NC State – North Carolina picked as a top ‘rivalry’ for 2009

'09 Football23

First, I detest the inappropriate use of the term ‘rivalry’ used to describe a short term time horizon such as a single season. No matter how long they play football on this earth the Florida State – Wake Forest game will never be a ‘rivalry’.

Could they really not have found a better term to frame the point of picking two heated games that bring with it extra significance in the 2009 season? Or, how about truly choosing two actual rivalries to discuss?

FWIW, I would rank the importance, relevance and interest in true rivalries this season as follows:

(1) North Carolina @ NC State

(2) Miami @ Florida State – huge game for both programs as FSU tries to start on the right foot and Miami hopes to avoid a potential 0-4 start.

(3) Clemson @ Georgia Tech – this game is always close and isn’t appreciated by as many fans as it should be. The game is in early September and could have a disproportionately large impact on the Tigers with their new, inexperienced and emotion-fueled coach.

(4) Miami @ Virginia Tech – Miami is being picked by some as a ‘sleeper pick’ in the Coastal Division. Their annual showdown with former Big East rival, VPI, could provide them an opportunity to take a chink out of the armor of the division favorite.

Give credit where it is due — at least Dinich gets it right by actually choosing the NC State-North Carolina game.

What I don’t understand is how ESPN couldn’t find a single highlight of NC State and last year’s All-ACC Quarterback, Russell Wilson. Mind boggling! For the entire 30 seconds that State-Carolina is discussed the video editors show 4 different highlights — each one of North Carolina and not a single one of NC State. (And one highlight of a North Carolina player that will not play in 2009!)

For Christ’s sake…didn’t State and Carolina actually play each other last year!? Here’s an idea that obviously takes a rocket scientist to originate — why not show a frickin highlight from last year’s match up between BOTH of these teams? I know..I know…CRAZY! What relevance would highlights from a game involving the two teams you are referencing as playing an important game against each other hold?

Dinich even says that Russell Wilson is the best quarterback in the ACC in her comments…so, that would obviously be a fantastic spot to show another highlight of a UNC-CH wide receiver sprinting down the field.

Additionally, anyone who would think that last year’s 41-10 drubbing by NC State would be worth just a verbal mention in the piece would be wrong. Let’s see…revenge is the driving factor in the Wake-FSU ‘rivalry’ because Wake has won three in a row; but NC State’s two consecutive wins over Carolina don’t merit a mention? Makes total sense to…someone!

For another little video and some more recent complaints about ESPN then you can click here in the event that you missed it last week.

'09 Football

23 Responses to NC State – North Carolina picked as a top ‘rivalry’ for 2009

  1. packpowerfan 08/17/2009 at 12:10 PM #

    I don’t understand how H.D.’s reporting work merits any kind of pay. She never does anything more than surface work, and OBVIOUSLY has biases when she reports. I know that biases are hard to overcome in journalism (THAT MEANS YOU “NO NEWS AND OBSERVATIONS”), but her love affair with Butch Davis, Miami and Clemson are despicable. I think that maybe she’s a kind of robot, and it’s against her programming to report on State or VPI. If I saw her on the streets I would jump her with a hammer in a dark alley.

  2. PackMan97 08/17/2009 at 12:47 PM #

    Wake Forest vs Florida State is the biggest rivalry game? Don’t you actually have to be rivals in order for it to be a rivalry game?

  3. bradleyb123 08/17/2009 at 1:10 PM #

    ^^^ “First, I detest the inappropriate use of the term ‘rivalry’ used to describe a short term time horizon such as a single season. No matter how long they play football on this earth the Florida State – Wake Forest game will never be a ‘rivalry’.”

    Not saying you’re wrong on this, but once Wake has won so many games against FSU, at some point it *could* become a rivalry game. Wake has won three in a row now, and something tells me FSU probably has the Wake game circled on their calendars. Rivalries all start somewhere. And there could be one brewing here.

    I thought NC State and FSU had a rivalry building, but we haven’t done so well against them lately. So that has probably cooled.

