Awful Pack Handed Awful Loss

'09 Football154

The ending was a perfect microcosm of the Keystone Kops effort by NC State. Wake was stopped dead to rights on 3rd and 6, but 2 (maybe 3) embarrassingly bad missed tackles later, and it’s first down Deacs. 30-24 is your final, and the game was not as close as the score would indicate.

Without question, this was the worst game (relative to personnel) of the Tom O’Brien era. The players and the coaching staff have alot to answer for after this one. Completely, absolutely, unequivocably inexcusable.

Someone else can cover the post-game quotes. I’m in no mood to hear a word of it.

Gallery: http://www.newsobserver.com/galleries/gallery/125955.html

First Look: http://www.newsobserver.com/galleries/gallery/125664.html

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

154 Responses to Awful Pack Handed Awful Loss

  1. stoncuttr 10/04/2009 at 12:14 PM #

    If the ‘Pack wins the next two (big ‘if’ but very possible) they will be 5-2(2-1 ACC) and tied atop the division headed into a bye week. The season is not over because of one road loss to a rival.The true fortitude of this team will so in the next two games. All of this Chicken Little talk is premature and should be withheld until atleast the buy week.

  2. wolfpackattack89 10/04/2009 at 12:19 PM #

    rdjennin

    so true.
    it’s a vicious cycle.

  3. GAWolf 10/04/2009 at 12:23 PM #

    I tend to agree. Much needs to be fixed for this team to reach its ultimately preseason goal, but given what else happened yesterday in the ACC that goal is still very much in reach. It’s a shame that knuckleheaded play seems to dominate this team to date, but there’s enough to work with there to think it could still be turned around.

    And TOB told us we had a bad team. Receivers jumping off sides. Guys turning sacks into 15 yard penalties with Unsportsmanlike penalties. Stone-handed receivers. Missed tackles. We’re bad. If the team will believe that and work to get better, we’ve got a chance.

  4. Rick 10/04/2009 at 12:52 PM #

    “Chaos & Disorder – It’s quite possible. With the matchup problems we’ll have, and Cutcliffe being a coach who can exploit them, Duke could lay a lot of points on us next week. We may, may, have to outscore them to win.”

    So you, someone who obviously knows more than I about football, are ready to accept a loss to DUKE? Seriously if we cannot beat Duke in football we do not deserve to field a team. You can talk down to me all you want but the truth is our team is undisciplined and lacking in the bare fundamentals of football. Even I can see that.

    Maybe you can explain this, how can Cutcliffe make Duke better than NCSU in two years? You keep telling us it takes years to build up the talent. Apparently it took Cutcliffe two years to bypass TOB.

  5. elvislives 10/04/2009 at 12:55 PM #

    This is the 105th comment on the game and I have to be the first to say it: Our defensive line is amazing. Those guys played their asses off.

    Good thing we haven’t lost a game (yet) by more than 6 points that we actually had a chance to win on our last offensive drive. I wonder what the comments will look like after a 10 point loss?

    Next topic, I hate Tim Tebow and Florida. But those fa**ots win ball games with that garbage QB run first offense. It may not be a pro-style approach but it wins ballgames by keeping the opposition off balance. We have a QB in Raleigh with similar athletic capabilities, so why not try it here?

    Am I the only one that thinks our offensive coordinator is STILL trying to push a square peg through a round hole by making Wilson a pocket passer? I don’t care that we have the best 2nd Baseman in the ACC as our QB, he’s not the second coming of Rivers so quit trying to make him a Heisman winner. Just do what it takes to win the damn ballgame!

  6. Wulfpack 10/04/2009 at 1:13 PM #

    “We have a QB in Raleigh with similar athletic capabilities, so why not try it here?”

    Because we do not have an OL with half the talent that Florida has. Because if RW gets hurt, our season is over. RW is 5-11 201 lbs. Tebow is 6-3 245 lbs. BIG difference there. Try that junk here and RW won’t be playing very long.

  7. LRM 10/04/2009 at 2:08 PM #

    “I have never seen a group of people abandon ship so quickly in my life. We played a bad game and lost to a pretty good (not great) team and all of the sudden the coaching staff is worthless and the team is terrible.”

