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I watched the scrimmage on replay. I’ve been watching these preaseason things for close to 20 years now. We’ve never had the talent and depth that this team does. If everyone is cleared and stays healthy, the goal should be Final Four or bust.
Louisville is the best team in the ACC. Clemson played their best game of the year in beating them, rode the home crowd and caught a couple of breaks. I think if that game is played 10 times, Louisville wins 6-7.
Clemson played a bad game against us and did about everything possible to gift wrap it. Had they been clicking, they’d have scored 40. People wanted to believe we’d turned some corner, but the outcome yesterday was not surprising.
Did anyone actually expect us to cover today? Louisville with the points had to be the easiest bet of the year. No way DD was going to have that team ready to play today after last week. Even if he did, Petrino is the best coach in the league and it was away.
Sadly, at 4-3 (1-2), we are right where I expected we’d be right now. ND and ECU are flipped, but we’re well on our way to my 6-6 (3-5) prediction.
What will be interesting is what happens in the offseason. Will Yow give DD another extension? Hux will clearly be the sacrificial lamb. I suspect it comes down to how badly UNC beats us….
My hope is that Gott turns the defense over to Schroyer. If so, we might actually play it for the first time under his tenure. That’s what his teams were known for at Tenn Martin. He plays that UNLV Amoeba zone. My only fear is that Gott doesn’t seem to like zone.
For all the talk of Lutz as the defensive whiz, I really hoped that wasn’t true. His teams were never good at defense, but were good offensive.
If Yurt and others are cleared and everyone stays healthy, then anything less than a top 4 ACC finish securing a double bye will be a complete failure. With 2 apparent NBA lottery picks playing at the two most important positions in college basketball, the goal should be the Final Four. The talent isn’t going to get better.
If everyone is cleared and healthy, if we finish 6th this year, then we should just cut bait with Gott. He’ll never get us there.
Random thoughts:
– My pregame prediction is that we’d play well, but I didn’t like their receivers against our DBs, our kicking game, and I feel like DD’s poor game management is worth 6-10 point a game for the other team. I figured we’d lose by 14-17.
– Hats off to the defense for rising up and playing their best game of the year. They made clutch play after clutch play and really hit hard.
– The offense… Well the third quarter was my concern with Drink in looking back at his time at Boise. In games they lost, he was very pass happy. In that third quarter and first half of the 4th we admittedly had some bad field position, but it was also like we forgot about the run.
– Kicking. It is bad. It has been bad consistently under DD. Not going to say much more.
– End of regulation sequence reminded me a lot of App against Tenn this year. More conecerned with trying to kill the clock than actually going in for the score to put the game away. Huge mistake. I think Dayes had just popped off a ten yard run. If we’re kicking, then no kick is too short.
– Overtime offensive play: kind of like we’d given up.
– Baffling situational subbing of McLendon into the game.
– Our lines are as good as I can remember them. Yeah we had some bad penalties in the first half on the OL, but I thought the protection was good and Dayes had some holes.
– I do not understand our use of time outs. We often seeming use them in a way that gives our opponent a free time out.
– DD reminds me of a football version of HWSNBN. He is a methodical grinder who is his own worst enemy when the game is going. No lead is safe and the pucker factor is incredibly high. We’ll give him as long as Yow is here. If Yow were here another 6 years, then DD would get his decade.When Fran came, we had to cut 30-40 trees across a road, but the house didn’t flood.
When Floyd came, the house almost flooded. The water crept close, but never came in.
What they got where they were (and the streams feeding the lake) far eclipsed those two. That was more rain than that area (40/95 corridor) had seen in 50 years.
I’ve been going to eastern NC my entire life. I’d have to say that this storm seems like it was “the big one.”
My grandparents lived in their house on a lake from ~ 1960 until they died last year. In that time, it never flooded — not even with Fran and Floyd (which admittedly came very close). It’s now under water up to the windows and is effectively a total loss. This sounds bad but thank goodness it happened after they died.
Hazell was the last thing that has hit NC that seemed this destructive. I wasn’t alive then, but have heard stories. My thoughts are with all of you who have been impacted.
Good win for the Pack. I guess we out coached ND today. I’ve never been impressed by Kelly, but his insistence on passing in those conditions did us a huge favor.
My guess is they’d watched too much tape of our secondary and figured something would eventually break their way for a long gain. I thought our D did a nice job of tackling most of the day and not over pursuing.
Recruiting rankings aside, I thought we had more talent than ND. We looked better on both lines, our RBs were better and the QB position was a push. This isn’t the same ND team that they have some years.
