Alex Donno from Locked On Canes and Grayson Boone and Kenton Gibbs from Locked On Wolfpack break down the key matchups between these teams.
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00:00 My key matchup, now I already talked about Miami's pass rush, but to me,
00:04 key matchup that could decide a victory in Miami's favor,
00:08 I think is shutting down NC State's running game.
00:11 Because I'm looking at a young, a lot of promise in MJ Morris, but
00:16 a young quarterback, if Miami can keep NC State to third and longs, and
00:21 then Miami can pin their ears back and not allow NC State to run the football,
00:25 then you get the pass rush going on third downs.
00:27 I think that could absolutely be a recipe for success.
00:30 So I look at Miami's defensive line, which has been banged up, but
00:34 thankfully, players like Ruben Bain and Branson Dean,
00:37 who just came back from injury last week, he really stepped up.
00:40 Leonard Taylor has been really good the last couple weeks for Miami.
00:44 Jafari Harvey, I'm looking at that as a really, really important matchup.
00:48 Cuz something about Miami guys is,
00:51 they've not been very good in recent games on third downs.
00:54 And a lot of that has to do with the distance, third and shorts.
00:58 They've even given up some kind of fluky third and really, really long.
01:01 So winning on third down, slowing down the running game to me,
01:04 if Miami can do that consistently,
01:07 I think they've got a pretty good shot at going on the road and getting a win.
01:10 So, I mean, Kenton, I'll start with you.
01:11 What do you look at as key matchup or matchups in this game?
01:15 >> I 1000% agree that it's going to be up front in terms of NC State's offense.
01:22 But defensively, I think it's also gonna be the front.
01:26 And I think that it's gonna be about the running game as well.
01:28 Because let's just be honest, right?
01:30 If I found a woman who looks at me the way that Tyler Van Dyke looks at Restrepo,
01:34 baby, wedding bells are gonna ring.
01:37 I'm gonna put a ring on this here finger.
01:39 You know what I mean?
01:40 I'm gonna give somebody my last name and a couple kids or whatever the case may be.
01:44 But the reality is very simple here.
01:46 NC State has to stop the run.
01:47 That's what's been getting Miami by.
01:49 While Tyler Van Dyke has been struggling mightily,
01:51 Miami has been able to control the clock to some extent.
01:55 And kinda do what they need to do in terms of controlling the pace of the game via
01:58 their running game.
01:59 Because, I mean, let's just be very honest about this.
02:02 Tyler Van Dyke's been a little reckless.
02:03 So if we are looking at a game that NC State can win,
02:09 the most important thing for NC State to do in my opinion.
02:12 I know that the running game, I have no doubts in my mind that NC State will come
02:16 prepared for that.
02:18 But for whatever reason, I don't know what it is about Miami quarterbacks.
02:21 Cuz first it was TBD a few years ago, when Dierrick King, actually no,
02:25 first it was Dierrick King came in and looked like a Heisman candidate.
02:28 Then TBD subbing in for Dierrick King, came in and looked like a Heisman candidate.
02:33 And now we've got TBD back again, but a sort of reduced version of TBD that has
02:38 not been the same guy that we saw in the past coming in.
02:42 And if you allow three straight of these performances where it's like, man,
02:46 he's just hot as fish grease and he's just dropping on the bucket everywhere.
02:50 Well, congratulations, the Hurricanes will walk out of Raleigh feeling very good
02:54 about themselves.
02:56 >> Yeah, in addition to NC State's offensive line trying to limit
03:00 the pass rush from Miami, my biggest matchup to keep an eye on
03:04 is Tyler Van Dyke versus this NC State secondary.
03:08 And leading up into this Clemson game last week,
03:10 I talked about the importance of making Cade Klubnik beat you.
03:14 Cuz this season he's had his struggles in some of the decision making and
03:17 so on and so forth.
03:19 Tyler Van Dyke got off to a blistering start in the non-conference,
03:23 had an injury, and has come back and has kind of cooled off a bit in ACC play.
03:27 NC State is going to have to beat Tyler Van Dyke in this game.
03:31 Because I do believe in order for Miami to put this game away,
03:34 they're gonna have to throw it consistently.
03:36 I think the NC State defense, or the run defense like Kenton mentioned,
03:40 they're gonna show up.
03:41 And despite a couple lapses in gap discipline and over pursuing,
03:45 the run defense has been very solid all year.
03:48 I expect that this Saturday night as well.
03:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]