  4. JayVee 08/17/2009 at 1:40 PM #

    I’d rather listen to Billy Packer than listen to H.D. report on ACC football…

  5. WolfpackSteelersFan2 08/17/2009 at 1:44 PM #

    “What I don’t understand is how ESPN couldn’t find a single highlight of NC State and last year’s All-ACC Quarterback, Russell Wilson.”

    I guess you have to expect that from the Stuart Scott network. :/

    Hopefully, that will just motivate our guys that much more. Although, TOB seems to have a very good understanding of who it is we want to beat each year, even if the team struggles otherwise. So, it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

  6. ppack3 08/17/2009 at 2:09 PM #

    We did get a highlight in there…during the WF/FSU talk. You didn’t catch the gratuitous “NC State Defense gives up a red-zone, passing touchdown” to the visiting Deacons clip?
    Re: the NCSU/UNC discussion: I guess they didn’t have time to search for THE highlight that UNC had against us last year. Unbelievable.

  7. PackMan97 08/17/2009 at 2:24 PM #

    NC State hasn’t had great success against Wake lately either, but that still doesn’t make them our rival. Ditto for FSU vs. Wake.

    If given three games between Florida, Miami and Wake Forest and you tell a Nole fan, you have to pick two games to win and one game to lose…is there ANY QUESTION where two games 100% of the fans will pick to win and the one game they’ll pick to lose?

    That my friends is the measure of a rivalry.

  8. packpowerfan 08/17/2009 at 3:32 PM #

    @PackMan,

    If you gave me two games to win and one to lose with UNC, Duke, and Wake; I’d pick two wins for UNC, one loss for Wake, and for Duke to relocate to NJ.

  9. Alpha Wolf 08/17/2009 at 3:38 PM #

    ^ That about covers it for most Pack fans.

  10. phillypacker 08/17/2009 at 4:03 PM #

    Are the other ESPN conference reporters as bad as she is? This piece looks like something she threw together in 15 minutes, grabbed some clips and headed to the studio. Her pieces are consistently farcical. There is so much good writing about ACC sports out there, could she at least read other people’s writing/columns to get some greater insight into her beat? She is worse than any newspaper writer I can think of in the ACC and she’s working for an international sports network. ESPN do you realize how you are embarrassing yourself and alienating ACC viewers/readers with every word she writes? I don’t think she’s competent enough to be biased. Please get someone competent at least.

  11. GAWolf 08/17/2009 at 6:56 PM #

    Our game vs UNC lasst year was not televised by an ESPN-affiliated networ was it?

  12. Wufpacker 08/17/2009 at 8:12 PM #

    I have to agree that I can’t ever see FSU/Wake becoming a rivalry. I can’t see Wake sustaining their recent success, both against FSU and in general, for a very long period. The only way Wake continues its success against FSU is if they overachieve for the forseeable future AND FSU ends up in a tailspin. Both could happen but neither is likely.

    Further, especially if speaking just about this season, Wake is expected by most to take a step back this season, while FSU is expected by many to be the team to beat in the Atlantic. I guess if you want to call it a likely “revenge” game on FSU’s part that is probably accurate, but certainly not a rivaly. Can’t believe it would be her first knee jerk response instead of FSU/Miami.

    And regarding the disparity of NCSU highlights vs UNC highlights, while I agree it shows a perfect example of someone doing their job incompetently, if not doing it with a major bias, I really can’t say that I’m surprised. Except for the years that Valvano was head basketball coach, and to a lesser degree the years that Amato was head football coach, we have never gotten an even shake from the national media. I won’t say whether it is truly bias or rather just that we (I’m looking at you, NCSU Sports Information Dept.) allow ourselves to be an afterthought in most people’s minds. Likely it is a combination of both. But one thing is for sure…if you’ve been an NCSU fan long enough it surely doesn’t come as a surprise.

    Of course it would have been easy to find a couple of highlights of Russell Wilson. Of course it would have been just as easy to use highlights of last year’s NCSU/UNC game, although most of them may not want any reminder of that game. Even if it wasn’t shown on ESPN, which I think GAWolf is correct about…I believe it was the noon JP game, they did show it on ESPN360, and they could easily use the footage by just giving the citation for the original broadcast rights holder. They do it all the time.

