Return to Meltdown

One might hope that, despite the somewhat fluky nature of State’s win last Thursday in Atlanta, it was still a win the Pack could build on. Get some positive momentum, come out fired up and deliver a win for the long-suffering home crowd that hadn’t seen a home ACC win since a 2004 OT triumph over league punching bag Wake Forest. The first 2 series for each team saw NC State dominate, but score no points. Then it all went downhill, faster than a California mudslide. The Tiggers end their 3-game losing streak and defend their Textile Bowl title.

When you boil this game down to its essence, it’s the FOUR – that’s right, FOUR – NC State possessions that started inside Clemson’s 40 yard line (2 kickoff returns, 2 turnovers). The Wolfpack turned those into a grand total of THREE POINTS. That’s simply laughable, and won’t allow you to beat bad teams, let alone mediocre ones like Clemson.

NC State just called a timeout down 21 with 1:52 to go. A well-deserved boo cascades from the few remaining in the stands. I don’t like booing unpaid college athletes, but booing the timeout is entirely appropriate. Some of “us people” have day jobs, Chuck. Not that you should have one much longer.

Those who have read my internet and blog posts over the years probably notice a much less angry tone tonight. Indeed, in my 12-step recovery process, I’m way past denial and anger. I’m well into acceptance of our raw suckitude at this point. It’s really hard to imagine a more complete sucking effort than what we gave tonight. We punted and returned kickoffs well. Literally, that’s it.

There’s the final gun – Clemson 31, NC State 10. Holy shit, let the meltdown begin in earnest.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

General NCS Football

29 Responses to Return to Meltdown

  1. newswolf 10/13/2005 at 10:29 PM #

    I mentally checked out at halftime of the UNC game. I think Wake beats us worse.

  2. TVP 10/13/2005 at 11:02 PM #

    I was among the many who left at the half. I had never, ever left at the half before. We all knew it was over.

    I honestly feel like the pressure will be too great after another losing season for even Fowler to ignore. People are too invested now to tolerate the same kind of losing we saw under MOC. The only comparison for the atmosphere tonight that I can remember is the 1999 Charlotte debacle – things got that ugly.

  3. newswolf 10/13/2005 at 11:20 PM #

    Fowler can’t even fire the volleyball coach. lol

  4. scott 10/14/2005 at 12:18 AM #

    The booing got so loud in the 2nd half when Chuck’s face & voice came up on the big screen, the players
    were looking back into the stands taking it all in. I think he’s in real trouble. If he does get run
    out of town, I hope & pray he takes Fowler with him!

  5. Not Lonewolf anymore 10/14/2005 at 2:59 AM #

    What a spectacle no what a debacle. Time to call it what it is….a return to awful. What I
    witnessed Thursday night was a meltdown of epic proportions on national tv. Here is my top
    10 list for Chuck to save his job next season because clearly he will still be here in 2006
    1. Bench Jay Davis, the 1 1/2 year schrade is over. DUH, He won’t be here next year.
    2. Move Leroy Harris back to his natural position at guard. You are ruining his future
    3. Fire Trestman and Dunlap (you did not hire them away from other programs, you found them
    in the unemployment line there’s a reason they were there.
    4. Offer starting positions to anyone who really wants to play Offensive Line.
    5. Go to straight ahead blocking and quit that pulling mess. Fullback in the lead and your
    tailback talent behind them
    6. Fire Mike Barry because he obviously can’t develope talent on the O line
    7. Teach D’juan Morgan how to be a defensive back because he is clearly lost out there
    8. For God sakes teach our defensive ends what offsides is and tell them to quit pinching
    down on plays. The job is to come straight across the line (Pro talent they are not)
    9. Commit to run or pass but do something and stay with it (recruits are confused)
    10. Tramain Hall, remember him a skillful QB would have seen him open all night last night

  6. Slick Rick 10/14/2005 at 3:01 AM #

    I still say they’re going to name the field after Chuckie.

    “You are looking live high atop ‘Fowler Fieldhouse’ on ‘Chuck Amato Field’,
    here in ‘Carter-Finley-Coca-Cola Stadium’ as the 1-9 Wolfpack host defending ACC champs, the
    North Carolina Tar Heels!”

  7. Ray P 10/14/2005 at 6:19 AM #

    I’ve returned to the days of hiding my face in shame when I admit “I pull for NC State.”

    Watching the Thursday debacle was painful after just 20 minutes into the game when it became
    obvious – we have no offense and an always out of position defense.