Game ball has to go to the fans who showed up today and then sat through as long as they did. Those were tough conditions, and anyone who stayed the whole game earned their “fan card.” I imagine it is one where 100k people will claim to have been there.
Bill:
I tend to think that they should as well, but there are lots of rumblings on another site that they are not. If one is to believe those, we’ve signed a bad contract (my opinion) and a buy out would be too expensive. With the proximity to Yow’s retirement and the money involved (buy out + someone clearly better), it appears that the administration doesn’t care enough about winning to do anything.
Regardless, I think we’re winning today (and against BC and Syracuse). The above discussion is more relevant if we can’t find any upsets.
Since 1987, we’ve lost to Wake one time at home. I don’t think we’ll do it this time, particularly not coming off a bye.
My 8 is behind the 8 ball. That’s what we are if we don’t or can’t beat Wake at home.
I don’t think Les is going to win any titles here (or anywhere else at this point). I don’t think he’s ever coming to State, and think those suggesting that need their heads examined.
I do think he’s considerably better than what we have now………
Les’s time had come. I was surprised they retained him after last year. Alabama building that monster with the way LSU views college sports and football in particular was eventually going to get Miles fired.
Having said that, Miles is the best LSU coach in my lifetime. For a long time, they were a slumbering giant much like Texas is today. They must think they have someone on the hook if they’re making that change. Speaking of Texas, if they make a move this offseason (and maybe Oklahoma does too?), then that will be the best job open. LSU probably made this move to strike while the iron was hot.
Oh and Les to NC State is absolutely laughable. Every middling college team probably is saying the same thing right now.
State wins by 14+. Go Pack!
The brevity of this post parallels how much we’all take out of this game. I hope for no injuries, for us to find a kicker and for the defense tonfind some confidence.
I enrolled in 1995. Most things at the school have gone generally downwards, including the sports.
I said many times over the last six months that should DD lose to ECU, UNC and have a losing record, he was done. I still believe that and think the general tenor of the fan base is tilting in that direction. While the season isn’t lost, the staff clearly has put themselves behind the 8 ball. I don’t like their chances going into Chapel Hill with that being a must win game.
We’re not hiring Briles and I really don’t think we should either. He’s a match made in heaven for Texas, Texas Tech or A&M. He currently has no “show-cause” but I think he might by the time this is over. He deserves it if you ask me.
If people want more traffic, then just post. 🙂 It’s not up to the moderators/owners/bloggers to generate the discussion. Most of the best discussion that happens here happens after the original blog post.
As for ECU, this is one I’ve had “circled” for months now. If we can’t beat ECU, then I don’t see how we can get to 6 wins given we still have FSU, Clemson, Louisville, ND, Miami and UNC left to play. A team that can’t get it done against a new coaching staff in Greenville isn’t going to get a win against Louisville on the road, or against UNC on the road in a rivalry game.
I don’t care if it’s by a point on a late safety. Just win! 😉
I think we get it done though. My prediction would be State in a tight one by about 3. A key for us will be ensuring balance of run and pass and burning some clock while still going up tempo (I think it’d be very tough to play 5 minutes of defense without subbing or stopping more than 10 seconds between plays). I hope to be pleasantly surprised by our pass defense, but right now I expect ECU to score a lot unless we can generate some pressure.
I’m glad that it’s finally football season! My ESPN3 stream was just fine.
I thought we looked a bit ahead of my expectations for game one. We did some things well and had some things we needed to improve on.
Quick thoughts:
– QB situation seems settled to me: I figured it was Finley, but they were giving JM a chance (or the fans a chance to see that JM wasn’t ready). Finley impressed me with game management, accuracy and the ability to throw a catch-able ball.
– OL looked pretty good to me. Granted it was against the weakest front we’ll see all year, but we opened holes for the run game and protected the QBs pretty well.
– Don’t think Finley is a run/read option QB. If we try that stuff with him, I suspect he gets hurt.
– The RBs and Samuels looked great. This is the best stable of backs we’ve had in my lifetime.
– The freshman WRs made some good catches. It appears we’re just going to rotate a lot of WR out there and hope someone makes some plays.
– Defense looked good outside of two drives. Drive #1 was seemingly scripted by the opponent and well practiced. That was still concerning. The drive right after the half seemed to be mentally letting down a bit. Some loose coverage in the passing game concerned me a bit, but maybe it was the scheme. For me that’s a bit tough to judge on TV because of how the camera only follows the ball.
– Special teams was by far the weakest link. If that doesn’t improve, we’ll lose a game or two because of special teams. It wasn’t just the kicking, but the kick off coverage as well. We also didn’t really break any returns (at least that I remember) against what was clearly a smaller, weaker and slower team.
