What Can Brown Do For You? 248 Yards on 32 Carries

General NCS Football14

NC State looked bad again on Saturday, but a win is a win. Stone had more completions in the first half to USM than to NC State in the first half, but had a small rally in the second half. Stone finished with 128 passing yards

The real story was Andre Brown. Brown looked better has the game went on and finished with 248 yards rushing.

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General NCS Football

14 Responses to What Can Brown Do For You? 248 Yards on 32 Carries

  1. SaccoV 10/29/2005 at 4:38 PM #

    Though this game was played against Southern Mississippi, I more strongly than ever feel that the coaching staff at NCSU is inept in every facet. Some questions which need answering: Why was this Andre Brown’s first game? Why are we not running in a more classic I-formation or Wishbone style? Why are we continuing to put the ball in the air despite the inconsistent abilities of our two quarterbacks to hit receivers? Why is Darrell Blackman continuing to get playing time? My largest and loudest criticism of this coaching staff has been the development of the talent they supposedly have and the stubborn refusal to use the weapons already at their disposal. I know that the receiver-corps is highly touted and should be. Considering that Reggie Davis has hardly been on the field until this game, it’s increasingly clear that Amato has given Trestman the green light to run the West Coast offense regardless of its actual effectiveness. This game should NOT have been decided in the 4th quarter, especially not at home, and if our coaching staff isn’t awakened now to run first, then pass, each and every one of them should be fired and then banned from coaching football AT ANY LEVEL!!

  2. NCBP 10/29/2005 at 10:45 PM #

    Nice win … at this point a win is win and we needed it big time! Great to see the Pack focus on the ground game and get our rush to pass ration back where we need it with this year’s team. Sounds like Stone got more comfortable in the second half and the D was terrific overall.

  3. Slader4881 10/30/2005 at 12:54 AM #

    First off, great game by Andre Brown. He really deserves it for sticking with NCSU even after he didnt qualify last year. He really could’ve gone to a number of schools after Hargrave and he choose to come to Raleigh thanks. Now, my #1 reason why I like Stone is because it simply means more running. They will never put Stone in a situation when he has to throw a lot, because he simply can’t do it. I know for a fact if Jay played today we would have lost. Trestman would have put it up more and less running which = bad results. Sure our offense is still horrible but we saw signs of a light at the end of the tunnel. Some people have come down hard on Trestman and rightfully so to a certain extent, but look at the team he inherited. This is one of the worst possible fits for his system. I know for the rest of the year “run first” will be our motto, and if Andre keeps it up and Toney stops with the TA impression we may have a solid 1-2 punch. But please know this Stone will never be a great passer and those who can’t be stand to wait need to look elsewhere. After Stone’s first incompletion today the fans behind me were already saying stuff like: “No wonder he was on the bench” and “He must’ve learned that from Jay”. Look people I understand the need for a great QB but we need to relax a little. Maybe Stone isn’t the answer but at least he is a step in the right direction and that is a step I have been looking for all year.

  4. CLASS OF '74 10/30/2005 at 8:22 AM #

    I guess the coach needed irrefutable evidence of a win, via the running game, to accept the fact running football teams win! You run to set up the pass coach! With our lack of passing ability and the running backs we have on hand, we should run the the ball no less than 66% of the time. This was no great win but it could lead to better things ahead. I’m not sold on our coach, it may be a case of the blind hog finding the acorn, but at least it’s a start in the right direction.

  5. BJD95 10/30/2005 at 9:59 AM #

    The larger message is that if you pound away at a defense for 3 quarters, they inevitably start to wear down. We wore USM down with Brown and Davis, and it showed in the 4th quarter.

    We finally found the player we can ask to carry us on offense – at least against teams of USM’s caliber. It likely won’t be nearly enough against the tough front sevens of FSU and BC (who will also stack the line and dare Stone to beat them with his arm, which he can’t do), but maybe it ekes out a win against Maryland.

    Marcus Stone was pretty bad, but I’ll give him a “C” for the day. He got better as the game moved along, and both the pay fake and the throw on the winning TD were picture perfect.

  6. Jeff 10/30/2005 at 5:18 PM #

    First, I just wanted to highlight how good these comments are. It is SO NICE to have a place where people share such insightful stuff.

    A few thoughts:

    (1) Where has Andre Brown been? Seriously. Stormin (who posts here sometimes) has been telling me since before the season started that Andre Brown is easily our best running back and should be on the field. How right was he?

    I sometimes wonder if Chuck is somewhat Mack Brown-like in his promises and recruiting. Before the season started I proposed that Toney Baker should be a candidate for redshirt based on numerous factors (including Brown’s one year ahead of him). Now, we have both of these guys in the same class forever.

    (2) Marcus Stone was horrible. As much as people complain and criticize Jay (deservedly so), Stone was worse in the first half: 1-7, 2 ints, 15 yards (not to mention multiple bad decisions). But, in the second half, you saw a typical example of how much better a quarterback can look based solely on the existence of a running game. The pressure was off Marcus and Trestman was in a position to pick and choose what he wanted to do all because of Andre.