    How can such a talented team be so awful? Coaching? It’s time for change.

  8. SaccoV 10/14/2005 at 6:30 AM #

    Penalties, turnovers, can’t score in the red zone, can’t convert a third down, etc. Face it … this team is sorry and will never reach its potential under the current regime. It’s almost tragic again because Amato brought this upon himself and now he can’t even field a COMPETITIVE team week-in and week-out. But don’t worry, I’m sure that today and tomorrow Chuck will be back in front of the cameras smiling with his sunglasses and saying the loss was all his fault. And I’m sure somewhere, someone will be relieved. A few notes before packing it in … 1) Is it really THAT difficult to line-up OUT OF THE NEUTRAL ZONE? 2) Curbstreit made an interesting point “If you want to get through to these guys (about commiting penalities) playing time should be affected. WOW!! That Ohio State degree must not be completely worthless. 3) One large key to defensive football is the ability to TACKLE the ball carrier. Seems like a novel concept. 4) Darrell Blackman put the ball on the ground three times in this game and he’s still on the field. Now what does that tell you? Sorry to say but waiting for basketball season.

  9. SaccoV 10/14/2005 at 6:34 AM #

    Subsidiary comment regarding football scheduling for next year. How in the hell can we improve this football team by scheduling East Carolina? Does anyone get this? Now I know that given recent events, ECU will be a challenge for this team to beat but how are we supposed to garner national attention when your playing UNC-Greenville? Is anyone else upset about this?

  10. BJD95 10/14/2005 at 7:02 AM #

    We won’t improve the team, but we can disguise our flaws (as shown in the overall record) for the less discerning fan by having USM and ECU as the two BEST teams on a 4-game nonconference slate. I’ll blog more about that in the future.

    Chuck’s running scared now, no doubt about it.

  11. Sam Martin 10/14/2005 at 7:23 AM #

    Chuck has failed to deliver on his own hype — six years of it. I just hope the powers that be have the guts to pull the trigger.

  12. Trout 10/14/2005 at 7:26 AM #

    Pathetic.

  13. Washington Wolf 10/14/2005 at 7:45 AM #

    Is it just me, or do we have some of the dumbest players in college football? I mean, how freaking hard is it line up correctly, on offense and defense?!!?! Guys are continually making REALLY stupid mistakes: penalties, lining up wrong, missed assignments, etc.

  14. football wife 10/14/2005 at 9:30 AM #

    I don’t know a lot about football but I am the wife of a hardcore NC State fan and what I saw last night at the
    game was even awful for what I saw and understand. I sat with my husband through such losses as the ECU loss
    in Charlotte where we were destroyed. I sat through the first FL State loss where Chuck said “we had our pants
    pulled down and fannies spanked on National TV and that would not happen again” Last night we had our shirts
    pulled over our heads and given a redbelly on National TV! I have sat in Charlotte and watched a horrible UNC team
    beat us with a running back as the quarterback. I have sat through Maryland last drive losses in our stadium. I
    watched this years UNC Team manhandle, outcoach and outplay, outthink and outsmart a more talented team. I
    have watched a lot of NC State Football and I just think it is time to let some other players have a chance to play.
    I have never seen a situation where chronic offenders of the rules are allowed to continue to play even in my
    work, we discipline people for breaking the rules. We let other people have opportunity to do the job as well.
    There are other players on this team who can bring some enthusisam to starting and maybe the starters will get the
    message. My husband says it is time to see next years players and how they will do in a game situation because
    this year is gone. Even Football wifes know a little about football and what I saw last night was not football
    it was footawfulball.

  15. Alpha Wolf 10/14/2005 at 9:31 AM #

    If you want a new coach, tell Bobby Purcell, not Lee Fowler.

  16. Elrod 10/14/2005 at 10:48 AM #

    Last night’s game was the most complete team loss I have ever witnessed, anywhere. I am not a football guru, but played for 7 years and know enough about the game to recognize some simple, but profound, things:

    1) When the opposing team runs plays (run or pass, it doesn’t matter) and our defense routinely has few, if any, players at the point of attack, then we have a significant preparation problem. Mr. Dunlap has not been publicly brought to task much this year, but the time has come. When are you, Mr. Dunlap, going to do your part? When will our opponent be confused by something we do?

