September 22, 2011
NC STATE FOOTBALL
JP Giglio (N&O)
Wolfpack defense: It’s attitude, not talent
There is something missing from N.C. State’s defense this season. It’s not just star linebacker Nate Irving – now playing with the NFL’s Denver Broncos – or the expected Wolfpack starters on the injured list.
It’s also not a physical problem, or a lack of talent, but rather a needed attitude adjustment, senior linebacker Audie Cole said.
“We’re not the most confident defense right now,” said Cole, the Wolfpack’s leading tackler. “Once we get our confidence back, we’ll be ready to play.”
Even more than the return of a healthy J.R. Sweezy at defensive tackle, Wolfpack defensive coordinator Mike Archer wants to see his players show up against a high-powered Cincinnati offense tonight (8 p.m., ESPN, WRAL-101.5) with an improved confidence.
“You have to play with a confidence on defense,” Archer said.
JP Giglio (N&O)
Tudor’s take, observations, and who to watch
Akula Wolf (BackingthePack.com)
So Far So Fortunate For Cincinnati
Akula Wolf (BackingthePack.com)
Talking Cincinnati With Down The Drive
Matt Opper runs SBN’s Cincinnati Bearcats blog, Down The Drive. Below he’s answered a few of my questions, and over at his site I’ve answered a few of his.
2.) Y’all had some offensive line issues last season, or at least you did in the game against us last year. How’s that area of the team looking this year?
So far so good. Just two sacks allowed through three games, two of which admittedly were against slightly pathetic opposition. But even Tennessee’s defensive line struggled to really get to Zach Collaros. It isn’t a great group in my estimation, but this year they have certainly progressed beyond being a glaring weakness into something resembling a relative strength. They do tip plays off so keep an eye on that. But this is a much better offensive line than the one that NC State saw last season.
Matt Opper (DowntheDrive.com)
Q&A With Backing The Pack
Earlier this week me and Akula Wolf from SB Nations N.C. State site Backing the Pack exchanged a few emails about Thursdays impending contest. What follows is the result of all that hard work.
5 The secondary seems to get engulfed in a ball of flame and destruction almost every game. Is the secondary as bad as the raw yardage indicates or is this a bend but don’t break group.
That’s good imagery. I’d certainly enjoy watching this defense play much more if there were actual explosions involved, but short of a move to Mutant League Football that’s not happening. The secondary has had its issues but I think the primary issue is up front where we’ve been unable to get consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Wake Forest’s quarterback in particular had all day to throw the ball and the results where what you’d expect them to be under the circumstances. The secondary is not without talent–Earl Wolff is an outstanding safety–they just aren’t getting a lot of support.
PackPride.com
Quotables: Butch Jones
On where the offense is in terms of its identity:
We’re still in the phase of developing our identity. We’ve played one full game then we’ve played a couple quarters. So much on offense is continuity and getting into a rhythm. Our players have great confidence in what we’re doing. One thing is very evident and that’s (senior running back) Isaiah Pead is a very good player. He’s one of our weapons. DJ Woods continues to get better and better the more reps that (junior wide receiver) Kembrall Thompkins gains. It has been a fine line. So much is repetition. We’re going to be challenged with the speed of the game and all the movement up front and different looks. They try to come in with their defense and dictate the tempo of the game. We have to be assignment sound and everyone has to execute game. This will be an execution game on offense.
TheSportsXchange.com
TSX: Quick Turnaround For Pack
N.C. State is in a hurry-up mode this week because of the shortened span between games with Thursday night’s game at Cincinnati.
At least it’s the same amount of time the Wolfpack had prior to last year’s game against the Bearcats. N.C. State won that game.
“Everything is condensed,” coach Tom O’Brien said. “Everything is (addressed) faster.”It sounds a bit like a rush job for the Wolfpack, but it should have had time to address some areas prior to this week. Last year’s game at Central Florida preceded the Cincinnati game on N.C. State’s schedule and that was a much tougher assignment than Football Championship Subdivision opponent South Alabama, which lost to the Wolfpack on Saturday night.
