Monday Musings

November 7, 2011

NC STATE FOOTBALL

J.P. GIGLIO (N&O)
Wolfpack savors satisfying win

N.C. State’s locker room after Saturday’s 13-0 win against North Carolina was as loud as quarterback Mike Glennon, a fourth-year junior, can remember it ever being.

Even coach Tom O’Brien gave the jubilant players an “extra hour,” along with their normally allotted 24 hours, to celebrate the team’s fifth consecutive win against the Tar Heels and its first shutout in the rivalry in 51 years.

“That’s their big bonus,” O’Brien said.

But Glennon pumped the brakes on the party to point out that the Wolfpack (5-4, 2-3 ACC) still has three games to play and needs two more wins to get back to a bowl game.

“We’re in a better position than we were, but we have three games left,” Glennon said. “This definitely helps.”

As good as N.C. State has been against the Tar Heels, the Wolfpack has been prone to a “Carolina hangover” under O’Brien.

Akula Wolf (BackingthePack.com)
NC State Makes It Five Straight Over UNC With 13-0 Win

I’m not sure how to respond to what I saw today; I had several scenarios in mind prior to the start of the game–most of them bad, naturally–and I have to wonder about the number of beers that would’ve been necessary to envision a shutout. It’s just the latest strange chapter in this series during the TOB era, where everything seems to go NC State’s way no matter the circumstances.
Not that I thought we were doomed for sure today, but I thought the Heels clearly had the better football team. I guess that’s not so different from the last two years. And we did it again. NC State’s defense limited UNC to 32 total yards in the first half and Carolina had a long touchdown called back due to a holding penalty. David Amerson picked off another pass and James Washington ran for over 100 yards. North Carolina finished the game with as many interceptions as rushing yards.

Joe Ovies (WRALSportsfan.com)
Motivation from Withers worked. For NC State.

It appears Withers’ efforts to emphasize the importance of the rivalry began to backfire after Wednesday’s interview on 99.9FM The Fan. The money quotes about academics and the pride gained from going to universities with “the” in front of their names ended up doing more to motivate NC State. It opened the door for Tom O’Brien’s “triple play” return salvo, which Wolfpack players felt was the ultimate backing from their coach.

Audie Cole welcomed the public statements, telling the press O’Brien normally doesn’t get as vocal as he did after Thursday’s practice. There was also a little self motivation thanks to the dig at NC State’s graduation rates.

“I guess we’re the farmers and they are the educated people?” asked Cole. “Whatever. Either way, we won, and the farmers will be happy going to work on Monday.”

In a way, this game closed a particular chapter in the rivalry. It marks what will likely be the last meeting between O’Brien and what remains of the Davis era in Chapel Hill. The defining storyline will be how vexed the Tar Heels were against NC State. It didn’t matter if the Heels were favored, more talented, or supposedly “up” for the matchup — the Wolfpack always found a way to win. O’Brien had Davis’ number 5 years in a row.

JP GIGLIO (N&O)
Wolfpack walk the walk with win over Tar Heels

After a contentious run-up to the game with verbal volleys fired by both head coaches, N.C. State got the last word on Saturday.

An inspired defense led the Wolfpack to a 13-0 win against North Carolina, its fifth straight victory in the rivalry and first shutout of the Tar Heels since 1960.

Tom O’Brien, who joined Dick Sheridan as the only Wolfpack coach with five straight wins against North Carolina, downplayed the significance of his exchange, via the media, with UNC’s interim coach Everett Withers earlier in the week.

“That’s all superfluous stuff that you guys get a charge out of,” O’Brien said.

But N.C. State linebacker Terrell Manning – who had 11 tackles, one of the team’s four sacks and knocked down a fourth-down pass on UNC’s last-ditch scoring effort – went out of his way to thank Withers for questioning the “academic environment” at N.C. State and bragging about the real “flagship” university in the state.

“I give all the credit to them for firing us up for this game,” Manning said.

CAULTON TUDOR (N&O)
O’Brien fired up over needed win

“We definitely wanted to win this one for our coach,” said junior linebacker Terrell Manning. “We wanted it for us, but we wanted it for him, too. I think everyone in the program really needed a win today.”

