The Symmetry of Loserdom

I remember sitting in Carter-Finley on Philip Rivers’ Senior Day. State was choking against Maryland, and with under three minutes to play, the Terps missed what would have been the game tying extra point. I swear to God, I turned immediately to my family and said “Great, now we will lose in regulation.” Which we most certainly did.

State went on to beat a comically inept Kansas team in a meaningless minor bowl game, but what could have been a special (or at least very good) season had slipped away. And that was pretty much it for the Chuck Amato era. The window had slammed shut, and nothing epitomized the floundering to come better than that game against Maryland.

Flash forward to today. A game with the Atlantic Division title on the line for the Pack. A game that we only needed to win because of Tom O’Brien’s inexplicable decision to punt late against Clemson (after numerous blown opportunities to put the Tiggers away). A mediocre opponent with nothing to play for, whose spirit should have been crushed after finding themselves in an early 14-0 hole.

Of course our sphincters slammed shut. Of course we spit the bit. Of course we allowed Maryland to go on a 38-3 run and win the game. Of course we pissed away a “once in a generation” opportunity for a special season. We are NC State. That’s just how we roll.

Tom O’Brien proved his skeptics right. He can’t win the big one. He does get tight in pressure situations. He is a “football Sendek.” At least he probably won’t get a parade for matching Amato’s high water mark (5-3 in conference play). We’ve learned that much from past experience, one would hope.

Just like that chilly fall afternoon when Rivers threw his last home pass – Russell Wilson threw his last ACC pass today. And just like I strongly felt then, I feel it now – the window has slammed shut. It’s not going to happen for NC State under Tom O’Brien. Unless the “it” you are looking for is an 8-win season and a minor bowl bid. Blech.

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.

'10 Football ACC Chuck Amato Tom O'Brien

185 Responses to The Symmetry of Loserdom

  1. papackman 11/27/2010 at 10:05 PM #

    Jeezz…weren’t we singing the praises of this guy just 4 days ago….something about the skeptics should be feeling better….BULL$HIT…TOB and his crowd are mediocre at best..there are no championships under this coaching staff….this is BC in red.

  2. Khan 11/27/2010 at 10:10 PM #

    100% right. He will not ever win the big game. He plays not to lose, as most mediocre coaches do. He plays the “traditional odds” rather than what actually works for our team. We’re as good as we’re going to be. We had everyone and their brother trying, just trying, to give us the Atlantic title, but we just wouldn’t take it. So, that’s it. As long as our head football coach is TOB, this is as good as it gets. Period. If you disagree, then prove me wrong. Just try. You can’t. Go ahead. Try.

  3. MA Wolfpack 11/27/2010 at 10:11 PM #

    It worked out for us, but why in the hell were we spiking the ball and wasting downs with 2 mins to go? Have a damn play called and be ready to go.

  4. Alex_01 11/27/2010 at 10:14 PM #

    I don’t remember who the officials were for that game but I distinctly remember mu being out of timeouts and two ‘injured’ mu players down on the field during their final drive with one of them miraculously jumping up and running to the sideline after he saw someone else was down. Also Greg golden was repeatedly burned in man coverage.

  5. scotchzombie 11/27/2010 at 10:17 PM #

    I’m tired. So damn tired.

  6. 61Packer 11/27/2010 at 10:19 PM #

    After watching the football team lay another egg on ESPN, and then sitting through 2 hours of further ugliness in the RBC Center tonight, I can say with a great deal of certainty that the pain of inept coaching staffs has only begun to pierce our skins this season.

  7. Avid109 11/27/2010 at 10:21 PM #

    TOB does indeed seem to be the football equivalent of Herb Sendek. He’ll run a clean program and get us to some lower-level bowl games, but it’s very unlikely that he’ll ever win an ACC title. If we really plan to win another ACC title, we’re going to need an aggressive coach. A coach who won’t let up once his team is up by a couple of scores. Coach Amato had that mindset, but he had numerous other shortcomings. I fear that any coach good enough to turn our football program into a powerhouse would never take the job in the first place.

