Following an exciting fourth quarter comeback, the NC State defense wasn’t able to keep Boston College out of the end zone after the Wolfpack tied the game at 31-31 with about 3:30 left in the contest in today’s ACC matchup at Carter-Finley Stadium.
That’s no surprise considering that BC had pretty much played through NC State’s defense with ease most of the afternoon, but still, it was a frustrating loss for Wolfpack fans because the team didn’t quit and had fought their way back in a game they were clearly outmanned and outgunned.
Some things I noticed this afternoon…
The good news:
- With the exception of the USF and USC game, NC State seems to always find a way to hang around and make things interesting. Given that the team has more injuries than a typical M*A*S*H unit, and that it has three walk-ons starting, that’s a good thing. It shows that the coaches have instilled an esprit-de-corps in the Wolfpack players that doesn’t allow them to quit.
- NC State finally has a decent quarterback, and at times the offensive line blocks for him long enough to let a receiver break wide open and get a big gain. Russell Wilson makes freshman mistakes once in a while, but he is the best thing under center since some guy who wore #17 played for NC State. Let’s hope he doesn’t pursue a baseball career immediately, because it would be nice to have to put Mike Glennon under the gun as the only quality QB on the roster next season.
- The Wolfpack also has a pretty decent set of backs, even without Toney Baker back on the field.
- T.J. Graham is turning into the next Devon Hester, and his 103 yard touchdown return against Boston College was one of the most exciting Wolfpack plays in the last ten years. You could almost see it coming after he had nearly gotten a free run into the end zone on the previous BC kickoff.
- George Bryan will be one helluva tight end by the time he leaves NC State.
- Carter-Finley can get pretty loud in its new configuration…even for 12pm games.
The bad news:
- NC State’s defensive backfield is simply awful. They seem to be four steps behind every decent receiver. Is this the Mike Archer soft zone or personnel issues? No matter what it is, call it what the secondary what they are: a sieve. It’s almost like there are 5 Greg Goldens back there nowadays A decent quarter-receiver tandem can eat them alive, which may not completely be their fault:
- The pass rush has been almost non-existent lately. It did show up in the second half, but on the clinching drive that won the game for BC, once again the BC line kept the Wolfpack at bay long enough for receivers to get open. Bottom line: against USF and BC, QB’s have all day and receivers can and will eventually find the interstices of a zone pass defense. Quite honestly, as bad as the pass defense has gone, I wonder why NC State doesn’t go man-to-man and bring a blitz. It’s not like the receivers would be any more open than they have been against USF and Boston College.
- The kicking game is highly dubious — it’s hard to believe that at a university the size of NC State there’s no one that can kick a ball seventy yards in the air. Or anyone that can punt a football farther than the kids out in the parking lot at the tailgates.
- Dare I say it: why do people say that Anthony Hill has NFL skills as a tight end when he seemingly drops every important pass thrown to him? I love the guy, don’t get me wrong, but he needs to get stickier hands if he plans on playing for money on Sundays after his days at NC State. And before you say that this is due to him just coming back from injury, think again — he has done this through most of his career.
- Maybe one day NC State will replace the beat up jambox they bought at Reliable Pawn and stuck in the scoreboard and put a decent PA system in.
Your thoughts?
frustrating loss, however you can not expect to win when your defense gives up over 500 yards a game… Glad we have the off week to recover… that is assuming no one gets hurt in practice!
My thoughts?
I think we can find a better defensive front over at the Farmhouse. Our linebacking corps features a 205lb walkon manning the boundary, which means he gets to cover 260lb tight ends. We have a 220 middle linebacker who should be a safety, and 2 true freshman playing the weakside, and they are completely lost. To boot, our defensive coordinator thinks its a great idea to never bring any support to muster some type of pressure, and drops our safeties 20 yards off the ball.
We scored 31 pts today and lost.
I was also a bit curious that we didn’t attempt to run the ball more with Eugene when we had some opportunities to eat the clock, especially on our last TD drive. I thought the coaching staff was aware of the fact that we had forced ONE punt all game. Second, why didn’t they warn the defense to just let Crane score on the 2nd fake run and give the ball back to the offense to get the tie again or go for the win? I know that coaches aren’t really cool with that strategy but it was obvious that BC with 3:00+ on the clock was going to score again in some fashion and our defense was incapable of stopping them. Speaking of the defense, it’s hard to believe that Nate Irving means that much to the defense, but he does. With him, we have a good defense. Without him, we are awful.
i don’t think we have a good defense with irving and cash. it was better, but we played poor offensive teams when those two were in. it was a bit misleading. now we have two of the more prolific acc offenses in the second half of this season in Maryland and UNC. they should score 50 points apiece on us.
last year we went into our by 1-5 and managed to win 4 more games. this year 2-4. i hope we can see similar results. maybe even get a couple of players back (Irving, Julian Williams, Cash?).
The not so unbelievable news is
“…and (we) lost” to the BC Eagles.
