Archive for the '‘07 Football' Category

Hauschka in Vikings Camp

Published by BJD95 on 08/06/2008 in '07 Football, Alums and Football. 25 Comments

The Fort Mill Times (Fort Mill has a newspaper? Really?) has a nice write-up on former Wolfpack kicker Steven Hauschka. Stuck behind steady, strong-legged Ryan Longwell on the depth chart, it’s unlikely that he’ll be in a Viking uniform this year. Still, it sounds like he is at least getting notice in camp:

Longwell and special teams coordinator Paul Ferraro have helped Hauschka change his kicking style, with the biggest adjustment involving shortening his delivery and reducing the amount of time it takes him to get a field-goal attempt off.

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The Demise of ACC Football

Published by VaWolf82 on 01/04/2008 in '07 Football, ACC, Football, General and Rankings / Lists. 29 Comments

Inane utterances from the local media, gross inaccuracies perpetrated by the national media, and glaring inadequacies of State’s athletic department frequently provide topics to address here. But every so often, someone in one of the organizations that we often ridicule will absolutely nail an issue. Such is the case with an article today by Pete Fiutak at foxsports.com.

I liked his entire commentary, but he “stole” my idea that I was saving for next summer at the onset of pre-season football hype. Since Pete started the ball rolling, we might as well finish it off. Let’s look at the last point from his article:

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SFN Celebrates New Year with NC State Magazine Feature

Published by StateFans on 01/02/2008 in '06 Football, '06-07 Basketball, '07 Football, '07-08 Basketball, '08 Football, ACC, Alums, Basketball, Campus News, Chuck Amato, Coaches, Fans, Flashback, Football, Fun Stuff, General, Headscratchers, Kay Yow, Media, Multimedia, NCS Administration, Non-Revenue, On the Record, Quotes of Note, Rankings / Lists, Recruiting - BBall, Recruiting - FBall, Required Reading, Rivals, Satire & Parody, Sidney Lowe, Site News, Sports Junkies, Stat of the Day, Tom O'Brien and Tradition. 28 Comments

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This entry will remain posted near the top for a couple of days…so, if you are visiting the site for the first time or if you are a frequent visitor please don’t ignore all of the entries below. For example, VAWolf logged an awesome statistical post that follows this.

We just wanted to take a moment to draw your attention to the newest edition of the NC State Alumni Magazine that hit most homes over the last week. Starting on page 36 and ending on page 45 you will see that the magazine printed a series of articles on the impact of the internet at NC State and on the NC State community. We’d like to thank the NC State Alumni Magazine for the attention and prominence that they applied to StateFansNation in the feature piece.

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2007 Bowl Primer

Published by StateFans on 12/18/2007 in '07 Football and ACC. 26 Comments
Eleven years ago, there were 18 bowl games. Today there are 32, some operated by ESPN. No wonder the opposition to a playoff by the bowl system.

After a run of five in a row, NC State is home for the holidays for the third time in four years. With a more manageable schedule approaching coming in 2008 and Coach Tom O’Brien’s system and recruiting having a year to take root, there is a very good chance that this will be the last time the Wolfpack won’t be performing on a bowl stage for a long time.

This is a preview of 2007 Bowl Primer. Read the full post (474 words,)

Ced Hickman Arrested

Published by StateFans on 12/11/2007 in '07 Football and General. 33 Comments

A sarcsatic thanks to Ced Hickman for taking the hard earned money of NC State supporters for his scholarship and returning the favor by embarassing the University…if he is guilty, of course.

Link to N&O’s article on Hickman’s arrest. It is a shame. This guy had a nice future in front of him…particularly if we ever find an offensive coordinator who figures out that both Toney Baker and Andre Brown seem to gain more yards on the few plays that we ever run out of the I-formation.

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BCS System Attracts TV Viewers

Published by VaWolf82 on 12/05/2007 in '07 Football. 45 Comments

While some seem to enjoy flights of fancy, I much prefer fact-based posts and analysis. Unfortunately, a recent entry here on the BCS system showed once again that there are alot of opinions floating around, but frightfully few facts. So I thought that this article was particularly interesting because we actually get a few facts:

In the debate over whether college football should switch to a playoff system, Goren speculates that such a change would temper the enthusiasm that bubbles from fans and players associated with BCS bowls…

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Hot Coaching Updates: CUTigers reports Bowden to stay / Paul Johnson to GT?