    It wasn’t that ESPN couldn’t do it. And it may not have been that they intentionally didn’t do it. But, at the very least, they just didn’t bother to do it. And our SID, even if they’re aware of the slight, won’t do a damn thing about it…because they don’t care enough and aren’t in danger of being replaced, whether they do or not.

  13. 1.21 Jigawatts 08/17/2009 at 8:35 PM #

    This has nothing to do with ESPN ACC Rivalry games but it does deal with the SoCar game so it’s kinda a rivalry game.

    Found this buried in the latest Wolfpacker concerning the opening game.

    Tell me how stupid this sounds…

    For the SoCar game, this is the big promotional stuff they are going to do. They’ll be handing out rally towels for the entire lower level. (Let’s not go overboard here fella’s and get the WHOLE stadium involved) The student section will have a “white out” (not the whole stadium, just the students) and will have ‘Beat Carolina’ printed on them. So as to color coordinate it all the students will get Red rally towels and the rest of the lower levels will get White rally towels. (So I’m wondering, since there are student sections on the upper
    deck, do they get rally towels as well?? …Oh, and the rally towels will have ‘Beat Carolina’ printed on them too. )

    The ACC (who is ponying up the cash for the promotional stuff) only requires that something is included about the conference championship game motto, “The Road To Tampa Bay”. *COUGH*RIP-OFF!!*COUGH*

    Some NC State engineering students are also building a noise meter, which is 8 to 10 feet tall and shaped like the Bell Tower, to put in front of the student section. The louder the fans are, the more lights will go up the Bell Tower. The meter will hopefully be ready for the season opener. (Uhhh, is it going to be sitting on the ground where no one can see it?? Please God say yes because it’ll have to be utterly stupid to see.)

    As a VT friend of mine said, A for Effort…C for execution.

  14. wolfwarrior 08/17/2009 at 8:58 PM #

    Sports Marketing 101 has never been our forte, now has it?

  15. Cosmo96 08/17/2009 at 10:39 PM #

    I think the NC State/NC rivalry is every bit as contentious as the bigger name rivalries out there, we just don’t have the winning reputations and traditions of rival programs such as Alabama/Auburn or Florida/FSU. However, we still have the makings of a great rivalry. There is the unique proximity, the history, and of course, contempt for the other side, plus the fact that our basketball rivalry (what it used to be, at least) can easily spill over into football.

  16. Wufpacker 08/18/2009 at 4:10 AM #

    ^^^
    1.21 Jigawatts said:
    “Tell me how stupid this sounds… ”

    It sounds sufficiently stupid that, if you didn’t tell me it was NCSU, I probably could have guessed. And in addition to stupid, the term “half-assed” springs to mind.

    I mean, how hard would it have been to organize this such that a small note was included with the season ticket mailings telling everyone, not just the students, to participate in the white out. Is it that hard for the university proper to communicate with the folks at the WPC? Don’t get me wrong, I think the white out concept has been overdone and I don’t personally care for it. But if they’re going to have it at least get everyone in on it. If its just the students then its nothing more than just a few sections that are a different color and it becomes a joke…well, MORE of a joke.

    And the ACC is footing the bill for these towels (and the t-shirts too, I presume) as long as we put a logo/phrase on them. So whats the problem with getting everyone in on the act with the t-shirts? Mail out a shirt for each season ticket purchased. Or to avoid postage, just hand them out at the gates as people enter. Gotta have a ticket stub for each t-shirt, and mark the stub so no one gets greedy and tries to hoard them. I would presume thats how they’re distributing the towels anyway.

    And if towels and t-shirts for everyone end up costing more than the ACC is willing to cough up, then do one or the other, but do it right. Give everybody a t-shirt and forget the towels, OR dump the t-shirts and give everyone a towel, even the peasants in the upper decks. Heck, you could even give out both color towels if you want to or need to. The random mix of red and white speckled throughout the stadium would look pretty cool on TV I bet. A single color, preferably red, would be good too.

    And why exactly do the students, wearing their snazzy new white out t-shirts, need to have a different color towel anyway? Would one color towel really be so bad? Would a white towel really clash with the white t-shirts?