Let’s just try to remember the unbelievable news is that
“We scored *** 31 pts *** today”
Some people can’t see anything good in any losses, but as for this offensive unit, these kids are gaining confidence in a leader. That will pay more dividends in the long run, than the damage done by one more (expected) check in the losing column.
Is Willie Young approaching Miguel Scott/Jimmy Sutton III territory?
If we are going to be shelled on D then I for one want to see more of TOB’s guys in there trying to fight for anything moving forward.
Does anyone else here have same question about him? He hasn’t sniffed the pocket since the first qrt of USC. Just by mistake he would have made it past an OT since then, but NO DICE!
Sobering thought - this was the best chance we had for an ACC win. And we flat-out blew it. Bad turnovers, dumb decisions by BC - and State didn’t capitalize. The turning points in the game were: (i) BC’s fumble near the end of the first half; and (ii) the Clem Johnson interception. Why? Because State went 3-and-out following both of them. Those were the killers.
I don’t recall an NC State linebacker make a single impact play this afternoon. That’s just sad.
If only we had 22 Russell Wilsons out there. And hand it to that kid - in the post-game, he said there was no excuse for losing this game.
That’s how a true leader would view what happened today.
Offense was effective, even if our QB had to do a _lot_ of scrambling to make it happen.
Defense was very soft against the pass, but they did well in one department: getting turnovers.
Progress.
If we keep scoring ~30 points when Russell starts I think we are in pretty good shape as the season goes on.
i’ll admit i don’t see much improvement right now and i’m a little pissed about this loss. i don’t think we were outmanned, but we were outplayed.
russell wilson is a player though. it might be difficult for glennon to unseat this guy. tj graham and owen spencer also give me hope for the future.
but i wonder about our defensive coodinator and his schemes. they seem to suck. that’s worrisome. BC is getting 25 yard gains off our safe defenses. i bet they had 15 plays of 25 or more yards. and the same plays kept working against us. was there any adjustment made? what is the philosophy there? bend but don’t break, or bend and then break?
Red is totally right on with that one. Just a few weeks ago no one could stop with the X amount of plays vs. BCS team w/o TD.
Unfortunately the yards per game vs our last two opponents looks like their will be more ridiculous stats used by media, fanbase, ect to prove our ineptitude.
But again, RW and the offense showed up and playd their heart out. He seems to be getting better with each snap which is scary considering his youth and inexperience. I like how Bible has set this offense up so he can succeed by using his assets. In my book Bible has started to really gain my confidence, and Archers is sliding down.
“Why? Because State went 3-and-out following both of them. Those were the killers.”
I totally agree. The offense came out looking totally flat and like they were shell shocked, after receiving what amounted to a gift in both of those turnovers. That was even more deflating then watching Crane and the BC receiving corp walk all over us at will.
I saw plenty of blitzes today. I saw us blitz from different positions. I saw us zone-blitz.
And every time we blitzed, they picked it up. I can’t remember the last time we sacked a QB. The hit McKeen put on the ECU QB in overtime, I guess (technically, a fumble, not a sack) is the closest thing. It does little good to blitz if you can’t get there.
A couple of weeks ago, everybody was bitching about Dana Bible. Suddenly, he gets a few guys back and the OL starts to gel and suddenly, they have some life.
Bitch about whatever you want, but it’s NOT the coaching.
^One side of the ball, it’s only good/ bad on one side of the ball at any time. Ever since back in the Amato days, it seems that is the way with Wolfpack football.
I was there. Their O-line looked like giants compared to our young men. We were in the game at the end. As Coach V said 00 you have to be in the position to win. You don’t always but it was a whole lot better than the USF game.
That is a patented and HUGE BC O-line. I’ve seen them in person several times over the years, and they have always looked physically overwhelming.
There are positives to take away from todays game. This team doesn’t quit. We can score. TJ Graham can motor.
I totally disagree that Bible is “has this offense set up so can succed by using his assets.”
What the offense looks like to me is a Pro-set or I offense run out of and option formation. 1st and goal on the nine and we bunch up and run into the line. We made nice gains on 1st and 2nd down but couldn’t gain a half yard. Remember the ECU game? That’s what ECU did and we stuffed it. No surprise to me we got it stuffed. And don’t fault Ant Hill for dropping a pass. How did he get in the game? A big lumbering TE is Pro-set stuff. Spread offense use skilled receivers.
Any HS coach who runs the spread could teach Bible a lot.
I really love Jamelle Eugene but when I’m 1st and goal on the 9, Andre Brown is in the game, espeicially if I’m going to run it inside. The reverse is true when I’m going to throw the ball at mid-field. Maybe Brown was hurt. Maybe he took the day off, I don’t know but he sure wasn’t used today.
I think Bible KNOWS too much. According to people who study how the brain works, a lot of knowledge limits imagination. We already know what to do. Somebody please point out to me any imagination that Bible shows.
