Wednesday Morning Bytes

'09 Football32

You aren’t looking below the features!  But, we expected it.  Yesterday we linked a couple of entries below the three top features – Russell Wilson and Polling – that didn’t seem to attract many views.  I’m guilty, too.  I missed it.  It will just be something to get accustomed to.  We told you in last week’s Bytes:

We want to call your attention to the fact that the top three ‘featured’ articles will not always be the most recent articles posted to the site.  The three (or two, or one) “Features” at the top of the page will generally be the more important entries…however, they will not necessarily be the newest entries – therefore, requiring you to scroll the entirety of the front page to insure that you are not missing anything that interests you.  We will actively manage the three “Features” between a balance of ‘newness’ and ‘importance’ and hope that you will/can grow accustomed to checking below the features for other entries of interest.  We would really like to evolve to where readers are actively participating in multiple entries at one time as opposed the community’s historical behavior of primarily focusing on one entry at a time.

Now…on to some Bytes:

  • Tip of the hat to Yet Another who highlighted the update of Carter-Finley’s most recent renovations.  The article focuses on the removal of the crown from C-F’s turf, but I am more interested in the renovations to the East Side and East Side restrooms.  Can someone chime in
  • HD has highlighted the better defensive ends in the ACC for 2009.  Willie Young lead the list.  I could not be happier that Willie came back to school for his senior year.  I hear he is a great guy.  I saw him three or four times around the hotel in Birmingham at the PapaJohns.com Bowl and

Willie Young, NC State: Nobody on the Wolfpack’s roster has more experience than Young’s 1,667 snaps. He led the team with 26 quarterback pressures last season, and led in tackles for loss (12.5) and sacks (6.5). Young now ranks 11th in school history with 31.5 career tackles for loss.

  • Just thinking about Willie and the defensive end position.  It’s interesting to me that the biggest play from an NC State defensive end for the entire 2008 season was not turned in by Willie, but was turned in Shea McKeen when he sacked ECU’s James Pickney from the blindside to cause a turnover in overtime.  But, Willie was most definitely around the play as he scooped the fumble and was a threat to return it 75 yards for a touchdown but a Pirate player happened to have been right there to make the tackle.  Had Willie had a couple of steps then Andre Brown would have never had the chance to punch that touchdown.
  • Virginia Tech has been receiving a lot of love on the national/regional college football chatter as of late.  One of the prevailing theories is that VPI, considered a legit Top 10 team, has a manageable schedule that may play out in a way for the Hokies to reach the BCS Championship game.  If history is a guide, then VPI could be set up for a big one.

Last season, eight of the top 10 teams in the final Associated Press poll began the season with at least 65 combined career starts by their offensive linemen, including title-game participants Florida and Oklahoma. Two of 2008’s biggest surprises, Utah and Ole Miss, had more than 80 starts of experience, enabling them to improve dramatically on offense. Conversely, Georgia, Missouri and Clemson — three preseason top-10 teams that disappointed — were green up front, with fewer than 40 starts each.

Teams returning the most offensive-line starts? Virginia Tech and Notre Dame both have 100. Also, they both have relatively easy schedules. The Hokies only have to face Alabama in the opener, and then host Nebraska, which is why we’ve been bullish on Virginia Tech since the season ended in January.

Notre Dame has an easier schedule, with a week two trip to Michigan as its most challenging road game. The Irish could be unbeaten when USC comes to town Oct. 17.

After VT and ND, Texas returns 91 offensive line starts, FSU 86, and Michigan 75. The worst? Oregon (20), West Virginia (25), Oklahoma (29), Penn State (39), and Alabama (50).

  • If the season truly plays out well for VPI, then NC State will be in quite a position of national attention the next to last week of the season during our trip to Blacksburg for a November 21st battle with the Hokies.  And, if Joe Giglio’s prediction is even on track to become true, then that match-up may be one of the biggest late season games for the NC State program in history.
  • Continuing the what if here.  What if Giglio’s prediction does come true?  There would be a real possibility that NC State and Virginia Tech would meet two times in span of three weeks on the gridiron as the two teams could meet again for the ACC Championship game.  Wow.  (Oh to dream!)
  • Ron Cherry has been highlighted at EDSBS.  I always love when fans from all backgrounds – not just NC State – come to identical conclusions based on shared experiences.

ACC official and game-speed-retardant Ron Cherry begs to differ

Ron Cherry likes it like my ex: Slow and ineffectual.

With lots of stoppage time and false starts.

Lastly, football season is 99 days away.

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'09 Football

32 Responses to Wednesday Morning Bytes

  1. Sw0rdf1sh 05/27/2009 at 7:41 AM #

    Guilty as charged! I need to keep my eye on the links below.

    The Wolfpack will always be giving Cherry “The Business”.

  2. phillypacker 05/27/2009 at 7:46 AM #

    Checking in from Budapest. I love the new site, however you guys are making us think and work too much by putting newer pieces at the bottom. Put new article above the fold. Make it simple.