Published by StateFans on 12/04/2007 in '07 Football, ACC and Coaches. 71 Comments

* Arkansas-Tommy Bowden-Clemson: Clemson fans may FINALLY get their wish. It is being reported that Tommy Bowden has been offered the vacant Head Coaching position at Arkansas for a considerable raise.

Bowden was offered the Arkansas job Monday night, a source familiar with the proceedings said. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported in today’s editions that incoming Razorbacks athletics director Jeff Long met with Bowden to try to broker a deal.

Arkansas is believed to have offered Bowden substantially more money than Clemson, which announced last week its intent to offer their ninth-year coach a contract extension

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2007 ACC Bowls and Bytes

Published by StateFans on 12/03/2007 in '07 Football and ACC. 38 Comments

This link will take you to the bowl schedule for the entire country.

The ACC Bowl Menu is set and can be seen by clicking here. Of course, if you read SFN then you would have seen that we accurately projected the entire bowl line up BEFORE Sunday.

A couple of interesting NC State tidbits:

* NC State played NINE GAMES against teams who played in bowls this year and finished the season and EIGHT GAMES against teams who finished with winning records.

* NC State finished the season with the exact number of wins against teams with winning records as the Southern California Trojans - two.

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I seem to say this every year on this day

Published by StateFans on 12/02/2007 in '07 Football, ACC and Football. 95 Comments

Number two-ranked West Virginia just lost to Pitt (just as USC lost to UCLA last year). Number one-ranked Mizzou followed that by losing to Oklahoma.

As I sit here and watch ANOTHER final day of the college football season unfold with unfathomable results, I can only imagine how AWESOME - uh, I mean MEANINGLESS today’s football games would have been if we had that all important “playoff” for which so many fans think that they desperately long.

A little after 11pm ET, ABC’s Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit commented that today could be the “BCS’ worst nightmare” and the system is literally imploding today. Conventional wisdom would agree with them. I do not.

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Virginia Tech Wins ACC Championship, but surely BC had fun

Published by StateFans on 12/01/2007 in '07 Football and ACC. 48 Comments

Tom O’Brien’s Boston College Eagles lost ANOTHER BIG NOVEMBER game today to one of the Big East’s powers when Virginia Tech took down the Eagles this afternoon, 30-16.

Wait. Check that.

Despite the pre-season proclamation of Boston College fans that their Eagles would finally shed historical late-year troubles without Coach O’Brien roaming their sidelines, “Coach Jags” ultimately lost two big games to “Eastern” teams - Maryland and VPI - and couldn’t turn the Eagle ship around in their big games.

BC in 2006: 10-3
BC in 2007: 10-3

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O’Brien Likes Look of Pack’s Future

Published by StateFans on 11/30/2007 in '07 Football, Football and Tom O'Brien. 10 Comments
RALEIGH - N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien, the ol’ Marine, is looking for more than a few good men.”We need to sign a lot of good football players,” he emphasized at a news conference Thursday. “All our focus is on recruiting.”

O’Brien wants to beef up every position, especially in the “thin” offensive line, where only eight healthy players will be available for spring practice that begins March 18. Adding depth at linebacker is another big push.

The Pack has received 15 oral commitments for 2008, including two from elite in-state athletes — Bunn running back/defensive back Brandon Barnes and linebacker Terrell Manning of Laurinburg. Five other North Carolina prospects also said they intend to sign with State, according to Scout.com.

Permanent link to this post (122 words, estimated 29 secs reading time)

850 “The Buzz” Highlights Lack of Professionalism From BC’s AD

Published by BJD95 on 11/29/2007 in '07 Football, Football, Media and Tom O'Brien. 37 Comments

Click over to their blog for good analysis and comments (well, most are good). Quote from Jackhole DeFilippo:

“We’re having fun now,” he said. “We’ve won before, but we had no fun. This is still a game, it’s not life and death. The fun is back in Boston College football. Tom did a wonderful job here, but nobody was having fun. The fun is back at Boston College.”