  8. Wulfpack 11/27/2010 at 10:21 PM #

    I agree with everything said except that Maryland is medicore and had nothing to play for. Certainly, the Terrapin fans felt this way as nobody showed up in the 40 degree Mid-Atlantic weather. But Fridge does deserve some credit for saving his job by winning 6 of his last 9 to secure 8 wins and a second place finish in the Atlantic. They were playing for bowl position, which is something far better than they experienced last year.

    I got the feeling all week, not just on SFN but within my own Wolfpack brotherhood, that many Pack fans were overlooking this game — that it was just a formality. Indeed, we did, and indeed, the Pack did as well. It was my biggest fear realized.

    Maryland took it to us, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. It sucks that there is little to discuss other than Maryland’s prowess on the field today; but that is the bottom line. And the ultimate bottom line is that TOB is a middle of the road college football coach that will put a few good years together along the way, but never anything memorable.

  9. BJD95 11/27/2010 at 10:27 PM #

    We were smart to “pre-sell” bowl tickets while people were feeling excited about things. I don’t imagine too many people would feel like buying tickets after we laid this turd in the punch bowl.

    I am old enough to know better. No idea why I allowed myself to get excited. Very irritated with myself.

  10. GrandWolf 11/27/2010 at 10:30 PM #

    All I can think about is that “rap” sheet on TOB showing his win percentages against ranked teams, Other DIV 1 teams, and finally minor division opponents. TOB has not built his record against “stellar” opposition. The same “rap” sheet that worried the (#$(#$ out of me when he was hired.

    HOWEVER as a pathetic consolation, TOB is not at the bottom of the heap as long as BmfD is in the league.

  11. ncsu05mit10 11/27/2010 at 10:36 PM #

    The players laid as much of an egg as the coaches did today. George Bryan drops a wide open TD pass. Owen Spencer fails to reach out and get another… Our secondary made Maryland’s QB look prolific.

    I turned it off when the game was 38-17 in disgust.

    I’m pissed off as anyone else that we lost this one, but seriously– how many of us would have projected an 8-4 record for this team this year?

    TOB might be the Sendek of NCSU football, but that might be OK. We’re not the SEC. Sendek clearly wasn’t good enough for ACC football, so the comparisons aren’t totally the same.

    I just find the back and forth on this board between “this is the TOB team we’ve been waiting for” and “TOB should be fired” hilarious.

    I’m more worried about his recruiting than anything else, to be honest.

  12. albunde6 11/27/2010 at 10:41 PM #

    “Just when I think I’m free, they pull me back in”. Like BJD95 I should know better. I stopped watching basketball years ago, maybe that is the key for football. I can’t watch Bible run offense any more.

    2nd and 10 at the 12, I know a sweep to the short side of field. Yea, thats the ticket.

  13. Wulfpack 11/27/2010 at 10:47 PM #

    Oh, I’m not saying he should be fired. Hell no. What’s so sad is that this year is a colossal improvement of our program. But what’s so true, and cannot be refuted by reasonable minds, is that this is as high as TOB knows how to go. That’s it.

    So on the one hand, I salute him for turning this program around to a winning one. It was a long raod and it wasn’t easy. On the other, I’m discouraged, and in fact pissed at myself for believing that he could take us to a place we havent been in 31 years. I’m a sucker. And quite honestly, his recruiting stinks. And RW as played his last ACC game. So I SERIOUSLY doubt we reach this point again in his tenure. It is illogival to think otherwise.

    Football is a finicky game. We should have beat Clemson. We probably should have lost to UNC without ‘the revelation’ throw from RW. But today was a good ‘ole butt whipping — this the biggest game of TOB’s career. And that is certainly cause for concern. I don’t know how else to say it. TOB is what he is. He has yet to prove he is soemthing else.

  14. wvillepack 11/27/2010 at 10:48 PM #

    How many players in ncsu uniforms today will play in the nfl?

  15. BAC79 11/27/2010 at 10:49 PM #

    The brass ring was there to be grabbed. We sat on it instead.

    I’m sorry I just don’t buy this but we were better than pre season projections. Pre season prognostication is crap. When you have the opportunity, you have to seize it by the throat and choke it to death. Unfortunately, we just choked on our own vomit.

