Into the Abyss: WF Webrun Preview

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Once more unto the breach, dear friends…

State makes its earlier-than-we’d-like biennial voyage into the abyss known as Winston-Salem tomorrow.

TV: ESPN3.com or RSN (Fox Sports South/Carolinas, locally)
Announcers (Awful Announcing): Rich Waltz, Keith Jones, Jenn Hildreth

Why an abyss? LRM explains:

Win in Winston-Salem. We’ve won exactly once in Winston since 1995, and that was a decade ago, with the Great Philip Rivers (2001). Our games against Wake Forest at BB&T Field have been some of our worst; in my freshman year in 1997, we lost on a Thursday night when we failed to convert on a fourth-and-goal late in the game; in 1999, a few weeks after winning in Austin, we were taken behind the woodshed; in 2003, we were caught looking ahead to Columbus the following week; in 2005, 2007, and 2009 we were simply outcoached and outplayed. None of us seem to understand why we play so horribly at BB&T, considering it’s kind of like a smaller version of Kenan whenever State plays there.

TOB doesn’t like going into the abyss in Week 2 anymore than LRM (Backing the Pack):

North Carolina State coach Tom O’Brien sent a not-so-subtle message to the ACC office in his press conference when he pointed out that the Wolfpack will “for the fifth time go on the road for an (ACC) opener.” NC State opens its league schedule Saturday at Wake Forest. In O’Brien’s five seasons in Raleigh, no other team in the league has opened ACC play every season on the road. By the way, in 2006, the last time the Wolfpack played their first league game at home, they played Boston College, coached by…Tom O’Brien.

GoPack.com:

When it faces off against Wake Forest (0-1) for the 105th time on Saturday afternoon, NC State (1-0) will be trying to end what has become a Groves Stadium curse over the last decade. In an irritating streak that began in 2003, the Wolfpack has dropped five straight games to the Deacons in Winston-Salem.

…

“They’ve just played better than us,” State head coach Tom O’Brien said succinctly.

To put things in perspective, a fellow by the name of Philip Rivers was a sophomore quarterback the last time the Wolfpack left Winston-Salem with a win. The year was 2001 and current Pack tight end George Bryan was 12 years old.

WakeForestSports.cstv.com:

The Deacons are coming off a heartbreaking 36-29 overtime loss at Syracuse on Thursday, Sept. 1. Wake Forest led by 15 points with 11 minutes remaining in the game, but the Deacons could not maintain the lead after hitting a field goal to go up 29-14 at the 11:02 mark of the fourth quarter.

Deacon starting quarterback Tanner Price left the game just before the field goal with a knee injury, which proved to be a momentum changer. Price was 18-of-31 for 289 yards and three touchdowns before leaving.

Chris Givens caught seven passes for a career-high 170 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Campanaro set new career-highs with seven catches for 80 yards and a touchdown.

Jimmy Newman tied a career high with three field goals, though his miss from 33 yards in the first quarter snapped his school-record streak of 12 consecutive field goals made.

Lenox Rawlings calls this a “crossroads game” (Winston-Salem Journal):

The major crossroads game this weekend will unfold in Winston-Salem. The humongous new video board will not work — technical difficulties, please hold — but Wake Forest and N.C. State will keep score anyway.

Just like opening week, the clock will run for 60 minutes. Wake Forest held a 15-point lead through the 48th minute at Syracuse but went haywire after quarterback Tanner Price hurt a knee. Despite the overtime loss, Coach Jim Grobe doubts that the Deacons will wallow in replays.

“I worry more about a really quality N.C. State team than I do about our psyche,” Grobe said.

Caulton Tudor talks about Curtis Underwood’s second chance (News & Observer).

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41 Responses to Into the Abyss: WF Webrun Preview

  1. Wolfy__79 09/09/2011 at 10:44 PM #

    you know, i wasn’t at all blown away by the liberty contest last week but i hate to see i’m in the minority thinking liberty wasn’t all that bad of a club. i’m glad to see a couple of folks giving them a little credit. liberty may not be as deep as a bcs school, hell we aren’t at times either, but i was impressed with their talent and coaching!

    i watched bits and pieces of the wake/cuse game.. i wasn’t impressed with either, well other than the fact that they were scoring points. i didn’t really expect much to be honest. grobe is a good coach and i expect a tough matchup tomorrow! i don’t know where all this winning comfortably is coming from? winning comfortably to me is by more than two possessions! of course, it’s not just about the points.. i’d like to see the game run at our pace visually and by the numbers (outside of the score).

    what we need tomorrow is for our emotional leader to step up on defense… AND on offense. it doesn’t have to be glennon or cole.. it could just as well be manning and underwood or graham. it doesn’t take much in the college atmosphere to get your teammates jacked up excited.. let’s do this thang PACK!!

    all eyes in the ACC are on us tomorrow. people are just waiting for us to lose and write us off early once again. this is a great oppurtunity for TOB to get behind his team and finally show us a lil something.

