defense (11.7), is eighth in sacks (30), and is ninth in interceptions (1).
Clemson has not allowed a team to reach 300 yards of total offense in a game this year, just the third team to do that for the first nine games of a season in the last 20 years. Despite the loss of six players to the NFL, the Clemson defense is actually improved statistically over last year. The Tigers led the nation in scoring defense last year, allowing 13.1 points per game, but allow just 11.7 so far this year. Clemson allowed 286 yards a game last year to rank fifth in the nation. Clemson is fourth in that category so far this year, allowing 247 a game.
Isaiah Simmons is the leader of the defense. The linebacker from Olathe, Kansas was named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award last week and leads the team in tackles (65), tackles for loss (11.5), sacks (6-42) and quarterback pressures (12). Many feel he will be the third Clemson defensive player named Simmons (Wayne, 1992, Anthony, 1997) to be a first-round draft choice.
James Skalski, who redshirted last season, is second in tackles with 61, while Tanner Muse is third from his safety position with 50 and a team best three interceptions. K’Von Wallace, who has had an interception each of the last three years against NC State, is a starting defensive back with 46 tackles, two tackles for loss, four passes broken up and two interceptions.
The leader of the defensive front has been freshman Tyler Davis, who has 33 tackles, including 5.5 tackles for loss. Reserve linebacker Jake Venables is second in the team in tackles for loss with 7.5, including 3.5 in the win over Wofford.
NC State has used three different quarterbacks this year. They have all done a great job holding on to the ball, as NC State has committed just nine turnovers in eight games. Devin Leary started the most recent game and could be the starter against Clemson. He played the entire game against Wake Forest and completed 17-45 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. He had five rushes for 14 yards. For the year, Leary has completed 43 percent of his passes for 485 yards and four scores. As a team, NC State has completed 53 percent of their passes for 1956 yards and 10 scores against just six interceptions.
Emeka Emezie is the top receiver on a 2019 and career basis for NC State with 105 total catches, one of 20 players in NC State history to reach that level. For the season he has 39 catches for 410 yards and one touchdown.
One of the most unusual stories on the NC State football team is that of receiver Tabari Hines. The graduate transfer started his career at Wake Forest and in three games against the Wolfpack he had 22 catches for 306 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair of 100-yard receiving games. In 2018 he had eight catches for a career high 139 yards and three touchdowns against NC State and was named ACC Receiver of the Week. This year, playing for NC State, he has 23 catches for 195 yards and a touchdown.
The top rusher is Zonovan Knight, a freshman from Bailey, NC who has 82 rushes for 389 yards and three scores. Jordan Houston, another freshman from Maryland, has 63 rushes for 362 yards and two scores. His 5.7 average leads the team.
Special Teams
•Clemson’s kickoff man B.T. Potter has 46 touchbacks on 57 kickoffs so far this year and is first in the nation in kickoffs with a 64.2 yards per kickoff average. He has 125 career touchbacks on 171 kickoffs and has kicked just one out of bounds in his career. At Louisville he made a 51-yard field goal, the second 51-yarder he has made this year.
•Will Spiers is one of the most improved punters in the nation, as his average has gone from 38.9 to 42.5. He has allowed just two punt returns for nine yards this year and his individual net average of 42.4, near the Clemson single season record of 42.6 by Dale Hatcher in 1984.
•In terms of returns, Joseph Ngata has a 24.0 kickoff return average on 13 returns. Amari Rodgers has a solid 8.3 punt return average.
•NC State kicker Christopher Dunn has made 38-44 field goals in his career, fourth in NC State history in career percentage. His 38 total field goals rank seventh. He made 19 straight at one point between last year and this year. He has a current streak of 73 straight made extra points.
•Punter Trenton Gill is sixth in the nation in punting average with a 47.1 figure on 40 attempts.
•Punt returner Thayer Thomas is fourth in the nation in punt returns with a 14.7 average.
