Kentucky football: Five things to know about North Carolina State
Five things to know about Kentucky’s opponent in Saturday’s TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, the North Carolina State Wolfpack:
1. The Wolfpack finished the regular season on a roll
It might not have been against top-tier competition, but Dave Doeren’s club finished 2020 the right way, beating Florida State (38-22), Liberty (15-14) at home, Syracuse (36-29) on the road, then finished the regular schedule with a (23-13) victory over Georgia Tech.
That was the only loss of the season for Hugh Freeze and the Liberty Flames. State trailed 14-9 in the fourth quarter before rallying for the win. It secured the win when Vi Jones blocked a 39-yard Alex Barbir field goal attempt with 1:18 left. State had scored the go-ahead touchdown with 6:53 left.
The Wolfpack was also forced to rally in the win at Syracuse, who led 22-14 at the half and 29-27 heading into the final quarter. But Bailey Hockman threw a 26-yard TD pass to Emeka Emezie 46 seconds into the final frame to put the Wolfpack in front. Then Christopher Dunn booted a 31-yard field goal with 5:20 remaining to hand Syracuse its ninth loss in 10 games.
The win over Georgia Tech was a bit more conventional, with State up 20-7 at the half over the Yellow Jackets, who finished the year 3-6. Hockman completed 23 of 36 passes for 309 yards in the win. And the State defense held Georgia Tech to a touchdown and a pair of field goals.
North Carolina State did not suffer a bad loss on the year. All three of its defeats came against ranked teams. Virginia Tech was ranked 10th when it beat N.C. State 45-24 on Sept. 26. North Carolina was No. 14 when it beat the Pack 48-21 on Oct. 24. And Miami was No. 11 when it beat N.C. State 44-41 on Nov. 6.
2. N.C. State’s quarterback has a Kentucky connection
If you haven’t heard, Wolfpack quarterback Bailey Hockman is the nephew of former UK quarterback Ryan Hockman, who lettered for the Cats from 1990 through 1992. Ryan Hockman completed 84 of 151 passes for 962 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions in his college career. His nephew has done a little better than that.
A native of Powder Springs, Georgia, Bailey Hockman has completed 144 of 226 passes (63.7 percent) for 1,820 yards and 12 touchdowns, with eight interceptions. His best game was Nov. 28 at Syracuse when he completed 23 of 31 passes for 313 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. He threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns in State’s win over Florida State.
Hockman’s father, Kyle, a Cincinnati native, was head coach at Ryle High School in Kentucky from 1999 through 2002. The family moved to Georgia, where Kyle was head coach at McEachern HIgh School in Poser Springs. Meanwhile, after his college career, brother Ryan also coached before establishing Throwing Zone Athletics in Jacksonville.
Out of high school, Hockman first committed to Georgia, before de-committing and committing to Jimbo Fisher and Florida State. He left the Seminoles in September 2018, enrolled at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas before winding up in Raleigh at N.C. State.
3. N.C. State’s offensive coordinator has a Mark Stoops connection
Like the UK coach, 54-year-old Tim Beck is also from Youngstown, Ohio. Like the 53-year-old Stoops, Beck played high school football at Cardinal Mooney, where Mark’s father was defensive coordinator.
After playing collegiately as a quarterback at UCF, he started his coaching career as a high school coach in Florida. He was a graduate assistant for Bill Snyder at Kansas State in 1991-92 and later an assistant at Missouri State before returning to the high school ranks, this time in Texas.
Beck was wide receivers coach at Kansas from 2005-07, then running backs coach and offensive coordinator at Nebraska under fellow Youngstown native Bo Pelini. Beck was co-offensive coordinator at Ohio State under Urban Meyer from 2015-16, then offensive coordinator at Texas under Tom Herman from 2017-19 before joining Doeren at North Carolina State.
Under Beck, State has improved from No. 88 in total offense at 380.3 yards per game in 2019 to 67th at 391.5 yards per game this season. Running backs Bam Knight and Ricky Person are each averaging over 4.5 yards per carry. Receivers Thayer Thomas and Cary Angeline have caught six touchdown passes while Emezie has five TD catches.
4. Dave Doeren and Stoops each began their current jobs in 2013
Doeren came to N.C. State after two years as the head coach at Northern Illinois, where his team went 11-3 in 2011 and 12-1 in 2012, when NIU played in the Orange Bowl. He replaced Tom O’Brien, who had been fired after a 7-5 season in 2012. Formerly the head coach at Boston College, O’Brien went 40-35 overall, including 22-26 in the ACC, in six seasons in Raleigh.
Doeren got off to a bit of a rough start, going 0-8 in the ACC and 3-9 overall in his first season as coach of the Wolfpack. He has gone 52-36 since then with five straight bowl trips from 2014 through 2018. (State went 3-2 in those bowls.) The Wolfpack slipped to 4-8 overall last year, including 1-7 in the ACC, before bouncing back this year.
A native of Shawnee, Kansas, the 49-year-old Doeren was a tight end at Drake from 1990-93. He started his college coaching career at his alma mater in 1995 before stops at USC, Montana and Kansas. He was co-defensive coordinator and then defensive coordinator at Wisconsin under Bret Bielema from 2006 through 2010 before being named head coach at Northern Illinois.
5. N.C. State’s defensive coordinator uses unusual defense
North Carolina State runs that unorthodox 3-3-5 defense, with three linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs. It is run by veteran coach Tony Gibson, who is in his first year as State’s defensive coordinator.
Gibson had been a high school coach in West Virginia when he joined the staff at his alma mater, Glenville State, to coach defensive backs in 1996. He coached defensive backs and special teams at Cumberland (Tenn.) from 1997-98 before moving on to West Virginia Tech in 1999.
In 2001, West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez hired Gibson to coach defensive backs. Gibson followed Rodriguez to Michigan in 2008. After Rodriguez was fired, Gibson ended up at Pittsburgh in 2011 before rejoining Rodriguez at Arizona in 2012. He left Tucson after one season to return to West Virginia where he was defensive coordinator from 2016-18.
Gibson joined N.C. State in 2019 and was elevated to defensive coordinator this season. The Wolfpack ranked 72nd in total defense last season, allowing 398.9 yards per game. It ranks 73rd this year, allowing 418.2 yards per game. State is 66th in scoring defense at 29.7 points per game.
Kentucky faced a 3-3-5 defense in the season’s third game, a 24-2 win over Mississippi State.
Gator Bowl
Kentucky vs. N.C. State
When: Noon Saturday
Where: TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fla.
Records: UK 4-6; N.C. State 8-3
Series: Tied 1-1
Last meeting: UK won 27-2 on Oct. 31, 1970, in Lexington
TV: ESPN
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 2:11 PM.
