Elevated (noah) Comments

'06 Football General125

You will have to forgive us for taking a day off after Saturday’s debacle. We just needed a break.

To start off this Monday we are going to elevate some comments from Saturday’s blog entry that we thought were really good and deserved special attention.

noah always delivers with accurate and astute insight. On Saturday he did a super job ofkeeping his head and trying to paint (what I think) are pretty accurate pictures of things for frustrated fans. He attributed his demeanor/perspective to the following:

I think the difference between my reaction and the reaction of others is that I expected us to be a pretty terrible team this year. Apparently,there were a lot of people thinking we’d nine games.

We’re a bad team. It happens. FSU damn near lost to Troy last night. Maryland and UVA are supposed to be led by brilliant coaches and they apparently suck this year too.

If you think changing coaches is going to fix this shit…you’re in for a rude awakening.

So, today we are going to elevate some of noah’s comments from Saturday’s thread to this entry so that it can serve as somewhat of a ‘guest column’.

I hope that we can encourage noah to keep visiting and sharing his thoughts. They are much appreciated:

My prediction is that we’ll win about three games this year. I think my pre-season prediction was four wins.

My post-season prediction is that we fire Chuck Amato, make all kinds of noise about hiring a top-notch, national-champion coach….end up hiring some poor, ill-prepared slob who wins about three games over the next five years and then 99 percent of the WPC stands around thinking, “Wha happened??� and saying, “I never wanted to fire Amato!�

The problem isn’t coaching. The problem is that we’ve gone about 3-for-80 in recruiting quality offensive linemen. To date, we’ve landed quality OL in Leroy Harris, Curtis Crouch aaaaand….uhh…well, I’m sure one of the guys we signed in the last two years will probably be halfway decent.

But we’ve whiffed on everyone else. We’ve been getting commitments from players who ought to be lining up for ECU and Marshall and W. Kentucky State and have no business trying to block for ACC backs.

Problem #2 — we signed two top 20 recruits at quarterback to replace Philip Rivers…it just happened that they were both horribly overrated. I watched Dook and Wake today — neither Stone or Davis would start for those two teams (whoever thought we’d trail both Dook and Wake at the quarterback position??).

It’s going to take a couple of years. I hope we give Amato the time to do it.

I have no doubt that we won’t…

In response to a question, “how are we not better than Akron” noah stated:

Because:

(1) The history of NC State is a pretty sorry one;
(2) The line between being pretty good and being pretty bad is a thin one;
(3) The failures that we’ve had in recruiting have been total losses and they’ve been at absolutely critical spots; and,
(4) Because even the best programs have bad years…Penn State, Tennessee, Notre Dame….

Sometimes the answer is to fire the coach…sometimes it’s not.

I’d just caution everyone that wants a new coach to recall the difficulty we had in hiring a coach for our basketball program…a program with two national titles and 10 league titles in the greatest basketball conference ever.

In football, we’ve won 10 games or more a grand total of ONE time. We would have just fired the guy who got us that double-digit win total. We have not won a league title since 1979.

In further response to “no NC State coach should lose to Akron”:

Dick Sheridan lost to ETSU at home. Should we have fired him? He also lost to awful Louisville and Va. Tech teams in years when he had great teams.

MOC lost to Baylor (the week after we beat #1 FSU)….and Baylor didn’t win another game all year.

Monte Kiffin only beat Richmond by six one year and got smacked around by Dook more than once.

Tom Reed lost to Furman.

Bo Rein lost to Furman and ECU when they were in the Southern Conference.

Earle Edwards lost to Richmond in 1970.

Al Michaels lost to Kent State.

Unless your name is Lou Holtz, you have plenty of bad losses on your resume if you’ve ever coached at NC State.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

'06 Football General

125 Responses to Elevated (noah) Comments

  1. Cardiff Giant 09/11/2006 at 10:52 AM #

    I’d agree with Noah’s list of the other coaches who have lost games of this kind if, as others have stated, this was a fluke. It’s not. This program continues to go steadily down hill under Amato, and Amato truly seems – I stress, seems – too arrogant and stupid to realize it.