    Now THIS is an example of an over-reaction. No one’s abandoning ship. This is what many of do after a loss — especially when we looked THAT bad. We vent excessively. It makes us feel better. I’ve sworn 3476286 times in my life that I was never watching another State football or basketball game. I’m always done after every loss. I’m always sick of it. Most everyone on here is the same way.

    And yet C-F will still be full next Saturday and most of us will be there cheering as hard as we can.

  8. BeaufortCoPack 10/04/2009 at 2:10 PM #

    We’ll be fine. It’s a long season. Most of us knew coming into the season we were a year or two away. I like most others were hoping for a few “lucky” wins.

  9. BeaufortCoPack 10/04/2009 at 2:13 PM #

    We lack speed across the entire roster. That would compensate for some of the missed tackles. You see that with a lot of teams today (trying to make the big hit without wrapping up)

  10. elvislives 10/04/2009 at 2:25 PM #

    @ Wulfpack

    Clearly Tebow is bigger than RW. But you’ve made my point, a 5’11” does not have the stature to be a pocket passer. And don’t give me the Doug Flutie example.

    As for the offensive line, State may not have the talent of Florida but they certainly have the depth. And they don’t have the fierce matchups of an SEC schedule so they would have the advantage of facing only average defensive lines.

    I’m saying that RW’s athletic skills are similar to what I’ve seen Tebow do with his arm/legs. And I feel like the offensive coordinator is denying NC State the opportunity to reach its full potential by not showcasing those skills in a manner similar to how Florida changed their playbook when Tebow came to school.

    It is the responsibility of the offensive coordinator to utilize all offensive weapons and give the team the best opportunity to score points and control the tempo of the game. We have not seen many good examples of this being done in the first 5 games.

  11. blpack 10/04/2009 at 2:37 PM #

    RW didn’t have it going today and we lost. Many other things went wrong as well, but he couldn’t save us. I don’t where we will find 4 ACC wins in order to win the division, cause that’s about all it will take. Bad loss, but we deserved it.

  12. TheAliasTroll 10/04/2009 at 3:43 PM #

    “And absolutely NOBODY close to the program expected any more than 5-7 seasons out of TOB before he retired. ”

    I will tell you one thing. If I was TOB and I had to read crap like this after a loss I’d have no problems retiring or moving on. Just ask Herb Sendek. Maybe we can run TOB off and hire Jay Davis, or better yet Daniel Evans to be the head coach.

    Awful Pack? Give me a break.

  13. pack fan 10/04/2009 at 6:02 PM #

    Wake has always been like that freakin bug that keeps flying in your face. You swat and swat at it and it still keeps coming back. Thank gooodness we will never see Skinner again. Oh yeah, thanks ref for the invisibe tripping penalty that you called on Big George. That really killed a great drive you freakin morons. Oh well, here comes Duke. I sure hope that we dont have to sit through another one of those 47-45 games from years past. GO State!!

  14. tjfoose2 10/04/2009 at 7:05 PM #

    “…how can Cutcliffe make Duke better than NCSU in two years?”

    Never said he did. I never said Duke was better, I never said I expected a loss.

    Football, and college football in particular, is a game of matchups.

    A simple analysis of each team shows Duke’s strength will be matched up against our weakness. Add the rivalry that we are to Duke football and past performances by Duke at Carter-Finley, that leads me to believe that it is possible that we are in for a tight game next week.

    If Lewis is on Saturday, Duke’s strength on offense will be matching up against our weakness – our DB’s. Look what Duke did to VT yesterday… a 26-34 loss, with Lewis going 22 of 40 for 359 yds, 2 TD’s and zero ints. That was against VT’s defense.

    Oh, but I get it. I guess if you all were VT fans you’d be calling for Beamer’s head and talking about how terrible VT’s defense is… that if that horrible team Duke could do that to you, heck, VT will be lucky to win another game.

    Get a f’n clue people. I guess this is idiots and morons week here at statefansnation.

    For those who think Duke should pose no competition, that the Wolfpack should blow them out, that a loss, or even a close game proves TOB can not coach and our team and program is destined for failure… I suggest you keep your ignorance to yourself.

    This site has become too rank for me, full of loathing, full of ignorance, full of blame.

    You don’t deserve a winning team, you don’t deserve the effort put in by this team, you don’t deserve the class TOB has instilled in our program, you don’t deserve a player like Russell Wilson representing your team to the nation.

    They’ll be plenty of room on the baby blue bandwagon once Butchie get’s things going in Chapel Hill. I suggest many of you hop on, kindred spirits await your arrival.

