Giglio: Pack is Pre-Season Atlantic Favorite

Giglio neatly and concisely summarizes 83% of my thinking on the ACC’s Atlantic Division race. You can make a compelling case against all five other teams, but I think one can make a compelling case against State as favorites, too (basically, I think we are a year away from being a serious title contender).

That said, somebody has to win the division. And if somebody puts a gun to your head and makes you pick – why not the team that returns the most exciting offensive and defensive playmakers in the league? Especially when said team is exceptionally well-coached.

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.

'09 Football Tom O'Brien

56 Responses to Giglio: Pack is Pre-Season Atlantic Favorite

  1. GAWolf 05/08/2009 at 5:26 PM #

    1st pick as a Defensive Lineman no doubt. That makes it even more impressive.

  2. tuckerdorm1983 05/08/2009 at 7:42 PM #

    cautiously optimistic, the last time I was this pumped about pack football was when we had TA and Rivers and played Ohio State. It turned out TA stood for turnover always as we lost to them smelly tarholes. TA running down the sideline and loses the ball.
    Well we might win the division and the Acc Championship. Hell we might go 12-0. What I expect are some good games with continued improvement. Four star kids are looking at our program without even being offered a scholarship.
    TOB is the best thing to happen to us since Everett Case came to Raleigh.

    In conclusion: If not this year, then surely in the next few. Maybe some setbacks as we go along. Never been more optimistic.

  3. TomCat 05/08/2009 at 11:00 PM #

    NC State’s 2009 fortunes rest precariously…… on the knee caps of QB Russell Wilson. If TOB exposes Russell to anywhere near the amount of tuck-and-run contact he received last year…. we are doomed. It was an absolute miracle he maintained his health for as long as he did last season.
    With 90% of the offense running through him- we saw what happened to State’s offensive fortunes in the bowl game when Wilson was TKO’ed. No way in heck we are so fortunate (# of healthy games by Wilson vs. all the contact) no way, two years in a row. If we are building a program there has to be offensive balance and we have to run a offense which keeps Russell Wilson protected and alive. It will look like we are handcuffing Russell’s creativity with his legs this season — but that is the tradeoff to have him viable in late November. Linebackers and defensive coordinators have had a year to scheme and place that target on RW’s back. Understand what — that means. And– prepare for it.

  4. McPete 05/09/2009 at 9:54 AM #

    Tomcat,
    we’d still be good without russell wilson this season. glennon is the best back up we’ve had in a long time. i bet he’d start for at least half the teams in the acc. and the defense will be a much improved unit to last year.

    but, yes, wilson is the best qb in the acc and we are much better with him in there.

  5. ChiefJoJo 05/09/2009 at 12:36 PM #

    When O’Brien came in and we saw how bad things were to start out, I figured ’07 & ;08 would be rebuilding years, where we the transition from Chuck’s players to TOB’s would be rather slow & painful. I figured we’d make a bowl game in ’09 (7-8 wins), with Glennon taking his lumps, and compete for an ACC title in ’10. Except for the surprising development of Wilson who basically willed us to the bowl game last year, I was mostly right.

    TOB has recruited pretty well and is building up the roster quite nicely. There aren’t a lot of 5* guys, but it seems there are a lot of kids who have the talent, and maybe more importantly desire and character to contribute and help the team take the next step. Still I agree with the posters that we have a lot of talented guys who are still very green and despite the blessing of having Wilson & Glennon at QB, it would be tough to PREDICT an ACC title this year. If Wilson has another year like ’08 (1 INT is off-the-charts good), the defense & OL take a big step forward, the youngsters all step to fill the gaps, and we stay healthy (this has been a lingering problem), we have a very good shot at it.

    Giglio is down on Clemson, but they still have a ton of talent on that roster, so perhaps Sweenwey is just the change of pace the players need to light a fire under them. I knew Bowden was finished before the first game vs Bama. He was interviewed on ESPN and basically said their success or failure (not choking again) was ALL on the players. A head coach should NEVER say that, no matter what. He was the head man, and never seemed to take responsibility for his team’s failings. I might take Clemson as the favorite, but as we saw last year it’s probably going to be wide open.

  6. BoKnowsNCS71 05/11/2009 at 8:49 AM #

    It’s really nice to see the Pack get some praise. The hard part is always living up to it. TOB is building a strong program. This is early on but shows we are on the right track. I also think it shows that it’s hard for any team to be strong all the time. Even good teams have down years and mediocre teams can have wonder years and a little luck. All part of the game.

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