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Ron Cherry: Giving Him The Business

Published by StateFans on 11/26/2007 in '07 Football and Football. 6 Comments

4th most watched video on YouTube today

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Heartless End To the 2007 Football Season; Maryland 37, NC State ZERO

Published by StateFans on 11/24/2007 in '07 Football and Tom O'Brien. 79 Comments

* There is no more joking “is it basketball season yet”. It really is basketball season for the Wolfpack.

* In 2001, Maryland threw oranges on the field at the end of the game at Carter-Finley. Today, they threw statues of Mother Teresa, Gandhi and Bono on the field to celebrate their bid to the bowl that used to be the Humanitarian Bowl.

* Coach O’Brien should probably take some heat after this game. That ‘effort’ was pitiful today.

* Another Evans INT near/in the red zone changes the complection of the game.

* Will Justin Burke transfer?

This is a preview of Heartless End To the 2007 Football Season; Maryland 37, NC State ZERO. Read the full post (179 words,)

0-37 (so far): Wolfpack Doesn’t Look to Want to Go Bowling

Published by StateFans on 11/24/2007 in '07 Football and ACC. 43 Comments

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ESPN Pre-game Comparison

* NC State sarting middle linebacker, James Martin, has torn his ACL and will not play today. Of course, you won’t hear about this from the Lincoln Financial-TV production who have failed to mention anything about the rash of injuries that have impacted BOTH of these tames this season. It’s just sad. The perseverance through injuries of these two teams to be playing for a bowl bid today is THE STORY of today’s game. Don’t believe me? Check out this entry about injuries in the ACC written on November 1st BEFORE each team encountered some of their other injuries.

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Bowl Talk - What to Watch For

Published by StateFans on 11/20/2007 in '07 Football and ACC. 22 Comments

For the second time in three years, NC State will host the University of Maryland in a season finale where one team will leave the field bowl eligible at 6-6 and the other will end the season with a losing record of 5-7. Two years ago NC State defeated the Terps to secure a bowl bid to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte where the Wolfpack shut out South Florida, 14-0. Can history repeat itself in 2007?

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Pack Blows It

Published by StateFans on 11/17/2007 in '07 Football and ACC. 79 Comments

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Saturday Football Bytes/Wake Game Entry

Published by StateFans on 11/16/2007 in '07 Football and ACC. 47 Comments

WFU

* N.C. State running back Andre Brown has been cleared to play at Wake Forest, the Wolfpack announced on Friday afternoon.

* S6 spoke with Old Gold Blog in this entry that will help prep you for the game.

* Speaking of the game - Wake Forest has scored NINE non-offensive touchdowns in ten games this season. I don’t know if NC State has scored nine non-offensive touchdowns in our last 40 games.

* The Wolfpack’s opponent from last weekend is also must travel. The N&O’s blog has a fantastic analysis of what that his meant over the last decade that can be seen by clicking here.

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Bowl Game Possibilities - Revisited

Published by VaWolf82 on 11/15/2007 in '07 Football, ACC and General. 18 Comments

I want to share some highlights from a phone conversation that I had earlier today. The conversation revolved around interpretation of the following NCAA requirement for placing teams with a 6-6 record into bowl games: (Thanks to RAWFS for the link to current NCAA requirements.)

In the case of a conference contractual affiliation, all conference teams with winning records must be placed in one of the contracted bowl games before any institution with a record of six wins and six losses may be placed in a contracted bowl game.

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Wake Forest Preview

Published by VaWolf82 on 11/14/2007 in '07 Football and ACC. 30 Comments

I almost didn’t do a WF preview this week. The keys to the game should be obvious to anyone that has watched any ACC football at all over the last several years. But before we get to those, let’s take a little closer look at a few areas that caught my attention.

WF Rushing Attack

The recruitment of Josh Adams several years ago garnered a lot of attention on State sites since he played his high school ball in Cary. Most people expected that he would have a nice career at WF. However, I don’t think that many people expected him to be WF’s leading rusher (and 4th in the ACC) as a RS-FR. 152 carries for 692 net yds (4.6 yds per carry) is pretty darn good production.

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