RALEIGH -- A single play with less than five minutes remaining in the game summed up N.C. State's defensive performance against Duke on Saturday in Carter-Finley Stadium.
The Blue Devils, a 15-point underdog, led 42-28 and were doing nothing more than attempting to milk the clock on a third down-and-6 play at their 44-yard line.
Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, weary from having chopped apart the Wolfpack all afternoon, took the snap and ran aimlessly into the middle of his offensive line. Seven yards later, the Pack finally wrestled Lewis to the turf, giving Duke a new set of downs near midfield.
Two factors combined on that one play from State's defensive perspective -- a totally inexcusable lack of effort and execution.
It was the theme of an uplifting day for the long-suffering Blue Devils, but it also doubled as one of the most miserable defensive showings by a State team in many years -- maybe ever, considering the circumstances, situation and opposition.
That the Pack has a bad defense was firmly established a week earlier in a loss at Wake Forest, a game in which Deacon quarterback Riley Skinner piled up 361 yards with three touchdown passes.
But compared with the trouble State had against Lewis in what turned out to be a 49-28 Duke romp, Riley's performance was, if anything, devalued. Lewis passed for 459 yards and five TDs and did it without the benefit of so much as a meager rushing attack.
Now, Lewis is an excellent quarterback who has been coached to the nines by David Cutcliffe in just two years. But Lewis is not Peyton Manning, and that's who State's defense made him resemble. Heck, some Arena League defenses would have been embarrassed.
Wolfpack coach Tom O'Brien was ticked off, but probably not quite as upset as the thousands of grumbling fans who poured out of the building with the memories not only of Lewis' barrage but two misplayed punts that led to 14 bonus Blue Devils points.
So stunning was the outcome that O'Brien and defensive coordinator Mike Archer have no choice except to quickly re-evaluate everything that's going on with and within a unit so completely out of whack that two or three successive stops qualifies as a minor miracle.
"We got outcoached, out-played, out-everything," O'Brien said. "We tried everything. We blitzed, played zone, played man, two-deep, three-deep. Nothing worked. We couldn't get off the field. We have to look at schemes and what we're doing as coaches."
At 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the ACC, O'Brien said there's still a lot for State to accomplish. Which is true, of course. But there's also the distinct chance that with upcoming road games at Boston College and Florida State, the Wolfpack's season is on the brink of a full-blown disaster.
It's for dead certain that the defensive effort displayed against Duke will not be good enough to stop anyone. There aren't many quarterbacks in the ACC with Lewis' skills, but the blueprint for attacking State now is written on the wind.
Any coaching staff with a two-bit video system can see the coverage/containment problems State has on any given play. Opponents are going to exploit the Pack's unguarded underbelly and gaping seams until State consistently proves itself capable of stopping those tactics.
Statistics can be, and often are, misleading in football.
This one is not: In two games against average opponents, the Pack has given up 820 passing yards and eight touchdown passes. A team could have five Russell Wilsons on its roster and still it wouldn't be able to offset those numbers.
