The Virginia football team resumes play this week with a trip to Raleigh, a location where UVa is 8-16 all-time against NC State. Can the Hoos find a way to win against the Wolfpack and snap a six-game losing streak? The weekly Watch List article takes a look at some in-game details that could impact the outcome from both sides of the ball.

Crossing Routes

The NC State offense features a variety of looks. In many ways, it is a multiple-formation pro-style offense, meaning you’ll see stretch runs, tight end shifts, and other tactics similar to UVa’s offense. There are also spread elements involved for the Wolfpack, however, with shot-gun formation, multi-receiver sets, and read option wrinkles thrown in.

One thing the NCSU offense likes to do is use crossing routes of varying depths. The Wolfpack will feature various players in those patterns, including 6’4″, 210-pound receiver Quintin Payton (No. 88) and 6’4″, 262-pound tight end Mario Carter (No. 87). The theory on these routes is simple. Depending on the defense’s coverage, the offense can create match-up challenges for linebackers or safeties running laterally in space against an offensive skill player. The other piece of the theory is that these middle crossing routes can serve as hot reads against blitzes (the crossing zone often is being vacated by a linebacker or linebackers), which is easy for 6’6″ quarterback Mike Glennon (No. 8) to see due to his size.

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