    Jeff: If 2007 and 2008 projected to be bad years, then I would agree with you. But, with the lack of key seniors on this year’s squad and the talent returning, I would conjecture that the program has “stalled” more than describing it as consistently going down hill.

  2. packpigskinfan23 09/11/2006 at 11:01 AM #

    packbacker04~ Evans name was announced as the extra point/feild goal holder. which brings up the point, on that fourth and 1, wouldnt a nice fake with a pass from Evans, or scramble or something would have been nice?! kind of like the VaTech game last year? I agree with choppack- go for it… but horrible play call. all too predictable from our OffCoord.

  3. packpigskinfan23 09/11/2006 at 11:05 AM #

    Cardiff Giant~ it can NOT be said that our program has gone steadily down hill under amato, it can however be said that Amato hit a peak(an ALL TIME peak for NCSU football at that) a few years ago, and has not been able to duplicate or live up to it.

  4. class of 74 09/11/2006 at 11:27 AM #

    Just like a bad stock market, Amato’s trendline is not positive at this time. The question is: how long does it continue?

  5. Woof Wolf 09/11/2006 at 11:46 AM #

    W L PF PA AvgPF AvgPA
    2000 8 4 379 338 31.6 28.2
    2001 7 5 319 257 26.6 21.4
    2002 11 3 460 238 32.9 17.0
    2003 8 5 489 385 37.6 29.6
    2004 5 6 264 218 24.0 19.8
    2005 7 5 249 212 20.8 17.7
    2006 ???

  6. Woof Wolf 09/11/2006 at 11:49 AM #

    SORRY. That obviously didn’t format right. I’ll try again later.

  7. Cardiff Giant 09/11/2006 at 12:10 PM #

    Jeff, PackPig, I would describe losing to a MAC team at home as somewhat more than a stall – given the WAY we lost, which was a repeat of the same shit, different day problems of Amato’s teams LAST season.

    Would you at least agree with me that Amato’s ego, in the form of grossly hyped expectations, is clearly writing checks his body (the product) can’t cash? 🙂

  8. TampaPack 09/11/2006 at 12:13 PM #

    Sure some of you may have seen it, but EDSBS has officially called the CTC dead for the rest of the season. It must be noted that they are not state fans, they are college football fans with a florida bias. They are not angry wolfpack fans looking to vent, they are just looking at things from the outside overall picture. We better get things moving right in a hurry, or this could get really ugly all over (especially considering Chuck’s reputation with the media. I am sure they wouldn’t think one second about embellishing a story. These things will really start to affect recruiting and everything else. I still think/hope Chuck can take us where we want and need to be, but he better get things moving the other way quickly….

  9. LSUTigerFan 09/11/2006 at 12:16 PM #

    An outsider’s perspective for what its worth.

    Personally, I think its time to let Chuck go, and here’s why…

    -NC State has made a lot of investment to its facilities and in its football program and doesn’t need to lose the momentum.
    -The trajectory of the program is in the wrong direction. Last four year win totals 11, 8, 5, and 7 with a bleak outlook for 06.
    -Amato’s teams have underachieved relative to the talent he’s brought in – especially last year with the loaded defense.
    -After a very strong start to his tenure, recruiting appears to be going in the wrong direction.
    -The offense has gone seriously downhill without Rivers and Chow
    -Worst-case scenario: If Amato is given through 2007 and he loses this year and next year, recruiting will suffer considerably. At that point, you’d have to make a change, and with a deteriorated talent base a new coach could find it tough to turn things around quickly. If Amato does lose in 06 and 07 and the new coach takes three years to rebuild the talent and turn it around, that would give the Pack five losing seasons in six years.
    -The Coastal has Miami & Va Tech clearly on top with Ga Tech, UVA & UNC fighting to be the 3rd best program in the division. The Atlantic clearly has Florida State on top, but any one of NC State, Maryland, Clemson, or BC could be the other program in that division over the long term. If it takes four years for the Pack to stake its claim, it will be too late.
    -The political challenge: The ACC lost a ton of star power in last year’s draft (a record amount for any conference I believe), and there are some very winnable games remaining on the schedule this year. USM, Wake, UVA, UNC, and ECU are all games the Pack should win, and BC, FSU, Maryland, Ga Tech, and Clemson all have enough problems that any one (but certainly not all or even most) of those teams could also be beaten. What you don’t want is for Chuck to pull out 6 or 7 wins in what is an easier (not easy but easier) than normal schedule and hold on to his job without this team and recruiting showing real improvement. The wins would be nice, but Amato needs to show real progress for the future.
    -If the Amato loses to USM next week, I hope you guys pull the trigger after the game, it’s early, but back to back loses to Akron and USM should be unacceptable in any year when combined with the other concerns.

