⚡ CFB Dashboard

RALEIGH, N.C. — NC State is back to .500, and the offense continues to look good. In Saturday night's 41-31 win over App State, Duke Scott took over on the ground and Keenan Jackson kept proving he's CJ Bailey's No. 1 target. The Wolfpack converted 11 of 17 third downs and went 7-for-7 in the red zone. The game got a lot closer than it should have after App State erased a 21-0 lead, but the offense answered with a go-ahead touchdown drive and the defense got the stops it needed to finish it. Pro Football Focus explains its grading system with this breakdown: On every play, a PFF analyst will grade each player on a scale of -2 to +2, ranging from a pick-six to a late touchdown pass with expected plays graded as a 0. Each game is graded by two different analysts and any discrepancies are settled by a senior analyst. Grades are then normalized to account for game situation and converted to a 0-100 scale. Here are the Top 10 players on both sides of the ball and some of our biggest takeaways from the grades by PFF this week with a minimum of 10 snaps in the game: OFFENSE PLAYER SNAPS GRADE PASS PBLK RUN RBLK CJ Bailey 78 81.5 81.9 - 60.9 60.0 Tyran Warren 16 77.5 76.1 - - 56.3 Duke Scott 42 75.3 67.5 - 73.6 60.0 Keenan Jackson 75 68.5 68.9 - - 57.5 Preston Douglas 65 67.1 67.2 65.6 - 59.9 Teague Andersen 82 62.9 - 84.9 - 57.4 Victor Snow 33 62.3 62.5 - - 55.6 Chance Robinson 34 61.9 61.6 - - 60.2 Kamen Smith 82 61.5 - 74.9 - 58.3 Davion Gause  39 59.3 54.4 68.3 60.9 60.0 DEFENSE PLAYER SNAPS GRADE RDEF TACKLE PRUSH COV Da'Kaari Nelson 35 85.5 86.0 80.4 57.2 75.4 Omarian Abraham 14 71.8 72.6 74.3 57.3 60.0 Tristan Teasdell 58 70.8 63.3 35.4 60.0 72.1 Popo Aguirre 57 67.7 65.0 81.0 57.4 67.5 Brian Nelson II 63 66.6 65.5 81.7 - 66.0 Jackson Vick 52 66.5 69.8 83.1 64.5 62.9 Josiah Victor 21 64.9 66.9 71.9 57.3 - Isaiah Shirley 49 64.5 65.5 72.2 60.2 60.0 LaCorian Hodge 19 63.5 - - 57.8 64.0 Harvey Dyson III 47 61.4 68.0 46.7 54.5 - ADDING CONTEXT CJ Bailey made the biggest jump. After missing our top 10 last week despite 275 yards and three touchdowns at Vanderbilt, he led the offense with an 81.5 overall grade and an 81.9 passing grade, going 24-of-33 for 253 yards and two touchdowns while adding a rushing score. Duke Scott climbed from 66.2 to 75.3 with a 73.6 rushing grade on a 148-yard, two-touchdown night, and with the line's run-blocking grades all landing between 45.0 and 58.3, a lot of that production came from what Scott created on his own. Keenan Jackson dipped from 75.6 to 68.5, but he led the team with 64 receiving yards, scored for the second straight week and opened the go-ahead drive with a 19-yard catch. Tyran Warren, Preston Douglas, Davion Gause and Teague Andersen also return. Warren posted the second-best grade on offense (77.5) in just 16 snaps, and Andersen's 84.9 pass-blocking grade anchored the protection. Kamen Smith (74.9 pass blocking), Victor Snow and Chance Robinson are new to the list, while Yousef Mugharbil fell off after ranking No. 2 last week. He had the team's best pass-blocking grade at 87.9, but a 45.0 run-blocking grade dragged him down to 48.8. The defense turned over almost completely, with only Popo Aguirre, Brian Nelson II and Tristan Teasdell returning. Aguirre's 81.0 tackling grade reflects a 10-tackle night that helped hold App State to 62 rushing yards. Newcomer Da'Kaari Nelson posted the best grade on either side of the ball at 85.5, and Jackson Vick's 83.1 tackling grade was the best among defenders with at least 10 snaps, backed up by two late pass breakups. Omarian Abraham, Josiah Victor and Isaiah Shirley all posted run-defense grades above 65 up front. The grades don't hide the 317 passing yards allowed, though, and Ronnie Royal III fell from 80.7 to 48.2. Next up, NC State hosts Louisville on Saturday. The Cardinals are coming off a 30-27 home upset loss to Wake Forest that dropped them to 2-2, a game in which their rushing attack was held to 75 yards and they played without two starting defensive backs. If the Pack can keep Scott rolling and get Bailey throwing against a banged-up secondary, this is a game they can win.