  3. charger17 05/27/2009 at 8:04 AM #

    One thing that I miss is the ability to navigate from piece to piece in chrono order, but again, maybe that’s designed for us to go back to the home page to look everything over.

    I usually come to the site and start at an older article, one that I’ve been over many times, and continue to work each article over again until I reach the beginning.

    Getting REALLY excited about Sept. 3rd! ! ! !

    GO STATE!

  4. Sw0rdf1sh 05/27/2009 at 8:49 AM #

    I will just mention that I like the site and changes. The only thing I miss is the list of recent posts that used to be on the right…..

    I like the Polling. I can see one that questions which journalist is more of a UNC Homer. Potential runaway victory is Andrew Jones.

  5. Clarksa 05/27/2009 at 9:04 AM #

    If you setup an RSS reader, then you never miss an article.

  6. choppack1 05/27/2009 at 9:11 AM #

    Willie Young is one of those guys who is a completely different player w/ AMC around. In passing situations, he’s very hard to block – and especially when you have someone who can bring the pressure from other places….

    Didn’t Young have a spectacular game vs. UNC in 2008?

    Regarding VaTech – I’m just not sold on them as a national championship team. Since Vick has departed, it never seems like their offense generates enough points to get most good teams out of the game.

    I like our match-up w/ them because – especially if you look at the second half of the season – we were strong on offense AND defense. Heck, the first half of that Rutgers game was a perfect example. Our offense was scoring at nice clip AND we were pretty much shutting down our opponent on D.

    Regarding our OL – we return, Larson, Vermiglio, Williams and McCuller.

    Football could be very special.

  7. Classof89 05/27/2009 at 9:25 AM #

    Regarding the renovations, I posted on the idiot boards asking about a self-funded $11.5 million “athletics facilities” project for NC State that was a part of the “Self-liquidating capital projects” bill for the UNC System and that cleared Senate Finance Committee last week, but any useful information on that thread was lost in a sea of ignoramuses who wanted to post their rants about taxpayer money going to the various projects over at Chapel Hill (which included a Dean Dome renovation project) despite my continued pointing out that these projects were merely being approved, and their funding was coming from various other sources than the public fisc.

  8. BJD95 05/27/2009 at 9:42 AM #

    The VT game has the potential to be nationally significant only if both teams take care of business OOC. Nobody nationally is going to take NC State seriously if we lose at home to South Carolina or Pitt, and nobody will take VT seriously if they lose to Nebraska or get killed by Alabama.

  9. Alpha Wolf 05/27/2009 at 10:25 AM #

    ’89, folks over there seem to need to rant at every oppurtunity, and rarely do some actually read other posts.

    $11.5M sounds interesting. Would be a good question for Bobby Purcell.

  10. bradleyb123 05/27/2009 at 10:33 AM #

    I’ve already been thinking about the (unlikely) possibility that State could play Carolina in back-to-back games. Although, I don’t expect Carolina to make it to the ACC championship game. I hadn’t thought about playing VT twice like that.

    Imagine the potential national relevance of BOTH of those games. Now also imagine how huge it would be if we could win BOTH of them! I think I just drooled on my keyboard!

  11. choppack1 05/27/2009 at 11:00 AM #

    “The VT game has the potential to be nationally significant only if both teams take care of business OOC. Nobody nationally is going to take NC State seriously if we lose at home to South Carolina or Pitt, and nobody will take VT seriously if they lose to Nebraska or get killed by Alabama.”

    I agree w/ that up to a point. I think the VaTech-NC State game will be nationally significant if ONE of the teams has taken care of business, and is perceived as a possible candidate for a BCS game – and the other is having a solid season.

    For example, if State has run table and VaTech has lost only to Alabama – this will be a serious match-up. Similarly if VaTech has run the table and NC State has been doing well in the ACC in spite of losing to USC or Pitt, I think it will get some attention.

    In other words, if you’ve got a Top 5 team playing a Top 20 team, I think it’s a national game. I don’t think that’s likely, I think one or both teams will stumble a time or two, and you’ll see a 3:30 regional game.

  12. VaWolf82 05/27/2009 at 11:09 AM #

    VT as a top-10 team will take a big hit after the Alabama game. I’ll be very surprised if VT musters much offensive production against ‘Bama.

  13. VaWolf82 05/27/2009 at 11:29 AM #

    From The Big Lead (linked above)

    8. Georgia Tech. 2nd best team in the ACC, and the schedule is favorable , especially for a team that returns just about everyone, with the exception of some losses on the defensive line.

    Proving once again that just because someone makes a claim in print doesn’t make it so. GT’s cross-divisional games are against FSU, Clemson, and WF. This could easily be the toughest schedule in their division. They do get VT at home, which might give them some advantage.

    Anytime I read “losses on the defensive line”, alarm bells go off in my head. One of my on-going questions about GT is whether or not PJ will be able to maintain the defenses that Tenuta was known for.