– S&C looked good.
– Liked the up tempo. It wasn’t full on fast break in a way that I think sometimes confuses the offensive team as well, but it did put pressure on the defense.
– My take away is that we’re going to score some points and be a fun team to watch. That’s half of it for NC State.Other thoughts on games from last night:
– Tennessee has talent, size and speed. They looked physically like men against boys against App. You could see the delta between the kids Tennessee has and us. You could also see the difference in facilities, fan support and the commitment to winning.
– App snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at the end. When it went to OT, it was pretty clear Tennessee would win.
– Vandy’s QB didn’t look good to me. They’ll go winless in the SEC with that offense.
– S.Carolina’s offense looked better in the second half, but I just don’t know why you’d hire Muschampf. I wonder how long S. Carolina is going to give him, particularly given that Clemson is rolling.It’s unclear to me whether WatchESPN is going to actually have it. It shows up as “ACC Network” when I do a search. I guess we’ll see tonight……….
Hey, my wife and I have hall sex every day. I walk by my wife in the hall and we both say “screw you.” 😀
I hope that DD is our Beamer as well.
With respect to recruiting, we should benchmark against teams that have the same input$. UNC isn’t one of those. Neither is FSU, Clemson, Miami or Notre Dame.
Louisville, Duke, WF, UVA, Va Tech, Ga Tech, Pitt, Maryland, Rutgers, Vandy and Syracuse are. Those are who we’re realistically competing with. For us to move up, it will come at the expense of these programs (and push them down).
UNC has a willingness to cut corners that we don’t have. Fair or unfair, that’s an apples to oranges comparison.
Duke’s executed on a fantastic, 5 part plan:
1) Great school and things to offer a student (and sell a parent)
2) Willingness to make things a bit easier for the athletes. Everyone does this, but Duke REALLY does it.
3) Go all in on basketball (which is easier to get to the top of the mountain in) and the parlay that into other areas ($$$).
4) Hire a great coach
5) Give that coach time
I don’t see any strategic plan like that at NC State. Sorry, but I just don’t.Pitt has historically been a little better than NC State at football, but not much better. They’ve had a lot of turmoil in their athletics department. I suspect what was meant by referencing Pitt was recruiting and I personally believe they have some built in recruiting advantages. They’re in a talent rich area (western PA and eastern Ohio). They main rival (Penn State) is a distance away, has undergone scandal and plays in a different conference. The next closest major programs from a proximity perspective are Ohio State, West Virginia, Maryland, Rutgers and Syracuse and outside of Ohio State they have just as much if not more tradition to offer. They’re in a city, which I think does help with recruiting.
It’s sort of like when people didn’t want to see that it was easier to recruit at BC than NC State. I suspect it is easier to recruit at Pitt or Duke than NC State.
No waxing nostalgic for Amato here. He’d run his course and needed to go. I’m just using him as an example of what can be done and showing that he definitely inherited a much more challenging situation (and did more with it). I’m fine with leaving Amato in the past, but when people make statements that aren’t true (like DD inherited the toughest situation ever), then I’m going to bubble up some of those memories. Seems reasonable.
I do agree that recruiting isn’t a quick fix. It’s part of what I mean when I talk about the INPUT$ to the program (and yes, that is a $ and not an S). It’s also part of what I mean when I question whether NC State is committed to winning at a high level, or even should be committed to doing what it takes to win. That’s fine for UNC. Their alums can seemingly sleep at night with their culture and have been for 40+ years (yeah, they knew Dean was crooked). I’m personally glad it’s not right for NC State.
I definitely like the culture that DD is developing. He seems like a guy I’d want my kids playing for. I’d steer them away from Fedora, Jimbo, Saban and some others. I like that there’s some accountability within the program, and it applies to the best players as well. That’s the way it should be. This is why I say that I like DD and hope that DD succeeds.
Unfortunately, this business (like any other) comes down to the bottom line. Go 6-6, get another year. Go 7-5 or better, awesome! Another losing season and losing conference record and some hard questions need to be asked and decisions made. That’s all.
Personally I’m hoping for the best. Like theCowDog, I’ve watched some film on Boise under Drink. The passing attack will be better, at least schematically (to my untrained eye). The question for me is what happens when he gets down, and will he stay balanced enough. Looking at Boise’s losses under Drink, he got a bit too pass happy.
I’m most excited about the OL. I’ve watched the videos. Ledford is definitely a coach I’d want my kid playing for. He had a great line last year at App. I’m optimistic with what he can do here.
