Focus on Football

We’ve got some solid football items to digest today.

  • Heather Dinich has ranked the ACC Bowl games in order of most entertaining.  The Wolfpack vs the Scarlet Knights is a strong second on the list.  It’s interesting a bowl that is not an official ACC Bowl and includes the ACC’s 10th team is ranked so highly.  It says a lot for how well the Wolfpack is playing.  (Click here)

NC State vs. Rutgers: Football fans should be more excited about this game than they probably are. It’s going to feature two interesting quarterbacks in Mike Teel and Russell Wilson, who have both been the difference for their respective teams down the stretch. For ACC fans who have spent the whole season watching standout defenses, this should be a refreshing game.

 

  • Speaking of bowl lists, you really have to give J.P. Giglio at the ACCNow a lot of credit for the way that he covered the evolving bowl landscape.  Giglio was clearly a step ahead of everyone all week.  Last Tuesday Giglio nailed the key domino in the ACC by reporting the Champs Bowl’s preference to take FSU, thereby opening the path to send UNC-CH to Charlotte; he was right almost a week early.  It was funny to watch other news outlets like WRAL follow Giglio’s reports and piggyback his analysis with stories that referred to “reports” of UNC-CH going to the Meineke Bowl but never citing the sourceof the ‘reports’.  If you read Giglio’s projections closely you would note that he did not report that UNC-CH was going to the Meineke Bowl; what he did was  (accurately) analyze the ACC’s Bowl situation based on his sources. In the end, Giglio correctly projected 31 of 34 bowls for a fantastic success rate.  (Click here)

 

  • Somehow Dr. Saturday’s fantastic piece about Russell Wilson “Resurrecting NC State” flew under the radar on the internet.  The following chart and quote are from the article.   (Click here)

Most of college football took one look at the debacle at South Carolina and wrote off the Pack as lame ducks for the year. I’m pretty sure I wondered at some point if they would score an offensive touchdown all season.

 

  • NJ.com has a very interesting expose about Rutgers football.  It’s long and it’s detailed and it’s good.  It also reminds me of the enhanced of attention that is applied to burgeoning programs by local media looking to make a name for themselves with ‘investigative journalism’’   (Click here)

For a decade now, Rutgers University has pushed hard to become a college football powerhouse.  But in trying to play with the big boys, New Jersey’s state university picked up some of their bad habits.

Two weeks ago a special university commission concluded the athletics department had been allowed to operate like a rogue agent, making secret deals and spending recklessly with little oversight. An internal audit concluded much the same.

After months of revelations of hidden spending, no-bid contracts and growing funding problems with a costly stadium expansion project, Rutgers now is at a crossroad. Later this week, the university’s governing board is to meet over what to do about the stadium, and discuss how to rein in its athletics department.

Meanwhile, a six-month Star-Ledger investigation of Rutgers athletics — including a new review of public records the university fought to keep confidential — shows big-time college football has come at a greater price than the school has yet disclosed and still refuses to fully document.

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'08 Football General

73 Responses to Focus on Football

  1. Noah 12/10/2008 at 1:36 PM #

    Herbert would be a great help. One of the real holes in next year’s squad will be at DT unless we can get someone to make an immediate impact.

    Javon Walker and Clem Johnson will probably be our starting safeties. We have adequate reserves.

    But at DT, it’s AMC and Leroy Burgess and little else.

  2. McPete 12/10/2008 at 1:53 PM #

    i wonder if they’d move marcus kuhn to DT to help out there. is wayne crawford also still with the team?

    provided that AMC, willie young, and nate irving are all back next year, there will be 7 or 8 returning starters (8 if you count javon walker). that’s not bad at all.

    but who is going to take robbie leonard’s place at that hybrid LB/S position? john ware?

  3. Noah 12/10/2008 at 2:00 PM #

    I don’t think Wayne Crawford is going to be much of a contributor. But I could be wrong, of course. John Ware is on academic suspension, so his return is a bit of question mark.

    The starters will be Terrell Manning, Ray Michel and Nate Irving. Manning will be strongside, Irving weakside.

  4. McPete 12/10/2008 at 2:41 PM #

    that’s good news about Manning. so i guess he’s started practicing then?

  5. RickJ 12/10/2008 at 3:13 PM #

    ECU actually recruited Sam Jones to be a defensive tackle. Getting players to come in January (hopefully a couple of Juco DT’s) gives you the chance to see where they might contribute during spring practice. I could see Jones, Kuhn, Crawford, possibly Sweazy and a couple of Juco’s starting out at DT in an attempt to comme up with the best possible backups for Cash & Burgess.