But the growing list of injured defenders is of utmost concern. The Wolfpack was further hindered when back-up defensive end Art Norman was limited to about 10 plays in the last game.
So the Wolfpack expects challenges to be heightened from a physical standpoint because of what could be a makeshift defensive unit. “It’s kind of difficult to play defense around here,” O’Brien said.
PackPride.com
O’Brien Concerned With Bearcat Offense
When you look at Cincinnati’s offense on film, what are the challenges they pose for your defense?
They have a great running back in Pead. I don’t know what he’s averaging, 200 yards a game or whatever. He’s averaging a lot of rushing yards. He’s a strong, powerful guy who took it all the way down the boundary for 65 yards on the second time he carried it against Tennessee.
Collaros is in his second year, leading the Big East in passing efficiency. If he gets out of the pocket, he’s more dangerous than he is if he’s in the pocket throwing the football. They have speed on the outside in the perimeter. Basically the center is the only new guy we didn’t play last year.
There’s a lot of experience on that football team offensively.
Tony Haynes (GoPack.com)
O’Brien Takes Wolfpack on Cincinnati Homecoming
Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
Dwanye Maddox ready to fill in for his friend
Replacing his good friend and recruiting classmate Manning for a few games isn’t quite the same circumstances, but it’s nice for the coaching staff to have probably one of the more experienced backup linebackers poised to take over.
Maddox flew around the field against South Alabama simply because he never knows when the next opportunity might come.
“I had a lot of energy and the crowd was real live, and I fed off the crowd,” Maddox said. “My teammate went down and it kind of sparked the emotions to fight for him since he can’t be out there. We got the win and did what we needed to do.”
Maddox could have dropped down the FCS level and been a standout this season, but he was also driven to achieve something else while at NC State.
“I’m going to graduate this fall and I have 13 credits left,” said Maddox, who is majoring in communications. “I’m ready for that degree. It’s been a long road the last four years.
“When I committed here, I committed to stay here for four years and help my team in any way I could. My first couple of years I played, but this season, I haven’t played as much. I’m a team player. There is no ‘I’ in team. Any time I’m called into the game, I’ll do what I have to do.”
Matt Carter (TheWolfpacker.com)
Glennon ready for Thursday night football
“They are real exciting,” Glennon said about ESPN’s Thursday night games. “It’s always a great atmosphere, national audience, it’s what you come to a school like NC State, to play in these type of games.
“It usually feels like the students get in the stadium earlier. I assume they’ll probably have some sort of black out or something going on out there. It’s just a great atmosphere and exciting.”
Glennon admits that the fact the game is nationally televised and the only game in action is in the back of everyone’s heads, but he also stated that after kickoff you become consumed by the game.
Ryan Tice (TheWolfpacker.com)
Anthony Talbert excited to play at home
Redshirt sophomore Anthony Talbert saw the most extensive action of his college career at tight end last weekend against South Alabama. He logged 11 plays in the 35-13 victory at Carter-Finley Stadium and there couldn’t be a more perfect time for him to see increased game action because this week’s Thursday night contest comes against the college in his hometown, the University of Cincinnati.
“I have about 20-25 people coming to the game, people that I have given tickets to,” he said. “I also have a lot of friends who said they’re going to be there. I’ll have some people there rooting for me. I don’t get to see my family too much so I’m definitely excited to see them and I keep in contact with them everyday. They’re excited to see me play.
“I am going home, I’ve got a few people coming to the game and I am playing against some old teammates. Maalik Bomar plays will linebacker and Chris Williams plays nickelback. Both of them play defense and I play offense so I’m going to be looking for them, hopefully we can get out there and compete with each other.”
Joe Kay (AP)
NC State-Cincy matches in-progress defenses
North Carolina State isn’t entirely sure who will line up on defense Thursday night when the Wolfpack faces one of the Big East’s best quarterbacks.