    2) I do not believe anyone has a clue as to how good (or bad) Trestman is as an OC, given the play of our offensive line. No scheme will succeed without at least some level of accomplished play by the OL. Is this a recruiting issue? Sure, to some extent. Is this a coaching issue? Absolutely. When a lineman gets pushed 2 yards into the backfield and disrupts the whole blocking scheme, it is both a talent and coaching issue. When a lineman literally watches a DE run around him and sacks the QB, then there is both a talent and a coaching issue. For whatever reason, our offensive line program is a shambles. Recruiting is a responsibility of the entire staff, but the coaching falls on Mr. Berry. When are you, Mr. Berry, going to do your part? When will our stable of fine runners be able to do more than use all their skills just to get back to the line of scrimmage?

    3) Chuck, you are just too stubborn for your own good. Why has there been such an exodus of assistant coaches from the program, especially to lateral or lower positions? Some of it has to be you. Why do players continue to get prime playing time when they consistently make mental errors and hurt the team’s effort? You believe the error risk is lower than the potentially good play they can make. Excuse me, Chuck, but where is the evidence of actually good plays? It’s like constantly betting on “the come” in poker; your opponent is going to eventually take all your money. It would be different if there were a memorable list of good plays to balance out the mistakes, but that isn’t the case here. Much has been made of your relationship with the media and the impact it has on the public perception of the football program. You may not agree, and I am sure you don’t, but sometimes you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself if “doing things my way” is always the correct approach. Whether you like it or not, this is NC State’s football program that you have been given stewardship of, not Chuck Amato’s personal kingdom.

    4) There is something wrong in the coaching arena that I can’t put my finger on, but it is best represented in another question. How can Clemson, who has been quite competitive, be that way when they also had to replace both their offensive and defensive coordinators this year? I have heard many defend some of our stumbles on having new coordinators, but how is it that others are not having this difficulty? Maybe there is a reason that Trestman, Dunlap and Berry were “available”.

    You know, accountability can be a good thing and can also be a bad thing. What makes the difference is what you do with it. It doesn’t mean a thing to say “I am accountable” and then do nothing about it. There have been precious few people in the football program ACUTALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Garland Heath comes to mind. So does John Deraney. And at times John McCargo, Stephen Tulloch and Toney Baker. But that’s about it, folks. There are some that haven’t come close to that, like Manny Lawson, Renalso Moses, Jay Davis, A.J. Davis, Derek Morris and the entire coaching staff. Accountability is about making a difference when called upon. The question today is, “Who will answer the bell?”

  17. scott 10/14/2005 at 10:48 AM #

    Aplha Wolf is right. If we REALLY want to change the “raw suckitude” that characterizes Wolfpack athletics (b-ball w/out Hodge is going to look a lot like f-ball w/out Rivers), it’s all about Purcell & $$ – not Fowler, who doesn’t give a shit as long as he’s being paid & wouldn’t know where to begin if he did.

  18. mwcric 10/14/2005 at 12:08 PM #

    Despite the Pack’s soul-sapping performance, what finally put me over the edge was NOT the game, but Herbstreit’s and Tirico’s comments towards the end inferring that State fans possibly have unrealistic expectations of their coach and team. That sent me off the deep end. Unrealistic expectations??!!??
    * We’re the largest academic instituion in NC.
    * We’re located in one of the most affluent and growing metropolitan areas in the country.
    * We’re a nationally-recognized school.
    * We hear year in and year out about our great recruiting classes.
    * We’ve given tens of millions of dollars to the program, becoming the first school to have a million-dollar staff and completely renovating Carter-Finely into one of the sharpest facilities anywhere.
    Yet, expecting to beat equal or inferior competition at home is unrealistic??!!?? To be upset at losing by three touchdowns to a team riding a three-game losing streak is unreasonable? I haven’t heard any State fan declare that 10-win seasons and BCS bowls had to be the norm or, by God, the season was a failure. I think it’s fair to say coming into this year a .500 or better conference record and eight wins was what most of us hoped for. Instead, the downward trend beginning post-Gator Bowl ’03 continues, and the announcers have the gall to suggest the fans are off base.
    I’d like to know something – anyone, please, help me out with this: how is it that consistent football success at NC State is asking too much, but it’s reasonable to expect success at, say VA Tech? Here’s a school nestled far away from any bustle, in a small media market in a town that would be a crossroads if not for the university. Most of their talent comes from in-state. Their head coach is a homegrown, folksy good ol’ boy who has managed to keep his staff together for years. They don’t have much of an athletic program to speak of aside from football, other than a decent women’s basketball program. Yet Tech has been the model of consistency for over a decade – how is it they can achieve that but we shouldn’t expect such things in Raleigh? Hell, Amato himself and the chancellor who hired him TOLD us to expect that!
    What about Boise State? Utah? Fresno State? All these schools consistently put a solid program on the field, despite not having near the advantages of State. How sad it is when ESPN comes to town and basically tells a national audience that the product on the field is as good as it can get in Raleigh.

