Coaches Unfamiliar With Each Other Going Into Saturday’s Game

When longtime ACC rivals Virginia and N.C. State face off for the 58th time Saturday, there will be a greater sense of unfamiliarity than in previous matchups in the series, which dates back to 1904.

Ever since the league has been split into two divisions, schools can go several seasons — six in this case — between meetings. Each side admits that there may be a small amount of knowledge when you factor in scouting other like opponents on film, but more attention is being paid to the team you’re preparing for.

In his 14 years as a head coach, Bronco Mendenhall has never gone up against Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren, even though the two have crossed paths in coaching circles. As of Monday morning, Mendenhall explained that he was just beginning to get acquainted with the Wolfpack and explosive senior quarterback Ryan Finley.

“Yeah, I have no familiarity,” Mendenhall said. “Last time I even paid attention to N.C. State, I was coaching at New Mexico. We went there and played, and that was a long time ago. I do know [Doeren] from the coaches’ meetings and know and respect the job he’s done there. Really when an opponent isn’t on your schedule in any given year, you just forget about them.

“You have to be so engrossed in the opponent you are playing. It’s been a busy morning familiarizing myself with schemes, personnel, history and why they’re doing what they’re doing, how they got to that point. So just now starting to kind of feel like I can talk maybe confidently or comprehensively about them. Wouldn’t have been able to do that before this morning.”

Doeren, who said he was busy watching UVa film all day Sunday, also said he didn’t know a ton about the Cavaliers (3-1, 1-0 ACC), noting that preparing for Saturday has been similar to preparing for a non-conference opponent.

“I have not coached against Bronco,” Doeren said. “I have seen BYU a lot, when he was there. I have seen Virginia a lot in crossover film now for six years, but have not played against him or gameplanned against him. [Offensive Coordinator Eliah Drinkwitz] has, from when he was at Boise, so he does have some experience against him, but yeah it’s unique.”

The Wolfpack (3-0, 0-0) lead the all-time series against the Wahoos, 34-22-1, but as mentioned above, the teams haven’t squared off since 2012, when UVa went into Carter-Finley Stadium and emerged with a 33-6 win.

The teams played nearly every year from the early 1960s up to 2003, but this will be just the fifth meeting since 2006. It will be the ACC opener for NCSU.

Saturday’s game will feature a pair of talented star quarterbacks in Finley and Bryce Perkins, who happen to rank 1 and 2, respectively, in the ACC in completion percentage. N.C. State and Virginia also rank 1-2 in third-down conversion percentage offensively.

Finley, who was named to the Maxwell Trophy, Davey O’Brien Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year Award preseason watch lists, is 83 for 121 (68.6 percent) for 1,056 yards and five touchdowns, with just one interception. Perkins is not far behind at 67 for 102 (65.7%) for 867 yards and nine scores (two picks) through the air. Granted, Perkins and the ‘Hoos have played one more game than State, which saw its game against West Virginia canceled due to Hurricane Florence on Sept. 15.

The Wolfies have wins over Marshall, James Madison and Georgia State.

Finley, a grad student who has already earned a Master’s degree, also leads the conference (by a wide margin) in passing yards per contest at just over 350, more than 80 yards a game better than second-place Deondre Francois of Florida State (270.8). His numbers are good for fourth in all of FBS in terms of per-game yardage, and he has several weapons to get the ball to — Kelvin Harmon, Jakobi Meyers, Emeka Emezie, Stephen Louis and Thayer Thomas, among others. He’s gone for 300-plus in all three contests thus far, and averages over 10 yards per pass on first downs alone.

“He throws the ball really well and he throws it on time, and he throws it to good receivers,” said Mendenhall of Finley’s abilities. “In my opinion they’re a throw-first team in terms of yardage and yield. Doesn’t mean they can’t run the football, but the ball is moved periodically and systematically through the air. So he’s poised, he’s accurate and he’s reflective of a player with experience.”

Harmon, an All-ACC second-team selection who was the first State receiver to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in 14 years as a sophomore last year, was five yards shy of matching his career high in last week’s win at Marshall, finishing with six catches for 150 yards. He leads the Pack in catches and receiving yards, but has yet to score a touchdown in 2018.

Without the services of Nyheim Hines, who now plays for the Indianapolis Colts, running the ball has been a bit of a struggle for State with just 107.7 yards per game on the ground so far (next to last in the ACC), but Doeren saw improvement in last week’s 37-20 win at Marshall.

Leading rusher Reggie Gallaspy averages just 3.5 yards a carry and 57.7 a game with a long of 18 yards, but he amassed a season-best 81 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns against the Thundering Herd.

“I think it’s a lot better. I thought we were getting off and knocking the line of scrimmage three and four yards down the field, I thought our tight ends helped us,” Doeren said of last week’s rushing performance. “Reggie and [freshman Trent Pennix] run hard. We don’t have Nyheim. We don’t have that guy that’s going to turn a five-yard run into a 50-yard run, which helps your stats a lot — it’s going to be more of a slugfest in the run game, which hurts your numbers, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. I thought we were very effective running the football [against Marshall].”

UVa Co-Defensive Coordinator Kelly Poppinga mentioned the difference between a guy like Finley compared to Louisville’s Malik Cunningham is drastic in terms of playing style, but that the philosophy will not change much for his troops.

“This guy [Finley] is capable,” Poppinga said after Tuesday’s practice. “He does scramble, but that’s obviously not what he wants to do. We will have some different things designed for him, but for the most part we will do what we do — pressure the way that we pressure and cover the way that we cover. There’s not going to be many surprises. The main focus will be our guys that are in zone drops, they’re not going to have to come out of their zones as fast.”

Doeren knows the Wahoo defense will offer multiple looks, and referred to outside linebackers Charles Snowden and Chris Peace as “excellent football players who run to the ball well.” He knows it hasn’t been easy getting it in the end zone against Virginia — his team has had the same success rate converting red-zone trips into touchdowns, at a 9-for-17 clip (53%).

“It’s going to be a great football game,” he said. “You’ve got two teams playing a conference game that are playing good ball, and they’re a much-improved football team and I think he [Mendenhall] deserves a lot of credit for what he’s done up there.”

Doeren was asked if he will use a similar approach in preparing for Perkins that he used when going up against former Louisville dual-threat quarterback Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson in previous seasons.

“He’s dynamic like Lamar,” Doeren said of Perkins. “I mean, you see him not only with him being able to hurdle people as everybody’s seen, but just how fast he gets to top gear, and he’s aggressive as a runner. He’s not one of these quarterbacks that tries to slide; he’s going to get what he can get. He’s a good football player and they’ve got tough schemes. A lot of the plays are plus-one schemes where they’ve got one more blocker, and so it’s going to be a great challenge for our guys.

“We have done well in the past against Lamar, and we have not done well in the past against Lamar, so we need to put our best plan together and it really comes down to tackling. You’ve got to tackle and you’ve got to get off blocks so that you have extra hats there in case you miss.”

If Virginia can escape Carter-Finley with a 4-1 record heading into next week’s bye, it could be a huge stepping stone for Mendenhall and the Cavaliers. Kickoff is set for 12:20 p.m. and the game can be seen on Raycom Sports.