The Game
•Clemson (9-0, 6-0) vs. NC State (4-4, 1-3)
•Clemson ranked #3 by USA Today and #4 by Associated Press
•ABC, 7:30 p.m. (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Maria Taylor)
•At Carter Finley Stadium (57,600), Raleigh, NC
The Series
•Clemson leads the series 58-28-1, including a 14-1 record over the last 15 games. Clemson has a 21-16 lead in games played in Raleigh and a 26-11 lead in games played in Clemson.
•Clemson has won three in a row in Raleigh with wins in 2013 (26-14), 2015 (56-41) and 38-31 in 2017.
•Clemson won last year at Clemson, 41-7 in a battle of unbeaten teams. NC State was ranked 16th entering the game and Clemson was ranked third. Trevor Lawrence completed 26 of 39 passes for 308 yards and a touchdown, while Travis Etienne was held to 15-39 rushing, but had three touchdowns. Isaiah Simmons had 11 tackles to lead the defense.
•NC State’s last win in the series took place in 2011 in Raleigh, by a 37-13 score. Clemson was ranked seventh in the nation going into the game and went on to win the ACC Championship. It is one of three times NC State has upset a top 10 Clemson team in Raleigh.
•Clemson and NC State have played the most freshmen in games in the nation so far this year. Clemson has played 49 and NC State has played 32.
The Coaches
• Dave Doeren, a 1994 Drake graduate, is in his seventh year as head coach at NC State. He has taken NC State to consecutive nine win seasons (9-4 each year) in 2017-18. With a 4-4 record so far this year, he has a career record of 70-42 in his ninth year as a head coach, including a 47-38 mark at NC State.
•Doeren, Dick Sheridan and Lou Holtz are the only coaches in NC State history to win at least nine games in consecutive years.
•Doeren started his career as an assistant coach at Shawnee Mission High School in 1994. His first college job was as a linebackers coach at Drake University, his alma mater. He has also coached at Southern California, Montana, Kansas, and Wisconsin as an assistant coach, and at Northern Illinois as a head coach. He was 23-4 in two years at Northern Illinois.
•He had a losing season at NC State his first year (3-9 in 2013), but has had five straight winning seasons since.
•He has a 0-6 record against Clemson, but two of the games have been decided by a touchdown, including one in overtime.
•Dabo Swinney is in his 11th full season (12th overall including seven games as interim head coach in 2008) at Clemson and has a 125-30 (.806) record entering Saturday’s game. It took him 155 games to reach 125 wins, the 10th fewest games need to reach that victory total in FBS history.
•Swinney is one of nine coaches in FBS history with at least 150 games coached and an 80 percent winning percentage. He moved ahead of Washington Coach Chris Petersen into first place among winningest active coaches (min five years) with the win at Louisville and Washington’s loss to Oregon. Petersen is now 144-37 for a .796 mark.
•Swinney’s record includes a 76-16 mark in ACC games and that .828 winning percentage is the best in league history.
Five Notes of Interest
•K’von Wallace has had an interception against NC State each of the last three years. No Clemson players has had an interception against the same team four years in a row.
•While NC State has struggled recently, the Wolfpack is 4-0 at home this year and 14-2 at home over the last three years. The only losses for NC State at home the last three years are to Clemson in 2017 by 38-31, and to Wake Forest, 27-23 in 2018.
•The co-holder of the NC State record for most tackles in a game in Carter-Finley Stadium is 24 by Bill Cowher against Clemson in 1978. Cowher went on to be a Super Bowl Championship coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
•If Clemson defeats NC State it will give the Tigers 10 wins for the ninth straight year. It would put Clemson in a tie for third on the list for most consecutive 10-win seasons in college football history.
•Trevor Lawrence has a higher completion percentage, passing efficiency, TD passes per game, and yards per attempt than he did last year.
Dabo Swinney on N.C. State
“NC State is a place that has always been a challenge. Our scores there in recent years have been close, 38-31 (2017) 56-41 (2015). It has been a grind. I remember we needed a (77-yard) punt return by Ray-Ray McCloud to win there two years ago.
“Carter-Finley Stadium is one of the better venues to play. Their crowd always shows up no matter what the record is and it is a tough environment.