    Just my thoughts, I don’t pretend to be an expert on the Pack.

  10. redfred2 09/11/2006 at 12:27 PM #

    “Just my thoughts, I don’t pretend to be an expert on the Pack.”

    Hell, who is, at this point anyway?

  11. GAWolf 09/11/2006 at 12:29 PM #

    You sound like more of an expert on the Pack than most diehard Pack fans I know. Your thoughts are for the most part accurate, obviously well-thought out even if not accurate, and clearly void of the emotion that greatly affects our ability to be impartial and realistic. All in all, thanks for the assessment.

    Notre Dame sure pulled the trigger and got railed for it… do we have the guts to do the same if not adjustments are made and we get whipped by Southern Miss?

  12. cfpack03 09/11/2006 at 12:39 PM #

    horrible play call. all too predictable from our OffCoord.
    Completely disagree. We had nothing to lose, a FG does nothing, and our D shouldn’t have given up 96 yds in 1:07. Predictable is a draw, so I like the option call there. If Stone uses that option by tossing to Baker (who had a block!), #22 is in the endzone. Instead, he tucks and is tackled for a loss. A moot point, I know.

    Great synop LSUTiger. That last bullet about a loss to USM should be in bold.

  13. Girlfriend in a Coma 09/11/2006 at 12:46 PM #

    How many excessive celebration penalties do we have under Amato? We have got to lead the country. Seriously. Is there some systemic reason why our kids have to celebrate like jackasses more than any other team in the country?

  14. BJD95 09/11/2006 at 12:46 PM #

    Thanks for the outsider’s perspective, TigerFan. I wish we had more of the SEC mentality, sometimes.

    Speaking of the SEC – whoever wins that conference should have an automatic berth in the MNC title game this year. Just absolutely loaded for bear.

  15. Wulfpack 09/11/2006 at 12:54 PM #

    “it can NOT be said that our program has gone steadily down hill under amato”

    2002 – 11-3 (4th place ACC)
    2003 – 8-5 (T-4th place ACC)
    2004 – 5-6 (T-8th place ACC)
    2005 – 7-5 (T-8th place ACC)

    Whatever you want to call it, it isn’t pretty.

  16. redfred2 09/11/2006 at 12:58 PM #

    ^LSUTigerFan

    Pro active?……NC State?…..What tha…???

    Some crazy and radical thoughts from an apparent outsider are once again trying worm their way into the reality of NCSU athletics. Better put a lid on that guy, and quickly.

  17. packpigskinfan23 09/11/2006 at 1:15 PM #

    but what where the records for 1995-2001?! and that was in a MUCH easier ACC. you guys keep leaving out all things Amato has done with the program. HE IS NOT SENDEK. TampaPack is right… with the way people are talking about Chuck right now, and the relations that him and the media have, WE ARE ONLY CAUSING PROBLEMS.

    cfpack- I like the call to go for it, but the play called is just as predictable as a draw. what about a trick hand off from Baker to Blackmon comming around the other side? use 2 backs and a TE… ANYTHING… the box was stacked… the option had a 30/70 chance… especially cause baker did have to pick up the block.