  6. g6bentgrass 12/10/2008 at 3:33 PM #

    And how about this on offense. freshman QB Russell Wilson, freshman WR TJ Graham,freshman WR Jarvis Williams, Sophomore WR Owen Spencer, Freshman TE George Bryan. All these guys Freshman or Sophmores. This extra practice till the bowl game turns these freshman and sophmores into more like Sophmores and Juniors. The WRs need practice on running routes, the little things like cutting properly, and breaking off routes. I had the opportunity to talk to an Asst Coach last week. He admitted we could be very good. He had alot of optimism, as we all do. He said Glennon was very good. It will be interesting next summer.

  7. jsmithpack14 12/10/2008 at 4:17 PM #

    Noah don’t forget about Sterling Lucas and Dwayne Maddox which both had ok years being true freshman. Manning wont start unless he is just amazing with his ACL, and no experience. Lucus I believe will get the spot.

  8. Packman02 12/10/2008 at 4:18 PM #

    Does anyone have an update on Donald Bowens? I think any conversation about ‘next year’ is incomplete without him, provided he’s fully recovered from the spine injury that kep him out this year. He’ll probably challenge some of the guys mentioned above if he’s back to form – and the resultant depth would not be a bad thing.

  9. packalum44 12/10/2008 at 4:36 PM #

    http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=3630510

    Above is a link with a really good cause and a great marketing tool IMHO. We have the opportunity to purchase a ticket for a local Birmingham kid out of the girls/boys club. $40 per ticket, fully tax deductible and counts toward points in the Wolfpack Club. I am going to get one. Thought some folks might be interested.

  10. GAWolf 12/10/2008 at 5:44 PM #

    Wasn’t there some concern he might be out of football? Obviously I hope not, but I believe that was at least a realistic concern in light of the injury/problem.

  11. vtpackfan 12/10/2008 at 7:18 PM #

    Noah,

    One thing that is not certain will be the D scheme in years to come. TOB has seen alot of 4-3 while Archer dealt alot with 3-4. An interesting aspect of the Verbal commit from polynesia (help?) is that where he JuCo’d he lined up across the center not the gap.

    I’m no way suggesting that they would move on it this offseason, with so many D lettermen returning why take them out of their comfort zone? But if they can get Mageo to do 2 in three years and bulk up Crawford they could deal with the recruiting depth of this issue really fast.

    I know the coach’s are high on Crawford because he works extremely hard on what the coaches preach. We’re really going to miss Willis, Jr next year, if not for Willie Young and the short time Clem Johnson played Keith Willis Jr would have been the most improved player on D. If he and AMC can make the pocket shallow against this RU QB then I like our chances alot in B-Ham.

  12. choppack1 12/10/2008 at 9:04 PM #

    vt – AMC always makes that pocket shallow. He gets a push like no one’s business. IMHO, he’s almost as valuable as Nate. (Think about games where we’ve been able to force folks into passing the last 2 years – and think about who is applying punishment in those downs.)

  13. Packman02 12/10/2008 at 10:57 PM #

    GAWolf – You are right, the injury was quite severe (stress fracture, lower back) and I do not know for a fact that Bowens can/ will play for the Pack again…I did find this recent article on GoPack.com (imagine that!) that chronicles DB’s community involement during his rehab – a good read that seems to hint that we have not seen the last of DB on the field!

    http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=1619910

    Again…nothing concrete…but dated 11/06, this certainly paints an optimistic picture…

  14. Dr. BadgerPack 12/11/2008 at 2:22 AM #

    mmm… defense…

    almost as nice as 23 year old Gainesville bartenders.. oops. said too much. she made me!

    Manning will be OK. our linebackers should be good enough for 3-4. But I think the personnel will be best suited for 4-3, or perhaps a split.

  15. Packman02 12/11/2008 at 8:47 AM #

    Dr. BadgerPack – you’re down in Gainesville? Forgive me if this is common knowledge, here at SFN. Made a couple of trips down there this year, myself (Hawaii, LSU) and I can vouch for the bartenders – ‘nice’, indeed!

    …sorry for the tangent there, folks…

    Back to the Pack – I tend to agree that we are heading the way of the 3-4 and I think that this is a good move. We’ve benefited from the use of zone coverages this year (Nate Irving, INTs) and very few, if any, teams in the conference use the 3-4 as their primary defensive scheme. In theory, this gives us the added advantage of playing a style that’s not prepared for, week in and week out, and also opens the door for some nasty blitzes.

