Spring Game

'09 Football Fans General124

I am out of town, but eager to hear the observations of SFN readers who do attend. Please post your thoughts below.

RALEIGH, NC – The Kay Yow Spring Football game drew 21,075 fans on Saturday afternoon to watch the White team win 10-7 over the Red team. The event raised over $28,000 for charity. Fans who packed Carter-Finley stadium on Saturday afternoon might have been expected a dual between First-Team All-ACC quarterback Russell Wilson and highly-touted freshman Mike Glennon.
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About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

'09 Football Fans General

124 Responses to Spring Game

  1. inhoc... 04/18/2009 at 3:54 PM #

    At mitches on enjoying a pitcher before I head home. Haven’t read the coments yet but look forward to reading them. Heard some interesting things about QJ (who is no longer at state) but may still be causing some of this drama with he BOT/jed….cheers

  2. ncsslim 04/18/2009 at 3:59 PM #

    Do not write the OL off. We have some of the best personnel and depth we’ve had in some time. On the other hand, I recognize that although our D front 7 has come along ways, today we wouldn’t have run against a solid D1AA program. However, I’m very confident that we will vastly improve prior to the USC game. A mobile qb is a great assistance to any OL, and there is no reason in hell that this group will not be competitive. I don’t know whether TOB tells you what’s on his mind (in reality, probably not much), but he seemed quite happy with the flow of the game, given his expectations of a spring game. A run it up and down game is a sign of hell to pay in the fall.

  3. howlie 04/18/2009 at 4:16 PM #

    Lots of great insight^ above, so I will make only one statement.

    It is stunning to watch the PRECISION of a TOB football TEAM displayed, as opposed to the ‘collection of stars’ in the previous regime. On this team, everyone knows their role. Everyone does their job. The ‘collective’ is on multi-headed buzz saw that grinds you down and wears the opponent out [I’m talking primarily of the D, but the O as well]. I remember those old TOB BU teams that you KNEW we were in trouble against in the fourth quarter, because you knew they would “finish the job.”

    It was almost a ‘surprise’ today to see someone jump offsides or miss an assignment. And likewise, there are seldom times for our “stars” to get a ‘shining moment’ because the team is playing so well together every play… and doesn’t NEED or WANT to rely upon an extraordinary feat by a lone, great athlete. This is a precision TEAM–wave after wave getting to the ball–a ‘Pack.

    And to see it in the Spring…

    ————-
    (Okay, I lied, two more things. Those who^ said above^ that:
    a) Glennon is “an adequate backup;” and
    b) that we will be “7 and 5;” are gifted at understatement.
    With a few breaks [the expected development of our O line; & barring injury among our DB’s], this team could be extra, extra special).

  4. Noah 04/18/2009 at 4:40 PM #

    Dont worry about the OL.

    I feel better about this year’s team than I have since Rivers was here. We’ll be a very solid team this year.

    Great crowd.

  5. Noah 04/18/2009 at 4:45 PM #

    BTW, spotted in the crowd today…Cozell McQueen and I believe, DT.

  6. redfred2 04/18/2009 at 5:21 PM #

    GREAT COMMENTARY HERE!!!

    I’m kind of disappointed about the OL, I don’t know why, I fully expected that to be the case coming into this game.

    I also liked hearing about Glennon’s presence and mobility.

    “RW was stone cold, dead on with his throws, 10-14 for 190 I think,…”

    The guy is simply a finely tuned WEAPON, and in the truest sense of the word.

    It’s also good to hear that TOB has such great command of this program, that the players are following his lead and that they changing their tunes in order to measure up.

    I’m reading some conflicting reports, and at the same time picking up on some fairly optimistic expectations. You know me though, I always lean in the direction where the most optimism is being generated, so I’ll say that we should be pretty damn excited about FB right about now!!!

  7. Dogbreath 04/18/2009 at 5:33 PM #

    Totally unrelated, but our Men’s Track Team is poised to make Lee Fowler a very proud man this evening by finishing dead ******* last at the conference meet.

    Seven points thus far from the Pack with two events remaining.

  8. old13 04/18/2009 at 5:39 PM #

    I saw on the PP board that Foulup was spotted “slithering” into the stadium today accompanied by two security guards and sat at the scoreboard end out of sight from the crowd. Guess there was no scoreboard “announcement” as we had hoped, huh!

  9. tjfoose1 04/18/2009 at 5:54 PM #

    My first post, as I couldn’t help to comment after reading some of the above…

    C’mon people, get real… you can’t seriously already be making record predictions for next year based on what we saw today? Yes, some insight can be gained, especially on individuals, potential depth, and areas of strength and weakness, but it is waaaaay too early to be making such specific predictions as “My prediction at this point is 7-5.”

    What a ‘genius’ it was who made that prediction, as well as the other insightful gems such as…

    “Another year of weakness in the O-line which will result in virtually no running game” and…

    “Defensive front probably isn’t that good, because we could not run the ball on either team. Which means the O-line sucks”

    Seriously? I mean, really’ c’mon dude, get a clue. Do you know anything about football? About coaching? About player development?

