IMO the massive difference is in the defensive run game. Yeah, SMU is terrible against the pass, and we didn’t exploit it. We should’ve thrown the ball all day. But they’re #9 nationally in YPC allowed. They have a good DL, they are good in the run game.
NC State is SMU bad against the pass. But the difference is they suck against the run too. 86th in YPC allowed. We should have success no matter what we do. Our backs had 32 carries for 144 yards. 4.5 a carry. As with most of what we do on offense, that’s just average. We know we’re too stubborn to just lean into the throw game no matter what, so at least against NC State we can and should be able to run more successfully to possibly create some explosives and put us in manageable down and distances for the throw game.