“This game we had to have, no question,” said sophomore tackle Rob Crisp, whose blocking performance against UNC’s defensive front was crucial to the Pack’s 126-3 knockout in rushing yardage.
“The players, coaches, and everyone who pulls for State had to have this game.”

Normally quiet and unemotional, O’Brien got into a word war with Withers this week that made an immediate impression on his players.

“It showed us he has our back and has the university’s back,” N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon said. “He took it personal and added some fire for us. It was out character for him, so we really understood how much it meant to him.”

LUKE DECOCK (N&O)
Drama from coaches’ spat exceeded game

A year after North Carolina and N.C. State combined in Chapel Hill to produce one of the most thrilling editions of the rivalry in recent memory, with Russell Wilson and T.J. Yates dueling like Ali and Frazier in Manila, the teams conspired Saturday to make sure the coaches’ war of words was as compelling as anything that happened on the field.

When Withers disparaged N.C. State’s academic standards in an absolutely priceless outburst of hypocrisy Wednesday, and O’Brien responded Thursday by dragging up nearly every one of North Carolina’s transgressions under Butch Davis as well as a few the Tar Heels weren’t charged with, it set the stage for an epic game.

O’Brien even played the tape of Withers’ radio interview for his team before the game, and the Wolfpack came away with a 13-0 win. It was hard to tell whether N.C. State’s defense was particularly inspired or North Carolina’s offense particularly insipid, but the result was the same either way.

The Wolfpack and its fans will savor this one for a while, and the Tar Heels and their fans have another year to suffer the ignominy of their losing streak against N.C. State, which now stands at a record five. Entire classes of UNC football players have arrived, matriculated and departed without beating N.C. State.

“We talked about it,” N.C. State linebacker Audie Cole said. “We’re like the farmers and they’re the educated people, I guess. Whatever. We won and the farmers will be happy on Monday going to work.”

It just wouldn’t feel complete without that final salvo from Cole, in a week N.C. State won on both fronts: the game and the trash talking.

KEN TYSIAC (N&O)
UNC at N.C. State game observations

Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
War of words great did more than just stir up UNC-State rivalry

Maybe Withers’ decision to take a shot at the Wolfpack’s less-than-proud athletic graduation rate – only days after his own “flagship” school was hauled before the NCAA for academic fraud – was simply a rookie mistake by an overzealous interim coach getting his one-and-only shot at this rivalry thing.

Then again, maybe Withers knew exactly what he was doing. And O’Brien’s snarky, if not entirely accurate response was exactly what he was trying to elicit.

What better way to get the attention of your players and give them the motivation they need to break a four-game losing streak to a neighboring school they view as beneath them, than by turning Saturday’s showdown in Raleigh into something personal rather than just another game?

Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
NC State’s George Bryan simply disdains UNC

NC State fifth-year senior tight end and co-captain George Bryan simply does not like today’s opponent. It’s nothing against the current North Carolina players, but Bryan doesn’t like anything to do with the college 30 minutes to the east.

The Castle Hayne, N.C., native said his home area is split between UNC and NC State fans. The two-time All-ACC tight end has always had a simple philosophy when Tar Heels fans try to be friends with him.

“It was always a constant battle between people,” said Bryan about the Wilmington area. “I don’t hang out with anybody that pulls for Carolina. We all get along well because we all pull for State. Not one person [pulls for UNC].

“I just don’t like Carolina, but it’s nothing against their players. I just don’t like Carolina, and I can’t explain it. It’s just one of those things. It’s like you are born not liking something to eat.”

Matt Carter (TheWolfpacker.com)
Quick Hit’s from NCSU’s win over UNC

Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 13-0 win over North Carolina in front of 57,583 very happy Wolfpack fans at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh Saturday afternoon.

Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
NC State Locker Room Report

The NC State players were proud and excited about defeating arch-rival North Carolina 13-0 on Saturday in front of 57,583 fans at Carter-Finley Stadium.

NC State coach Tom O’Brien said he’d enjoy the game tonight, and then on to preparing for at Boston College next Saturday. The Wolfpack have to win two more games to become bowl eligible.

Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
Five in a Row

NC State was able to get the last and most important word in its rivalry with UNC on Saturday — victory.

The Wolfpack’s defense came through with a 13-0 victory over the Tar Heels at Carter-Finley Stadium.

The victory was well earned by the maligned NC State defense, which allowed 34 points last week against Florida State. NCSU improved to 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the ACC, and are two victories away from becoming bowl eligible. UNC fell to 6-4 overall and 2-4 in the league.
“I’d certainly like to commend this football team and coaching staff,” O’Brien said. “You look at the effort by the defense, it was tremendous today. We put together a great game plan after studying all the tape and getting ready to play this game. We did enough offensively to win this type of football game.”

GoPack.com
Shutout Leads to Fifth-Straight over UNC

PackPride.com
Locker Room Report: Tom O’Brien

“It’s really helped that we’ve got some bodies up front. Those two freshmen on the second line, Teal and McGill, after Kuhn and Sweezy, the drop-off isn’t so great when we try to get a rotation of things in there. It helps that we’re getting some of those guys back, but we’re not near…”

“My job is to make sure that I do everything I can to help them get ready to play a football game. With that being said, I’m certainly going to enjoy this one tonight. I promise you that.”

PackPride.com
NOTES: Pack Seniors Stay Perfect

TAKING AWAY THE RUN

For the second straight year, the NC State defense held the Tar Heels rushing game in check. In last year’s win, North Carolina posted -7 yards rushing for the game. This year, that total increased for UNC, but only to 3 yards. The Pack’s previsous low for rushing yards by an opponent this season was 101 against Wake Forest.

Associated Press
Wolfpack Shuts Out Tar Heels 13-0

As the final seconds ticked away, North Carolina State’s players on the sideline extended their hands into the air and held up all five fingers for the home crowd to see. When the celebration made its way across the field, the fans offered those five-fingered waves right back.

These days, beating North Carolina is becoming a tradition for N.C. State’s players, students and fans. And this time, the Tar Heels didn’t put up a whole lot of fight to stop it.

Mike Glennon threw a touchdown pass to help N.C. State beat North Carolina 13-0 on Saturday, earning a fifth straight win against its nearby rival as well as its first shutout win in the series in more than five decades.

It’s the first time the Wolfpack (5-4, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) has taken five straight meetings with the Tar Heels (6-4, 2-4) since 1988-92. And it once again proved that coach Tom O’Brien — still unbeaten against UNC — knows how to win the most important game to the Wolfpack’s fan base.

“I never play this for me,” O’Brien said. “My job is to make sure I help them do everything they can to get ready to play the football game. That being said, I’m certainly going to enjoy this one tonight. I can promise you that.”

Sammy Batten (FayObserver.com)
Emotional Wolfpack responds to coach’s comments

Tom O’Brien is a man who rarely shows his emotion. But when he does, it means something to his N.C. State football team.

An uncharacteristic outburst by the stoic O’Brien clearly had an impact on his players Saturday as the Wolfpack seized a school record-tying fifth straight victory over its arch rival North Carolina, 13-0, at Carter-Finley Stadium.

O’Brien was visibly upset following Thursday’s practice over comments made the day before on a local radio show by Tar Heel interim coach Everett Withers. Withers made what can only be considered some calculated statements comparing his school’s graduation success to N.C. State’s. The timing of the comments seemed ill advised considering UNC’s football program is currently under investigation for a variety of NCAA violations, including academic fraud.

Obviously, O’Brien deemed them inappropriate because he fired back Thursday with several unflattering zingers about UNC’s NCAA troubles. The banter only heightened the anticipation for Saturday’s 101st showdown in the rivalry where one team responded to its coach’s comments and the other team didn’t.

Lenox Rawlings (journalnow.com)
O’Brien, Wolfpack dominating rivalry

If you make no allowances for transfers and early NFL candidates, the most recent football grad stats (Carolina 58 percent, State 50 percent) shouldn’t give anyone cause for celebration.

If you add variables such as Carolina’s admission of academic fraud during the NCAA investigation and continuing scrutiny of the African and Afro-American Studies program frequented by athletes, silence might have been a shrewder strategy.

