Matt McKay needs to rebound as NC State hosts Ball State
By Luke Tucker
The redshirt sophomore completed just 23 of 48 passes against West Virginia for a total of only 207 yards.
Entering the 2019 college football season, N.C. State knew that it would be tough to replace former quarterback, Ryan Finley, who for the last three seasons became one of the best signal-callers in the country and led the Wolfpack to 25 wins. Finley’s replacement, redshirt sophomore Matt McKay, has had mixed results so far in his first few games as a starter.
In three games, McKay has passed for 715 yards and three scores without throwing an interception. He has also added two touchdowns on the ground. The bad? McKay has passed for more than 300 yards only once and has barely broken 200 the past two weeks–despite playing Western Carolina and West Virginia.
In fact, McKay struggled to get much going at all against West Virginia. He completed only 48% of his passes and averaged only 4.3 yards per attempt. Now, that’s not to say that McKay should be given the full blame for last weekend’s loss (the defense did give up 44 points), however, it does mean that the Wolfpack needs more from McKay moving forward. If not from him, Florida State transfer, Bailey Hockman, is waiting in the wings.
The Wolfpack (2-1) will host the Ball State Cardinals (1-2) in Week 4. Matt McKay, NC State will look to get back on track in another non-conference matchup.
Luckily for McKay, this coming Saturday should offer an opportunity to get back on track. Ball State comes into Raleigh ranking outside the top-hundred in yards allowed and has given up an average of 34.7 points per game through the first three contests. The Cardinals have one of the worst pass defenses in the nation, so there will be a chance McKay gets back on track through the air this week.
Perhaps one reason McKay struggled so much last week was because of the situations he was put in. The sophomore was constantly put into third-and-long situations, and he was constantly under pressure from the West Virginia defense. Drops by open receivers didn’t help either. He was sacked only three times but was hit and/or pressured on multiple more occasions. Fortunately for McKay, things should be different this time around. Ball State has mustered only three sacks all year for a total of a mere 22 yards. That being said, the offensive line should be able to rebound this weekend as well.
A second facet of the game McKay needs to re-discover against Ball State is his rushing ability. While he wasn’t needed to run much in the Western Carolina game, he tucked the ball 10 times against West Virginia and had very little to show for it. On 10 attempts, he managed only nine yards and no scores.
McKay’s dual-threat ability is part of what makes this Wolfpack offense different from year’s past. If he is unable to consistently be a part of the run game, then this team won’t have another nine-win season in 2019. That’s not to say that McKay needs fifteen carries or needs to rush for a hundred yards every week, but it does mean that NC State needs him to keep defenses off-balance with his rushing ability. He may not need to do much on the ground for the Wolfpack to win this weekend, but it’s an aspect of his game that he needs to show more of moving forward.
Saturday’s game will be the last tune-up before the Wolfpack open the ACC portion of the 2019 schedule against Florida State.
Fortunately for NC State and McKay, the early portion of the schedule is intended to allow the bigger programs to work the kinks out of their systems. McKay has only made three collegiate starts and has seen action in just eight games. It’s also worth noting that McKay’s passing numbers are actually fairly similar to Finley’s in his first season with the Wolfpack, while his rushing numbers are better. He will likely never be as polished of a passer as Finley, but if Dave Doeren can put the right pieces around him, and put him in situations to succeed, this NC State team will be just as dangerous as those with Finley.
It’s far too early to make any serious judgments on the sophomore quarterback, but after his performance on the road last week, he needs a big game this weekend to restore some confidence before the ACC opener on September 28th. In what should be an easy Wolfpack win, he has a prime opportunity to put up a monster game. Who knows, in the end, he just might become the next great field-general to roll through QBU.