October 18, 2011
NC STATE FOOTBALL
J.P. GIGLIO (N&O)
Pack’s leading rusher out for the season; others out for Saturday
Par for N.C. State’s 2011 football season, the team’s off week did not go according to plan.
The anticipated return of several key defensive players on the injured list didn’t materialize, and running back Mustafa Greene was ruled out for the season.
The Wolfpack (3-3) has to win four of its next six games to return to a bowl game, starting with Saturday’s trip to Virginia. State will have to do that with the players on hand, coach Tom O’Brien said Monday.
“Time always helps, but I think the way we’re set up right now, is probably how we’re going to play the rest of the year,” O’Brien said. “This is who and what we are. We have to find a way to make this work.”
O’Brien officially shut Greene down for the season Monday. The team’s leading rusher a year ago had missed the first six games with a foot injury. O’Brien said Greene needed a second surgery next week, which made any attempt at a comeback this season futile. Instead, Greene will redshirt.
Ryan Tice (TheWolfpacker.com)
Everette Sands pleased with backs recently
NC State rushed for minus-26 yards against Cincinnati and running backs coach Everette Sands was obviously not happy with that performance. While he gave credit to the Cincinnati defense, he said his players were also not doing what they were supposed to in order to meet his expectations in that Thursday night contest.
“That was frustrating and I think they felt my frustration,” he said. “I think we’ve picked it up since then. That was very frustrating and sometimes it was a combination of things – it wasn’t all what Cincinnati did, it was some of what we did or didn’t do, as well. Cincinnati did a great job, but we didn’t help ourselves.”
Sands has been more pleased with his players’ performances in the past two games. The Pack have eclipsed 150 yards on the ground in each of their contests since the subpar performance in Cincinnati despite second-string running back Curtis Underwood, Jr. being out with an injury.
Matt Carter (TheWolfpacker.com)
The calvary may not be coming
The cavalry was supposed to arrive after the bye week, but as NC State returns to game-week preparations for Saturday’s road tilt at Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., the news on the injury front is not good.
The Pack announced Monday that sophomore running back Mustafa Greene, the team’s leading rusher in 2010 with 597 yards, will redshirt this fall. He had missed the first six games with a foot injury suffered in spring practice that required surgery.
Head coach Tom O’Brien stated Monday that Greene will have a second operation in the near future to remove a metal plate in his foot.
“By the time that’s done and you try to get him back up and running, it doesn’t make sense to see if he can continue to play,” O’Brien said.
Greene is not the only other player that season’s may be in jeopardy. O’Brien said that senior fullback Taylor Gentry is “still up in the air” with a leg injury, and that fifth-year senior defensive end Jeff Rieskamp’s shoulder injury has not “made any progress whatsoever.”
“I think we’re going to have to re-MRI him and do something this week,” O’Brien said of Rieskamp. “I would think in the next week to 10 days a decision would be made on him, too.”
Brian Reinhardt (GoPack.com)
Program Spotlight: Dwayne Maddox
Maddox did not have to travel far to play college football, as he graduated from Crest High School in Shelby, N.C., which is located just outside of Charlotte.
“My family is the reason I decided to stay in the state of North Carolina to play college football,” said Maddox “I wanted them to have the opportunity to come see me play, because the most important thing to me is my family. Without them, I really do not think I would of gotten to this level.
“My family has always done everything they could to get to all my games, and that is something that means so much to me and something I do not take for granted. Having that support system has really helped me with all my aspirations here at NC State.”
Maddox has leaned on the support of his family during his NC State career, and losing his father last year was tough for him to overcome.
“He would always tell me to keep my head up when I wasn’t playing as much as I might have wanted to,” said Maddox. “He was the one that was encouraging me to continue to practice hard, and to take advantage of the chances I was given.
“I do miss that relationship, and I think about the times we had together. Just talking to him before or after a game was something I cherish now, and it motivates me to play harder and to play for him.”
GoPack.com
UVa Connection Runs Deep for Pack Staff
O’Brien faces one of his seven former assistant coaches who have gone on to become head coaches in Virginia’s Mike London, defensive coordinator of the Boston College staff from 1997-2000.
“[London]’s a really good coach, he’s passionate, he’s really enthusiastic,” said O’Brien. “Their defense is really sound. This is a big powerful football team on both sides of the ball. Nine of their 11 guys on defense are juniors and seniors. There’s a lot of experience back there. They did a great job of running the clock out last week against Georgia Tech.”
Aaron Schoonmaker (WRALSportsfan.com)
Former NC State receiver killed in accident
Former North Carolina State wide receiver Evan Dooley died last Monday after he was struck and killed by a truck on Highway 10 in California.
…
According to L.A. Weekly, the California Highway Patrol received calls on a man running in and out of traffic on the highway at about 4:30 a.m. Reports indicate he was initially struck by a pickup truck and then run over multiple times.
PackPride.com
Depth Chart: NC State vs. Virginia
PackPride.com
Cole, Glennon Meet The Media
PackPride.com
O’Brien Updates Depth Chart, Injury Situation
ACC FOOTBALL
Jim Young (accsports.com)
Second Thoughts On The ACC Weekend, Oct. 17
Cool The “Hire Withers†Talk For Now
When the Tar Heels got off to its 5-1 start, talk began to increase about Everett Withers as a viable candidate for the full-time job at UNC. The argument: Withers had done a marvelous job holding together a UNC season that looked like it might descend into chaos before it ever started.