Cincinnati isn’t too much farther along. The Bearcats know who they have, but still aren’t sure what they’re going to get heading into the third game of the season.
It could be a big night for the quarterbacks — N.C. State’s Mike Glennon and Cincinnati’s Zach Collaros — when they get together for a rematch. The Wolfpack won last year’s game in Raleigh 30-19, stifling the Bearcats’ error-prone offense for most of the game. Cincinnati had two late touchdowns that made a bad day look more respectable. Collaros was sacked five times, and the Bearcats didn’t run a play inside the N.C. State 32 until the final minutes.
UNC FALLOUT
Art Chansky (chapelboro.com)
The Thigpen Connection
By far, the most damaging allegation from the NCAA into the UNC football scandal is on pages 62-63 of the 111-page response by the school, released Monday.
It speaks to what, so far, the university has escaped – the dreaded lack of institutional control, or at least Butch Davis’ failure not only to monitor his program but to do something about it when confronted with alleged wrongdoing.
It also brings to light a story that has been in the rumor mill for two years involving former linebackers coach and beloved Tar Heel player Tommy Thigpen, who left Carolina to coach the safeties at Auburn, which won the BCS national championship the season after Thigpen arrived on the Plains.
The response includes facts that support the story about Thigpen, who supposedly found out that John Blake was acting as a defacto agent for the late Gary Wichard, accepting money Blake said were “personal loans†but steering players inside and outside the UNC program toward Wichard’s agency, Pro Tech Management, before they were drafted by the NFL.
Dan Kane (N&O)
UNC classes under review
Independent study classes and other courses within a University of North Carolina department popular with athletes will undergo an “in-depth” review, the dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences told trustees Wednesday.
Addressing questions of academic integrity raised in the wake of an NCAA investigation into the Tar Heels football program, UNC dean Karen Gil has ordered the review, which will reemphasize the need to set new standards for syllabuses and required course work for the classes under scrutiny.
“I take these matters very seriously, and we are going forward looking to strengthen our policies and practices within the department,” Gil said.
WRALSportsfan.com
Hyman to remain at South Carolina
Greg Barnes (InsideCarolina.com)
UNC Updates Social Media Policy
Athletic department staff members received an email detailing the change on Tuesday afternoon. In the memo, athletics director Dick Baddour wrote that “the monitoring expectations under this revised policy were thoroughly explained to coaches and Team Monitors during the compliance meeting on August 31, 2011.â€
A “team monitor†is defined in the updated policy as a “coach or administrator who is responsible for having access to and regularly monitoring the content of team members’ social networking sites and postings.â€
The monitors will be responsible for reviewing postings according to previously stated guidelines, while also evaluating postings “for information that could indicate a potential violation of NCAA regulations related to amateurism, including specifically evaluating postings that identify possible improper extra benefits and/or agent-related activities.â€
Tim Hall (WRALSportsfan.com)
Baddour has no issue with Davis hanging around the program
But we don’t yet know for sure if the ousted head coach Butch Davis will be appearing.
“I haven’t thought about it in terms of whether Butch would go or not go and I haven’t discussed that with him,” Baddour told Adam and Joe on 99.9 The Fan. “If that is something that he would wanna do for some reason then we should seriously consider whether or not we should do that. I would have no objection to him being there.”
While we don’t know if Davis will be going to Indianapolis we do know that he’s been visible around campus. He took in a home game from the newly opened Blue Zone, and he was the subject of his former team presenting him with the game ball after the win over James Madison.
Without giving a specific answer to the gameball, Baddour seemed more than okay with Davis being around.“He put this staff together, he put this program together. He remains from our conversation, he’s vitally interested. We got a lot of seats in Kenan Stadium and in my view we got room for people who wanna be there.”
Erin Hartness (WRALSportsfan.com)
UNC to phase out undergrads as tutors for athletes
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill plans to stop having undergraduate students tutor its athletes, officials said Wednesday.
