Friday Farrago

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September 16, 2011

NC STATE FOOTBALL

Ryan Tice (TheWolfpacker.com)
Game slowing for Mike Glennon

The most noticeable thing for Glennon between his first two college starts was how the game began to slow down against Wake Forest, although the ACC opponents offered a stiffer test than Liberty, members of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

“I think Wake Forest is probably more athletic than Liberty but I felt the speed, for me, seemed slower,” he said. “With them being faster guys and the game feeling slower to me, that is always a good thing. I think it will continue to slow down as we progress.”

Ryan Tice (TheWolfpacker.com)
Q&A: Tom O’Brien talks receivers and more

T.J., Tobais, and Mike Glennon were all in the same recruiting class, although you had to wait a while to get them all on the field at the same time, but what did you envision when you knew that they could be your future passing game?

I think that T.J. and Mike hit it off from the day they came to camp. It’s one of those things that T.J. finally found somebody who could throw the ball longer then he run to catch it. They’ve been looking forward to this opportunity and certainly Tobais has a lot of speed, he was a running back in high school so he’s still learning the wide out position. As we said earlier, it was a little different look, instead of the big, powerful guys at wideout, we’ve got some little speedier guys right now so that’s where we are.

JP GIGLIO (N&O)
Pack’s Grant dismissed from football team

GoPack.com
Gottfried Prepares For Military Appreciation Day Jump

Gottfried will be teamed with Army Sergeant First Class Mike Elliott, the Rangers’ Group parachute team leader, who has over 9,000 solo jumps and over 3,000 tandem jumps to his credit. Elliott has twice jumped with President George H. Bush and also with actor Dennis Haysbert and NBA legend Karl Malone.

On Thursday morning, Elliott put Gottfried through a 45-minute pre-jump training at the Murphy Center, instructing the Wolfpack coach on the features of the safety equipment and parachute; on the proper way to exit the plane; what to do and not to do during the jump and landing procedure.

GoPack.com
Football Players Visit Elementary School

Three members of the Wolfpack football squad took some time this afternoon to visit with fourth and fifth graders at Kingswood Elementary School in Cary. Audie Cole, Curtis Underwood and Wayne Crawford talked to the young people about the importance of sportsmanship and teamwork at an assembly in the school’s gym.

Following the assembly, the students will write essays about what they learned. They will be judged on content, writing style, organization and creativity by representatives of the university’s English Department.

GoPack.com
Thursday Football Notebook

Matt Carter (TheWolfpacker.com)
Wolfpack commitments in action

MULTIMEDIA/PODCAST

Inside Wolfpack Sports

In today’s episode, Don Shea visits with Quarterback Mike Glennon after practice.

Ryan Tice (TheWolfpacker.com)
The Wolfpacker Podcast: South Alabama preview

In the newest installment of The Wolfpacker Podcast, editor Matt Carter joins host Ryan Tice to give a quick scouting report on safety commit Josh Sessoms from Bailey (N.C.) Southern Nash High and preview two possible official visitors for the South Alabama contest. We also recap what went wrong in the loss to Wake Forest and preview Saturday’s tilt with the Jaguars from South Alabama. In addition, editor Jacey Zembal joins The Wolfpacker Podcast to wrap up with a game of over/under.

Riddick and Reynolds
R&R Podcast: Episode 18

Episode 18 is just your typical Riddick & Reynolds Podcast episode: a discussion about our men’s basketball coach skydiving into Carter-Finley, Chuck discussing Rocky Mountain Oysters and the second installment of The Sniff Ratings.

Oh, and we do say a few words here or there about the Wake Forest debacle.

ACC FOOTBALL

Al Featherston (ACCSportsJournal)
Saturday Is ACC’s Chance To Shine

Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
What the other guys are saying

ACC EXPANSION TALK

CAULTON TUDOR (N&O)
Texas, ACC a good fit

It’s not out of the question that the school could stay put and use its clout to reinvent the Big 12 by helping to recruit from Conference USA and maybe the SEC. The Longhorns could go to the Pac-10 or take advantage of a lucrative television network and become an independent, like Notre Dame.

