October 7, 2011
NC STATE FOOTBALL
The Sports Xchange
TSX: Sweezy’s Return A Plus
— The Wolfpack has avoided a three-game losing streak only in one season (2010) over the past five years. In order to prevent such a streak this year, the Wolfpack must win Saturday against visiting Central Michigan. “I told the guys to keep their heads up, don’t read the papers and keep working,” coach Tom O’Brien said. “We’re going to get this thing headed in the right direction once we get some of the troops back.”
KEYS TO THE GAME: N.C. State could use a strong start because the deficits in some recent games have caused a retooling of the play-calling and limited the playbook for the Wolfpack. N.C. State’s defensive front might have more players available as they recover from injuries and that might be necessary against a big offensive line from Central Michigan.
Ryan Tice (TheWolfpacker.com)
Tony Creecy taking advantage of opportunity
With second-string running back Curtis Underwood out against Georgia Tech with a knee injury, redshirt freshman Tony Creecy knew that Saturday could be his time to shine. Although starter James Washington stole the show with 131 yards rushing and five additional receptions, Creecy responded very well to the first extensive action of his college career and finished with 12 rushes for 77 yards.
“It was a pretty good experience, but it was all about preparation,” the 6-foot, 196-pounder said. “Even though I wasn’t playing at the beginning of the season, I kept working hard and waiting for my opportunity. When I got my opportunity, I took advantage of it.
“I have prepared the same way the whole season, whether I’m third, fourth or fifth [on the depth chart]. I always work like I’m first or second, just so if I get my opportunity, I’ll be ready to go.”
GoPack.com
Thursday Football Notebook
THIS WEEK’S ‘WHO IS….?’: Last week, it was Jacob Kahut, a transfer from Campbell who saw action on the offensive and defensive lines against Cincinnati (and again on defense versus Georgia Tech).
This week, the winner of the “Who is…?†award is another walk-on, Tyler Purvis, who not only played 11 snaps from scrimmage against the Yellow Jackets, but scored TWO touchdowns as well.
Purvis, who had also seen action against LIberty (one snap) and at Cincy (five snaps), was in more often on Saturday as starter Taylor Gentry was out with a foot injury in the second half. The sophomore walk-on played wide receiver in high school at Lancaster Catholic in Pennsylvania, gaining over 1,000 yards as a senior.
Another player that Pack fans might not have recognized saw his first action against Georgia Tech as well. Senior walk-on Chaz McQueen was in for seven snaps at wide receiver. If the name “McQueen†is familiar to Pack fans, it’s because Chaz’s father, Cozell, was the starting center on State’s ‘83 National Championship basketball team.
Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
Notebook: Taylor Gentry not playing Saturday
Guarding against the big play: Central Michigan’s offense had been languishing through the first four games, scoring just 55 points (34 against FBS opponents). The Chippewas exploded for five touchdowns that went over 36 yards en route to a 48-41 victory over Northern Illinois last Saturday.
“We have to contain the big play,” O’Brien said. “When you score as many points as they did last week, and four were 46-yard touchdown passes or longer, you have to be very alert to what’s going on for the offensive side of the football.”
Senior running back Paris Cotton was part of three of the long touchdowns, and all came during the second half. He caught a 43-yard touchdown pass, rushed for a 36-yarder and then caught a 41-yard score.
The 5-9, 179-pound Cotton finished with 110 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown and caught four passes for 115 yards and two scores. Cotton showed a knack for hiding behind his tall offensive line that includes a pair of 6-8 tackles, and guards that are listed at 6-5 and 6-6.
“He gets lost in traffic a lot,” O’Brien said. “That’s certainly a concern but it is to his advantage. He does a good job and has a good quick jump-start move that allows him to get up there behind those guys, and then squirt through. We have to make sure we have contain and keep him surrounded.”
Cotton started for CMU last year, but fell to third string to start the season. Cotton rushed for 596 yards on 142 carries and six touchdowns, and caught 25 passes for 245 last year.
Cotton didn’t play against either Kentucky or Michigan State, but sophomore starter Zurlon Tipton suffered a season-ending injury after the second game.
Cotton’s ability to take screen passes for long gains also got the attention of the Wolfpack defense.
“We always spend time on screen passes, but that is one of their big weapons,” O’Brien said. “They’ve been good on screen passes. It’s something where if they are good at it, we better be practicing against it.”
PackPride.com
O’Brien: Fordham Learning The System
What were the points of emphasis for your defense in practice this week?
To contain the big play. When you score as many points as [Central Michigan] did last week, four of them were 46-yard touchdown passes or longer, you have to be very alert to what’s going on on the offensive side of the football. As always, we don’t want to give up anything easy as far as penalties. We worked the double count this week to keep ourselves on sides.
Tim Hall (WRALSportsfan.com)
O’Brien says Wolfpack’s bowl hopes are still alive
It hasn’t been good so far for the N.C. State Wolfpack (2-3, 0-2 ACC). But don’t count on the team to throw in the towel.
Still without a win against an FBS team, N.C. State has to go 5-2 down the stretch just to become bowl eligible. But when asked if his team still has the confidence to do it, head coach Tom O’Brien responded without hesitation.
“Absolutely,” O’Brien told Adam and Joe on 99.9 The Fan. “I think they’re feeling enough things have gone wrong.”