    In the mean time, have fun wallering in your loathing and self hate.

  15. tvbman 10/04/2009 at 7:21 PM #

    I was one of the few that predicted Wake would win this game. Wake is not a good football team, but Skinner is a good QB. When you play zone against a good (and accurate) QB, you are going to get lit up. I understand that our CBs are young and very inexperienced, but we should have blitzed more and played man to man.

    I have said it before and I will continue to say it. Tom O’Brien is the Herb Sendek of college football.

  16. tjfoose2 10/04/2009 at 7:33 PM #

    elvislives – good questions.

    In defense to TOB and staff, they actually have adjusted the offense to fit Wilson’s skill set. It’s just difficult to see because he has yet to set a baseline, here in Raleigh anyway.

    TOB prefers the pro set and I formations of the classic ‘pocket passer’. Wilson’s ability is why we primarily run out of the shotgun. It helps him get a quicker/better read on the defense, and facilitates his scrambling/running.

    For State to run an offense similar to Florida’s would be a complete change of our offensive system. It would require everyone learning new techniques, different reads, and employing an overall different philosophy.

    I do agree that Wilson’s build would not withstand the type of punishment that Tebow takes week in and week out. But I too would like to see a few more designed runs. I remember one from Saturday, but there might have been two. A few more option/read plays as employed by Rich Rodriguez a la Pat White would be nice too.

    And yes, the D Line was awesome yesterday.

  17. Wulfpack 10/04/2009 at 8:07 PM #

    2 years and 5 games into Chuck Amato’s tenure at NCSU, he was 20-9 overall and 9-8 in the ACC. 2 years and five games into TOB’s tenure at NCSU, he is 14-16 overall and 7-10 in the ACC.

  18. redterror16 10/04/2009 at 8:18 PM #

    Did anyone else notice the sun came up today?

  19. tjfoose2 10/04/2009 at 8:20 PM #

    “2 years and 5 games into Chuck Amato’s tenure at NCSU, he was 20-9 overall and 9-8 in the ACC. 2 years and five games into TOB’s tenure at NCSU, he is 14-16 overall and 7-10 in the ACC.”

    And I paid almost $4 for a gallon of milk yesterday.

    Has about as much relevance as your comparison.

    Your comparison, stated slightly differently, w/ a little more relevance:

    2 years and 5 games after O’Cain’s tenure, NCSU was 20-9 overall and 9-8 in the ACC. 2 years and five games after Amato’s tenure, NCSU is 14-16 overall and 7-10 in the ACC.

  20. tjfoose2 10/04/2009 at 8:28 PM #

    “Did anyone else notice the sun came up today?”

    Oh, I thought that was a fire demon coming to smite the wretched evil doers at the Murphy Center.

  21. GAWolf 10/04/2009 at 8:50 PM #

    TJFoose: I for one have enjoyed reading your perspectives and opinions. Don’t jump ship just yet. We lost a game that all of us thought (and still think) we could (should) win (have won). It’s frustrating. Strictly by the numbers there’s reason to question TOB. However, there is so much more than numbers when assessing the early years of a coach’s tenure. We’re going in the right direction, and even most of the folks who are extremely upset about the Wake loss will acknowledge that.

    There’s good reason to question why our guys are still making boneheaded plays. We’re far enough into TOB’s tenure that the Amato-esque knuckleheadedness should be completely purged from the program by now. For 3 weeks in a row we’ve seen the same stuff. I think that’s where most of the frustration is… not necessarily that we lost another game in a year no one expected us to go close to undefeated, but the way we’ve lost those games. (Missed catches, offsides, personal fouls, unsportsmanlike penalties, missed tackles). The ACC is EXTREMELY weak this year, and we really need to take advantage of the opportunity. The team isn’t playing like they understand that. That’s frustrating.

  22. wolfpack95 10/04/2009 at 11:19 PM #

    Two words summarize the Wake game: Missed opportunities.
    Those two words described our game vs BC last season. Both of these games looked very similar—lapses in special teams and the secondary.

    I am VERY disappointed in the loss, but with wins vs Duke and BC, we are 4-2 (2-1 ACC) going into the break. Both games are winnable. 8-4 is still achievable, but the secondary, special teams and O line are going to have to grow up…quick…and they can.

