Miracle in Raleigh

'06 Football General NCS Football87

Wow. With the best Hail Mary since Erik Kramer beat USC on an untimed down in 1986, Daniel Evans enters Wolfpack folklore. The kid sure has poise, and can tear up a base defense. He can also read a defense like a 10-year NFL veteran. As long as he doesn’t get killed behind our still-porous offensive line, he could very well save this season.

In the end, the missed extra point, Ryan’s bobbled snap on 3rd and 1, and some questionable end-of-game management (single coverage on Dunlap – with a safety – WTF?) killed the Eagles. They had been living right in close games, and they finally got bit.

The road to the Atlantic Division title now clearly runs through Clemson, South Carolina. But it is without question a free-for-all.

It was also a special night for Johnny Evans. It was special to hear Johnny interview Daniel after his big game. It was amazing to hear how professional Johnny Evans handled himself during the game. Class act, couldn’t be happier for the Evans family.

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.

'06 Football General NCS Football

87 Responses to Miracle in Raleigh

  1. justaguy 09/25/2006 at 8:48 AM #

    This was a game the players won. The coaches gave them good preparation amd a workable game plan, but the players won it. That’s great to see.

    As a pack oldtimer, I remember another vivid example of the players coming through in the 1974 astro-bluebonnet bowl. State was losing by at least 2 touchdowns going into the 4th qtr and Lou Holtz told QB Dave Buckey to call the plays, saying something to the effect that Buckey couldn’t do any worse than he had. Buckey called the plays and rallied state to a 31-31 tie (that felt like a win) against hometown Houston.

    Oh, almost forgot, coach Amato was an assitant to Holtz back then.

  2. choppack1 09/25/2006 at 8:57 AM #

    A couple of thoughts on some play calls:

    1) I thought the 3rd and goal call from 7 yard line in the first half was one of the worst play calls I’ve ever seen.
    2) After moving the ball very well on the ground that drive, we moved away from the running game a little. While the final #s showed balance, it seems like some drives we were hell-bent on passing. Others hell-bent on running. I don’t really care about balance – I just want something that works. We only scored 17 points on a Defense that isn’t exactly stout. We’re going to have to improve.
    3) I thought the D played w/ tons of heart.

  3. cfpack03 09/25/2006 at 9:31 AM #

    great pics from the game here:
    http://www.accfootballphotos.com/2006/60923ncsubc/

  4. Jeff 09/25/2006 at 10:05 AM #

    Tom Suiter sent out his kudos to Daniel Evans and also touched upon a lot of local football issues in this entry at WRAL-TV.

  5. Mike 09/25/2006 at 10:17 AM #

    I am happy for the win. Couple things stand out in my mind.

    I have said this before – one can make a stat say anything you want it to say, but coming into the game BC was #1 in ACC in total offense. Ryan was at top of QB standings. D did a great job shutting them down. There were a few lapses where I thoguht we were going back to Akron and SM, but for the most part the D was impressive.

    Evans was cool, especially in the clutch, but remember this BC team was also last in ACC in defense. The “flick” was reminisicient of PR, and I said that to my wife as he flicked it. She said be careful, those are big shoes to compare. I agree too early to make any comparison to PR – my point to her was simply “the kid will do what it takes to make the play, regardless of what it looks like”. I wish him well, have known Johnny for years and what a class act the whole family is. But that rush of FSU is going to be tough, especially with our line.

    Finally, the XP was wihtout a doubt the dumbest play we could have made. 1 point meant absolutely nothing. Yes, Deraney is very good on PAT’s, but ask Clemson about blocked kicks, it does happen. Block that kick and go back for 2 the other way. Take a knee and kickoff. Or, if you feel bold, go for 2 to take a 3 point lead. Safe run up the middle, 2 hands on the ball, if you get it great, if not, no harm. But whatever you do, dont give the other team even a 1% chance of going the other way. Take a knee! Also remember the new rule, clock starts on the kick. Let Deraney kick it high and deep in the end zone, will take 6-7 seconds and let them have one play from the 20.

  6. Mike 09/25/2006 at 10:19 AM #

    Also, our two wins this year in CF are against a ranked team, AND our first ever win against a #1 team in CF. 🙂

  7. cfpack03 09/25/2006 at 10:47 AM #

    I can’t say I’ll be bragging about beating the #1 D-II App St…
    BC is by far, the best team we’ve played so far this season. We beat BC, BC beat Clemson, Clemson beat FSU. 10 days.

  8. vtpackfan 09/25/2006 at 11:09 AM #

    Choppack^ I agree with your post that the play calling seemed illogical at times. I didn’t mind the passing on 1st, and 2nd and goal, but the targets that they choose.
    1) We have to send #83 (Hill) into the fray on these sort of patterns, he is huge and if we is involved early in the game it set s the tone that he could be a potential target.
    2)We need to run misdirections in the back field as a fake and then through it out to the tail back in open space. Tresselman called this play once and it worked awesome nwever to use it again. Its a perfect play to run on a 1st and 2nd and goal.
    3)With the pathetic nature of the ACC this season, I wouldn’t mind if the play calling stayed somewhat conservative in these situations. We have a great place kicker and our D will hold up against the quality of opponets (except maybe Clemson) the rest of the way out. Trying to force something that isn’t there may only result in no points and a huge motivation to the opposition.
    In all I found not much wrong doing in the play calling. I made an earlier comment that some of the excessive pass calls early in the game may have attributed to DE’s confidence and pocket awareness late in the game when he (and everyone else) knew he had to air it out.

  9. Mike 09/25/2006 at 12:03 PM #

    I was tongue in cheek about 1-AA AppSt, picking up on the Hahns comments.

  10. colapack 09/25/2006 at 12:06 PM #

    Not much talk about the catch by Dunlap… He got popped at the end and held the ball. Excellent catch.

  11. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 09/25/2006 at 12:34 PM #

    State fans that leave games with time on the clock shouldn’t bother calling themselves State fans. These people obviously have no understanding of the history of NC State athletics. I’m not a season ticket holder now but I have been in the past and I attend games every year and I have never walked out of CFS until the clocks shows 0:00 with the only exception being the Carolina game two years ago. Leaving games early eliminates your right to call yourself a fan. It is to bad we can’t station people with pelet guns and shoot the idiots walking out early. True aholes, maybe you should consider going to Chill or Durham to watch games.

  12. Wolfpack4ever 09/25/2006 at 2:42 PM #

    I had to explain to my first wife years ago that we are not going to the game to find out who wins, we are going to support the team and watch football. The clincher was when I told her, “when we start leaving the symphony, opera or a play early to “beat the traffic,” I’ll consider leaving the football game early.”

    cfpack03, I checked out the pictures. Loved the one where Tank Tyler was being held by the face mask by one of the BC O-line protecting his QB. I don’t why WE can’t coach that technique. Damned effective, you know.

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