As bad as the secondary looked, they are still learning to play zone. Maddox doesn’t read the play and is out of position a lot. The only time he was effective was when he blitzed — both times. I also wonder what the backs were told the last time BC got the ball> Lay-off and don’t get burned?
Again, no imagination. Maybe Archer knows too much,
Did anybody see any line stunts? I don’t recall any. And what did we have to lose? Do we think it doesn’t count unless we over power somebody>
hi guys…don’t get down. as the title of the entry so appropriately suggests the program, the foundation, the tradition, the wins all start from these close losses. If TOB et al can engineer these close losses and gutty performances from a rag-tag bunch of BadNews Bears types, imagine what he’ll be able to do once they get their players in and the injury report isn’t nearly as interesting and depressing as it has been these last two years.
I saw two important stats in the box score, 1 penalty and no turnovers, and we had 2 fumble recoveries and an interception. We got beat by almost 11min in Time of Possession though.
I know losses like this hurt, especially when you are so close and when you need a win, but just imagine how BC felt in 2006 when Daniel Evans beat them on the last play of the game; that and the miracle-win the next week, were the only thing that kept Amato from going 1-11 his final season.
We are 1 game better (2-4 vs 1-5) than we were last year at this time with alot more injuries. We have a real QB, 3 good running backs, a backup TE whose better than the starter (who will hopefully come around) WR’s getting more confident, a legitimate kick-punt return threat and an OL who will hopefully get their assignments in order like they did last year at the break.
We will/should get Nate and Cash back and now we have Clem Johnson who is eveyrthing he was billed to be. Hopefully Byers isnt hurt too bad but he was filling in for a starter anyways. Byers is also the smallest saftey ive ever seen us start.
We looked like 1AA defense out there; smaller, slower, unable to get pressure even with the blitz. We miss Cash and Irving terribly. BC must have converted about 10 3rd&Longs. It was incredibly frustrating. Good to see Clem Johnson though, easy to see why we had him starting back there. Also seems like Maddox is starting to make a couple of plays. Long term, this is going to make him a better player even if it’s killing him/us right now.
On O, you really have to love Russell; talent, heart and he’s a guy that won’t beat himself with stupid decisions. He has an easy strength on his throws that makes everything look incredibly smooth. Generally, the OL did OK given BC’s massive DL but I think Bible showed too little confidence in the running game and it left us in a lot of 3rd and longs. Receivers need to step up, way too many drops and the no-talent excuse doesn’t really work there. At TE, Hill is a man but his hands are below average, that hasn’t changed. Bryan? Wow. Crazy hands.
Given that returns are part of the kicking game, it’s hard to complain. This was a great return game for us and the punting wasn’t all that bad, ditto the KR defense. The screw up on the fake punt hurt badly, however.
Overall, it’s a shame to miss our chance at this game but you have to take the positives with the negatives. For what we are putting on the field, we’re doing better than I expected. Still, unless we get a lot of guys back, it’s hard to see 4 wins.
“Maybe one day NC State will replace the beat up jambox they bought at Reliable Pawn … ” … that cracked me up
I agree that there were positives from today’s game … First and foremost, a ‘never say die’ attitude - I would guess this attitude comes from your leader on offense - Russell Wilson … This marks two consecutive games (that he’s played in) that we needed a TD to tie the score late in the 4th qtr. and he led us right down the field for a clutch score … Not to mention that when it was 31-17 RW throws a strike for a long TD on the first play after a BC score … Love this kid, and I hope he’s around for at least a couple of more seasons
Very frustrating loss, though … Any pressure at all on that QB and I think we win going away … I agree w/ Noah that you can’t necessarily blame Archer, but we have to find a way to generate some pressure or we will see repeats of this for the remainder of the season … I had been impressed w/ our D up until the USF game, but now we need some more ’smoke and mirrors’ tactics to try with all of our walk-ons
I said more-or-less the same thing RAWFS did about Hill to a friend while watching the game … Glad to have him back, but dropsies are apparently still a problem …
Edit: Good point about the penalties and TO’s, Ismael
I am not nearly as disappointed with this loss as I was the loss to USF. I felt we battled pretty hard today. I did not feel that way last week. We were outplayed from start to finish and USF lost to Pitt the other night, so they aren’t exactly a top-10 caliber team. We had our moments today and the offense has found its way, finally. Yes, the defense was poor, but we were playing a very physical O line. The secondary is a serious issue, however, and the majority of our problems on D start and end there.
All in all I think we made progress from last week to this week. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted a win badly. I very much dislike the Eagles and how they view TOB. If our D had played just a little better and not allowed that final drive, we may have found a way in OT with the momentum. But I do think some progress has been made and I am encouraged by that.
We have some winnable games left on the schedule. I expect us to win a few of those assuming we continue to improve.
