Doeren 're-evaluating' QB position, but not ready to make a change
NC State coach Dave Doeren acknowledged that quarterback Matthew McKay didn’t play well in Saturday’s loss 44-27 at West Virginia, but stopped short of suggesting that he might be ready to make a change.
"I'm never going to say that Matt under-performed to the point where I've got to pull him out,” Doeren said at his regular weekly press conference Monday. “I think there's a lot of things, just like if you look at our running backs, our corners or our offensive line or tight ends... across the board as a football team we've got to play a lot better.”
McKay, a sophomore who had been on the field for only 39 snaps before taking over the starting job this season, didn’t play terribly against the Mountaineers. He was 23 of 48 passing for 207 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.
The problem is he didn’t make plays when the Wolfpack needed them, especially in the second half, while struggling with both his accuracy and decision making.
Doeren suggested that perhaps he and co-offensive coordinators Des Kitchings and George McDonald may have bitten off a little more than their young quarterback could chew in his first road game against a Power 5 opponent.
"That's part of being young on offense,” Doeren said. “You think you know what you want to do, but when you play you really find out what you can do. It's our job to change some things based on the information we now have.”
One of their primary adjustments involves plays with run-pass options.
It’s not that McKay can’t handle RPOs. He’s an effective enough runner to make them work. It’s just that with only three career starts to his credit, he’s not yet ready to make the quick decisions necessary to run the plays in key situations.
An example of that came midway through the third quarter Saturday.
Facing a third-and-one situation from his own 30 with the Wolfpack trailing just 24-21, McKay pulled the ball back from running back Zonovan Knight’s hands and looked downfield to throw. Seeing no one open, he began looking for room to run. But by that time the defense had already broken through the line, dropping him for a three-yard loss.
The bad situation got even worse a play later when West Virginia blocked Trenton Gill’s punt and scored a touchdown that helped break the game open.
“There are some situational things on third-and-one where we had RPOs called where that's on us,” Doeren said. “We shouldn't have had him even think about throwing the ball right there. There's a lot that goes into him playing better and he needs to pay better. He's mad at himself on some of the things he could do better."
Among the things Doeren said McKay has done well is protecting the football. The Wolfpack offense has yet to commit a turnover in three games this season.
But as the young quarterback’s performance in Morgantown showed, there’s still plenty of room left for him to learn and grow.
“It's his third college game, his first road game, a loud environment,” the State coach said. “Did he play great? No he didn't. Can he play better? Yes he can. As far as changing things, yeah, we've got to grow. We've got to evolve on offense.”
While Doeren made it clear that he was sticking with McKay for Saturday’s home game against Ball State, he also didn’t rule out the possibility that a second quarterback might get into the game.
Junior college transfer Bailey Hockman, currently listed as No. 2 on the depth chart, has completed 5 of 7 passes for 37 yards in mop up duty against East Carolina and Western Carolina. Redshirt freshman Devin Leary is the No. 3 quarterback.
“It's our job to change some things based on the information we now have. And the other two quarterbacks are practicing well,” Doeren said. “We've got to continue to get them better. Like I tell them, everyone that's in the program that's in the two-deep has to get ready to play.”