According to the report out of Austin, talks between Texas and the ACC have yet to reach a mature stage. But the overall uncertainty has reportedly led to action by at least one ACC school. The Palm Beach Post reported Tuesday that Florida State has formed an exploratory committee to evaluate its conference options, including a possible move to the SEC.

Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
Relax, Texas is just using the ACC as leverage

Is anybody out there really buying this Texas to the ACC malarkey?

It’s an intriguing possibility, for sure, especially from a football standpoint.

And as card-carrying traditionalist, I’m all for any idea that will help keep the league’s base intact – even if it means expanding the definition of “Atlantic Coast” 1,200 miles to the Lone Star State.

UNC FALLOUT

ROBBI PICKERAL (N&O)
NCAA’s follow-up visit over at UNC

NCAA personnel visited North Carolina (2-0) to conduct follow-up work related to the investigation of the football program.

The NCAA was not in town Thursday, team spokesman Kevin Best said.

Details of the reasons for the visit were not disclosed, and Best referred all other questions to the NCAA. In an email Wednesday, NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said that in order to protect the integrity of an investigation, the NCAA cannot comment on an inquiry.

North Carolina officials are preparing a response to NCAA allegations of nine major violations in the football program involving impermissible benefits and academic fraud.

The school’s written response to those allegations – which university officials have said they will make public – is due Monday.

ROBBI PICKERAL (N&O)
UNC expecting ‘full allotment of players’ for Virginia game

NCAA FOOTBALL

Andrea Adelson (ESPN.com)
Boise State gets three years’ probation

The Boise State football program will be docked nine scholarships over a three-year period, and the athletic department must serve three years’ probation as a result of widespread rules violations, the NCAA announced Tuesday.

Boise State had already self-imposed the probationary period in the wake of violations involving more than 75 prospects and student-athletes across five different sports. The NCAA added six scholarship reductions in football to the three the school had already taken away and cited the school for “lack of institutional control.”

ACC BASKETBALL

Dan Wiederer (Fayetteville Observer)

Final farewell: My Five Favorite Players to Interview

Final farewell: The Five Best Tobacco Road Players I covered

Final Farewell: Three of the Stupidest Things I Wrote

Final Farewell: Three of the Smarter Things I Wrote

MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

MARTHA QUILLIN (N&O)
Kinston to bid Indians team adieu

With a cold front bearing down, it was the end of summer. With the Kinston Indians in the third game of the Mills Cup Championship Series, it was nearly the end of baseball season. With no new team in sight for Grainger Stadium, it felt like the end of an era.

The K-Tribe took to the field Thursday night in the third game of the best-of-five series tied one-to-one with the Frederick Keys of Maryland. It was bittersweet for the team and its fans; by Saturday, the Indians could be the 2011 Carolina League champions, their last championship in Kinston.

However the series ends, when it’s over, the Indians will leave for their new home at Five County Stadium in Zebulon.

About 1.21 Jigawatts

Class of '98, Mechanical Engineer, State fan since arriving on campus and it's been a painful ride ever since. I live by the Law of NC State Fandom, "For every Elation there is an equal and opposite Frustration."

'11 Football ACC & Other ACC Teams Big Four Rivals College Basketball College Football Football Recruiting Mark Gottfried Multimedia Pro Sports UNC Scandal

55 Responses to Friday Farrago

  1. Baccapacker 09/16/2011 at 8:25 AM #

    Hate to see Wiederer leave. Fay observer is the paper I get and I always felt he was a good college bball writer and was always fair to the Pack. Only wtf thing I can remember reading from him was his suggestions for our new coach, Capel was one of em so yeah, wtf.

  2. howlie 09/16/2011 at 8:27 AM #

    Weiderer’s starting an autobiography on narcissism.

  3. Lunatic Fringe 09/16/2011 at 8:43 AM #

    Monday should be fun…

    “The school’s written response to those allegations – which university officials have said they will make public – is due Monday”

  4. LRM 09/16/2011 at 8:47 AM #

    Does Caulton Tudor not know that it’s now (officially) the Pac-12?

