N.C. State defensive coordinator on ECU

N.C. State defensive coordinator Mike Archer breaks down the East Carolina game:

Q: What impresses you about East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney?

We saw him in our game last year two series. We saw him in the first half of our game and they fumbled the first snap. He came in the second half and I think they threw three incompletions. And we didn’t see him again. But in looking at him in the offseason and what I see in the three games this year is he is really playing at a high level of confidence. Their whole offense is.

Q: How much do you throw out from last year because it’s a different quarterback?
You throw it all out. The game of football is up here (points to head). The guy is really sharp. . . . Guys are covered. (Defenders) are in drops. And he throws it in there with confidence. The throw he makes against Tulane to put them ahead, it’s a double move, but he throws it right between two defenders.

Q: How is the tackle position coming around with Alan-Michael Cash out? I thought (Leroy) Burgess had played pretty well.

Luckily, we’ve played a lot of people. It’s an opportunity. (Burgess) steps up and he will start alongside Antoine (Holmes). Keith Willis will be in there (as a backup), and we’ll move Wayne Crawford up.

Q: You mentioned Pinkney being able to throw it in there when guys are covered. A: I thought you ran into some (problems) with that last week at Clemson where they made catches over the middle. . .

We had them covered.

Q: They just have to make a play on the ball?

That’s part of it. And that’s confidence. We just played a team that had three guys in (C.J.) Spiller, Jacoby Ford and (Aaron) Kelly, those three guys accounted for 290 yards on 12 plays. And we had three or four of them defended well. On the first reverse, Willie Young is out there to make the play, and he can’t touch him. The long pass down the middle to Kelly, DeAndre Morgan is right there. He doesn’t make a play. The touchdown to Spiller. J.C. Neal is right there and doesn’t make the play. It’s confidence. We have to get them confident that they can make those plays.

- Ken Tysiac