Even after we started blitzing more, we weren’t getting any pressure on Crane. Their O-line handled our D-line with little or no difficulty, this is where losing Cash really shows. Our secondary and LB corps lacks playmakers, and it is even more evident when our usually stout D-line gets pushed around.
The offense played well though, Wilson has really come alive and our receivers were finally making some plays as well.
There isn’t a team left on the schedule we aren’t capable of beating but the D needs to step it up.
I’m totally fed up with NCSU athletics - and not because of ANY coach in particular - but because of the second (or third or . . . ) tier AD occupying the office and the lack of any evident support or caring by the administration/BOT. And like it or not, the administration/BOT needs to realize, and start acting like, this is a D1 university with lots of potential in ALL areas of athletics!
I think my favorite part about Russell Wilson (assuming he doesn’t commit fully to baseball after this year…) is that he is ONLY a RS-Freshman!! I mean to be that mentally tough and such a strong leader at such a young age (I use young awful freely as he is only a year younger than me) is pretty awesome.
Mike Archer has been going downhill ever since he coached LSU. Am I the only one that sees that? Even when we recruit some hosses I will worry about Archer’s performance/decisions.
BC was just able to take advantage of our LBs in zone, and yes our secondary is playing with young players and two man corners who have converted to zone principles. They did force three TOs, and they didn’t quit even when some of the worst fairweather fans ever tried to leave.
The young players on both sides of the ball made mistakes (dropped balls, missed tackles, and missed assignments) but they made some plays, too. And BC is still a solid team. That we hung up 31 points on them WITHOUT converting TOs is both a positive and a negative.
The O-line only broke down about a third of the time, an improvement and that’s without two starters. It sucks the defense couldn’t find a way to stop BC, but they were in the game despite having been outgained by 300 yards.
That’s what I took from this game, our team is fighting to the final whistle and they are making fewer mistakes.
They just need to be in these games this year, and they will learn how to win the close ones down the line. Now they have basically one game in three weeks so hopefully they can get healthy for a stretch run.
Totally agree with Noah. It’s surely not the coaching. Our defense has been awful since Cash and Irving went out. Maddox appears lost every play, but we have no one better to put in there. Ditto with the DBs and DL. No pash rush & no coverage.
I can probably list our healthy ACC caliber starters right here: Wilson, Brown, Eugene, TJ Graham (as a return man), & Holmes. That’s probably it. Hill can be but hasn’t shown it yet, and of course Irving, Cash, Baker, & Crouch are hurt. We need better players, folks.
Someone above said WE blew it. Look at the stats and it’s amazing we were in this game at the end. We did make force a couple of TOs and made very few mistakes that I recall, which is part of why we kept it close.
Basically, we have no speed on defense. It looked like we were in slow motion when we’d try stunts on blitzes. I thought I was watching paint dry waiting for the stunt to develop. I dont remember us hurrying their quarterback at all. How the heck does that big slow quarterback of theirs out run our secondary and linebackers to score a touchdown. Are you kidding me? The linebackers cant back off into pass coverage because by the time the decide to cover, they are allready beat.
Our defense simply sucks. The players suck, the coaches suck, the starters suck, the backups suck, the D line sucks, the LB’s suck and the secondary sucks. Not one guy on the field on our D has a f’ing clue and the coaches aren’t doing 1 f’ing thing about it. Pointing fingers is easy in this case - there is enough suck to go around. Folks who think this D is a year or 2 away from being D-1 caliber are not paying attention. There is really no reason to project a D-1 caliber defense in the foreseeable future.
I’m sunburnt on the entire left side of my body thanks to a game time decision of not wearing sunscreen, but hell, that was a pretty exciting game. It was damn frustrating to not get any defensive stops, but Wilson kept us in the game. If we had gotten ANY defensive stops this would have been a different outcome.
Tough loss. We had our chances, but BC was too much for us. The D missed tackles, made some coverage miscues and never got to the qb. Pass defense begins with pressuring the quarterback. Our young guys are getting a baptism by fire this year and with youth, some plays are good and some we look slow, out of place or just get whipped. RW looked good today after he got his feet under him. Owen Spencer is becoming a good WR. Graham is a real weapon on KO returns. Got to love the TE from Wilmington, George Bryan. One of the most awesome catches we’ve seen in years. Let’s get ready for the Noles. Looking forward no game is out of our reach if we can improve.
I was at the game, our D was awlful. No way a quarterback of that size and speed should be able to run for 10, 15 yrds or a TD. BC absolutely made our secondary look like a high school. A couple plays, the secondary looked like they were covering ghost BC players, running down field while BC cutback. Archer either got outcoached or flat out failed to change up the zone defense when it was not working. If the offense can score 31 points at home, while the opposing team gives up 3 turnovers, no excuse for defense to give up 38 points with 7 coming in the last 3 minute drive from probably the worst qb in the ACC. No excuse injuries or not, the D sucked.
