They Say That First You Lose By A Little: Boston College 38- NC State 31

'08 Football71

Following an exciting fourth quarter comeback, the NC State defense wasn’t able to keep Boston College out of the end zone after the Wolfpack tied the game at 31-31 with about 3:30 left in the contest in today’s ACC matchup at Carter-Finley Stadium.

That’s no surprise considering that BC had pretty much played through NC State’s defense with ease most of the afternoon, but still, it was a frustrating loss for Wolfpack fans because the team didn’t quit and had fought their way back in a game they were clearly outmanned and outgunned.

Some things I noticed this afternoon…

The good news:

  • With the exception of the USF and USC game, NC State seems to always find a way to hang around and make things interesting.  Given    that the team has more injuries than a typical M*A*S*H unit, and that it has three walk-ons starting, that’s a good thing.  It shows that the coaches have instilled an esprit-de-corps in the Wolfpack players that doesn’t allow them to quit.
  • NC State finally has a decent quarterback, and at times the offensive line blocks for him long enough to let a receiver break wide open and get a big gain.  Russell Wilson makes freshman mistakes once in a while, but he is the best thing under center since some guy who wore #17 played for NC State.  Let’s hope he doesn’t pursue a baseball career immediately, because it would be nice to have to put Mike Glennon under the gun as the only quality QB on the roster next season.
  • The Wolfpack also has a pretty decent set of backs, even without Toney Baker back on the field.
  • T.J. Graham is turning into the next Devon Hester, and his 103 yard touchdown return against Boston College was one of the most exciting Wolfpack plays in the last ten years.  You could almost see it coming after he had nearly gotten a free run into the end zone on the previous BC kickoff.
  • George Bryan will be one helluva tight end by the time he leaves NC State.
  • Carter-Finley can get pretty loud in its new configuration…even for 12pm games.

The bad news:

  • NC State’s defensive backfield is simply awful.  They seem to be four steps behind every decent receiver.  Is this the Mike Archer soft zone or  personnel issues?  No matter what it is, call it what the secondary what they are: a sieve.  It’s almost like there are 5 Greg Goldens back there nowadays  A decent quarter-receiver tandem can eat them alive, which may not completely be their fault:
  • The pass rush has been almost non-existent lately.  It did show up in the second half, but on the clinching drive that won the game for BC, once again the BC line kept the Wolfpack at bay long enough for receivers to get open.  Bottom line: against USF and BC, QB’s have all day and receivers can and will eventually find the interstices of a zone pass defense.  Quite honestly, as bad as the pass defense has gone, I wonder why NC State doesn’t go man-to-man and bring a blitz.  It’s not like the receivers would be any more open than they have been against USF and Boston College.
  • The kicking game is highly dubious — it’s hard to believe that at a university the size of NC State there’s no one that can kick a ball seventy yards in the air.  Or anyone that can punt a football farther than the kids out in the parking lot at the tailgates.
  • Dare I say it: why do people say that Anthony Hill has NFL skills as a tight end when he seemingly drops every important pass thrown to him?  I love the guy, don’t get me wrong, but he needs to get stickier hands if he plans on playing for money on Sundays after his days at NC State.  And before you say that this is due to him just coming back from injury, think again — he has done this through most of his career.
  • Maybe one day NC State will replace the beat up jambox they bought at Reliable Pawn and stuck in the scoreboard and put a decent PA system in.

Your thoughts?

'08 Football

71 Responses to They Say That First You Lose By A Little: Boston College 38- NC State 31

  1. haze 10/05/2008 at 8:53 AM #

    I don’t think that it’s an understatement to say that Irving’s impact on our D is as or more striking than is Russell’s on our O. Combined with the loss of Cash, no-Nate is simply fatal.

    The MAJOR positive here is that for the first time since PR, we have a QB who can go WIN us a game while not constantly threatening to LOSE us a game… and he’s young to boot. Honestly, I’d rather go 2-10 this year and find a good, young QB than go 5-7 on smoke, mirrors and promises that MG will make it all OK in ’09.

    Going forward, bring MG along steadily behind RW, start shoring up that OL (Mattes, Allen, Wallace RS’ing) and get the LB core to a respectable D1 level (Irving, Manning + Lucas/Maddox w/ experience). Then we can start to think bigger (though a couple stud DB’s would help). For the first time in a while, the ingredients are there, they just need time to soak.

  2. RAWFS 10/05/2008 at 9:09 AM #

    Speaking of “stud” DBs, any word on how Brandon Barnes is doing in practices?

  3. Noah 10/05/2008 at 9:09 AM #

    BTW, I’d like to add that I’m not happy with the defense either. Someone kicked over the bucket of warm spit.

