It’s Gameday folks and our beloved Wolfpack take the field for the first time this season. Perfect weather for September and plenty of time to tailgate. For those going to the game be safe.
September 3, 2011
NC STATE FOOTBALL
COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: TODAY!!!!
Luke DeCock (N&O)
Pressure is on N.C. State’s Glennon
So that’s Glennon’s burden, not merely replacing a legend, but replacing a displaced legend. Jay Davis had a tough enough time replacing Philip Rivers as it was; imagine if Rivers had been encouraged to spend his senior year playing somewhere else.
Rivers, of course, never tried to play two sports at the same time, and if Wilson had been willing to commit to football last winter, he’d probably still be here – and basking in the kind of adoration bestowed upon Rivers as a senior.
Instead, this is Glennon’s team now, and it’s hard to shake the sense that O’Brien has been waiting three years for this moment. At 6-foot-7, Glennon is his kind of quarterback, in the same mold as the guys who brought O’Brien so much success at Boston College – Matt Ryan, Brian St. Pierre and Matt Hasselbeck.
Rarely does a coach hitch himself to one player like this, but O’Brien is clearly lined up behind Glennon with everything on the line. So not only is Glennon under the microscope as a first-time starter, but he’s starting because an all-ACC quarterback was pushed aside to make room.
JP Giglio (N&O)
Today’s game: Previewing Liberty at N.C. State
Akula Wolf (BackingthePack.com)
Liberty Week: Some Final Thoughts
PackPride.com
Week 1: Liberty
PackPride.com
Notebook: Pack Ready for Opener
CFN.com
CFN’s Take: NC State vs. Liberty
What To Watch Out For: NC State LB Terrell Manning is ready for the spotlight and to become the leader of an improving defense. Flashes of excellence were shown in 2010, in which he closed the season on a tear with huge games against Clemson and North Carolina. The loss of star Nate Irving will sting, so it is critical that Manning take control of the unit early in order to keep the cohesiveness together as the season progresses.
Audie Cole will move from his previous strong side position to the middle to fill void of Irving. Both Cole and Manning will look to get off to fast starts to garner the media attention that eluded both a year ago.
PackPride.com
PREDICTIONS: Pack Will Win 10
Brett Friedlander (Starnewsonline.com)
Ten bold predictions for the 2011 ACC football season
4 . N.C. State won’t be undefeated heading to Tallahassee, Oct.29, but it will end up with nine wins again anyway: The Wolfpack will lose at either Wake Forest or Cincinnati, if not both, but will get better as the season goes on and its offense matures. Other than Florida State, it’s toughest ACC games are at home and its nonconference schedule is anything but scary.
3. Mike Glennon’s numbers this season, both on the stat sheet and in the win column, will be similar to those posted by Russell Wilson last season: Throwing for 3,500 yards and 28 touchdowns while winning nine games is asking a lot of a kid who will be starting his first college game Saturday, but he certainly has the skills and the pedigree to it. Besides, coach Tom O’Brien wouldn’t have let Wilson go if he didn’t think Glennon was a capable replacement.
Brett Friedlander (Starnewsonline.com)
Five questions to ponder before kickoff
Riddick & Reynolds
ACC Roundtable: 2011 Preseason Edition
Riddick & Reynolds
Give Me (A Win Over) Liberty Or Give Me Death
GoPack.com
Season Opener Sold Out
Tony Haynes (GoPack.com)
Glennon, Pack Open with Liberty
On the surface, getting your first start against an FCS school would seem to be the perfect tonic for a confidence-building experience. But in this case, the popular perceptions may not necessarily be reality. In six years under head coach Danny Rocco, Liberty has won 40 of 56 games while capturing four consecutive Big South Conference titles. Once an assistant under Al Groh with both the New York Jets and the University of Virginia, Rocco is a big believer in the `30′ defense, a system that employs three down linemen, and an assortment of changing looks in the back seven. In other words, Glennon and his offensive line will be getting a lot of different disguises, blitzes and fronts from the Flames defense on Saturday.
“If the game looks to [Glennon] the way it looked to him all week in practice, then we’re going to be in trouble because he’s going to be able to get back there and recognize the coverage, go through his reads and make the throws,” Rocco said. “But if things are a little different and not quite like the way they looked on film a year ago or the way they looked with the scout team this week, then he might be a little more indecisive. That’s what you really like to do.”
Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
Q&A: NC State Offensive coordinator Dana Bible
How smart is Glennon on the football field?
“Very smart. You always have to keep it fresh. You never let him get comfortable. He probably would embarrass me [if he coached for a day]. I’d probably be looking for a new job.
“There is no question that he’s at a time in his career that his command of the notebook and his command of the X’s and O’s is very, very strong. Like we’ve all talked about, it’s time to play.
“As we all know, how that translates is what is exciting about what is coming, not only at the quarterback position but anybody that is new. When they make that transition from seeing the plays and see the pictures and they go out on the practice field, to doing it in the game. How quick and how successful they are to making that transition is always the challenge in college. As we all know, change is constant in college, more-so I would argue than the pros.”
Matt Carter (TheWolfpacker.com)
Wentz, offensive line ready to start the season
Fans may have been nervous by the statistics released by NC State from the preseason scrimmages, showing lots of sacks and tackles for losses, but Wentz noted the maturation process for the offensive line takes time.
“After you play that first game is really when you get best feel for how everyone is,” Wentz said. “Playing against our defense every day it gets repetitive and you can’t really tell. Once you play against another opponent, someone wearing a different color than you, I really feel like that’s when the group comes together the best.”
Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
NC State gets unexpected boost at CB
Burriss was a bit of a sleeper coming out of Daytona Beach (Fla.) Mainland High. He played behind Purdue sophomore cornerback Ricardo Allen and Clemson freshman cornerback Cortez Davis under coach Scott Wilson.
“I had a couple of good players in front of me,” Burriss said. “I was behind them a little bit.”
Burriss emerged his senior year with 70 tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble and four pass breakups. His tackling ability is what led him to play boundary cornerback.
“The speed is the biggest adjustment [from high school],” Burriss said. “That is pretty much it. My high school coach was from Charleston University, so he was teaching us the college coverages. I know the coverages because it’s pretty much the same.”
MULTIMEDIA/PODCAST
Riddick & Reynolds
R&R Podcast – Lunch With Adam And Joe