Certainly Withers deserves some credit for that, but as I argued during my midweek podcast with John Bunting,, the interim UNC coach also got to lead a team that no longer had all those Butch Davis-related distractions hanging over it. And it was – and is – a talented team, arguably the most talented in the Coastal Division. Factor in the first-half schedule and you can see that the 5-1 start hardly qualifies as miracle work.
Speaking of the Coastal Division, UNC’s chances at winning it all but disappeared with its home loss to Miami, giving the Tar Heels two losses to division rivals already.
Who knows? Maybe new UNC AD Bubba Cunningham will be swept off his feet by Withers, in the way Terry Don Phillips was with Dabo Swinney. But first, the interim head of the Tar Heels needs to produce better results on the field.
NC STATE BASKETBALL
Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
Freshman Thomas De Thaey making smooth adjustment (video)
What abilities do you bring to the squad this season?
“My three-point shooting, and I can go inside-outside, toughness and rebounding. I can do a little bit of everything. I like to be an all-around player.”
Have you pretty much been playing power forward during fall workouts, and who have you worked out against?
“Power forward. Sometimes I’ll guard C.J. Leslie, Richard Howell Jordan Vandenberg sometimes, it depends.”
What is it like to guard someone athletic such as Leslie or strong like Howell?
“I’m not used to it [guarding Leslie] because a lot of guys in Europe are not as athletic as him. It’s a challenge for me to stop him. By playing defense on him, it motivates me because it makes me better and hopefully, I can make him better by playing good defense on him.
“[Howell] is tough to stop. When he goes to the goal, he’s like a truck. You get used to it.”
Tim Hall (WRALSportsfan.com)
Gottfried isn’t stupid, and this isn’t 2009
That’s why last week was especially fun traveling around to all of the area school’s media days. It just turns out I couldn’t disagree more with the two most interesting things said. 1)Mark Gottfried is stupid for the way he’s scheduling and 2) North Carolina’s team is comparable to the 2009 title team.
Even more intriguing than the name change of “C.J” Leslie to “Calvin” Leslie because more or less….that’s his name and it’s a new beginning….was how Gottfried is already taking it in the teeth for something I hope remains consistent every year he remains coach — scheduling.
Looking at their schedule I thought to myself, you’re kidding right?
“I like our schedule. I’ve had some people in the profession some of my close friends tell me that we’ve over-scheduled. They think that I’m stupid and we’re a little too ambitious. But I think it’s the right schedule for our team,” Gottfried said.Pick any word exactly opposite to “stupid” and use it for State’s 2011-12 schedule. First of all it’s not much different than the past few years in terms of quality non-conference opponents. In the past we’ve seen games against Arizona, Florida, Syracuse and Wisconsin. This year there’s games against Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Indiana and possibly Texas. It’s not the most rigorous schedule college hoops has ever seen, but it gets the job done.
Gottfried isn’t taking over a team that hasn’t seen competition before. And besides building a winner, the first foot forward is getting a fan base excited to walk through the RBC Center doors again. You aren’t going to do that by playing crap. You do that by showing your team can compete with other well-known programs. Besides, N.C. State has showed in the past it can hang with Syracuse as well as it can with UNC-G.
What’s also stupid is to let a tournament team have a chance to be snubbed because of a junk schedule.
I’m not saying State is a tournament team yet. But Gottfried (and Debbie Yow) have set this team up with opportunity to impress the Selection Committee.
“We know what we’re doing. It’s not by accident,” Gottfried said.
And by the way Gottfried is working on finalizing a home-and-home with Kansas that could start next season. How cool is that?
Aaron Schoonmaker (WRALSportsfan.com)
Duke No. 1, UNC No. 3 in revenue from hoops
Duke and North Carolina have two of the most recognizable basketball programs in all of college athletics. Perhaps that can directly be linked to money.
In an article found in the Triangle Business Journal based on an article and searchable database in the Memphis Business Journal, the Blue Devils generate the most money of any college basketball program in the nation. North Carolina comes in third, right behind Louisville
Citing Equality in Athletics data from the U.S. Department of Education, Duke’s 2009-10 revenue was $26.7 million for the basketball program alone. Duke also spent more on basketball than its peers — $12.3 million in 2009-10.…
NC State made and spent about half as much as UNC on basketball in 2009-10. The Wolfpack were 25th in the nation with $10.4 million in revenue and spent $3.1 million.
In the ACC as a whole, NC State ranked fourth in revenue gained from its basketball program by a shade to Maryland which was third. Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest followed the Wolfpack, respectively, all earning in the $9 million range. Florida State is the lowest-earning ACC team, bringing in just a over $5.7 million in 2009-10.
MULTIMEDIA/PODCASTS
GoPack.com
Watch The Tom O’Brien TV Show
In this week’s episode, Head football coach Tom O’Brien looks back at key plays from this season with host Tony Haynes. Mark Thomas visits with wide receiver Jay Smith and previews the Pack’s next game at Virginia.
WRALSportsfan.com
Tom O’Brien talks Greene Injury and Bye Week
NCSU’s Tom O’Brien talks about Mustafa Greene’s decision to take a redshirt. He also addresses other key injuries coming out of the bye week.
WRALSportsfan.com
Mike Glennon says team is rested after Bye week
NCSU Quarterback Mike Glennon says the team got some much needed rest during the bye week.
WRALSportsfan.com
Audie Cole talks about Virginia
NCSU linebacker Audie Cole talks about the challenge of facing Virginia on the road this week.