  5. NCStatePride 09/16/2011 at 8:49 AM #

    Expect a letter blugeoned with redactions on Monday from the Hole camp…

  6. logarithm 09/16/2011 at 9:00 AM #

    I must be really out of the loop if I’m only now hearing of the Indians leaving Kinston. I grew up between Goldsboro and Kinston and my little league teams went to see games all the time. I guess in Zebulon they’ll be closer to a larger population center.

  7. jljones 09/16/2011 at 9:12 AM #

    Sorry about my spelling errors yesterday—I was venting in anger but the facts are evident. Four plus years of no winning results, low rated recruits, losses we should have won, very questionable deceisions in close games and no defense all add up to the terrible results this coaching staff as achieved. Are we going repeat history by allowing them to stick around any longer or are we going to be proactice for a change and cut them loose NOW? We have practiced the defintion of insanity up until now–“Keep doing the same old thing and expect a different result”.

  8. Ashman87 09/16/2011 at 9:18 AM #

    I now we’ll win tommorrow, but I hope that we have a more convincing and complete win on BOTH sides of the ball.

  9. gotohe11carolina 09/16/2011 at 9:55 AM #

    should we feed the unx response through the Google machine to look for similarities with osu’s and usc’s responses, or should we leave that to pp?

  10. Hungwolf 09/16/2011 at 10:13 AM #

    Gottfried skydiving, Ha! Seems I remeber Monte Kiffin riding around on a horse and didn’t he do a parachute/skydive stunt also?

  11. TruthBKnown Returns 09/16/2011 at 10:30 AM #

    jljones, correction: THREE years of no winning results, and a fourth year with winning results (9-4, 5-3) and a bowl win over a very respectable opponent.

    Your complaints may be valid, but don’t taint your argument by dismissing a solid season as a losing result. TOB has been rebuilding since he arrived. Maybe we should be a little more forgiving of his first three years.

    Now if this season is a trainwreck, there’s not a lot we can say to defend him. But at least let the season play out before judging. We’re only (1-1, 0-1). We have some very good players returning from injury in another week or two.

    How about we see what happens before we throw the baby out with the bathwater.

  12. Ashman87 09/16/2011 at 11:09 AM #

    I’ll say this. I now understand why Sweezy was named defensive captain. I hope he lives up to the recognition when he comes back.

  13. jljones 09/16/2011 at 11:14 AM #

    Drink some Koolade TruthBKnown–fifty plus years of drinking it is enough for me. Your wait and see attitude is what we have always done in the past—a refusal to see the facts and react on the facts. This is a trainwreck and who are the good players TOB has recruited? Yes, you are correct, last season was a success–does that mean we have to wait another 3 more years for “maybe” a winning season? At no time in my career was I given that time luxury. TOB,s lack of recruting and inept coaching staff have caught up with him. We have no winning “Brand” in football and no kid wants to come to a program such as ours. To rebuild we will have to hire a NAME coach and it will cost some $$$$$. The recruits will then come. We have always looked for the cheap way–you are either fully committed or you are headed for years of futility.

  14. wolfdog1 09/16/2011 at 11:32 AM #

    Its going to take us five more years (plus) of this crapt, to finally see that OB is not a big time winner. This is sad with the mess over at the Hill we out to be recruiting big time. Our quarterback has set on the side line for three years and not given hardly a chance to go in and get some experience. Thanks coaching staff!!!!

  15. NCStatePride 09/16/2011 at 12:42 PM #

    The man had a successful season last year. Truth he told, he hasn’t been poised to become a “big time winner” until this season and next so I think it’s premature to state that he can’t be a “big time winner” in Carter-Finley.

  16. Vegaswolf 09/16/2011 at 1:10 PM #

    I can understand some frustration about the Wake loss but in light of what’s happening around the country, I think it’s more difficult than most think to build a good program on sound footing. Even the Cinderella story of Boise St. is now on probation. TOB has us in the right direction. Will we win a National Championship? I doubt it. Are we close to winning the ACC? Yes, closer than some think.

    Having a back-up QB get some snaps now and then is hardly a recipe for certain success. Plus, how much experience does mop-up duty really provide?