The move comes after a former tutor was accused of giving improper help to football players. UNC said it uncovered academic misconduct by Jennifer Wiley and the players last year during an NCAA investigation into players’ relationships with sports agents.
Erin Hartness (WRALSportsfan.com)
UNC students, academics hurt by self-imposed sanctions
And the self-imposed sanctions are affecting more than just the football program.
“For a year and a half now it’s been this huge issue that everybody is talking about when there are much bigger things on campus that are going on that get pretty much ignored,†said UNC senior Kelli Joyce.
And while she doesn’t feel like the accusations affect her day to day life another fellow student, freshman Emerson Cardoso, believes the investigation does have an impact on students, particularly when it comes to the school’s image.“I don’t play sports,†Cardoso said. “I’m just a fan so why should I be punished?â€
WRALSportsfan.com (Audio)
Deunta Williams: ‘We won those games’
CONFERENCE EXPANSION
ASSOCIATED PRESS
East Carolina applies to Big East
RALPH D. RUSSO (AP)
AP source: Navy, Air Force top Big East targets
The Big East is regrouping after Syracuse and Pittsburgh joined the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Leaders from the Big East football schools and TCU, which is to enter the league in 2012, met with Commissioner John Marinatto in Manhattan on Tuesday night. All the league’s members, including the eight nonfootball-playing schools, committed to recruit new members.
But the league’s status is still less than stable, especially with another piece of the realignment puzzle missing.
Once Texas A&M makes a clean break from the Big 12, the SEC will be at 13 teams, and likely looking for No. 14. Missouri seemed a candidate, but Big 12 officials are working to save that league.
Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
Coaches want N.C. teams together in the ‘new’ ACC
But no matter how things are eventually broken up, football coaches Tom O’Brien of N.C. State and David Cutcliffe of Duke would like to see all four of the ACC’s North Carolina-based teams wind up together in the same group.
“I think that would be a lot of fun for all of us,†Cutcliffe said Wednesday on the ACC’s coaches’ weekly conference call. “Economically it makes a lot of sense. We play Wake (Forest) now every year. For us to be able to play N.C. State every year would ma ke an awful lot of sense to me.â€
Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
TOB: Pitt, Syracuse can expect rough treatment from Big East
Tim Hall (WRALSportsfan.com)
Big East says remaining members staying put, UCONN still trying for ACC
MULTIMEDIA/PODCASTS
The ACCSports.com Podcast, Sept. 21
Joe Ovies, afternoon cohost on 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh, and Jim Young have returned with another edition of the ACCSports.com Podcast.
Among the topics they discussed:
• Is John Swofford’s swift, silent approach to expanding the ACC underappreciated?
• Why do the ACC’s expansion moves arouse so much more media anger than what other leagues are doing?
• Is adding Notre Dame a realistic option for the ACC?
• Will the NCAA add on to UNC’s self-imposed penalties?
• How did the ACC fare last weekend in actual football games?
• And they even talk a bit about this weekend’s upcoming action.
David Glenn Chats with Tom O’Brien, Sept. 21
David Glenn recently caught up with N.C. State head football coach Tom O’Brien on Glenn’s afternoon radio show to talk about his team’s game against Cincinnati tomorrow night.
Among the topics they discussed: if it means anything special to O’Brien to be heading to his hometown for the Wolfpack’s next game; what O’Brien’s thoughts are on the ACC’s move to expand to 14 teams; how conference affiliation can help on the recruiting trail when building a program; and why O’Brien decided he would give his fullback, Taylor Gentry, the first carry any fullback has had under an O’Brien-coached team.
GoPack.com
Inside Wolfpack Sports
In today’s episode, Don Shea visits with Offensive Coordinator/ Quarterbacks/ Wide Receivers Coach Dana Bible after practice.
Joe Ovies (WRALSportsfan.com)
Web chat: Wait, now the Big 12 is a happy family?
In this edition of “Low Rent Sports Talk Theatre” we discuss the latest conference expansion news. Watch it now because it will probably change in the next 6 hours.