  18. packpigskinfan23 09/11/2006 at 1:16 PM #

    oh and if we lose to USM-FIRE EVERYONE.

  19. brown pelican 09/11/2006 at 1:19 PM #

    modern offensive football at the college level has become increasingly qb driven—until we solve that position we will continue to struggle—no secret here—evans is worth a try—however—the real issue remains with staff continuity—the teams that win consistently—va tech is a good example—maintain great staff continuity—fsu until recently did the same—west va is a good example of this in the big east—as is uga in the sec—the decision regarding coach amato’s future should rest with this issue—can he recruit and keep a staff of highly qualified coaches to compete at this level—the job of the hfc is centered around this—a great example from years ago—our own dick sheridan—when he came from furman—it was a staff decision—when he turned down uga—again—a staff decision—he understood the importance

  20. choppack1 09/11/2006 at 1:28 PM #

    “How many excessive celebration penalties do we have under Amato? We have got to lead the country. Seriously. Is there some systemic reason why our kids have to celebrate like jackasses more than any other team in the country?”

    Actually, I can totally understand the reaction in those circumstances. I didn’t see anything excessive.

    “but what where the records for 1995-2001?! and that was in a MUCH easier ACC. you guys keep leaving out all things Amato has done with the program. HE IS NOT SENDEK. TampaPack is right… with the way people are talking about Chuck right now, and the relations that him and the media have, WE ARE ONLY CAUSING PROBLEMS.”

    I think Amato is certainly a step up from MOC. Of course, were we hiring Amato to be a game or two better or were we hiring him to do something more substantial.

    Like I said, it’s too early for me to call for his head. I’ll ask you this though – if we go 3-5 or worse in the conference this year, do you think we are heading in the right direction?

  21. redfred2 09/11/2006 at 1:28 PM #

    Our closest neighbor, and coming up on the schedule is looking more and more imposing. Powder blue is looking more like Steeler’s black and gold as the weekends just pass by on by with the samo, samo. They scored 10 against VT. We’ve scored…against…

    Wasn’t expecting to be feeling this way right now.

  22. Wulfpack 09/11/2006 at 1:41 PM #

    ^Oh boy. You said it, I didn’t.

    Man, if you only knew how I felt about Chuck a few years back. I was a walking Chuck fan. I’ll never deny what he did for our program those first few years. Of course he was a HUGE upgrade from MOC. I was on cloud nine. But today those days are long gone. I’m sensing a steep decline in the program. I’m not too good at math and I could certainly be wrong. But, uh, he hasn’t done all too much lately now has he?

    And THIS ACC is so much stronger than before? 5-3 darn well could put you in the championship game.

  23. Great Dane Guy 09/11/2006 at 1:43 PM #

    I just don’t get why Evans doesn’t a least get a series in the first half. Just see how he does. Can he really be so much worse? The staff just seems to wear blinders.

  24. Woof Wolf 09/11/2006 at 1:47 PM #

    W L PF PA AvgPF AvgPA
    2000 8 4 379 338 31.6 28.2
    2001 7 5 319 257 26.6 21.4
    2002 11 3 460 238 32.9 17.0
    2003 8 5 489 385 37.6 29.6
    2004 5 6 264 218 24.0 19.8
    2005 7 5 249 212 20.8 17.7
    2006 ???

    I hope this works this time. It’s the trend in the “Points For” numbers and average that’s my big concern. Looks like our only hope is for the defense and special teams to score more often.

    I wish I could believe that we might see the 4th quarter offense in the first half next week.

  25. Woof Wolf 09/11/2006 at 1:54 PM #

    I give up on the numbers. If you can’t figure out the jumble above, look them. My point was that the average points scored by us was 37.6 in 2003. The last two years it dropped to 24.0 and 20.8.

    Thid year it’s it’s 20.0 against a 2A and a non BCS 1A team.

1 2 3 4 5

Leave a Reply