  16. vtpackfan 12/11/2008 at 9:07 AM #

    Personnel will play in major factor in ’09, the biggest thing about the LB’s right now is not the talent at the top of depth chart but the depth behind it.

    Why I like our chances in this match up w/ RU: I haven’t watched a ton of Bowl games over the years but physiological differences seem to be more noticable, typically teams have personnel issues taking full speed hits without getting a little ragged sooner then they would say mid season.

    With the rotations our coaches have kept constistent the team knows how to play with different personnel units in at any iven time. DL player substitution has been huge, LB and DB 2nd string have shown improvement over the course of the year, and you can’t say enough about the rotation executed on offense.

    They have done so with walk ons and underclassmen to the point where I’ve thought this may be one of TOB’s finest years as HC but it would only ring true if they finish strong in a Bowl.

  17. choppack1 12/11/2008 at 9:57 AM #

    vtpackfan – 3 areas where we haven’t done a lot of rotation: Leonard’s spot (Goodman backs him up I believe) and MLB (Ray Michelle), and CBs (Gray and Morgan have carried a lot of water this year – George and Ellis have seen some time, but I don’t think they sub those as freely as they do in other spots.) I actually like what I saw from Audi Cole this year.

    Regarding John Ware – I think there’s a good chance we see him next year. He did good enough work w/ the scout team to carry out the NC Flag for one of the games this year.

  18. vtpackfan 12/11/2008 at 11:46 AM #

    Yeah, a few areas were bone bare to begin the season but over the course guys filled in more and more. Ellis is getting more plays at CB, Simmons at SS, Lucas at MLB, but yeah the Leonard situation has been an area where depth never gained momnetum.

    Leonard has really been the glue, look at the toughness, leadership and dependability he has brought to the table for a position that was brand new to the system. The guy has been nothing short of ultra reliable.

    Maybe Ware passed an exam and got to carry the flag that week, dunno. I just know he didn’t play a snap this year and had very little experience coming into this season, ala Leonard. Lets hope he can bring his A game and lunch pale like Robbie did.

  19. choppack1 12/11/2008 at 4:05 PM #

    Robbie Leonard did a great job – especially towards the end of the year. Earlier in the year, I thought that he was getting victimized a lot, but he was learning a new position and missing some key personnell…of course, I think it helped everyone – Leonard, Michelle, our DBs and our safeties, to have Irving and AMC in the line-up.

    People act like our team had this incredible turn around during the year. The truth is that this team played very well at Columbia, SC until Russell Wilson got hurt (while it was a tie, we were moving the ball better and starting to dominate the line of scrimmage) – and the team played pretty good against Clemson…at that point I just don’t think Wilson and the offense had any clue what they were capable of…we found out against ECU. Granted, USF was a stinker – of horrid proportions, but that’s the exception to this season – not anything that I would say is indicative of this team.

  20. SEAT.5.F.2 12/14/2008 at 4:46 PM #

    Crab Nabbitt!!

    JuCo DT by the name of Herbert going to choose Gainesville. I don’t usually get to bent on a single guy but if you’re a DC running a 4-3 than this mammouth next to the lighting quick, kung fu grip, Al M-C would have scary.

    So glad we are bowling and the extra week over the eagle bank bowl will pay extra dividends (that goes w/o saying, banks are to poor to pay dividends).

    Word over at PP is that Sweezy has gone DT already on the practice (probably by necessity over design), ad with the extra practice the bowl affords we could make some gains. He and Marcus Kuhn probably have to play out of position the rest of their college years unless the staff goes 3-4 in ’10, in which case they would benefit from their reps at DT.

    Anyway, just called out if anyone had heard there was an open practice soon, they’re pretty rare for TOB so it seems like it would be kinda cool to check out. Anyone know when it’s scheduled for?

  21. wufpup76 12/14/2008 at 8:31 PM #

    ^There’s an open practice scheduled for 4pm next Saturday at Carter Finley after the 2pm Lipscomb – State basketball game

  22. vtpackfan 12/15/2008 at 6:50 PM #

    cool. gotta try and make it, for football I mean, the Lipscomb thing is just- eehhh.

  23. SEAT.5.F.2 12/16/2008 at 8:38 AM #

    Nice, another in state recruit, a DE from South Brunswick, coming on board next year. Small school who looks like they’ve found a great coach so you know the guy is going to bring a great attitude and he is pretty fast for his frame already. Runs the 200M in T & F so it will interesting to see how his spring results are (assuming TJ’s records are safe here.)

    Great news since while I appreciate the JuCo contributors so far it’s really nice to see an effort to build as strong a RS class as possible for next fall.

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