Weird Blog Post on WRAL.com

WRAL.com is starting to venture into different waters. It holds the rights to NC State broadcasts and marketing, and it has also started a sports radio station. So it is weird to see poorly written articles slamming the Wolfpack.

The problems that State has are surely one of talent and depth but c’mon if Stanford can beat USC, can’t State hang with ECU? Tom O’Brien certainly knew what he was in store for when he came to State but this? I don’t buy it. He couldn’t have thought that this rebuilding project could be so tough. He’d never admit it but these are indeed tough times for a football fandom who never envisioned this at the beginning of the decade. These were supposed to be the “contention years” as Chancellor Fox once said. The only contention lately has been for worst program not only in the ACC but in the state of North Carolina.

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92 Responses to Weird Blog Post on WRAL.com

  1. noah 10/17/2007 at 2:19 PM #

    “However, I’ll ask this board – are you guys happy w/ the way we’ve played thus far? Is this team exceeding your expectations?”

    Not happy. But they are meeting my expectations. I thought we’d be terrible. I thought we’d beat Wofford and luck our way into a couple of other wins. Our opposition is better, so far, than I thought they would be…so that might not happen.

    But yeah, this is about how bad I thought we’d be. Bad QBs, terrible OL, terrible linebackers, and a secondary that’s being asked to play a style that’s a terrible fit for their abilities.

  2. Sam92 10/17/2007 at 2:37 PM #

    “However, I’ll ask this board – are you guys happy w/ the way we’ve played thus far? Is this team exceeding your expectations?”

    Only Lee Fowler could be happy with the team’s performance this season.

    TOB clearly is not happy about it (good sign) and I find it depressing. I didn’t have higher expectations. I’m still optimistic about beating ECU, as a matter of principle.

  3. primacyone 10/17/2007 at 2:42 PM #

    “However, I’ll ask this board – are you guys happy w/ the way we’ve played thus far? Is this team exceeding your expectations?”

    This is also about how bad I thought we’d be. I’m on record in here somewhere saying this team was not going to be better than last years team. And it’s not. We have less talent this year than last. It’s tough, but that is the way it is. We will have more talent next year than this year.

    I’ll say it again. The team TOB built is undefeated and #4 in the country.

    The future is very bright. TOB new what he was leaving on the table this year by leaving BC. He knows exactly what he can do here. He’s not doing this for the first time and he seems to be fully commited and full of passion to do better than he did at BC.

  4. Mr O 10/17/2007 at 2:43 PM #

    Unfortunately, even in year three it isn’t likely to be much better. Amato’s worst recruiting classes of his tenure will be upperclassman in year three and TOB first full recruiting class will be red-shirt freshman. Throw in the the fact that we might only win 1 game this season and we could be equally bad next season, recruiting is going to be a real struggle IMO the more people associate TOB as a coach with what happens at NC State and the less they remember what happened and is happening at BC.

    I would say that 99% of us, including TOB, had no idea that it was this bad. IMO it may actually get worse expecially when you have BD at UNC, Holtz at ECU, Grobe at Wake, Spurrier at USC, etc…

    This could be a situation where it takes 4 years to be NEAR bowl eligible again and while I respect the hell out of what TOB did at BC, there is no guarantee that he will succeed at NC State. If we go another several recruiting classes without solving the QB issue, then it is going to be a very frustrating several years for NC State fans.

  5. PackMan97 10/17/2007 at 2:50 PM #

    Last year NC State went 3-9 and beat both BC and FSU. Upsets happen. Who knows if one will this year or not.

  6. waxhaw 10/17/2007 at 2:56 PM #

    Anyone logical person saw that we were going to struggle a little this year due to the following:

    1) OL issues
    2) QB issues
    3) lack of depth and potential for key injuries at certain other positions
    4) difficulty of schedule
    5) All of this on top of the fact that we weren’t that good last year

    The only real positives were the hope that a new coaching staff would instill some discipline to reduce turnovers and penalties on a team that was in a lot of games last year.

    If you hung your hat on that and predicted 8-9 wins then you are probably the same people predicting an ACC record of 12-4 and a run at the final four.

    You might want to consider the following:

    1) We still don’t have a proven PG.
    2) The college game relies on guard play (unlike the pro game).
    3) It’s not unusual for a freshman to be a key contributor in basketball but it does take a while for them to get up to speed.
    4) Absent a late NIT run, we weren’t that good for the majority of last year.
    5) 12-4 would have finished at least 2nd in the ACC in every year but two in the ACC since 2000.

    However, we are stacked on the frontline and have a lot more depth than last year. Also, basketball turnarounds can be quicker. Therefore, much more enthusiasm is warranted but IMO predicting a final four is over the top. As for the ACC record, it’s hard to say without looking at the schedule due to the new format post expansion.

  7. BJD95 10/17/2007 at 2:58 PM #

    I’m not saying we’ll be GOOD in Year Three. We just won’t be awful, and enough of TOB’s system and personnel will be in place that we’ll be able to notice the difference. That could be enough to sneak into a bowl.

