The Morning After NC State Gets Hosed vs Clemson (Update 12:30pm)

**Update** – WRAL’s Jeff Gravely is reporting on Twitter that Debbie Yow sent a message to the ACC.  One could only hope there was a horse head attached.

The Call

So I tried to refrain from writing after coming home from the game last night because it would have just come out an angry, f-bomb filled screed of nonsense.  Not that this will be much better, I’m only mildly over the whole thing. I can get over the ghost timeouts because that happens a lot, coaches are in the ear of the ref and can call timeout at the drop of a hat without anyone noticing and for sure no one noticed. Clemson still ran the play as it were live but so be it.

The real elephant in the room was the unexplainably bad call from the back judge, who called Brian Underwood out of bounds after he burned down the sideline on a jet sweep. Everyone knows the right call should have been a no-call, especially since all TD plays are reviewed anyway but I still don’t understand how the back judge makes this call when he doesn’t have a clear line of sight.  Not that we need anymore proof but I’ve taken a screenshot of the play and illustrated it for everyone.

Obviously the field judge with the green arrow had the clear line of sight and made the correct call, while the back judge with an obstructed view (red arrow) makes a horrendous call.  He should have let the play go, let it be reviewed or conferred with the field judge.

I hate to beat a dead-horse because everyone knows he was wrong but this is the type of thing that makes State fans crazy and start screaming about black helicopters. I’ve already heard the rumors of the ref being an avid Tar-hole fan and the ACC trying to protect it’s football golden-boy and while they are hard to believe at some point when this sort of thing keeps happening to us over and over again it is hard to not give it a little serious thought.   I know it won’t happen and it won’t change anything but the ACC and/or that official need to say something about the whole situation.

In the end I don’t even think it is about us fans.  I couldn’t feel worse for Coach D, the rest of the coaches and the players who obviously had a solid game plan and came out very prepared for this game only to have to play it 11 vs 15. Who knows what could have happened if that call stands and the Pack goes into the 4rth quarter up 14-13.

The Rest of the Game

With that said, I know after the LaTech and Richmond wins we were all a little uncertain about what the season holds for us but the performance from the players and coaches in last night’s loss made me feel a little better about what is to come.  The coaches understood what needed to be done and overall I’m excited to see what this staff can do when they have a little more time to implement their system and get a few more playmakers to run it.

Some things I thought were interesting:

• Shadrach’s performance, 2 touches 53 yards and a TD.  Will he get more touches as he works his way out of DD’s doghouse?
• Pete Thomas played ok but after 3 games we still only have 1 passing TD and that is from our Wildcat QB Sherrifs
• Last night was a win from the recruiting standpoint. State hosted a ton of visitors both unofficial and official and we showed them a solid atmosphere, a competitive game, and a ton of freshman getting playing time and making plays on both sides of the ball
• Rashard Smith needs more touches
• Loved the defensive game plan Huxtable had set up. We gave up a few too many 3rd down conversions but that will tighten up as the corners get some more experience. They seemed to play the man and never look back for the ball but Clemson is second to none with their skill at WR. Overall, we didn’t give up any big plays partly because Boyd missed a few deep balls but he was constantly running around for time.

Here’s some media from last nights game

DeadSpin was the first to get the video up.

And some good pictures of Tailgating