    W.I.T.H.

  2. bTHEredterror 09/09/2011 at 10:51 PM #

    “Those of you saying “I think we lose this one” with any certainty need to step away from the pseudo-statistics of “we haven’t won in Winston-Salem in XX years” and look at the actual facts.”

    I’m not worried about the symptoms Pride, just the cause. We have struggled in Winston because we were under O’Cain and Amato, legendary for their play-to-the-level-of-the-competition coaching, and more importantly because Grobe is coaching THEM. IMO LY was the exception for Wake, not the rule.

    My concern is over the problems I saw in our program last week, namely a suspect placekicker, pliant defense that needed TOs to bail them out, and a very pedestrian passing game with shotty protection. And how Wake’s staff has certainly seen them as well and will be very creative in exploiting them. You thought Liberty brought pressure? Not hardly. You think Wake will have 7 TOs to bail us out? Don’t hold your breath.

    I’m not certain of us coming up short, it seems a toss-up, Vegas odds are State -2. I’d ask all those who are so certain we can’t lose and will beat Wake by 3 scores why they are putting so much stock in last year? It’s college football, year to year is vastly different. And before he went down last week, Price looked much improved.

    I just think if you watch the game tomorrow expecting an easy win, you are in for a rude shock. I’d love to see it, I just doubt we will. Its one more step in Glennon’s progression, by the time the heart of conference schedule rolls along, he’ll be much better than he is right now.

  3. NCStatePride 09/09/2011 at 11:17 PM #

    I definitely agree that it’s foolish to “expect” us to go in tomorrow and clean up with Wake… that being said, it’s equally as foolish to think that it’s not possible for us to do so. I would guard against using the Liberty game as proof of much of anything. Much of the things you described as concerns I would point out were resolved as of mid-way through the third quarter and into the fourth quarter (and it wasn’t necessarily because Liberty “got tired”). The question isn’t “did NC State get better over the last week”. The question is whether the NC State at the end of last week was the “real” NC State or if we are going to be spotty and inconsistent all year.

    No one should consider this an “easy win”, but we should be confident in this 2011 team’s ability to get it done. The two concepts are mutually exclusive.

  4. chriscgray 09/10/2011 at 1:03 AM #

    This game relies on us taking care of the football. If offense commits to the running game and better play calling in the first half, we will no doubt win this game on defense. I see our problem being offensive mistakes with play calling and o-line miscues, otherwise we dominate defensively. Liberty seemed tough for a FCS because they were full of transfers from USF, GT, VT ect. Not to mention an all-american WR and the top offensive QB in their divison. So honestly its not like we were playing complete scrubs with limited abilities as FCS teams seem to consist of. It also helps Liberty played a 3-4 defense like Wake, so the offense should have recieved a game speed crash test on the 3-4 last week. Defensively we should be able to commit a few turnovers with our style of play, however I am concerned about DL depth. If the DL does not hold up, all of these predictions could be void. Hopefully the offense can be a little better with an added emphasis on the run game which should be the key element in this game.

  5. wolfonthehill 09/10/2011 at 5:44 AM #

    I have to work today to do day 3 of our annual inventory count… I’m kinda hoping it takes til 7pm to spare me the pain…

  6. tuckerdorm1983 09/10/2011 at 6:10 AM #

    yall need to look at this and quite your negativity

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuStsFW4EmQ

    have a little faith baby!!!!!

    pack 17 wake 13

  7. choppack1 09/10/2011 at 7:10 AM #

    The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

    I have no idea why people think that a State team who was getting outplayed by Liberty for 3 quarters would go to a place where they haven’t won since 2001 and win.

    I’m sorry, but that’s borderline delusional.