I trust Tom O’Brien so much that after the game today I went out and bought a new set of Costa Del Mars. You see guys. They future is so bright — I gotta wear shades. lol
the zone pass D was awful, look at the stats. is it personnel or the scheme? when we played man we stopped them. D lost this game, Archer better adjust fast.
Game was great entertainment, bad result.
After watching the Miami-FSU game I think FSU will be very tough for us, unless they commit even more penalties than they did tonight. I was also impressed with the peformance of the offense (except the dropped passes) and TJ Graham. D, not so much. Overall, good improvement and great offensive effort. Our defense needs to step it up to keep us in any game. Let’s hope for a healthly unit week after next. Props to Crane, I had no idea he was that good.
This is what I couldn’t understand today. Why did we hand the ball off to Eugene/Brown 7 times ONLY????? WHY? WHY?? (I AM SHOUTING) In the first half those two had 4 rushes. Of the four rushes the worst result was for a 2 yard gain. For the entire game, we gave the ball to those guys ONCE on first down (1st & goal from 9 to Eugene) These RBs are damn good RBs. Why did we not give them any carries? RW had 15 carries. Some may not have been by design but most were. This is a guy that we are DESPERATE to keep healthy.
The series that drove me the most nuts was late in the first quarter, we have the ball on the BC 34, 3rd and 4. I am thinking, run the ball and get 2 yards or maybe a first down. If you don’t get the first down, go for it on 4th and short. Instead, they throw an incomplete pass. We go for it on 4th but it is 4th and 5, not 4th and short. RW gets sacked.
The two 3-and-outs after a turnover we also frustrating. On the first one we passed on 2nd and 3!!
SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY!
The defense clearly had a problems today but before everyone goes off on the D, they did force 3 turnovers. The D also kind of got screwed after giving up a long drive, State returned the KO for a TD and they had to go back out on the field with no rest. Same thing happened later in the game after a long BC drive and the D forced a FG, State scored on the first play forcing the D back on the field again with no rest.
No doubt BC dominated State’s D but even when things went well for the Pack on offense, it kind of put the D in a bad place.
We didn’t blitz much in the first half. In the second half - we blitzed more - the results were marginally better.
If you are looking for good news - our 4 TDs - 3 were scored by freshman, and 1 scored by a sophomore.
We needed this one bad. Clearly our D wasn’t up to snuff today. However, if we become a team that doesn’t beat itself (like we didn’t today), once we get some depth and more experience, we’ll be fine.
As much as the offense has improved, the defense has definitely regressed. I can’t believe that Irving and Cash meant that much to the team. If you look at the last two games, the team has given up over 1000 yards worth of offense. It almost seems that in the last two games, when the Pack ise on defense, it is not a game but a 7-on-7 drill. I understand we are not as talented as we were a few years ago, but when it is 3rd and 6 and our DBs are instructed to line up 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it is nothing more than pitch and catch for the offense. I am sure Coach Logan was loving calling plays today. No pressure and playing a soft zone is disheartening. I don’t know how to get passed it though. We are playing/starting 2/3 walkons and 2/3 freshman as well. Not a good combination. I was not that excited when we hired Arhcer.
My brother-in-law, Kentucky grad, was estatic when Archer left Lexington 2 years ago. He said 2 things:
1. Sorry.
2. His defensive strategy was always bend and break somewhat. The only reason UK did well in 2006 was that they had a great turnover margin.
So I looked up some defensive statistics about the 2006 SEC season:
Kentucky
Rush Defense: 184.5 ypg 12th - Last
Pass Defense: 268.9 ypg 12th - Last
Total Defense: 453.4 ypg 12th - Last
Turnover Margin +15 1st
Now campare that to 2008 NCSU thru 5 games:
Rush Defense: 174.0 ypg 12th - Last
Pass Defense: 226.6 ypg 11th
Total Defense: 400.6 ypg 12th - Last
Turnover Margin -1 8th
(The Pass Defense yards will go up after today).
Any other similarities? Well, Kentucky was trying to still recover from NCAA sanctions and didn’t have a full roster. And we are dealing with a shortened roster from attrition and injuries.
On the good side, we had NO reason being in today’s game, as much as we were getting dominated, really, on both sides of the ball. At the end of 3 quarters, the Pack was down 401-136 in yards, and only trailed by 11.
To get that game tied is a testament to O’Brien. This team doesn’t quit. But when you go into a fight with only a half a deck of cards you are going to have to play a near perfect game to win. Hey, at least the penalties were down.
“Props to Crane, I had no idea he was that good.”
Have to disagree w/ you a bit here … While Crane deserves credit for making the throws I think the real props belong to BC’s line and protection schemes … Crane had been pretty underwhelming this season coming into today’s game … I annoyed the hell out of my friends I was watching the game with trying to tell them how bad Crane could be if we just got to him once or twice - of course the cure for him was to play NC State, naturally
Guys cool out! -As a H.S. football coach -these coaches are doing one hellava job with what they have on their roster.