    In our last 8 games we were 4 – 4. What is so great about that? And, where is the week to week improvement we should be seeing during year number 4? This is just flabbergasting on so many levels.

  16. BJD95 11/27/2010 at 10:51 PM #

    Whether he retires next year, or four seasons from now – this is the closest Tom O’Brien gets to a championship of any kind. We got so many breaks, and he just would not cash them in.

    Go ahead and engrave the gold watch. It’s just a matter of when we hand it out.

  17. wvillepack 11/27/2010 at 10:55 PM #

    BAC79 you are right 4-4 is not special. We lost to ECU!!! A team that has given up a gazillion points this year…and we could only score 27 on them? I knew then that we were not that good. TOB is not going anywhere. We have to live with it. At least we didn’t cheat and go 7-5. Our guys played hard and did their best. It just isn’t good enough to be champions.

  18. wufpup76 11/27/2010 at 10:58 PM #

    Hey guys – PARADE TIME!

    See you in downtown Raleigh! 5-3! 5-3! 5-3!

    If only Ex-Lax or someone sponsored a bowl or a pre-season basketball tournament … or both.

    Then TOB could have a bowl he would be comfortable reaching and HWSNBN would have a basketball trophy to shoot for. The ‘Tightest Sphincter’ Trophy.

    “Jules, can you bail me out of my inexplicable usage of timeouts and late game strategy??!?”

    Awesome.

    That’s 5-3 MOFO’s.

  19. RBCRowdy 11/27/2010 at 10:59 PM #

    I am upset about today’s game but disagree 10,000% about the punt in the Clemson game. If that punt had not been 4 yards it would be a non-issue because the Pack still got the ball back. Harping on the 4 yard punt is just sour grapes on TOB.

    My question is, after watching the purely luck win against FSU and the choke against VT, what made people think this team was elite and deserving of playing for the ACC Title.

    I got excited, I bought ACC Championship Tickets, and I am upset over NCSU not playing next Saturday. But I cannot say its an unexpected scenario.

  20. BJD95 11/27/2010 at 10:59 PM #

    The EZU game was a mild annoyance. Today was a lot bigger than having bragging rights over a bunch of inbred hooligans.

    Of course, the end result is much the same. And I for one was not happy with the focus or the effort level today. Not one bit.

  21. tvp1 11/27/2010 at 11:00 PM #

    This is spot on, as per usual BJD.

    And this line of thinking was the impetus for my thread here:
    http://www.statefansnationforums.com/topic.php?id=3509
    which just takes the analysis to its logical conclusion.

  22. Statefan1998 11/27/2010 at 11:00 PM #

    How many on state’s team will play in the NFL? That is on this coaching staff. So not only is he an average coach, he is a terrible recruiter. Great combo.

  23. rky 11/27/2010 at 11:01 PM #

    old enough to know better . . . yep, I’m in that crowd. I kept saying ‘win something significant and then I’ll be impressed’. Well, I’m still waiting. We have now seen TOB’s ceiling. Too bad the Red & White couldn’t take care of business. Overall, our team won twice as many games as I predicted before the season started so I’m putting the pitchfork down for now. What a wasted chance though. Bring on the bowl game and then we can get fully invested in what will surely be another thrilling basketball season.

  24. leewolf 11/27/2010 at 11:04 PM #

    A part of me looks at this and says that I’m severely disappointed and that we should go ahead and jettison TOB & Co. in search of a staff that will hit the next level.

    The other part of me says that maybe this is as good as it gets. I’m 24 years old. The high water mark of my lifetime as a State fan was the “Peach of a Season” in MOC’s first year and the Gator Bowl year. Both of those seasons were about on par with the season we have had this year. So this season matches the best I have known in my lifetime under three different coaches.

    Will another coach make a difference? We have the AD now to take a chance and hire a coach that could break through…but I don’t know who that will be and it is hard for me to see getting someone that can actually build a winner.

  25. highstick 11/27/2010 at 11:06 PM #

    Well, all is not lost…We beat the Tarholes and Butch the Bitch for the 4th time in a row…

    Win a bowl game now!

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