    The D-line injuries are hurting us. That’s not an excuse, it’s a reason. Jljones, if you’ve been a Pack fan for 50 years, why the frustration? Was there a few national titles in football you experienced that others haven’t? I guess I’m not sure about from where it is your frustration is emanating.

    Nevertheless, Pack wins at least nine games this year.

  17. swfncsu 09/16/2011 at 1:13 PM #

    “Its going to take us five more years (plus) of this crapt, to finally see that OB is not a big time winner. This is sad with the mess over at the Hill we out to be recruiting big time. Our quarterback has set on the side line for three years and not given hardly a chance to go in and get some experience. Thanks coaching staff!!!!”

    I think there is a race between you and Jljones in the “make our graduates and fans look psychotic and imbecilic” competition.

    Please calm down and understand that nothing will happen this year, and when we do get in a groove and stop whining, you will crawl back in your rodent-hole and stop voicing your opinion.

    How quickly we forget the “wonderful” years of Chuck the Chest and My Co’cain…to me, it’s been exciting to see someone build something from virtually nothing, bring in players that want to win, know that he HAS to beat UNC (no excuses), and treats discipline as a real thing, and not a t-shirt to make players wear under their jerseys.

    The Russell Favre whiners need to STOP

  18. swfncsu 09/16/2011 at 1:23 PM #

    On a happier note, I am very excited to see Gott’s dive tomorrow in Carter-Finley. Hope he lands on the 50 and not on top of us in the lower bowl…

  19. NCStatePride 09/16/2011 at 1:26 PM #

    I’ve always found the “black or white” arguments entertaining. TOB is either “really turning the program around, on the right track, and poising us for another 9-win season” or TOB is “a fraud of a ‘good coach’ who continues to make stubborn decisions and get rid of his best players”.

    What are we, 12? The truth is somewhere between the two extremes: this team has not started where it should this season. We are seeing a lot of fundamental errors that even O’Brien admits we are making. Remember his comments from the other night? “We need to get back to the basics.” Fans that are frustrated and pessemistic about O’Brien have every right in the world to be upset with only 1 out of 4 “successful seasons” under his belt and an early loss to who should be the worst team in the ACC (whether it was away or not). At the same time, saying O’Brien didn’t have us as an ACC team in year two and therefore he’s “proven to be a bad coach” is just ignorant. O’Brien wasn’t in the position to really compete for an ACC title until last year… sort of. This season many of us anticipated a rougher season, but you have the TBK’s on here who kept screaming “we are a 10-win team!”

    You have to stay realistic, then not jump off a bridge when bad things happen. O’Brien is trying to run a clean program and has proven to be a “good” coach… that isn’t even up for debate. What’s up for debate is whether he can get it done in Carter-Finley which we haven’t really been able to assess until last season. If he does well this season, we have to give him props. If he does poorly, it’s not because Sweazy was out and it’s not because of any QB controversy… it’s because of O’Brien.

  20. swfncsu 09/16/2011 at 1:33 PM #

    “Fans that are frustrated and pessemistic about O’Brien have every right in the world to be upset with only 1 out of 4 “successful seasons” under his belt and an early loss to who should be the worst team in the ACC (whether it was away or not).”

    I know this can be filed under the “Obama screwed up the economy/No he didn’t he’s just cleaning up W’s mess” cyclical argument-

    But, I find it even more frustrating that we’re having this debate 2 weeks into a season following our most positive one since #17 was making us think that we should be more relevant than we are (or ever have been).

    Saying 3 out of 4 disappointing seasons is a bit ridiculous. It should be 2 out of 4 at most, especially remembering the mess TOB had to come in and clean up.

    Like I said before…we should be happy we have a man that treats discipline and teamwork as real things, and not t-shirt buzzwords. If this season goes down the crapper, he’s got one more tops in my book.

    But it won’t, and next season will be even better. We just need some patience and positivity

  21. highstick 09/16/2011 at 1:46 PM #

    Let’s just hope Gott lands in CF versus Duke like the sky diver did a few years ago trying to land in Kenan!

  22. NCStatePride 09/16/2011 at 1:49 PM #

    Saying 3 out of 4 disappointing seasons is a bit ridiculous. It should be 2 out of 4 at most, especially remembering the mess TOB had to come in and clean up.