Tom O’Brien, now 5-0 against Carolina as the State commandant, punctured Withers’ membrane-thin trial balloon. He ripped Carolina’s admissions of fraud, excessive player benefits and the associate head coach taking money from an agent. “I mean,” O’Brien said, “that’s a triple play as far as the NCAA goes.”

Afterward, O’Brien waved off the tempest as superfluous. “I have no ill will or hard feelings personally,” he said. “I don’t take those things personally. I was standing up for our school. It had nothing to do with me.”

In other words, it was just business. In this rivalry, that means business as usual.

Heather Dinich (espn.com)
NC State does it again

Unfortunately for UNC, quarterback Bryn Renner was knocked out of the game with concussion-like symptoms. Nothing seemed to go the Tar Heels’ way in this one.

NC State, on the other hand, has nine lives this season. The Pack now needs to win two of its next three to get to a bowl game, and that’s not only possible, it’s likely, considering the way Boston College and Maryland have been playing.

This was a great coaching job by Tom O’Brien, and should silence a lot of his critics.

It probably silenced a lot of UNC fans. Again.

ACC FOOTBALL

Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
FIFTH QUARTER: Bowl eligibility and ‘happy farmers’

5 POSITIVES

1. More than just a win: As satisfying as N.C. State’s fifth straight win against rival North Carolina is on the surface, it has even more far-reaching consequences. Not only does it take coach Tom O’Brien off the hot seat, but it also gives the Wolfpack a realistic shot at bowl eligibility – something that was very much in doubt three weeks ago.

2. Pack is back: N.C. State’s injury riddled defense is starting to look like it was supposed to before the season started – both in personnel and performance. With most of its top players back, the Wolfpack limited UNC to three yards rushing and posted its first shutout of the Tar Heels since 1960.

5 NEGATIVES

1. Talk is cheap: If you’re going talk smack during the week, then back it up on Saturday. UNC couldn’t do it. Instead, the Tar Heels made interim coach Everett Withers look foolish by posting season-lows in rushing, passing and total yardage while losing its fifth straight to their neighboring rival.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We talked about it. I guess we’re the farmers and they are the educated people? Whatever. Either way, we won, and the farmers will be happy going to work on Monday.” N.C. State linebacker Audie Cole.

UNC FALLOUT

CAULTON TUDOR (N&O)
Heels loss warms Withers’ hot seat

Two games plus a bowl appearance remain for North Carolina’s football team, but the final door almost certainly closed on the Butch Davis coaching era with Saturday’s 13-0 loss at N.C. State.

Interim coach Everett Withers, formerly Davis’ defensive coordinator, needed to snap the program’s four-game losing streak to N.C. State to generate substantial support in the fan base.

The odds were heavily against Withers staying anyway. Incoming athletics director Bubba Cunningham said Withers would be considered, but a complete staff overhaul seemed likely from the moment Davis was fired in late July.

Tarheelfanblog.com
NC State 13 UNC 0

People are going to talk about the things Withers said this week or the team not being up, prepared, etc, etc, etc. At this point all I can do is throw my hands up in frustration. If I live to be 99 I will never be able to figure out this losing streak versus NC State. It seems like the longer it goes on the stranger and more creative UNC gets in finding ways to lose to the Pack. It is not simply an issue of players not “being up” for the game or even preparation. When UNC plays NCSU everything that could go wrong for the Heels does and everything that could go right for NCSU follows like clockwork. It is maddeningly bizarre and the only hope we have left is Bubba Cunningham can find a coach who can has the answer for this half decade of torture at the hands of NC State.

Tarheelfanblog.com
Inexplicable

This quote from Gio Bernard
“I don’t know that it’s being surprised, I think it’s just a matter of not feeling right. I didn’t feel right going into the game. I felt guys were just joking around and not taking this game seriously. I knew guys were just not really focused in.”

After a week of buildup I would love for Everett Withers to explain how this is even possible. Of course this shouldn’t be a surprise. The Butch Davis Era, of which Withers’ interim season is a part, has been defined by an inability of UNC teams of the past five years to play at a high level consistently, even in a game like this one which is should be automatic for the players in terms of intensity.

