{"id":255,"date":"2010-09-20T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-20T16:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/capitalsports.us\/?p=255"},"modified":"2010-09-20T09:38:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-20T16:38:00","slug":"special-teams-3rd-down-defense-pace-pack-turnaround","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/?p=255","title":{"rendered":"Special teams, 3rd-down defense pace Pack turnaround"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Special teams are a big reason for N.C. State’s special start this season. Another key factor – third-down defense.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Wolfpack is 3-0 and one of the ACC’s few feel-good stories. Part of the turnaround is much-improved play on special teams. If you wear red, you closed your eyes and hoped for the best on special teams in 2009.  <\/div>\n
There’s a huge difference this year, especially on punt coverage. NCSU allowed 10.2 yards per punt return last season, which is beyond dreadful. This year, State is allowing -0.3 yards per return – that’s right, negative yards. Part of that is because State doesn’t punt the ball that far, which gives the coverage team a chance to get down the field. But at least rival returners aren’t scurrying up the sidelines for game-changing chunks of yardage.<\/div>\n
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On kickoffs, State allowed 22.1 yards per return last year and has cut that to 19.2. <\/div>\n
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One other stastistic jumps out in the Wolfpack’s start – third-down defense. In 2009, the Pack allowed teams to convert on third down 42 percent of the time, which is a pretty mediocre effort. This year, rivals are converting only 24 percent of the time as the Pack’s blitzing defense keeps quarterbacks guessing.<\/div>\n
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Special teams are a big reason for N.C. State’s special start this season. Another key factor – third-down defense. The Wolfpack is 3-0 and one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalsportsnc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}