    Year Four is the earliest I would expect us to be legitimately good. But we can start discerning the on-field product at least in Year Three.

  8. VaWolf82 10/17/2007 at 2:59 PM #

    “However, I’ll ask this board – are you guys happy w/ the way we’ve played thus far? Is this team exceeding your expectations?”

    Before the season started, anyone that refused to recognize the obvious problems at OL, QB, and LB is probably disappointed with the way State has played. Here is one paragraph of an entry I posted here in April:

    The bottom line is that the offense has stunk and needs major improvement before State fans can expect to see substantial improvement in the W/L column. Unfortunately, it’s not immediately obvious to me that just changing coaches will be enough to fix these problems by this fall.

    There were 83 responses to this entry, many of which were made to tell me that I was wrong. Even if you mistakenly thought that there was alot of talent on this team, you should be able to see the obvious…..State was a bad team in 2006 and lost more talent than was added for 2007.

    Even if your initial expectations were too high, you should be able to see that the problem was not created by TOB and it will take several years to fix. The roster entry I posted last week was an attempt to show just how little talent is left at State. It’s a hard reality, but anyone blaming the current coach for this situation is simply beyond stupid.

  9. Big Worm 10/17/2007 at 3:01 PM #

    “If we go another several recruiting classes without solving the QB issue, then it is going to be a very frustrating several years for NC State fans.”

    If we go another “several” recruiting classes without solving the QB issue we will have officially set the world record for most consecutive QB busts and will have fans jumping off of Vaughan Towers for sport. Fortunately, I don’t believe there is any way our O-line play continues to be as bad as we’ve seen, and you can build a servicable offense if you have a good QB or a good OL. Having both is better, having neither is disastrous (as we’ve seen).

  10. Mr O 10/17/2007 at 3:24 PM #

    I know what you are saying BJD95.

    As far as UNC, there rebuilding was further along in the process when BD tookover. UNC had bottomed out a while ago and Bunting really did have some nice recruiting classes the last couple of years(with BD finishing off the most recent being hired much earlier to finish last year’s recruiting). In contrast, we might not actually bottom out until next year when we lose 13 starters from this Saturdays two deep chart (we do return injured players Ant. Hill, T. Baker, and A. Brown). We will have 9 seniors on next year’s roster that includes Anthony Hill coming back from injury and the two JUCOs signed by TOB.

    I am not sure what exactly happened for us to have ended up with total of 9 players next season in their final year of eligibility. I am not even sure if some of MOC’s teams were that low in numbers.

  11. Lock 10/17/2007 at 3:26 PM #

    “Breath easy”

    That right there should set off alarms as to the skill and quality of the writer.

    Ignorance is money, apparently?

  12. PacknSack 10/17/2007 at 3:31 PM #

    I have to admit to some buyers’ remorse with TOB. I didn’t expect a bowl bid, but I did expect cleaner play. After watching the FSU game, though, I saw enough incremental improvement for the buyers remorse not to grow. As I said, I wasn’t expecting a bunch of wins, just improvement. I feel like I finally saw that two weeks ago. Until the fourth quarter.

  13. Todd 10/17/2007 at 3:52 PM #

    http://northcarolinastate.scout.com/a.z?s=178&p=9&c=4&yr=2008

    Stiil 11 uncommitted 4 stars And 14 uncommitted 3 stars w state on their list.

    “State football sucks this year!” That’s not slamming, just calling a spade a spade. But always the ignorant fan, i believe things will change soon.

  14. RabidWolf 10/17/2007 at 3:55 PM #

    “I don’t necessarily expect us to win but I do expect us to ‘hang’.”

    From what I have seen so far this season, we have been “hanging” in every game save one–clemPson. We were in the Louisville game until late, we were in the FSU game until the zebras noticed we were in the game (AND we exposed the weak rush D of the Semi-holes–still waiting for the thank you from Weak Florist). I f the ‘Pack can establish a run game with the surprising(?) Jamelle Eugene, then there is definite hope. EasyU’s defense has, for the most part, been suspect all year. What needs to be done is simple…there needs to be a solid effort from the OL to open up holes for the run, and THE OL NEEDS TO ROLL THE POCKET, OR DANIEL NEEDS TO ROLL OUTSIDE TO GET AWAY FROM THE D-LINEMEN SO HE CAN ACTUALLY SEE THE FIELD!!!! The biggest problem Daniel had against FSU was the simple fact that he could not see open receivers because the defensive line was coming in standing upright with arms up. If Daniel can move around with confidence outside the pocket, then he will have a much easier time finding open men. (Remember, he had Stone WIDE OPEN on a number of occasions, but he couldn’t see him.) Other than protection, turnovers, and giving up the big pass play.

    GO ‘PACK—-BEAT ECU!!!

  15. RabidWolf 10/17/2007 at 3:58 PM #

    Damn, got distracted by the phone (got to rip that thing out) I meant to say other than turnovers, blah blah, we have a very good, if not great, chance to steal one in Greenville this weekend.