    The O-line is loaded with very young(several redshirts), but talented, players. Their improvement will increase exponentially between now and the first game against SC, and again by the 4th or 5th game. Wilson’s ability, and the play calling, should give the O-line time to develop early in the season.

    Our defensive front probably has a first round draft pick in the middle, along with at least 2-3 other NFL players, and you think they “probably [aren’t] that good”?

    Wow… I’ll just leave it at that.

    Quickly, adding to the above comments, are my 2 cents worth (barring significant injuries)…

    Our team will obviously be better. We should be better on all 3 units: offensive, defense, and special team.

    Offense will probably start out similar to what we had the 2nd half of last year, with the play calling leaning on RW’s strengths. As the O Line develops, more emphasis will be put on the running game.

    Defense should be fine (Irving, Young, Cash) with young studs and transfers at both the line and LB positions. The obvious question mark, as stated before, is the depth and health of our secondary.

  10. BSIE80 04/18/2009 at 6:01 PM #

    I disagree with a lot of comments concerning “expecting” the OL to not be in sync yet, etc. I can understand this if we were talking about pass blocking, picking up blitzes, pulling guards, etc. But we could not do simple run blocking techniques like blocking the guy in front of you.

    On a lot of the running plays, it is just a matter of blocking the guy in front of you. Run blocking is the easiest thing to do in football. U know the play, the defense doesn’t. So it is just leveraging your guy out of the hole. Sure the linebacker/safety can step in the hole to make the tackle, but i didn’t see much one on one (Oback vs. Lb). It was more like 3 guys on 1.

    Tom has a lot of work with the OL left if we are going to have any type of running game.

  11. Gowolves 04/18/2009 at 6:08 PM #

    Listening to TH interview TOB before the game he mentioned that he didn’t think Baker was completely ready yet. I am not worried about the O-line at all. The position requires timing and time together. I know some were there last year but as people have already stated the o-line comes together slower than the D-line. I think with the favorable home schedule I think we can win some games. I am going out on a limb here but I think we can go 9-3. The first game against SC will be the key. It’s tough to put that much on the first game but really it will serve as a barometer for the rest of the year. Say what you want about Spurrier’s teams they do have talent.

  12. blpack 04/18/2009 at 6:12 PM #

    Great crowd today. I thought both QBs had some good moments. Carter and Bryan are going to be weapons this fall. The defense is ahead of the offense, but this O has a lot of potential. I liked the way our LBs flew to the ball. Running game needs some work. The sack rule and no running for the QBs rule cut down on some real situations, but it saves them from unnecessary hits. Overall I’m even more excited about this team. Very cool to get to go down the field.

  13. tjfoose1 04/18/2009 at 6:17 PM #

    Point of information… TOB employs a zone blocking scheme. Some of you may remember even the veterans had a hard time learning this system durign TOB’s first year.

    It is not simply “blocking the guy in front of you”, or what can be called a “Drive block”. For example, what may look like a missed block, may actually have been a chip block that was not picked up by a trailing lineman. To the uninformed and ignorant, it looks like an error of technique and execution, when in fact, it was a mental error of understanding the scheme.

    So in actuality, you can not judge the younger OL players and simply say there were overmatched physically or by technique. They are learning a somewhat complicated system, and by some accounts, Archer did not hold back with his defensive play calling.

    They are young, thinking and processing pre-snap, then processing again immediately post-snap. Then, based on that, all done is a split second, they are trying to execute. As long as they still have to ‘think’ they will struggle. Once they get to simply reacting, we will be fine.

    I ask all posters who want to criticize individual players, units, or the team as a whole, that maybe, just maybe, you don’t know everything.

  14. old13 04/18/2009 at 6:34 PM #

    ^ And you do?

  15. tjfoose1 04/18/2009 at 6:41 PM #

    No, of course not, never claimed I did. Simply providing insight. Definitive statements were made; I was providing contrary input with facts.

  16. whitefang 04/18/2009 at 6:45 PM #

    BSIE, obviously you never played on the O-line.

  17. Wolf Dog 04/18/2009 at 6:51 PM #

    Largest crowd I have seen at a spring game and they made some noise.

    My observation is we still need depth, hopefully some of that arrives in August.
    OL is a work in progress. RBs didn’t do as well as I would have liked. the defense was better than I was expecting. Archer is proving to be a solid DC. Our WRs still need to learn to create space.

    Overall we look better than we have in years even though it just spring. I feel we go bowling this year. Really like to finish above .500 in the conference this year.

    Glad a few of you saw our little “SFN Noah S—-” sign (I am sure Sid liked it) and came by and let us share some bar-b-q with you. Glad we share the same positive passion for NCSU.

  18. redfred2 04/18/2009 at 7:18 PM #

    ^Wolf Dog, I wasn’t there of course, so do your old buddy redfred a HUGE favor, and please elaborate a little further on that sign that you’re talking about.

  19. wolfpack95 04/18/2009 at 7:19 PM #

    I am very pleased with where the team is at the end of spring practice.
    OL is still a work in progress (and the running game was comcomitantly nonproductive), and our secondary coverage is still inconsistent.