Inexperienced players,Walk on’s,Injuries,and 47 players on a D-1 BCS conference school are you fricking kidding me! 1st South Fla. was a better team by far.
2nd R.W. has us at the end with a chance to win.Defense-Just ran out of gas.DEFENSE WAS TOAST-NO PASS RUSH ON A SR.Q.B.WITH GOOD W.R.’S YOU WILL LOSE 90% OF THE TIME.
Also -as a defensive coach when you lose two players with the ability and experience of Cash-Irving its really hurts your defense all the way down the line-the backup’s are mostly freshmen or walkon’s and their backup’ wouldn’t normaly see the field for 3 years
Some of the comments on this blog about defensive coaching and what they would have done defensively is laughible at least.
When you try teaching some young inexperienced(sometimes not as athletic a player)to cover a R.S.Jr. with 4.5 speed -possble 4 cover skeem– Or fight off a Sr.4yr starter 6′5”330lbs to clear a gap on a inside move –all of this on EVERY PLAY.To grade out at 60-70% would be great.
Let this coaches recuit,teach skeems and build a program for the future.Freshmen bc Soph. bc Jr.’s bc Sr’s-it will get better.
Try going to your job on monday with 1/3 to 1/2 of your resoures missing and see what kind of job you would do-or have half your employees be 1st yr college graduates in today’s business world.
way to keep it in perspective turfpack. some of the people on here, i don’t care if you’re fed up, frustrated, mad - you’re just a fan. You’d get a hardon or soil yourself if you saw TOB at the mall, you’d forget you had a wife and/or kids. If the coaches suck, you suck more then.
I was a high school coach way back when myself and to say these guys ran out of gas is incorrect. If your down by twenty and you have been on the field the whole game sure I would agree,but that was
not the case in this game. We had a 12 play drive that gave the D time to rest. But we just tied the game that, is an emotional lift.And as they say its how bad do you want it. What I saw on Bc’s final drive on the very first play archer came with the heat. QB is hurried incomplete pass. Every play after that what I saw was to make sure everything stays in front of us dont let them get behind us strategy. BIG MISTAKE. It did not work before and I said to myself you cant blitz every down but at least show it and show some stunts. These are young guys out there and emotionally they knew that we just tied the game. You dont run out of gas at that point.Football is the only game I will ever love and that is because when its gut check time wou will always have a reserve left in
your body. I know because I played it and coached it. It is The most physical game out there. But when you play from the neck up all eleven tell each other we have one more stop in us.
I just wanted to say that I agree about what all of you are saying
We are young,banged up, and of course it takes time for greatness.
Turfpack,as one coach to another you make great points. Dont
you think BC was and is a north / south kind of team,almost Big ten
like. I do question you on their speed I do not have all the facts
to back this up,but it seems that they excecute well. That is a big difference then to just say boy this team has great speed at skilled positions. But boy sometimes I’ll take that execution over speed
any day of the week. Would like to hear back from you if you get
the chance. I miss coaching the boys and I admire you for what you
do.
If we had blitzed on every play, we would have lost 138-31. Instead of giving up 12-play, 80 yard drives, we would have given up one play, 80 yard drives. When your corners are Koryal George and Jeremy Gray, maybe putting them in man coverage while you (ineffectively) blitz the QB isn’t the best idea.
One other thing to note, we’re so thin on defense that our first stringers are not only playing almost every down on defense, they’re also our kick coverage team and punt coverage team.
If we had blitzed on every play, we would have lost 138-31. Instead of giving up 12-play, 80 yard drives, we would have given up one play, 80 yard drives. When your corners are Koryal George and Jeremy Gray, maybe putting them in man coverage while you (ineffectively) blitz the QB isn’t the best idea.
One other thing to note, we’re so thin on defense that our first stringers are not only playing almost every down on defense, they’re also our kick coverage team and punt coverage team.
Nate Irving would have been huge in this game. Both passes to the tight end on the last drive would have been his coverage responsibility and NO WAY does Crane turn the corner on Irving. No way.
RW is becoming huge for us. Cool under fire is an understatement. Way to bring the “A” game TJ Graham!
In retrospect, Noah, you’re 100% correct. I wrote my comment in the midst of yet another BC drive and probably was thinking more emotionally than tactically.
It was a good game, and TJ got his first (a record breaker) in front of us.
However, during the game I used some of the same words in this article…..sieve, soft zone, down the middle. That is what hurts us, every pass in the middle was a huge gainer.
Noah is correct, other than injury we almost never sub out anyone in our back 7. The coaches rotate the DL quite a bit but I think the only guys in the back 7 who missed snaps were Morgan and Byers and those were due to injury. It doesn’t even appear that we change back-7 personnel on 3rd and long (nickel, etc.) very often. I’m sure the coaches would love to have decent options to give guys like Leonard, Michel, and Gray a rest every 3rd or 4th drive.