Doc (Tarheelfanblog.com)
The Good, Bad, and Ugly Report: NC State

Of course the last 24 hours has found State fans in nirvana and UNC fans on the ledge. We have reached the point in the series with the Wolfpack that defies logic and belief. Much of this football season has been spent in bizarro world and it stands to figure that this game wouldn’t be any different. And the worst part is that UNC heads into the bye week, followed by a Thursday night trip to Blacksburg, so the team and its fans have an extra five days to choke on the bile induced by this game.

UGLY

Offensive Line: I have been down on these guys all year, but for the second straight week, they were crushed by a smaller defensive line. Surrendering four sacks and four other tackles for loss is simply inexcusable at this point in the season. I mentioned on Twitter last night that Bernard has gained 1,000 yards in spite of his offensive line, not because of it.

Coaching preparation: Five straight years, guys. As fans, we are used to seeing the UNC staff have circles coached around them. We are used to seeing inexplicable play and formation calls, and little-to-no in-game adjustments. But having NC State (and Georgia Tech, and Virginia under Al Groh) do it over and over is just tiresome.

Everett Withers: I have been a solid supporter of Withers, who was thrown into an impossible situation and, until this week, had handled himself admirably. But this week, he stepped in it big time. I was willing to cut him a break for the crack about State’s academic environment, but to put himself and his program through that crap and then lay an egg like they did on Saturday, and then have Bernard reveal the lack of focus for the game, is inexcusable. Not that Withers was ever a real candidate for the permanent coaching job, but this season is his audition for a gig somewhere else and he failed this test, and his team, miserably.

KEN TYSIAC (N&O)
Tar Heels struggle to execute

North Carolina offensive guard Jonathan Cooper said he never imagined his team would be shut out, and after the game he was struggling to figure out how it happened.

The blitz-happy N.C. State defense coordinated by Mike Archer recorded four sacks and three interceptions in a 13-0 defeat of the Tar Heels on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.

A week after rolling to a season-high 562 yards against Wake Forest, the Tar Heels were held to 165 yards, 99 fewer than their previous season low.

“I guess it’s their scheme,” Cooper said. “When you think they have everybody picked up, they’ll send one more guy than you have to protect, I guess. So I mean, we picked up the best we could. I give them credit. Some of it was due to our mistakes, and they did a good job defensively.”

Matt Carter (TheWolfpacker.com)
UNC Locker Room Report

Click on the links to listen to the respective postgame interviews of head coach Everett Withers and selected players.

Eddy Landreth (TarheelIllustrated.com)
Tar Heels flop

Tethered together with a sputtering offense, this spelled doom in the most important game of the season for Carolina.

Making matters worse, Withers had plenty to say before the game but little in the way of explanations afterward. He made derogatory comments about N.C. State’s football program and its academic performance on the radio earlier in the week.

That would have been all well and good had the Tar Heels come prepared to play, but they did not.

“Until I can watch the film, I can’t tell you anything about the X’s and O’s,” Withers said.

He provided N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien with plenty to crow about.

Adam Powell (TarheelIllustrated.com)
UNC-NC State: Inside the Box

DREADFUL FIRST HALF FOR UNC

Carolina’s horrendous offensive performance in the first half was aided by a few inexplicable play calls by offensive coordinator John Shoop, including an end-around in NCSU territory when the straight-forward running game was working, and a halfback pass that was completely snuffed out by the Wolfpack. In addition, UNC ran some short passes and slow-developing running plays that it seemed that everyone in the stadium knew was coming. Combined with Renner and Bernard going down at different points with injuries, and it was about as atrocious a first half as the Tar Heels could have conceived in their worst nightmares. The only saving grace was that NCSU was largely unable to capitalize on all the good field position and extra scoring opportunities, and led just 10-0 at halftime. But as it turned out, those 10 points might as well have been 50 with the way the UNC offense failed to make plays.