They certainly have from an injury perspective.
Matt Carter (TheWolfpacker.com)
Wolfpack commitments in action
ACC FOOTBALL
Steve Megargee (Rivals.com College Football Staff Writer)
Week 6 preview in the ACC
“I’ll have my 10? shoe up their tail if they come out dragging. I don’t mind being the biggest rear end there is.” – Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris, telling The (Charleston) Post and Courier how he’d make sure the undefeated Tigers avoid complacency
Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
Ted Brown’s record may be safe … or maybe not
It looks as if Ted Brown’s ACC career rushing record may yet be safe now that Boston College’s Montel Harris is again sidelined with a bum knee.
Then again, maybe not.
There’s talk up in Chestnut Hill that the Eagles’ star, who is just 868 yardsaway from surpassing Brown’s mark, might be shut down for the season and brought back next season as a medical redshirt.
Because he has played in only two games this season, Harris meets the requirements set by the NCAA for a hardship waiver. The question is whether he’s ready to give up on this season. And even if he is, would he want to risk further injury – and a potential professional career – by coming back to school next year?
Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
What the other guys are saying
At Central Michigan, the Chippewas of the Mid-America conference don’t plan on being intimidated by the large crowd at N.C. State’s Carter-Finley Stadium. This is already the third time this season they will have played in a venue that seats 50,000 or more.
Like the Wolfpack, CMU is a young team with true freshmen playing major roles on both sides of the ball. Despite their youth, the Chippewas are coming off their best offensive performance of the season in a 48-41 win against Northern Illinois.
Associated Press
ACC Likely To Soon See Standings Separation
Just about every preseason prediction of how the Atlantic Coast Conference would shake out this fall suggested the same thing, that Virginia Tech and Florida State would win their respective six-team divisions with ease.
Both are currently in fourth place.
Translation: Maybe a slew of teams really are legitimate candidates to win the ACC.
The true picture of where things stand in the conference should start coming into much clearer focus this weekend, when the ACC slate is highlighted by Florida State visiting upstart Wake Forest in an Atlantic Division matchup and Miami heading to Virginia Tech for what seems much like an elimination game in the Coastal Division. More than half of the 12 ACC clubs still control their own destinies in the league race, though that won’t remain the case much longer.
CONFERENCE EXPANSION
NEWSDAY
TCU wavers on Big East
The college realignment merry-go-round is spinning so fast that Texas Christian officials on Thursday acknowledged discussions about accepting an invitation to the Big 12 for the 2012-13 academic year when it was supposed to join the Big East.
“These discussions with the Big 12 have huge implications for TCU,” Chancellor Victor Boschini said in a statement. “It will allow us to return to old rivalries, something our fans and others have been advocating for many years.
“As always, we must consider what’s best for TCU and our student-athletes in this ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletics. We look forward to continuing these discussions with the Big 12.”
Just four days earlier at a meeting in Washington, Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said Boschini was “very positive” about joining. He said Boschini told him TCU was “committed. He told us over and over how much he wants this conference to move forward. There was no wavering at all from him.”
Now, the Horned Frogs are “wavering” goodbye, and the league’s troubles don’t stop there. The Big 12 reportedly also is targeting Big East members West Virginia and Louisville. Slightly less than three weeks ago, Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced their decisions to leave the Big East for the ACC.
NC STATE BASKETBALL
Associated Press
Jazz Complete Coaching Staff, Hire Sidney Lowe
Dana O’Neil (ESPN)
Nonconference schedule analysis: ACC
NC STATE
Toughest: Legends Classic (Nov. 19, 21), Syracuse (Dec. 17)
Next-toughest: UNC Asheville (Nov. 11), Princeton (Nov. 16), Indiana (Nov. 30), at Stanford (Dec. 4), vs. St. Bonaventure in Rochester, N.Y. (Dec. 20)
The rest: Morehead State (Nov. 13), Elon (Nov. 25), NC Central (Dec. 11), Northeastern (Dec. 22), Campbell (Dec. 29), Western Carolina (Dec. 31), Delaware State (Jan. 4)
Toughness scale (1-10): 8 — Good thing Mark Gottfried has decent players to work with. He’s going to need them. Syracuse and Vanderbilt are guaranteed preseason top-10 teams. The Pack host the Orange and face off with the Dores in East Rutherford, N.J., where they’ll play either Texas or Oregon State the next day. Indiana and St. Bonaventure are gunning for their best seasons in years and Johnny Dawkins finally has a decent roster at Stanford.
MULTIMEDIA/PODCASTS
GoPack.com
Inside Wolfpack Sports
In today’s episode, Don Shea visits with senior volleyball middle blocker Margaret Salata.
UNC FALLOUT
Tara Lynn (WRALSportsfan.com)
Former UNC chancellor: ‘I would dismantle the NCAA’
When University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp fired coach Butch Davis in July, he said it was because what started as an athletic problem spilled over into academics.
The school is amid a year-long NCAA investigation.
But many are questioning the association’s power, including former UNC Chancellor James Moeser.
“If I could be God, I would dismantle the NCAA. I think the time has come for federal intervention,†Moeser said during an interview with WCHL radio on Thursday. “This is a train that is at some point going to run off the tracks. I don’t think it is a sustainable model.â€