At some point I wonder if we shouldn’t start getting some of the young pups a few snaps. Can a fresh Sterling Lucas be that much worse than a gassed Leonard or Michel? If so that is a real problem because the upperclassmen are pretty ordinary on their best day and that is before playing every snap. Even if we give up a little while the young backups are sprinkled in it may pay dividends in their development and it may help the starters play a little better late by getting a rest. If there is a huge dropoff from a worn out Ray Michel to a fresh Sterling Lucas then what in the world should be expect from a totally inexperienced Lucas next year?
While Maddux was still pretty bad yesterday he did look a little more like a legitimate football player and I suspect that reps have a lot to do with that. We need to go ahead and start getting other young guys reps at some point if we want them to develop. Who is going to play the strong-side LB next year?
I don’t think that it’s an understatement to say that Irving’s impact on our D is as or more striking than is Russell’s on our O. Combined with the loss of Cash, no-Nate is simply fatal.
The MAJOR positive here is that for the first time since PR, we have a QB who can go WIN us a game while not constantly threatening to LOSE us a game… and he’s young to boot. Honestly, I’d rather go 2-10 this year and find a good, young QB than go 5-7 on smoke, mirrors and promises that MG will make it all OK in ‘09.
Going forward, bring MG along steadily behind RW, start shoring up that OL (Mattes, Allen, Wallace RS’ing) and get the LB core to a respectable D1 level (Irving, Manning + Lucas/Maddox w/ experience). Then we can start to think bigger (though a couple stud DB’s would help). For the first time in a while, the ingredients are there, they just need time to soak.
Speaking of “stud” DBs, any word on how Brandon Barnes is doing in practices?
BTW, I’d like to add that I’m not happy with the defense either. Someone kicked over the bucket of warm spit.
But, our plan yesterday was to keep everything in front of us and make them sustain drives in the hopes that they’d make a mistake. And they did…and that is what kept us in the game.
IIRC, during the TV broadcast they said that something like seven walk-ons or former walk-ons were on the two-deep and playing for State. Think about that for a minute before you blame coaching decisions for this loss.
The coaches are bringing knives to a gun fight and it doesn’t always turn out pretty.
I don’t expect miracles, but what I saw yesterday was at least enough to give me hope for a brighter future. There is a long, looong way to go yet, but all in all, I’ll take this loss and look ahead.
I’m finally coming around to the rationale that NC State has an overall talent deficiency in pretty much all of it’s sports programs. It’s not all about coaching, it’s not all about the kids, it’s because there is no one from NC State ever voicing any displeasure concerning what has become basically an irrelevant trademark in the world of collegiate athletics.
This is SUPPOSED TO BE a University with a tradition of winning. A coach may bark that fact until he’s blue in the face to a limited group of kids which he has pulled together from his hard work on the recruiting trail, and those kids may finally begin to grasp the concept, but that isn’t enough. It doesn’t help with the most important, and the PUBLIC, perception of a university that has every right to DEMAND nothing short of excellence from it’s academia, as well as it’s athletics.
Until someone steps up to the podium with a mission statement that expresses a clear vision without compromise, NC State University will struggle to remain anything but a blip on the radar screen and a secondary option for student athletes, as well as students in general.
Brandon Barnes will not be playing on offense…at least that’s not the plan right now. He’s been very impressive at RB and they hope to use him (next year, I guess) initially as a third-down back.
I think Vandy is proving you don’t need facilities to have a good football team!
There is no way to earn commitments from the necessary number of talented kids to fill the depth charts with talent from top to bottom, without first stating a clear and uncompromising goal to get to the very top.
Nobody can just wish it upon themselves, it takes a lot of hard work, good fortune, and much luck as well. And, there is always the fact that it may not ever happen no matter how hard you work at it. But the fact remains, there HAS TO BE certain people high up within the program, who do not back down from DEMANDING that the very top is the only goal, and anything short of that, is never enough.
That’s exactly why I admire those so-called “irrational/delusional/lunatics” down in Clemson so much.
I lived in that area for several years (during Clemson’s football heyday) and I also have more than a little respect for the drive to be the best.
State had that same sort of drive at one time and maybe we will get there again some day.
The key injuries for this team this year have been Cash, Irving and Williams. We got one of the 3 back yesterday and we were at least competitive.
I don’t see us winning more than 1-2 games without the other 2.
People can label them what they will, but Clemson STILL BELIEVES. Anyone who thinks there is something silly about that, is a true believer in something totally different, and that’s exactly what NC State is all about these days. Why don’t you folks go ahead and drop Lee and Oblinger a line, letting them both know that you’re 100% behind everything they’re doing “for” NC State.
That’s it, I’ll stop with the philosophical BS for today.
It’s NC State afterall, keep it simple, stupid.
I don’t have a problem with Clemson thinking they belong in the top-10. They do. Great stadium, great history and they have great players.
They just have a scrub coaching staff.
Give the Vandy coaches the Clemson players and you’d have an SEC title team.
