The Chunk Check: Putting a bow on the Armstrong era

A few weeks back, I had a look at how NC State’s early explosive play rate compared to the 2022 numbers, and the comparison wasn’t favorable. Not a lot has changed in the time since, and moving forward I’m going to keep a separate tally for the games in which MJ Morris plays.

Anyway, here’s State through five games in 2023 compared to 2022:

We’ve seen a slight increase in the rate of plays over 30 yards, but otherwise the offense hasn’t stacked up to what was a very low bar. NC State ranks worse than 100th in each of the three chunk play categories above, though I doubt that comes as a surprise to anybody.

On a side note, NC State has generally played with more tempo this season (the Louisville game was an exception), though not dramatically so. Still, with the new clock rules cutting into possession totals, State is averaging 70 snaps per game, which is what it averaged last year.