    (3) I expect teams to now load the box on us to stop Andre. We MUST find a way to execute some slants and an occassional bomb to take advantage of one on one coverage. Is Stone smart enough to make the right calls at the right time?

    (4) Did our offensive line play better, or is USM physically just that inferior to us?

  7. SaccoV 10/30/2005 at 7:35 PM #

    All those questions will be answered next week against FSU. Yes, there were some positives to take from the game, BUT I wouldn’t run to the $10 window. First, we all agree that Brown should have been played more up to this point, along with Reggie Davis who had some decent experience last year. Second, we all agreed that Jay Davis wouldn’t have looked nearly as bad as he did if we had RUN the ball effectively. (I take a moment here to curtail all the suggested cyncism of Pack fans by wanting Davis to be Rivers. Never, at least no one I know, ever hoped or expected Davis to be like Rivers in any facet. Unfortunately for Jay, the coaching staff failed him as much as his talent.) Third, the defense is always good when it can spend some time on the sidelines resting. All these things are obvious to everyone EXCEPT our coaching staff. As a result of how this team has been coached for this season, I would not be surprised if at the end of this year, there are a significant number of good players leaving the program for opportunities elsewhere.

  8. Slader4881 10/30/2005 at 10:02 PM #

    I don’t think players are jumping ship at the end of the year. The only one I can see possibly leaving is Bobby Washington simply because he seems to be the one hurt most with the RB log-jam. Other than that I think everyone will come back if we can get some positives torwards the end of the year. As far as Stone he played bad but that is kind of what I expected. I figured he would start worse than Jay, but he finished stronger than Jay would have. This is just a by product of experiance, Marcus will get better with time. FSU will provide a tough, TOUGH challenge running the ball on them should be near impossible. But look at it this way: They have a young secondary and a young QB. If our D can pressure Weatherford we could get some INTs and if Marcus can hit a big play against the secondary we have a punchers shot. A low scoring slugfest is our only shot anything else is bad news for NCSU.

  9. st0rmin 10/31/2005 at 8:54 AM #

    Thanks for the props on my AB prediction. Now for a little more: next year: our RBs will Brown and Baker, Blackman will be moved WR, and Washington (if he stays) will take Tramain’s place. I also have a gut on QB, but I will save that for another time. As for playing, etc. Brown is one step quicker through the holes than the rest. That makes all the difference. Play action is now being set up. As a long time footballer, you should want to teams to put everyone in the box to stop the run as long as they have to honor the run and not tee off on the QB. What happen in Saturday’s game is that the rush had to slow out of respect for AB. The other benefit of AB is that the defense started to see an offense and they responded. Look for a dogfight this weekend. By the way for those who want to know where AB was all year, did you know that Ted Brown did not even travel the week before his breakout game in 1975? That’s right the greatest running back in ACC history (who ended up with over 900 yards as freshman) did not play in the first 3 games his rookie year and did not even make the travel squad to Indiana? However after too many fumbles by the other running backs in that game (does that ring a bell), he was given a chance and THE REST WAS HISTORY. Well could we be repeating that now?

  10. Mike 10/31/2005 at 9:35 AM #

    Great comments all. Sure AB had a great game….where has he been all year long? AB was in a couple games early, made a few critical mistakes (if memory servces correctly a fumble and 15 yd personal foul penalty), and hit the pine. The only reason he was in this game was a Baker fumble. Baker is a talented runner also and both he and AB could make a great 1-2 tandem. Hate to compare to Orane County Community College up the road, but I seem to remember a couple 1000 yard tandems in Lawrence/Bryant and Johnson/Johnson. 2 backs with a 1000 in same year is impressive, and those guys both have the talent to do it. But as others said, SMU is not FSU, and the line will have their work cut out for them Saturday. As great as Ted Brown was, he never had to run behind this line. Hey, just a quick thought…..didn’t D Morris sit out much of the game with an injury?

  11. BJD95 10/31/2005 at 9:59 AM #

    Agree with stormin on AB’s quickness to the hole – that was the most noticeable aspect to me.

  12. Mr. O 10/31/2005 at 11:16 AM #

    Baker has also looked really good at times. Brown had huge holes to run through. That was the biggest difference in the rushing game.

  13. Sacco 10/31/2005 at 4:40 PM #

    The reason I made a small prediction of players defecting is because it’s blatantly obvious to everyone outside the coaching staff that running back WAS OUR STRONGEST POSITION going into the season offensively, and it’s disheartening to those five guys who were so highly touted to have a “NFL-caliber” coach come in and say PASS, PASS, PASS. The best coaches will always ADAPT their system to the talent available especially in establishing their offensive schemes early in their tenure. (Heck, some great coaches even adapted LATE, like Vermeil and Shula). The major problem is this neglect of effectively evaluating the current talent, and instead implementing a futile offensive system IN SPITE OF the personnel available to run it. Also, if Trestman stays, I would think at least two running backs will be gone for next season.

  14. peter hamilton 11/20/2005 at 12:56 PM #

    darrell blackman should be the starting running back big time. Brown got lucky. Blackman has the vision and the ability they dont give him a chance. do you see him on those returns?

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