Noah - do you mean that they won’t play him on D. I’d heard he’d done very well at RB too.
Is there any new athlete’s coming in to play CB? It looks like Dominique Ellis and Byers are both safties. DeAndre Morgan (#21) is young, but I think Gray is a senior.
Regarding RW - I’m not making a prediction, but I’ll just say that you can win a championship w/ him at QB. 3 games and a quarter, 1 INT, 4 TD passes, 2 TD runs.
Did he get the ball over the line in the 2nd quarter?
We were down 14 points in the 4th quarter to a team that dominated us all game. We came back to tie the game. We didn’t quit. We didn’t “meltdown” with penalties or turnovers. I am very proud of our effort. We had no business being in that game, but we had a chance. I’ll take that this year.
Great post, I definitely want to throw my hat into the “we’re making progress” ring.
Just think, during Chuck’s last year, what did we complain about most during our losses (and shoot during out wins too)? We screamed about our absolutely awful turnover margin, the massive number of stupid and unnecessary penalties and a distinct inability to score in the Red Zone. Did any of you nay sayers actually watch the game or read the box score?
Turnover Margin - 3 to 0 (yes that means we didn’t turn the ball over ONCE in a game against a top ranked defense)
Penalties - 1 for 11 yards (IN THE ENTIRE GAME)
Red Zone - 3 for 3 (yes, I’d like this to be higher too, but I’ll take it over the anemic offenses of the past few years)
And all of this with walk ons, RS freshman and true freshman filling out our 2 deep. So O’Brien has done what he promised to do, instill team discipline both on and off the field, raise the athletic IQ of our players, play tough physical football (even when at a huge size disadvantage), play with solid fundamentals and never ever give up.
If any of you seriously think we’re not making massive progress as of TOBs arrival, I’d venture to guess that you probably couldn’t coach your way out of a paper bag.
Keep up the good work coaching staff, and we’ll keep packing out the stands in support of our team. Go Pack!
Sorry…Barnes is going to be a RB, not a safety. So he’ll be sticking with offense.
At least that’s the plan right now. Add Earl Wolff to the list at safety. I think Ellis will be playing CB.
As I stated late last night-this coaching staff has done a great job considering the circumstances.
As a coach I think most of the comments on this blog are thoughtful and reasonable football knowledge(Noah,Redfred,Vawolf,RAWFS ect…)–but a few are complete idots and have very little knowledge of the game.
The words depth and experience are a coaches wonderful or nightmare words.
Skilled,Athletic,Experience players at a D1 BCS school is a must and the lack of is a NIGHTMARE.
So hold true judgement of this coaching staff until this has been met(2yrs?).
Sidenote–This coaching staff is well recieved by all the other H.S.coaches that I’ve talked acrossed the state(Unlike the past coaching staff)THIS WILL PAY DIVIDENDS.
Have a Great Sunday watching the game we love-GO PACK!
I think TOB and staff will get us to a competitive level. It is amazing how bad the last few years of Amato’s recruting were. We got a few good players, but overall, those classes were weak. Our DBs are tiny and not the quickest guys on the field. Heck they bounce off receivers when they hit them.
I was disappointed in the lack of defenisve adjustments during the game. We played the same soft zone the entire game with teh exception of a few man coverages.
Our linebacking is horrendous. Our line did well against the run but BC had 5-6sec on every pass play.
Archer is the same coach who had us in the early toughies when the offense was struggling. I agree his concept is to force offenses to sustain, which few can do at the college level, and look for TOs. As others have said it worked fairly well in that regard. That Kentucky defense somebody pointed out earlier did give up a lot of yards, but they also turned people over at a high rate. That TEAM also improved from a 3-8 team in ‘05 to 8-3 that year, and didn’t have a great deal of talent to begin with. I don’t expect Archer to use the same strategy when has a full boat, right now he’s doing what he has to keep us in games.
Lose your two best defenders on a team that had no depth to start and its trouble. When (hopefully soon) Irving and Cash get back, you will see an instant improvement, to both the pass rush and the pass coverage and statistically as well.
“It is amazing how bad the last few years of Amato’s recruting were.”
I don’t keep up with FB recruiting as much as I do BB, but I for one, had no clue from any reports that it was this bad. That isn’t meant to be cheapshot at anyone playing right now, I’m speaking more about the overall lack of depth.
“Until someone steps up to the podium with a mission statement that expresses a clear vision without compromise, NC State University will struggle to remain anything but a blip on the radar screen and a secondary option for student athletes, as well as students in general.”
That someone was MAFox. Oh, if it were only as simple as mission statements, holding coaches to account, firing this one and that one, etc.
I posted my comments “way up near the top” right after I got home from the game. Bad idea. Too much emotion. If Archer’s “bend, don’t break” had worked and we had won the game, I would not have said anything about blitz’s or stunts.
I still think Bible is trying to operate a Spread Offense from the context of fundamental I formation football.