    No reason to NOT be positive for our team for the remainder of the season.

  23. tjfoose2 10/04/2009 at 11:39 PM #

    GAWolf – Thanks. My last comment was sarcasm. Read my other posts here, I’m one of the minority not reading doom and gloom into yesterday’s loss. Perspective is everything, and I think TOB has us ahead of schedule… Oops, I just reread, from jumping ship you meant from StateFansNation? Either way, I understand you concerns.

    I too am upset, angry, frustrated with the loss. I don’t have any problem w/ anyone expressing those emotions and the reasons for them… it’s the personal attacks as to the quality and talent of the players and staff that upsets me.

    Most of our issues this year can be attributed to inexperience and youth, both in terms of individual personnel, and in terms of ‘program’. That is, a program is being built, it is still a work in progress. Depth is still being developed, a winning culture is still being established.

    Think about it, if Rashard Smith was healthy – someone I’ve been touting as a future stud since preseason, we’d have started 3 freshman in our defensive backfield against Wake.

    Thinking further… what is the strength of our football team? The defensive line. Why? Look no further than the four starting seniors. Why are their young backups performing at high levels? Ask them, and they tell you it’s the coaches AND the seniors mentoring them.

    Though there is more comparative raw talent on our other units, the DLine is out performing them due to experience and leadership. Now projecting, imagine the strength of our defensive backfield in 2-3 years?

    I’m looking beyond the surface, I’m reading behind the x’s and o’s, I’m seeing the depth and foundation being laid. I’m looking past the team and seeing a winning program and culture being established.

    We’ll need seniors and juniors who have experienced winning as freshman and sophomore before our program has ‘matured’. We’ll need juniors and seniors who have learned as freshman and sophomores how to win, how to manage the emotions, the effort, the expectations, week to week of a 12-14 game season. We’ll need seniors and juniors who have experienced all that to mentor the underclassmen of the team.

    Side note: [This is why I think Shannon will have Miami back to being the ‘U’ in a year or two, assuming he holds onto his talented coordinators. They were horrible last year, but on the verge of breaking out this year. Yet with all that talent, they will still lay an occasional egg due to the youthfulness of Shannon’s program and culture at Miami. His players are still learning to win, and how to manage an entire season. I think State is on a similar path, Miami just has a steeper learning curve due to the quantity of superior talent. Also similarly, many in their fan base were calling for Shannon’s head.]

    Coaching is coaching… leaving that as a side issue for a moment, there is much more to a winning program than coaching x’s and o’s. A winning culture needs to be established.

    Through the growing pains I see on the field, I see a more important back story. I see a program being built, I see a winning culture being instilled.

    Year two + 4 games A.A. (after Amato, ie a roster in shambles) is not the time for the tone and attitude of many of the above postings.

    If Saturday were year four + 4 games, you wouldn’t have read word one from me offering a countering point of view.

    Like I’ve commented before, let TOB be, and at worst he’ll deliver an 8-9 wins per season program. How much further we go depends upon recruiting and the fanbase. The former not being completely unaffected by the latter.

    Go Wolfpack!

  24. tjfoose2 10/04/2009 at 11:53 PM #

    … again thanks GAWolf. I appreciate the acknowledgement and shared sentiment.

    PS: Regarding some, but admittedly only ‘some’ of the “Amato-esque knuckleheadedness”, on an earlier posting, I broke down the penalties and found, IMHO, there were 4 ‘dumb’ penalties costing us only 30 yards. I think the combined affect sometimes magnifies the perception.

    Right now, again IMHO, our four main concerns are 1)tackling, 2)tackling, 3) kick coverage teams, 4)our zone defense w/ a freshman backfield.

    Regarding Duke:
    Lewis is not nearly as accurate as Skinner (who is?), so the margin of error for our young DB’s will be a lot bigger. I doubt Duke’s OLine provides the same challenge as Wake’s, so I expect we’ll be able to pressure Lewis w/o as many blitzes.

    Our offense should outclass their defense, should. We should win, probably 14 point favorites. My one caveat is Lewis. If he is dead on Saturday, it could be a shootout.

  25. Rick 10/05/2009 at 8:04 AM #

    “Get a f’n clue people. I guess this is idiots and morons week here at statefansnation.”

    The name calling will stop. If you cannot post our opinion without insulting someone who disagrees with you maybe you should go to the monkey board.

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