    BTW…I hope all 13 people in the stands at Dowdy-Ficklen have a good time. 🙂

  16. oldflyingfarmer 10/17/2007 at 4:39 PM #

    Amazing to me that with a totally new coaching staff, some people expect miracles. Let’s stand behind TOB.
    I admit i wasn’t expecting this big of a let down, but it just means we have further to go before we reach the top. I am not using injuries and refereeing as an excuse, but none of it helped.
    TOB will get us there, and he will do it the correct way.
    GO PACK!
    (would be nice to beat ecu and unc if no-one else)

  17. BoKnowsNCS71 10/17/2007 at 4:52 PM #

    I am fully in support of TOB. His old team is in the top 5 in the nation with a Heisman candidate and he chose to come an rebuild us. We were left with players with an attitude and suffered some bad breaks. There is no one who will be better for righting our ship than TOB. He will do this in time and the play of this team is more a reflection of the past than the present.

  18. lush 10/17/2007 at 4:55 PM #

    im pretty sure there will 43,000 + in greenville this weekend and at least 8k will be wearing red

    the writer also used inspired as an adjective back to back for both ecu and unc, get a thesaurus. what a munson.

  19. bTHEredterror 10/17/2007 at 5:19 PM #

    “However, I’ll ask this board – are you guys happy w/ the way we’ve played thus far? Is this team exceeding your expectations?”

    Of course not, I expected a good coach to be able to resolve some of the past issues and experience an immediate competitive turnaround. Not necessarily a great season, but one where we improve every game as guys gradually pick up the nuances of new schemes. That doesn’t mean since that didn’t happen I blame TOB. Of course none of us could foresee the flood of injuries to crucial players either. There are 6 games left, all of which are against beatable opponents and I expect us to improve significantly these last few weeks. Whether that equates to some wins depends almost entirely on the offense not turning the ball over 5 times a game. TOB & Co. have had 2 weeks to break down the Pirates, and EZU have won close two weeks in a row in shootouts. I expect a solid gameplan, exploiting EZU defensive weaknesses with ball control, but I fear RB Johnson will have a big game for them making it difficult to execute.

    And the primary difference between UNC and us at this point is……….they actually have a QB.

  20. lush 10/17/2007 at 5:26 PM #

    ^ and time for him to throw

  21. lush 10/17/2007 at 5:27 PM #

    well, more time than ours have had

  22. gopack968 10/17/2007 at 5:55 PM #

    My biggest concern going into the next few years is recruiting, not win-loss record.

    Next year will not be much better than this one. The OL is a few years off from recovery and there is not a sure-thing QB waiting in the wings. Any one of the wonder boy QBs people seem to hang their hopes on is 1-2 years from steady reliability, to say nothing of success. Philip spoiled us, plain and simple.

    No, recruiting in the face of a growing loss streak is what has me worried. Sure, TOB has a great track record, but nobody wants to play for a program perceived as bad. There are too many other opportunities to excel these days (see South Florida) to choose to grind it out in a major conference getting your ass kicked. The only things we have to sell this program now are TOB and fabulous facilities – I hope that is enough…

  23. BobLee 10/17/2007 at 6:29 PM #

    I’ve watched a number of “new guys” come into this market from outside be it in print, radio, TV, or Internet, and darn few “get it” for at least 6 months.

    I grew up “around here” then did the corporate thing around the country including several “sports hot beds” …. Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, etc. …. then returned “around here” 20 years ago. This is a quirky sports market that is just “different” from other “hot beds”.

    “New guys” usually are cocky and assume they understand it and compare us to Alabama/Auburn, Boston/NYY, Florida’s Big 3, Texas/OU, blah blah …. those templates don’t work. It just takes a while to find all the assorted skeletons in each fan base’s closets.

    Mason also said last week’s FSU v WFU was to be played in Greensboro ???

    I’d say cut him some slack for a few months ….. or form a lynch mob and go lynch the SOB ….. whatever.

    BL

  24. Cosmo96 10/17/2007 at 6:40 PM #

    Before the season, I expected a Sheridan-like turnaround this year. After the first play from scrimmage, I had to realistically re-evaluate my expectations for the season. I’m not stubborn or stupid enough to expect reality to bend around my expectations (hopes). After having seen a few games now, I know what the reality is regarding this team, and that it will take time to rebuild it.

    I’m still glad that the coaching change was made when it was, and I’m still happy with the hire we made. My unrealistic expectations were my fault, not O’Brien’s. Anyone questioning whether or not he was the right hire at this point in his tenure here is blaming him for not fulfilling their unrealistic expectations.

  25. rockwolf 10/17/2007 at 6:43 PM #

    Packnsack nailed it. the guy wanted to start people talking and generate traffic. statefans nation bit. no doubt he set a personal record for page views today.

    i can’t understand why people get their news the “old way”. aside from game broadcasts, sports radio is crap. newspaper sports coverage is day old crap.

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