RALEIGH -- Despite a devastating, lopsided loss Saturday, N.C. State football coach Tom O'Brien was reassured while studying Boston College's defense last week.
O'Brien saw the Eagles shut down N.C. State 52-20 on Saturday for the Wolfpack's third consecutive loss. On film, O'Brien watched Boston College's defense turn in solid performances against Wake Forest, Clemson and Florida State.
"Basically, we're playing the same defense," O'Brien said Monday. "It may not look like it. But we're playing the same defense."
In recent weeks, though, the Wolfpack defense has been in shambles. In its past two games, against Duke and Boston College, N.C. State gave up an average of 50.5 points.
The Wolfpack failed to stop the pass, giving up 459 yards and five touchdowns through the air to Duke's Thaddeus Lewis. N.C. State couldn't stop the run the next week, as Montel Harris set Boston College records with 264 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
With an open date coming up Saturday before N.C. State's next game on Oct. 31 at Florida State, O'Brien and his staff have two full weeks to fix what's broken. It's also a good chance for players to heal their bruised egos and bodies.
"It's a great time for an open date," freshman cornerback Rashard Smith said after Saturday's loss. "We've got to heal some bumps and bruises that we've got, go watch film, study film and come out to work."
N.C. State (3-4, 0-3 ACC) has turned around its fortunes during mid-October open dates in the past two seasons under O'Brien. The Wolfpack was a combined 3-9 before open dates and 8-5 after them.
O'Brien hopes to engineer a similar turnaround this season, but he's not making any promises.
Late last season, key injured players such as Nate Irving, Anthony Hill and Alan-Michael Cash returned to help the Wolfpack win its last four regular-season games.
There are no injured standouts coming back for N.C. State this season, however. That leaves O'Brien hoping for the type of across-the-board improvement that occurred in 2007, when an extra week of practice helped his first Wolfpack team understand what the coaches were trying to do.
"The first year, we finally figured it out," O'Brien said. "So maybe we can finally figure it out now."
During that first season, N.C. State's defensive scheme was partly designed around players inherited from O'Brien's predecessor, Chuck Amato.
Then, in the offseason before 2008, N.C. State's defensive assistants visited different schools to try to come up with a scheme for the future.
They came back to campus, put their ideas together and devised a system designed to curb the effectiveness of pass-happy spread offenses.
O'Brien said it was almost exactly like the one he and former defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani, now the Boston College head coach, created for the Eagles 10 years ago.
It's a scheme with four down linemen, two linebackers, four defensive backs and a hybrid linebacker/safety who plays to the wide side of the field. The defense, with the hybrid position filled by Robbie Leonard last season and Audie Cole this season, is supposed to give N.C. State flexibility against the run and the pass.
It hasn't turned out that way this season, but O'Brien blames inexperience. Nine of the 14 positions on last week's two-deep for the linebackers and secondary were claimed by freshmen and sophomores.
Despite his team's inexperience, O'Brien said the coaches have to get the players to understand what they're supposed to do.
"It's not the structure of the defense that's broken," he said. "That's not the problem.
"It's how it's being played and executed. That's what we've got to do better."
Along with his coordinators, O'Brien has spent time this week self-scouting, trying to figure out what's gone wrong and how to get better. This week of practice will be devoted to fundamentals and determining which players can do what they're asked.
Even freshmen who appeared on track to redshirt will have a chance to prove they're ready to step into the lineup, O'Brien said. There will be no mention of Florida State until next week, when opponent-specific game planning begins.
O'Brien said he still believes in his players, and he remains confident in the rebuilding process he's using because it worked when he was an assistant at Navy and Virginia, and when he was Boston College's coach.
He isn't oblivious to fans' dissatisfaction as the team's results have fallen short of lofty preseason expectations. But he sounded confident Monday that what he's doing will work.
"We're playing probably younger kids than we ever wanted to be, but that's a part of life," O'Brien said. "You just keep your blinders on, keep focused week to week, and you know having been part of it for the fourth time, that it's going to get better. It may seem like it's getting worse at a point. But eventually it's going to be very good."