    But, our plan yesterday was to keep everything in front of us and make them sustain drives in the hopes that they’d make a mistake. And they did…and that is what kept us in the game.

  4. VaWolf82 10/05/2008 at 9:13 AM #

    IIRC, during the TV broadcast they said that something like seven walk-ons or former walk-ons were on the two-deep and playing for State. Think about that for a minute before you blame coaching decisions for this loss.

    The coaches are bringing knives to a gun fight and it doesn’t always turn out pretty.

  5. redfred2 10/05/2008 at 9:21 AM #

    I don’t expect miracles, but what I saw yesterday was at least enough to give me hope for a brighter future. There is a long, looong way to go yet, but all in all, I’ll take this loss and look ahead.

    I’m finally coming around to the rationale that NC State has an overall talent deficiency in pretty much all of it’s sports programs. It’s not all about coaching, it’s not all about the kids, it’s because there is no one from NC State ever voicing any displeasure concerning what has become basically an irrelevant trademark in the world of collegiate athletics.

    This is SUPPOSED TO BE a University with a tradition of winning. A coach may bark that fact until he’s blue in the face to a limited group of kids which he has pulled together from his hard work on the recruiting trail, and those kids may finally begin to grasp the concept, but that isn’t enough. It doesn’t help with the most important, and the PUBLIC, perception of a university that has every right to DEMAND nothing short of excellence from it’s academia, as well as it’s athletics.

    Until someone steps up to the podium with a mission statement that expresses a clear vision without compromise, NC State University will struggle to remain anything but a blip on the radar screen and a secondary option for student athletes, as well as students in general.

  6. Noah 10/05/2008 at 10:17 AM #

    Brandon Barnes will not be playing on offense…at least that’s not the plan right now. He’s been very impressive at RB and they hope to use him (next year, I guess) initially as a third-down back.

  7. highstick 10/05/2008 at 10:28 AM #

    I think Vandy is proving you don’t need facilities to have a good football team!

  8. redfred2 10/05/2008 at 10:34 AM #

    There is no way to earn commitments from the necessary number of talented kids to fill the depth charts with talent from top to bottom, without first stating a clear and uncompromising goal to get to the very top.

    Nobody can just wish it upon themselves, it takes a lot of hard work, good fortune, and much luck as well. And, there is always the fact that it may not ever happen no matter how hard you work at it. But the fact remains, there HAS TO BE certain people high up within the program, who do not back down from DEMANDING that the very top is the only goal, and anything short of that, is never enough.

    That’s exactly why I admire those so-called “irrational/delusional/lunatics” down in Clemson so much.

  9. tractor57 10/05/2008 at 10:45 AM #

    I lived in that area for several years (during Clemson’s football heyday) and I also have more than a little respect for the drive to be the best.
    State had that same sort of drive at one time and maybe we will get there again some day.

  10. burnbarn 10/05/2008 at 10:54 AM #

    The key injuries for this team this year have been Cash, Irving and Williams. We got one of the 3 back yesterday and we were at least competitive.
    I don’t see us winning more than 1-2 games without the other 2.

  11. redfred2 10/05/2008 at 11:02 AM #

    People can label them what they will, but Clemson STILL BELIEVES. Anyone who thinks there is something silly about that, is a true believer in something totally different, and that’s exactly what NC State is all about these days. Why don’t you folks go ahead and drop Lee and Oblinger a line, letting them both know that you’re 100% behind everything they’re doing “for” NC State.

    That’s it, I’ll stop with the philosophical BS for today.

    It’s NC State afterall, keep it simple, stupid.

  12. Noah 10/05/2008 at 12:15 PM #

    I don’t have a problem with Clemson thinking they belong in the top-10. They do. Great stadium, great history and they have great players.

    They just have a scrub coaching staff.

    Give the Vandy coaches the Clemson players and you’d have an SEC title team.

  13. choppack1 10/05/2008 at 1:13 PM #

    Noah – do you mean that they won’t play him on D. I’d heard he’d done very well at RB too.

    Is there any new athlete’s coming in to play CB? It looks like Dominique Ellis and Byers are both safties. DeAndre Morgan (#21) is young, but I think Gray is a senior.

    Regarding RW – I’m not making a prediction, but I’ll just say that you can win a championship w/ him at QB. 3 games and a quarter, 1 INT, 4 TD passes, 2 TD runs.

    Did he get the ball over the line in the 2nd quarter?

  14. MatSci94 10/05/2008 at 1:23 PM #

    We were down 14 points in the 4th quarter to a team that dominated us all game. We came back to tie the game. We didn’t quit. We didn’t “meltdown” with penalties or turnovers. I am very proud of our effort. We had no business being in that game, but we had a chance. I’ll take that this year.