    As far as the ACC and the “Road to Tampa Bay” motto, I can’t really fault them just because the NCAA and CBS use it for the basketball tournament. Sure, they could have tried to come up with something original, but I don’t know that they would have been successful in creating a phrase that has the instant recognition of what that phrase means. I know I can’t think of something off the top of my head that would be any better, and the simplicity of it is really what makes it work. I know I’ve seen it used during NFL playoff time, so the ACC is far from the only one ripping it off. Besides, if they’re willing to fund the promotional stuff, especially considering its a non-conference game, I can’t fault them too much.

    But it really could have been done better with a minimal amount of thought and effort. In fact, I have to disagree with Jigawatts’ VT friend. The execution may warrant a grade of “C”, although thats yet to be determined…wait and see what kind of a cluster-#@$% it turns out to be on game night, then decide. But as far as effort goes, I think “A” is quite a stretch. I’d have to say “C-” at best, and thats still being a tad generous.

    It is exactly these sorts of things that occur when the generally apathetic attitude starts at the top and filters on down. It is precisely the sort of thing that I’m hoping will soon be a thing of the past with the hiring of a new chancellor.

    Chancellor Woodward does not seem to be apathetic or half-assed, and he certainly isn’t stupid. Thats why I really wish he’d take the permanent gig, but I am at least encouraged that he is here for the time-being and I hope that he is heavily involved in choosing the permanent Chancellor.

    For now, with Chancellor Woodward and hopefully in the long term with whomever is hired, I hope we (the university as a whole) can take advantage and use his vision and leadership to change the apathetic, status quo attitude that now pervades the university at nearly every level. Perhaps then these sorts of half-assed efforts can be a thing of the past.

  17. Wufpacker 08/18/2009 at 4:28 AM #

    Also, forgot to mention that I’m fairly impressed by some of the numbers in the current poll on the side of the page. The FSU/Miami game currently sits at 51% (53/104), which surprises me only because Miami hasn’t been a long time member, and FSU, while being in conference longer, is still not a long-time member like the founding members or even GaTech. I know its a big rivalry game for both schools, just was surprised that ACC fans would pick that so overwhelmingly.

    Similarly, the numbers for the FSU/Clemson game surprises me as well. A comfortable 2nd currently with 19% (20/104). I realize they’re two pretty good teams year in and year out, but I didn’t know they were considered a rivalry. At least not any more than say FSU/NCSU.

  18. tjfoose1 08/18/2009 at 9:57 AM #

    Heather “Pine Trees” Dinich is a ‘Title IX’ hire. Any man with twice her talent wouldn’t get much further than writing obits for a bi-weekly.

  19. CaptainCraptacular 08/18/2009 at 10:48 AM #

    Ok I’m at a loss here. Who the heck is voting for UNC-Duke as the next most interesting football rivalry??? Really? There’s got to be some Carolina fans visiting and voting, surely no State fan would be voting for that.

  20. burnbarn 08/18/2009 at 6:15 PM #

    I think the UVa- VT is a series to watch for rivalry.

  21. smile102 08/18/2009 at 6:19 PM #

    “I think the NC State/NC rivalry is every bit as contentious as the bigger name rivalries out there, we just don’t have the winning reputations and traditions of rival programs such as Alabama/Auburn or Florida/FSU.”

    Fact is, outside of the fan base, it just doesn’t matter.
    And not all the UNC fans see NC State as the biggest game.
    Big rivalries check both these boxes.

  22. packpowerfan 08/19/2009 at 12:33 PM #

    smile I really think UNC fans deny a rivalry just because it blows their ego through the roof. In football, this is their biggest game outside the division. Duke is a meaningless game unless Duke gets the win that pushes the Holes out of CG contention.

  23. bradleyb123 08/19/2009 at 1:33 PM #

    ^^^ “And not all the UNC fans see NC State as the biggest game.”

    Only those that let the Duke-UNC basketball rivalry influence their thinking in football. Duke has beaten UNC once in I think the last 19 meetings in football. If State is not Carolina’s rival in basketball due to our low number of victories in the last 20 years, then Duke qualifies for the same in football, on an even grander scale.

    I think most Carolina fans see State as their top rival in football, and Duke in basketball. I tend to believe the fans that don’t are the ones that really only care about basketball in the first place.

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