…And Then You Win By A Little…

'08 Football Future Opponents General63

Bobby Bowden first remarked that programs that are improving first lose by a little, then they win by a little.

We remarked after the near-win against Boston College that the Wolfpack was close — that they lost by a little against the Eagles, 38-31, in a game where the NC State defense could not make that final stand and allowed BC to sneak away with a hard-fought win against a never-say-die NC State team that was undermanned and often outplayed yet had the game tied until less than a minute was left to play.  #25 Wake Forest was not so lucky in a rainy and windswept Carter-Finley Stadium this afternoon as the Wolfpack held on for a 21-17 win that served notice to their two remaining opponents that they can’t count on an easy win against a 4-6 team.  State held on, and won by a little today.

This leaves NC State still alive in the mythical state championship of North Carolina, with victories over ECU, Duke and Wake Forest.  The hated Tar Heels remain, and State needs the win to keep their slim bowl hopes alive.

The last part of what Bobby Bowden said?  “…Then you win by a lot.”  If that were to happen as soon as next Saturday, there will be a lot of extremely happy Wolfpack fans late next Saturday afternoon.  The Heels are a solid team, however, and right now, if it were given, I think it safe to say that any of us would take a nailbiting Wolfpack win.   Big wins might come later, but one thing is sure, and Carolina had better be wary of this: NC State may not have an accomplished 2008 resume, but this team never says die and UNC is in for a fight from start to finish next weekend.

We’ll have much more to say about this win and the upcoming game against the hated Tar Heels later, but right now, we’re going to celebrate and let you add your comments.

'08 Football Future Opponents General

63 Responses to …And Then You Win By A Little…

  1. b 11/16/2008 at 4:19 PM #

    Indeed, and the defense held them out with a start on our 13 yardline to boot. Funny how a couple of All-ACC calibur players turn a sieve into a pretty stout unit.

    The coach who deserves the most credit is Horton. With what he has to work with in the O-line, the fact they are controlling the line of scrimmage against the likes of FSU, BC and Wake to me is very impressive. I guess if you are a good enough coach, you can make a dollar out of fifteen cents.

  2. wufpup76 11/16/2008 at 6:06 PM #

    “Wake’s FG came after the Wilson fumble in the redzone, didn’t it?”

    Yes.

  3. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 11/16/2008 at 6:08 PM #

    One great story that was on the radio and I don’t know if it has been commented on here or in the news but Wilson’s father was at the game watching from the Murphy Center.

    This was his first time to see his son play in a college game. For those that don’t know Wilson’s father is in very poor health and recently suffered a stroke.

    Unfortunately for the radio crew they mentioned the story right before Wilson fumbled but in the end it all worked out for father and son.

  4. Greywolf 11/16/2008 at 7:48 PM #

    Noah, I complain about Bible this year. What I complain about is our offense has little or no counter-option to it and we tend to hunker down near our goal line. Brown got in vs. ECU in OT, but that is the rare exception. If we (and a lot of others) have trouble running between the tackles outside the red zone, what in the name of goodness gives OCs the notion one more blocker is going to make a lot of difference.

    What would the score of a football game be if there were 100 players on each side? 0-0? What would the score be if there were only 3 or 4 per side? 100-95? The more players, the less the score. The big blocking tight end is a valid short yardage offense IF he is replacing a smaller end, but adding more players to the line of scrimmage makes no real sense to me.

    We used the TE to pass to on our goal line offense, not run behind. our spread offense opened the middle for Wilson to waltz in on our other TD.

    I’m willing to grant Bible that we may be putting stuff in as we are ready for it. If so I hope we are ready for it Saturday at noon.

    I did see one other thing I liked, our fullback split out. If we are using him as a big-bodied blocker peeling back to pick up pursuit, I think Amp would be perfect out there. I think we threw to 47 for a fair gain.

    The Panthers today lined Steve Smith up at an Hback position and tossed it to him coming back around away from the flow. Detroit had been over pursuing, but after Smith picked up about 15 yads and a 1st down, they had to respect the counter option made available.

    I’m not advocating an offense like Navy or WF but putting in some plays that keep the defense honest while having big play potential. Anybody wearing Wolfpack Red NOT like to see TJ Graham with the football and a full head of steam turning the corner on the counter option? (This is the play thet Clempson ran with Ford that ate us up. It also opens up running lanes for their Stiller and our Brown and Eugene.)

    Re our defense we have put the correction in apparently as our DBacks were not laying way off. That situation is different from Bible refusing to put in any kind of counter.

  5. Greywolf 11/16/2008 at 7:56 PM #

    above I said putting some plays in where I meant putting in some wrinkles that give our plays a better chance of succeding

  6. SEAT.5.F.2 11/16/2008 at 8:24 PM #

    Speaking of D depth Noah w/o going into much detail. Is either Walker or Manning playing any football this fall with Ware, the freshman and the walk-ons? It would suck if they are strictly PT and film.

    I only asked because you left a line or two out there that Manning might not be much of a factor six months from now when spring practice hits.