“On offense, schematically they do a little bit of everything . They have multiple personnel groups. They are not as tight-end oriented as they have been in the past. They are a little outside zone more than some teams.
“This is a well coached team. They give their guys a chance to win.
“They have had a lot of changes at quarterback this year. I assume freshman, Devin Leary will be their guy against us. But we will have to prepare for the others and some wildcat. While they have played three different quarterbacks, they don’t change what they do very much. They use a lot of sprint-out passes, a lot of movement out of the pocket. They are not a drop back team, but they do throw the ball down field.
“The strength of their offense is the offensive line. They do a lot of shifting and motion to try to create mismatches. They are a big stretch team so our pursuit will be critical.
“In the passing game last year they beat us on a double move. We will need to be disciplined in the secondary. They have some young, talented wideouts.
“They have had a lot of injuries on defense, especially in the secondary and at cornerback. They are unorthodox in what they do on defense from a pressure standpoint. They will attack you and will play man coverage. They bring pressure 50 percent of the time.
“We did not run the ball well against this team a year ago and they have done a good job stopping the run against everyone but Boston College. We need to improve in our running game compared to last year.”
Clemson Offense vs. NC State Defense
Clemson has been on a roll offensively the last four games and is now averaging 7.58 yards per play, on pace to be the best in Clemson history, and third best in the nation. Clemson is also third in the nation in total offense per game with an average of 545 yards per game. Clemson is the most balanced team in the nation, averaging 272 yards a game on the ground and 273 a game through the air. Clemson is the only school in the nation averaging at least 270 per game in both areas.
Running back Travis Etienne has been on a record pace this year. He went over the 1100 mark in rushing yards in the win over Wofford when he ran for 212 yards on just nine attempts. For the year he has 1,102 yards on 123 attempts, 9.0 per carry with 11 touchdowns. He has a 90-yard rushing TD and an 86-yard rushing TD this year. He is averaging 122.4 yards per game and needs just 441 rushing yards to break Raymond Priester’s career rushing record of 3,966 set between 1994-97.
Trevor Lawrence has completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 225 yards per game. He has 20 touchdown passes and six more rushing for 26 total TDs, just five short of what he had in 15 games last year. Lawrence’s 164.12 passing efficiency is better than his 157.56 mark of last year. He has risen to 11th in the nation in passing efficiency and 13th in yards per attempt this year.
Justyn Ross leads the Tigers in receptions with 36 for 444 yards and five scores. Tee Higgins leads in receiving yards with 662 on 32 receptions and four scores. His 20.7 yards per reception figure is fifth in the nation among players with at least 30 receptions. Amari Rodgers is a third productive option for Lawrence. The native of Tennessee has 22 catches for 365 yards and four scores. All three receivers caught a TD pass against Wofford.
NC State has been hurt with injuries in the secondary this year, especially at cornerback. Starting cornerback Chris Ingram , is out for the season and starting cornerback Nick McCloud has missed seven games. Six different players have had a start at cornerback for the Pack this year.
NC State’s defensive strength is in the defensive line. They rank 27th in the nation in rushing yards allowed per game at 119 per contest. In the first six games of the year NC State opponents averaged just 66.7 yards a game. Then Boston College gained 429 in the seventh game. The Pack came back strong against Wake Forest, allowing 124.
The Pack is eighth in the nation in quarterback sacks with an average of 3.71 per game. Sixteen of the sacks came in back to back games against Florida State and Syracuse, the most in consecutive games in school history.
Junior linebacker Louis Acceus ranks second on the team in tackles with 50, including a team best 28 over the last three games. He had 14 in the win over Syracuse. Larrell Murchison has been a standout on the defensive line. The graduate has 34 tackles, but 10 have been tackles for loss for a team best seven sacks. Safety Tanner Ingle leads the team in tackles as a sophomore with 56 and is tied for the team lead in passes broken up with four.