  14. choppack1 05/27/2009 at 11:30 AM #

    Me too VaWolf.

    As you can tell from my earlier post – I don’t think much about their offensive abilities. I don’t know whether it’s their system or their personell – but I don’t think they score enough to be a Top 5 college team.

    Still, I suspect if they only have the Bama loss, they’ll be a Top 10 team if they don’t get blown out by the time we come ‘roun the schedule.

  15. VaWolf82 05/27/2009 at 11:54 AM #

    VT has both systematic and personnel issues on offense. Beamer Ball is well known for its strong defense and conservative offense. Luckily for VT fans, they have one of the best RBs in the league coming back which when combined with Tyrod Taylor and a more experienced OL should give them a good rushing attack. But what happens if they fall behind?

    The problems this year lie with the QB and with the scheme. As you mentioned, VT rarely puts decent teams away…and Tyrod is the type of player that can keep both teams in the game. It will be interesting to see if he can improve over what we’ve seen over the last two years. Their OC (Springstein) and QB coach (MOC) catch alot of heat from my co-workers (VT grads and season ticket holders).

  16. BJD95 05/27/2009 at 11:58 AM #

    The key for the Hokies is to look like a real football team against Alabama (i.e., not like they did when they played LSU and were down 21-0 after like 5 minutes). They MUST pass the smell test, or they will never get national traction again all season (any success would be deemed evidence of ACC shittiness).

    For State, it would be better (from a national respect perspective) to have a few ACC losses coming into Blacksburg than to have looked bad early against the chickens and Panthers. But I agree with chop that it’s more important what VT does early.

    Still think State’s window is 2010-12, and our hopes and dreams are a year ahead of schedule. I picked “8” in the “number of 2009 wins” poll.

  17. BJD95 05/27/2009 at 12:06 PM #

    As noted in last year’s league superlatives discussions, I don’t even know who the Hokie RB is. I think we can always refer to said player as “interchangeable solid VT tailback.”

    It’s the same damned guy year in and year out, as far as I can tell.

  18. VaWolf82 05/27/2009 at 12:38 PM #

    Well I don’t know the VT’s RB name either, but I’m working on an article to summarize the ACC so I know that he was the 3rd leading rusher in the ACC last year…as a true freshman.

  19. choppack1 05/27/2009 at 1:30 PM #

    I know one name he’s not:

    George Bell.

    Oh, and he’s not Imoh either.

    BJD – Good point about them playing well. In their first year in the ACC, they played USC VERY tough. Their LSU game 2 years ago was a pure, unmitigated disaster. That was followed up by another disaster last year where Clempson was taken behind the woodshed by ‘Bama.

    I really like our match up vs. VaTech. We have a good qb that doesn’t make mistakes and a defense that does well vs. vanilla attacks.

    I know you see the next 3 years as our “window” – but I really think it may be this year because we come in AMC, Willie Young, Clem Johnson, Nate Irving and Ray Michelle as difference makers. I know that the first 3 won’t be back next year – and I think Irving is likely gone as well. I’m worried we don’t replace them w/ players that are as effective. I do think we look pretty good offensively though.

  20. StateFans 05/27/2009 at 1:38 PM #

    ^ Is that the kid from Florida who scored like 4,000 touchdowns in high school? Unstoppable

  21. packalum44 05/27/2009 at 2:26 PM #

    Does everyone here realize that Tyrod Taylor would be our 3rd string QB? Seriously, V-Tech will likely be solid at every position except the most important one. Unless Tyrod has a breakout year, they aren’t top 10 material. I haven’t seen any reason to believe he will. They might win their division and the ACC but that’s ACC f-ball for you and its why I love it. We have a legit shot starting this year and into the future to win it.

  22. RickJ 05/27/2009 at 3:56 PM #

    I think the RB at Virginia Tech in question is Darren Evans. He was a redshirt freshman from Indianapolis last year and very good. An odd place for Tech to get an RB. It seems like there was something odd about his situation, not bad necessarily, just different.

  23. Mike 05/27/2009 at 9:36 PM #

    Just heard on the UNC/Duke network that Calislimy and Memphis have been charged with MAJOR violations.

  24. LRM 05/27/2009 at 9:56 PM #

    “The Tiftway-419 hybrid Bermuda sod for the field is being grown on a sod farm and has already begun a regimen of mowing and fertilizing that will minimize the shock of transplant, Brincefield said.”

    Any turf grass majors out there that can reassure me we won’t be playing on a brown surface by mid-October like we did every year until the late 90s?

  25. pakfanistan 05/27/2009 at 10:24 PM #

    “Just heard on the UNC/Duke network that Calislimy and Memphis have been charged with MAJOR violations.”

    http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4210798

    NAAAAAHHHHH. Any suggestion that Cal doesn’t follow all the rules is just sour grapes by NC State fans.

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