  15. mafpack 10/05/2008 at 2:21 PM #

    Great post, I definitely want to throw my hat into the “we’re making progress” ring.

    Just think, during Chuck’s last year, what did we complain about most during our losses (and shoot during out wins too)? We screamed about our absolutely awful turnover margin, the massive number of stupid and unnecessary penalties and a distinct inability to score in the Red Zone. Did any of you nay sayers actually watch the game or read the box score?

    Turnover Margin – 3 to 0 (yes that means we didn’t turn the ball over ONCE in a game against a top ranked defense)

    Penalties – 1 for 11 yards (IN THE ENTIRE GAME)

    Red Zone – 3 for 3 (yes, I’d like this to be higher too, but I’ll take it over the anemic offenses of the past few years)

    And all of this with walk ons, RS freshman and true freshman filling out our 2 deep. So O’Brien has done what he promised to do, instill team discipline both on and off the field, raise the athletic IQ of our players, play tough physical football (even when at a huge size disadvantage), play with solid fundamentals and never ever give up.

    If any of you seriously think we’re not making massive progress as of TOBs arrival, I’d venture to guess that you probably couldn’t coach your way out of a paper bag.

    Keep up the good work coaching staff, and we’ll keep packing out the stands in support of our team. Go Pack!

  16. Noah 10/05/2008 at 3:22 PM #

    Sorry…Barnes is going to be a RB, not a safety. So he’ll be sticking with offense.

    At least that’s the plan right now. Add Earl Wolff to the list at safety. I think Ellis will be playing CB.

  17. turfpack 10/05/2008 at 5:03 PM #

    As I stated late last night-this coaching staff has done a great job considering the circumstances.
    As a coach I think most of the comments on this blog are thoughtful and reasonable football knowledge(Noah,Redfred,Vawolf,RAWFS ect…)–but a few are complete idots and have very little knowledge of the game.
    The words depth and experience are a coaches wonderful or nightmare words.
    Skilled,Athletic,Experience players at a D1 BCS school is a must and the lack of is a NIGHTMARE.
    So hold true judgement of this coaching staff until this has been met(2yrs?).
    Sidenote–This coaching staff is well recieved by all the other H.S.coaches that I’ve talked acrossed the state(Unlike the past coaching staff)THIS WILL PAY DIVIDENDS.
    Have a Great Sunday watching the game we love-GO PACK!

  18. Primewolf 10/05/2008 at 7:10 PM #

    I think TOB and staff will get us to a competitive level. It is amazing how bad the last few years of Amato’s recruting were. We got a few good players, but overall, those classes were weak. Our DBs are tiny and not the quickest guys on the field. Heck they bounce off receivers when they hit them.

    I was disappointed in the lack of defenisve adjustments during the game. We played the same soft zone the entire game with teh exception of a few man coverages.

    Our linebacking is horrendous. Our line did well against the run but BC had 5-6sec on every pass play.

  19. b 10/05/2008 at 9:26 PM #

    Archer is the same coach who had us in the early toughies when the offense was struggling. I agree his concept is to force offenses to sustain, which few can do at the college level, and look for TOs. As others have said it worked fairly well in that regard. That Kentucky defense somebody pointed out earlier did give up a lot of yards, but they also turned people over at a high rate. That TEAM also improved from a 3-8 team in ’05 to 8-3 that year, and didn’t have a great deal of talent to begin with. I don’t expect Archer to use the same strategy when has a full boat, right now he’s doing what he has to keep us in games.

    Lose your two best defenders on a team that had no depth to start and its trouble. When (hopefully soon) Irving and Cash get back, you will see an instant improvement, to both the pass rush and the pass coverage and statistically as well.

  20. redfred2 10/05/2008 at 9:40 PM #

    “It is amazing how bad the last few years of Amato’s recruting were.”

    I don’t keep up with FB recruiting as much as I do BB, but I for one, had no clue from any reports that it was this bad. That isn’t meant to be cheapshot at anyone playing right now, I’m speaking more about the overall lack of depth.

  21. Greywolf 10/05/2008 at 10:57 PM #

    “Until someone steps up to the podium with a mission statement that expresses a clear vision without compromise, NC State University will struggle to remain anything but a blip on the radar screen and a secondary option for student athletes, as well as students in general.”

    That someone was MAFox. Oh, if it were only as simple as mission statements, holding coaches to account, firing this one and that one, etc.

    I posted my comments “way up near the top” right after I got home from the game. Bad idea. Too much emotion. If Archer’s “bend, don’t break” had worked and we had won the game, I would not have said anything about blitz’s or stunts.

    I still think Bible is trying to operate a Spread Offense from the context of fundamental I formation football.

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