It's The How That Hurts

There was no part of me that truly believed State was going to beat Notre Dame Saturday. But at the half, you look at yourself down 3 and go "hey, this could be interesting!"

Alas, not for long.

Getting blown out at Notre Dame doesn't bother me, honestly. The path State took to get to the blowout result, does.

This is a football team that is built around its offense carrying the load. And looking at that side of the ball, one player has the outsized impact on its performance. That player had arguably his worst game in an N.C. State uniform on Saturday.

Watching C.J. play against Wake was so exciting because you saw tangible growth in the inputs and process. It looked like he was seeing things slow down: tight window throws, recognizing blitzes and counting correctly, understanding where he had to go with the football.

As Alec touches on here, C.J.'s process Saturday wasn't horrible - it wasn't great- but the execution stunk. Balls were late, early, too far out in front, under thrown. He doesn't want to throw the ball away, leading to turnovers. It's a mess.

This is a Notre Dame team that is hovering just inside the top 50 in defensive EPA after its beatdown of N.C. State. It has some fine individual players, and is certainly getting better, but it does not have the talent its had in recent years under Marcus Freeman.

We've now seen him fall away in critical moments in three straight games against FBS opponents - all losses. That's concerning.

Adding to the frustration is what you finally got defensively: an impressive effort against a very good offense.

State yielded just ten points on Notre Dame's first seven possessions. You knew this wasn't going to last forever, but they cracked the door open for you. They gave you an honest chance! The offense curtly replied "no thank you," before a back breaking touchdown drive and blunders from C.J. put State's defense on the field for what felt like the rest of the game. It was done.

None of these thoughts are novel. I don't have to tell you these things. State's problems are glaringly obvious at this point.

You can't trust any of State's three phases on a week to week basis. That's problematic, because State will be underdogs in four of its last five games. Winning these games will require complete performances and non Dave Doeren coded complimentary football, which State hasn't put on the field since week 3. While several of these games are winnable, missing a bowl isn't off the table, either.

State will go as far as C.J. Bailey will take them this year. That is, unfortunately, a far less exciting sentence to type than it was four weeks ago.