  19. Trout 10/14/2005 at 12:14 PM #

    I dont need 10 win seasons every year. I think the following is realistic and would satisfy the fan base:

    Competitive every year.
    Average 8 wins+ (12 game regular season+bowl)
    Compete for division championship more years than not
    Win division twice every 10 years (get to Jax)
    No losing seasons at all.

  20. Jeff 10/14/2005 at 1:23 PM #

    I’d be happy with just some plan of action or a recovery plan:
    “This is what we did wrong and this is what we’re doing about it”

    Instead we get Chuck’s “put me on the cross” accountabilty,
    and ” we’ve come a long way… I see alot of promise”.
    What a bunch of crap. I see alot of wasted money.

  21. site admin 10/14/2005 at 1:44 PM #

    We’ve given tens of millions of dollars to the program, becoming the first school to have a million-dollar staff and completely renovating Carter-Finely into one of the sharpest facilities anywhere.

    That sounds great, but you realize that every other school in the nation has done the same thing?

  22. CLASS OF '74 10/14/2005 at 2:14 PM #

    From the sound of previous comments the apathy has arrived for Chuck’s program. Widespread apathy will produce change, unless your Duke. Chuck doesn’t measure up against his peers. The peter principle is in effect and on display at Carter-Finley.

  23. Barry 10/14/2005 at 4:21 PM #

    Someone obvisously forgot to tell our players that the “victory” dance starts after the ball game….not before in the tunnell! Did anyone else witness this specticle on the jumbotron? We are to busy putting on a show to play football! where is the “game face”? Where is the DISCIPLINE?

  24. Phil Thompson 10/14/2005 at 4:42 PM #

    I have never left a game early, but early in the fourth quarter I had enjoyed all I could stand. I actually wanted to leave in the second quarter, but was too embarrassed to do it. What I see is a complete lack of discipline. With the loud rap music blaring and our players dancing in the tunnel, our team looks like they are making a hip-hop video as opposed to getting serious about a football game. Last night I saw players dancing on the field as they were going through the pre-game drills. It does not seem to matter if a player makes repeated penalties, fumbles, bad decisions, or out of position, he keeps on playing. And after every mistake we make on the field, you can put your binoculars on our sideline and find one or more players giggling or smiling about it. It also appears you can shove a coach out of your face as he reminds you not to false start or bump a ref…and still play.

    Our coaches have lost control of this team. Why do we have such a high turnover rate in our coaching staff? I heard a student who lives in the College Inn, where a lot of our players live, describe in detail how roudy and out of control many of these guys are. Can anyone offer info about what I was told about our players being supplied scooters to use instead of walking to class? Do they actually race and joy ride in reckless manner at all hours of the day, endangering themselves and the kids who live around them? I wonder how many “practice” injuries were the result of this kind of unnecessary foolishness?

    It is time for a change. Lee, Bobby, are you listening? If I want to waste my time listening to rap music and watching guys dance and make fools of themself….I will save my money and watch MTV at home.

  25. SaccoV 10/14/2005 at 5:07 PM #

    Once again, Chuck is the product of his own hype. I loved how Curbstreet and Tiresias made comments about Chuck’s recruiting in south Florida which is the MOST OVERRATED aspect of his tenure. Yes, Mario Williams is going to play in the NFL. BUT, Chuck has yet to recruit a top-notch PASSER in his six years. Rivers was a going-away present from MOC. Chuck has brought us running backs and no center, tight-ends and no QBs, and small Defensive linemen (Lawson was a converted LB). What’s more, recruiting in south Florida DOESN’T MATTER if your QB can’t throw down the field and your D-line is too small to contain. Recruiting has brought us perhaps some good players, but I think there are two simple reasons these guys ARE NOT playing at a more-renowned school. 1) They couldn’t qualify. 2) They weren’t good enough. The players we have won’t win awards for academics at the end of the year. If they do, there’s something wrong with the academic system. Because the athletic difference in D-I football is growing ever smaller, the real top-notch players are ones who are smart and make big plays. We have none of that because we recruit the players no one else wants to take a chance on (for whatever reason). Chuck, find a new job (head recruiter for Ohio State).

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