  7. Noah 11/17/2008 at 9:57 AM #

    I’ve heard conflicting information on both Toney Baker and Terrell Manning. Earlier this year, I had heard that neither would really be able to return to 100 percent.

    I have no idea if that information is correct or not. Since then, I’ve heard that Baker is going to come back and is fully-recovered. I’ve also heard that Manning is going to be fine and will make an immediate impact the minute he steps onto the field.

    I wouldn’t put too much stock into either rumor. When we see them in spring practice, we’ll know the truth.

    As far as Dana Bible is concerned, the offense is as good and complex as the OL allows it to be. At the beginning of the year, we had zero QB play and horrible OL play. Since then, the line has gelled very nicely and Wilson emerged as the guy a lot of us thought he would be over the summer. But we’re still walking on eggshells.

    Counter-plays require excellent blocking. You’ve got to fully engage the defense so they are over-playing to one side or the other. Then you can double-back and get a big advantage. It was no secret that Joe Gibbs lived off the counter-trey when he had the Hogs blocking for him.

    Another reason for NOT running it is that defenses are taught to stay in their lanes and not to overpursue. It’s why reverses don’t work very often. The backside defenders stay at home.

    One counter-type play we do run is a play-action pass with Wilson. He’ll fake to the back and then peel back on a naked-bootleg with the option to either run or throw. On the O’Brien’s show this weekend, he said that his favorite play of the game came late in the fourth quarter on this very play.

    Wilson faked the ball to the back going left and then peeled back to the right. But instead of throwing to the receiver or rolling right, he correctly read that Wake saw the play coming and had defended it perfectly. If he had thrown the ball, the Wake defender would have picked it off. Instead, Wilson tucked it and ran straight ahead. With the play-action, he got the defense going left. Everyone else saw the throw back to the right…and that left the middle open for a big gain.

  8. ChiefJoJo 11/17/2008 at 1:11 PM #

    Really exciting game to attend and a great gutsy win by our guys. Most of us who were paying attention knew that we were improving even with the losses to BC, FSU and MD. But now after two straight ACC wins, our guys really have to be gaining in confidence, knowing that if they take the coaching and excecute the plays, we have a shot to win each time out.

    I think we have a fine coaching staff and FWIW IMO Bible is one of the best and most underrated OCs in the ACC. The fact that he added a read-option formation speaks to his willingness to adapt to our personnel. He takes a practical approach that within the framework of our players ability to run a scheme correctly, he will do whatever it takes to move the football and score points… whether it means running the ball 50 times or throwing it 50.

    I’ve just gotta say, I really enjoy watching this team. I know we don’t have the talent of most other ACC teams, but our guys play hard and the coaches put them in the best position to win. Though we may not beat UNC or Miami, I am confident that we have the right people in place to lead this program forward.

  9. Classof89 11/17/2008 at 2:32 PM #

    ^Noah, wasn’t that the play where Wake actually left one guy at home on wilson, but wilson simply dodged him and got 5-6 yards upfield?

    One disappointing thing…when Wake started crowding more guys up front to contain Wilson (on our last two possessions of the game) we were unable to take advantage of the resulting WRs in single coverage, and had 2 3-and-outs, when a first down would have substantially run down the time remaining…I still am worried about the dearth of talent at WR in our program. I hope Owen spencer just had a bad day…

  10. Noah 11/17/2008 at 3:25 PM #

    I think Wilson got more than five or six on that play. I think it was about a 15-yard run.

    Looking at the replays, it looked like Spencer was having trouble when he pulled the ball in…like he was double-clutching.

  11. Classof89 11/17/2008 at 3:38 PM #

    Can anyone say anything to encourage me about the WR position in our program? Do we have anyone in the program or on the way that’s even half the player Haywood Jeffires, Koren Robinson, Torry Holt were? Cuz I sure haven’t seen it this year.

  12. Noah 11/17/2008 at 4:42 PM #

    Do we have anyone in the program or on the way that’s even half the player Haywood Jeffires, Koren Robinson, Torry Holt were?

    Probably not. Those are the three greatest WRs in school history. We probably don’t have a Jim Ritcher or Ted Brown or Roman Gabriel in the program either.

    I like our WRs a lot. Next year, we’ll have Donald Bowens back to go along with Darrell Davis, Geron James, and Jarvis Williams, four huge WRs.

    We’ll have Stephen Howard and Jay Smith, two very young guys who have shown a lot of promise on the scout team (Smith is starting to make a move in some games).

    We have two burners in Owen Spencer and TJ Graham (two of the fastest guys in the conference). Spencer’s stone-hands against Wake are probably an aberration.

    I’m not worried about the offense next year. It’s the secondary that has me concerned.

  13. WolfpackSteelersFan2 11/17/2008 at 4:45 PM #

    What about TJ Graham? I know he’s been mainly returning kicks this year, but I’d say he looks to be a playmaker down the road at the WR position. Donald Bowens should be back next year, and he was solid last year. I think we’ll be fine at WR. Spencer was really the only issue at WR this weekend, and for whatever reason, he seemed to be developing a case of the drops. Hopefully, it will be corrected.

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