    Dumbest logic ever. Go look up any head coach’s record and tell me if they ever eliminate seasons because of bad luck. It was his team and his season. When you start introducing all of this “but, but, but, but… He had a LOOOOOOOOT to do when he got here!” thing, that’s when the “other side” of this argument starts laughing at you for making excuses.

    It’s similar to when a coworker of mine took time off work before a big design review. He had a 110% valid reason for taking time off. Does that mean that he “gets excused for not doing any work during crunch time”? Of course not, we only credited him with work he did. It wasn’t “his fault”, but it was what it was. TOB is in a situation where he had a “bad season”, but it’s still his watch and his record. You can’t simply “pretend that season doesn’t exist”.

    TOB has been at NC State for 4 full seasons now. He’s only fielded a winning team 1 of those seasons. He is not in season 5 and started the season with an understandably poor performance against a D1AA team and a less-understandably poor loss against arguably the worst team in the ACC. Those are FACTS, not your or my opinion. “But, but, but, but….!” Whatever, the facts are what they are. I’ve never seen a coach with a record where seasons were arbitrarily excused.

  23. swfncsu 09/16/2011 at 2:03 PM #

    I said 2 out of 4 because winning 6 and making a bowl game that should have been over at halftime should not be viewed as a disappointing season, not one full season removed from a 3-9 year where we lost to a MAC team.

    While it was his watch, they were still mostly not his players. If my logic is so “dumb”, then why do most coaches get graded on per-season win improvements over the coach they replaced? Why does everyone keep saying “it takes 4 years for a coach to get his players and system installed” if it only has an impact when we want to view it as a negative?

  24. runwiththepack 09/16/2011 at 2:11 PM #

    I don’t see what constructive purpose is served to declare O’B unwelcome after a single loss – especially a loss that comes after a 9-4 season capped with a final poll ranking as a result of a resounding victory over a ranked team. Last year, furthermore, was not a result of Russell Wilson alone. I rate last year as his 3rd best of his 3 seasons.
    Sure, the WF “L” is a cause for concern. And people are free to express their opinions. But there are 12 games this year, and likely a 13th. The LAST damn thing i want to see is run off O’Brien at this point with angry, noisy condemnations starting 2 games after a 9-4 season.
    Anyone who thinks we’re a cinch for a “big name” coach (at triple O’Brien’s salary) seems delusional at this point. It may come to letting O’B go, but that is very, very, unlikely this season. Maybe following next year, if everything goes to hell in a handbasket between now and the end of November 2012, we will have to part ways.

  25. 61Packer 09/16/2011 at 2:17 PM #

    I don’t know that we have a trainwreck at NCSU yet, but I read an article in the Greensboro News & Record earlier in the week that noted North Carolina’s 10 top prep football players were ALL leaving the state to attend schools like South Carolina, Florida, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. If we can’t attract homegrown talent, we probably won’t attract out-of-state talent, either.

    Glennon may be better next season, but if no really good new players are headed our way, I don’t see this staff, which I consider mediocre outside the HC, as capable of making us better in 2012.

    This season is headed, I think, toward 7-5 or 6-6, depending on whether we beat Cincy or not. Logically, how could you think otherwise when we just got pushed around by Wake Forest, one of the two lowest-talent teams in the league? Maybe some folks would declare 7-5 good for this team, but I don’t think it’s good for this school, which spends probably more money and gets as little bang for the buck as any D-1 school around.

    And as far as Tudor’s column about Texas to the ACC, I think such a move would be as dumb as Kinston’s move to Zebulon. When the Oklahoma board of regents meets next Monday, maybe more will be known about the future of the Big XII, which I think is bleak. I could see Texas staying put, moving to the Pac-12, or going independent, but not moving to the ACC unless they brought OU along, and all indications point to the Sooners moving west. I do not want to see Texas come here. It was their Longhorn arrogance and greed that have all but broken the Big XII. The ACC doesn’t need another school like UNC, who believes their conference’s universe revolves around them, especially when they’re 1200 miles away.

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