    This is going to be a fun season and a successful season, too.

  20. redfred2 04/18/2009 at 7:58 PM #

    “C’mon people, get real… you can’t seriously already be making record predictions for next year based on what we saw today?”

    tjfoose1, I see where you say that this is your first comment on SFN, welcome aboard. But I do have to caution about certain things such as expectations, predictions, and the like. This place is a rollercoaster ride, one week you’ll see comments like, “WE’RE BCS MATERIAL!!!”, then the next week, following a close loss in a tough game, you’ll see comments saying stuff like, “WE SUCK!!!, why in the hell did I ever think we were ever going to get any better!!!”.

    There is no patience, no enjoyment gained by watching improvements occur in certain areas, while at the same time another area may suffer a small step back. You just need to learn to keep quite and ride that sort of thing out around here, or otherwise, you’ll end up like me. 😉

  21. tjfoose1 04/18/2009 at 8:25 PM #

    Thanks for the tip and sentiment. I agree.

    My point, which admittedly I could have stated more clearly, was that it is foolish to try to predict a specific record based on the spring game performance.

    Too many players not participating that will be on the roster come this fall, lots of development time between now and our first game, lots and lots of variables not accounted for in a spring game setting, etc…

    Yes, some things can be gleamed from such an event, like the overall direction and health of the program, player development, unit progress, player discipline, team strength and moral, etc., but not a specific and exact won-loss record.

    All things considered, and depending on how the breaks of a season fall, I would gage a range of 6-6 to 11-1* as possible, with an 8-9 win season a reasonable goal.

    *Of course, even a 12-0 record is theoretically ‘possible’, as every game on our schedule is winnable. But given the the current state of our program, one that is still learning and growing, and leadership still being developed, I would think 11 wins is probably our top maximum limit even if we do have a ‘dream season’ where everything falls our way.

  22. WufPackFan8217 04/18/2009 at 8:34 PM #

    Tough to see so many starters sidelined for this game and judge, but a lot of young guys looked pretty good.
    Disappointed that the running game didn’t do more. Toney Baker has been tearing up spring practice, running over starting defenders. James Washington showed a glimpse of a promising young talent there too. He has been impressive in spring practice too.

  23. redfred2 04/18/2009 at 9:01 PM #

    tjfoose1, you started that last comment off fine, but then you missed my point. You see, you did just fine in your first comment on this site, and there was no need to further explain yourself about anything that you said there.

    I was only saying that you have get use to people making silly predictions that are based on nothing, and even some people making silly accusations that are based on even less. This place is a wide cross section of NC State fanhood, and you’ll run across all types of unexplainable comments on here. Hell, I remember when somebody on here even questioned what I was trying to say ONCE.

  24. TheCOWDOG 04/18/2009 at 9:05 PM #

    Was no one p.o’ed with the way things were set up again by the show runners today?

    Did a single one of you look around and say to yourself ” nice preparation? Nice facilities avaiable for 20k plus people?”

    Did you walk all over hell’s half acre for a restroom today with access to bathrooms within 50 yrds. of where you gathered? Only to see a lock out?

    I came with the masses today, you guys. Snubbed the reunion ’cause it’s always come off as 2nd class.

    Once I got over having to hobble my ass thru hill and dale to take a civilized piss, I joined some ex teamies in the WM side of the yard.

    At halftime you saw a bunch from the ’70s group on the field, but not me and not the ones that a few of you know.

    Why? One ’cause we were having too much fun yakin’. But most importantly, for some reason that is beyond us, State can’t seem to get it right. Period.

    They ( State )with 20+ coming out today, gave you nothing.

    Not talking about field performance you know…you , we, got a spring game.

    I wanted everyone that posts here to join me where I was to at least enjoy a few ammenities that were afforded us, and I do mean few.

    OK…OL was split up, no way to see what we have as one unit.

    D front looks stout as well as LB core.

    Wide Outs may be amongst the best in ACC.

    QB will be in good hands 2 deep.

    TE is 3 deep.

    RB is up in the air.

    Secondary is good, but shallow.

    Cowdog rant…piss poor job by folks that should have known our passions.

  25. Wolf Dog 04/18/2009 at 9:07 PM #

    Ok Redfred2. We just having a little pregame fun. Nothing like some good ol Stephenson’s Barbeque and a cold one before the game. If you want good barbeque, check out Stephenson Barbeque in Johnston County on Hwy 50 south of Raleigh headed towards Benson near McGees Crossroads. Good Ol Farmhouse Fraternity NCSU man owns it , ask for Andy tell him Joe Cool sent you.

    Anyway was telling the gang about a particular negative supposed state fan I read about and next thing you know a small sign went up. Couple people walking by laughed their asses off as they knew the name and its orgin and next thing you know they were sharing some barbeque and good times with us. We had a ball, so nx time you tail gating and want to meet some other positive fanastic NCSU fans just put up a “SFN Noah S—-” sign and have a ball!

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