PRESSURE WILTS TAR HEELS

N.C. State defensive coordinator Mike Archer brought a complex series of zone blitzes and stunts that seemed to throw off the Tar Heels front five from the get-go. The Wolfpack had Renner, and then Hanson, running for their lives pretty much from the opening drive—a remarkable turn of events for a much-maligned NCSU defense that has been banged up and abused for much of the season by offenses that statistically weren’t putting up the numbers UNC has been.

But it’s common knowledge to those who have been following this rivalry that the Wolfpack take their game to another level when UNC is in town, and that’s again how it played out this time. The Wolfpack made every key play, converted every key third down, and stuffed UNC on every key play—especially in the first half—and the pressure that put the Tar Heels under in the second half was simply too much to overcome.

Along with applying pressure up front, the Wolfpack did a nice job with linebacker Dwayne Maddox and others stuffing the running lanes, and the secondary stifled all of Carolina’s receivers with the exception of Jones. Jheranie Boyd failed to make a catch—although he had one hit him in the numbers that he dropped—while UNC’s No. 2 receiver Highsmith had just two catches for 26 yards.

NC STATE BASKETBALL

Bret Strelow (accsports.com)
Countdown To Tip-Off: No. 7 N.C. State

Gottfried Knows Baby Steps Are Path To Success

RALEIGH — Mark Gottfried raised some eyebrows on N.C. State’s media day by referring to sophomore C.J. Leslie as “Calvin,” his given name.

This will indeed be a season of change for Wolfpack basketball, buoyed by the April arrival of a new coach and shaped by fresh starts for talented but underachieving players such as Leslie. Together, they hope to end the struggles of N.C. State’s recent past and restore pride in the tradition-rich program.

All of those variables make it difficult to project just how the Wolfpack will fare in its first season under the direction of Gottfried, who has labeled his group a mystery.

“We’re in the valley,” he said. “Realistically, it’s going to be a tall climb. It’s why some other people turned the job down. They looked at the mountain and said they don’t want to risk or take a chance that we can’t climb it. That’s OK. It’s part of the challenge, the fun part of trying to evaluate where we currently are, but also look at what the potential could be.

“Some jobs, there’s a ceiling on your potential. I don’t think there’s a ceiling on this job.”

J.P. GIGLIO (N&O)
Williams likely a go for Wolfpack

Eight days after suffering a hairline fracture in his left thumb, N.C. State senior C.J. Williams played in the Wolfpack’s Red-White scrimmage on Saturday.

Williams, the team’s only returning senior, originally thought he might miss as many as four weeks with the injury, which he suffered during practice Oct. 28. However, Williams now is expected to be in the lineup tonight when the Wolfpack hosts Flagler in its only exhibition at the RBC Center.

“I’m practicing, I’m playing, 100 percent,” Williams said. “It doesn’t hurt.”

NATE TAYLOR (N&O)
New year, new look for Wolfpack basketball

“The lower bowl was pretty much full,” Gottfried said of the atmosphere. “It was nice to see, and that makes me feel great.”
Gottfried was mostly quiet as he watched his team during the event. When he did speak, Gottfried demanded his team to push the tempo.
“We had some good fast-break opportunities,” he said. “We’re trying to run, and it’s a little something different for our guys.

The fans seemed to appreciate Gottfried’s approach. Running the offense quicker did create some entertaining moments for the Wolfpack.
Center Jordan Vandenberg was able to display his athleticism.

Vandenberg, at 7-feet-1 and 285 pounds, made a sweeping right-handed hook shot that created a buzz in the arena. Then he beat his defender down the court for a two-handed dunk.

“We want the ball to go inside a lot,” Gottfried said. “I liked Jordan’s hook shot and it’s something (we’ve) been spending a lot of time with him on.”

One of the biggest takeaways from the scrimmage was the play of the guards.

Alex Johnson, who transferred from California State Bakersfield, was able to drive to the basket for easy points.

“I was just trying to have fun,” said Johnson, who finished with 23 points and five assists. “(Gottfried) really wants us to be an up-tempo team. I think we’re getting comfortable with it.”