Clemson Defense vs. NC State Offense
Clemson’s defense has rankings just as high as the Tigers offense. Brent Venables defense leads the nation fewest first downs allowed per game (12.3), ranks second in passing yards allowed per game (134.0), is third in yards per play allowed (3.95), is third in opponent passer rating (92.32), is third in tackles for loss (76), is sixth in scoring defense (11.7), is eighth in sacks (30), and is ninth in interceptions (1).
Clemson has not allowed a team to reach 300 yards of total offense in a game this year, just the third team to do that for the first nine games of a season in the last 20 years. Despite the loss of six players to the NFL, the Clemson defense is actually improved statistically over last year. The Tigers led the nation in scoring defense last year, allowing 13.1 points per game, but allow just 11.7 so far this year. Clemson allowed 286 yards a game last year to rank fifth in the nation. Clemson is fourth in that category so far this year, allowing 247 a game.
Isaiah Simmons is the leader of the defense. The linebacker from Olathe, Kansas was named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award last week and leads the team in tackles (65), tackles for loss (11.5), sacks (6-42) and quarterback pressures (12). Many feel he will be the third Clemson defensive player named Simmons (Wayne, 1992, Anthony, 1997) to be a first-round draft choice.
James Skalski, who redshirted last season, is second in tackles with 61, while Tanner Muse is third from his safety position with 50 and a team best three interceptions. K’Von Wallace, who has had an interception each of the last three years against NC State, is a starting defensive back with 46 tackles, two tackles for loss, four passes broken up and two interceptions.
The leader of the defensive front has been freshman Tyler Davis, who has 33 tackles, including 5.5 tackles for loss. Reserve linebacker Jake Venables is second in the team in tackles for loss with 7.5, including 3.5 in the win over Wofford.
NC State has used three different quarterbacks this year. They have all done a great job holding on to the ball, as NC State has committed just nine turnovers in eight games. Devin Leary started the most recent game and could be the starter against Clemson. He played the entire game against Wake Forest and completed 17-45 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. He had five rushes for 14 yards. For the year, Leary has completed 43 percent of his passes for 485 yards and four scores. As a team, NC State has completed 53 percent of their passes for 1956 yards and 10 scores against just six interceptions.
Emeka Emezie is the top receiver on a 2019 and career basis for NC State with 105 total catches, one of 20 players in NC State history to reach that level. For the season he has 39 catches for 410 yards and one touchdown.
One of the most unusual stories on the NC State football team is that of receiver Tabari Hines. The graduate transfer started his career at Wake Forest and in three games against the Wolfpack he had 22 catches for 306 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair of 100-yard receiving games. In 2018 he had eight catches for a career high 139 yards and three touchdowns against NC State and was named ACC Receiver of the Week. This year, playing for NC State, he has 23 catches for 195 yards and a touchdown.
The top rusher is Zonovan Knight, a freshman from Bailey, NC who has 82 rushes for 389 yards and three scores. Jordan Houston, another freshman from Maryland, has 63 rushes for 362 yards and two scores. His 5.7 average leads the team.
Special Teams
•Clemson’s kickoff man B.T. Potter has 46 touchbacks on 57 kickoffs so far this year and is first in the nation in kickoffs with a 64.2 yards per kickoff average. He has 125 career touchbacks on 171 kickoffs and has kicked just one out of bounds in his career. At Louisville he made a 51-yard field goal, the second 51-yarder he has made this year.
•Will Spiers is one of the most improved punters in the nation, as his average has gone from 38.9 to 42.5. He has allowed just two punt returns for nine yards this year and his individual net average of 42.4, near the Clemson single season record of 42.6 by Dale Hatcher in 1984.
•In terms of returns, Joseph Ngata has a 24.0 kickoff return average on 13 returns. Amari Rodgers has a solid 8.3 punt return average.
•NC State kicker Christopher Dunn has made 38-44 field goals in his career, fourth in NC State history in career percentage. His 38 total field goals rank seventh. He made 19 straight at one point between last year and this year. He has a current streak of 73 straight made extra points.
•Punter Trenton Gill is sixth in the nation in punting average with a 47.1 figure on 40 attempts.
•Punt returner Thayer Thomas is fourth in the nation in punt returns with a 14.7 average.