    Don’t confuse this with me saying we can’t win…because that’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that I be thrilled if we win. What I’m saying is that we’re playing a team that is very hungry today – and will do some things to confuse us.

    We’ve had more talented teams go to Wake Forest and lose. Heck, even when TOB had his squad rolling in BC – it was nothing for him to lose a game like this. It doesn’t mean that we’ll lose – it just means that it will likely be close…and home teams usually win close games.

    IF we win this game – it’s a huge testament to where our program is going and its development. I’m expecting Wake to win today – I’d have to ignore the past and what I’ve seen so for this year to believe otherwise.

  8. TruthBKnown Returns 09/10/2011 at 7:21 AM #

    We beat Wake by 35 last year. Before some genius reminds me that we had Russell Wilson last year, it just doesn’t matter. Wake blows and State will win regardless of which QB takes the field for Wake.

    This is Wake FREAKIN’ Forest we’re talking about here. They had a few good years, but they are back to mediocrity. We have better talent and more of it (depth). It won’t even be close today. It’s a double digit win for State. Count on it.

    It’s really sad to see so many people down on State when we’re playing Wake. I sure hope our players aren’t reading these posts.

  9. packplantpath 09/10/2011 at 8:07 AM #

    I’ll make no score prediction, nor will I predict a win for either team. I can see this one going either way.

    Our D can win the game for us, but only if the offense scores at least 2 td’s and can sustain some nice long drives to keep the d rested. If the offense sputters or gives the ball away it could be very close and come down to the last 5 minutes.

    Needless to say, after liberty embarrassing our o-line, I’m nervous.

  10. choppack1 09/10/2011 at 8:13 AM #

    TBKR – 2 years ago we were absolutely throttled by BC. Last year, we were up by 17 at the half and I thought that we weren’t playing great.
    This should tell you a couple of things:

    1. Last year don’t mean squat this year. Players develop, players get injured, attitude and confidence changes..
    2. Home field advantage is huge.

    We played Wake in November last year – they had zero confidence by the time they showed up on our schedule…The score at the half was pretty close if I recall. Wake quit when the going got tough – they had little to play for that Saturday and no fan support.

    I do think that there’s a chance we can get them down early and they’ll start doubting themselves. However, if you can remember 2 years ago, we got off to a quick start and couldn’t score in the red zone on offense early, and we lost a close one.

    And I hope the players read this – because if they think they can win today just because they are playing a team they beat by 35 last year, this game will end up like the last 4 we’ve played in Winston.

  11. Baccapacker 09/10/2011 at 9:51 AM #

    In my view we absolutely should win this game, but nothing is ever that simple for the pack. I don’t necessarily let the history here bother me because its not about then its about these two teams right now. I will say this though, the first time I went to Vegas I watched red hit 14 times in a row on a roulette table. I lost about 4 hundo betting against that trend and from that day on I laugh whenever I hear someone say that a streak is ‘due’ to break. My guess: we win or lose by the leg of Sade.

  12. Hungwolf 09/10/2011 at 10:08 AM #

    I have no problem finding fox sports channels but what the heck is ESPN3, directv does not seem to have it?

  13. 808WOLF 09/10/2011 at 10:54 AM #

    That is because ESPN3 is not a tv channel. check online

  14. LRM 09/10/2011 at 10:57 AM #

    ^ESPN3.com.

    You need to have both TWC cable + roadrunner to have access (not either/or). I think AT&T internet works as well. There’s a list of service providers when you try to access it.

  15. sundropdrinker13 09/10/2011 at 12:07 PM #

    I have over-the-air tv, no cable or satellite. I have Windstream DSL and my XBox 360 which is how I access ESPN. They show tons of games. And if you watch it on your computer and your internet speed is high enough, you can watch 4 games at once. 2 games at once on the 360.

  16. Wufpacker 09/10/2011 at 12:34 PM #

    Any of you who think this game is anything but a toss up just ain’t payin’ attention. Neither Wake nor State showed anything last week which could be construed as having a solid advantage this week. I think we’re probably the better team (or will be before the season is over), but Wake has the huge advantage of the game being at their place.

    Right now both teams have major question marks and this game is anything but definite for either team. If our staff has properly addressed our shortcomings from last week, then I like our chances. If they haven’t, and if Wake’s staff has a game plan to exploit those shortcomings (which I’m sure they do), then today will become pretty ugly pretty quickly.

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