Ryan Tice (TheWolfpacker.com)
Alex Johnson thrives in Red-White scrimmage

An estimated crowd of 10,982 hustled from the Wolfpack’s 13-0 win at Carter-Finley Stadium to the RBC Center to watch the Red-White scrimmage and serenade Amile Jefferson with chants of the prospect’s name throughout the contest.

In its debut under new coach Mark Gottfried, the Pack played three 12-minute periods with the score reset at the end of each. The teams were also mixed up at the end of each period, but fans were treated to a new-look squad that didn’t really resemble the 2010 team.

The star of the day was graduate student point guard Alex Johnson, who was playing in front of the Pack faithful for the first time. Teams that Johnson was on won two of out the three periods, and he nearly helped the Red team take the final frame.

Derek Medlin (PackPride.com)
Red/White Scrimmage A Success

Fans packed the lower bowl and watched the White Team win in all three periods of the intrasquad scrimmage. The White team won the first period 26-22, the second period 30-25 and the the third period 30-29.

And while Gottfried was quick to point out the areas where the Wolfpack need to improve before the regular season begins Nov. 11 against UNC-Asheville, he said he was happy with the way the Wolfpack worked through the scrimmage.

“There were times when we shared the ball really well. Other times I thought we needed to move the ball more. Especially the red team on a couple of trips,” he said. “Overall we are learning what we want to do. We have to get better defensively. We still have to learn shot selection.”

PackPride.com
Red/White Scrimmage: Locker Room Report

“We had some good fast break opportunities. We actually had a number of fast break opportunities and muffed them one way or another. We have to be more efficient in the break. We are trying to run and its a little different for guys. We have to learn how to be an effective fast break team. Right now we are at times and we aren’t at times.”

“Number one, congratulations to Tom and the football team. We are all extremely proud for them. It makes for a great day – our fans come in here feeling good.”

MULTIMEDIA/PODCASTS

WRALSportfan.com
O’Brien: I’m certainly going to enjoy this one

Tom O’Brien says he is already thinking about next week’s game against Boston College, but he will take a little time to enjoy the victory over UNC.

WRALSportfan.com
Glennon says the pack defense was great

NCSU QB Mike Glennon says the defense played very well and that allowed the offense to have a good game in the win over UNC.

WRALSportfan.com
Manning: “We stop the run”

NCSU linebacker Terrell Manning said the defense was just doing what they always do. Stop the run.

WRALSportsfan.com
Cole says the defense followed a game plan

NCSU linebacker Audie Cole says the defense had a specific game plan against UNC and it worked.

WRALSportsfan.com
Withers gives credit to Pack after Heels’ loss

UNC interim coach Everett Withers believes his team should feel hurt after losing to rival NCSU.

WRALSportsfan.com
Bernard: Guys didn’t take State seriously

Giovani Bernard thinks his teammates thought they would beat NCSU and, as a result, failed to focus in the game.

WRALSportsfan.com
Reddick wants to put State loss behind him

UNC linebacker Kevin Reddick said he wasn’t impressed by Mike Glennon but believes the Tar Heel defense failed to make enough plays.

WRALSportsfan.com
Cooper doesn’t know why Tar Heel offense struggled

UNC offensive lineman Jonathan Cooper believed the Heels failed to execute against NCSU.

David Glenn (accsports.com)
Catching Up With Tom O’Brien, Nov. 3

Morgan Patrick, the super sub on David Glenn’s afternoon radio show, recently caught up with N.C. State football coach Tom O’Brien to talk about the Wolfpack.

Among the topics they discussed: If it was difficult for O’Brien’s team to move past its loss to Florida State; if the game against UNC stands out on the Wolfpack’s schedule; if O’Brien and his office get extra texts and emails for tickets before the UNC game; and if beating UNC is more or less important than getting to seven wins for the season.

David Glenn (accsports.com)
David Glenn Chats With: Terry Harvey, Nov. 4

David Glenn caught up with former N.C. State quarterback Terry Harvey on his afternoon radio show to talk about the UNC-N.C. State game this weekend.

Among the topics they discussed: what Harvey makes of Everett Withers’ jab at N.C. State; whether Harvey supports Tom O’Brien’s response; how these types of comments impact players on game day; and whether Harvey ever did any trash talking of his own.