Pump up time! To bowl, or not to bowl?

HUGE game for the Wolfpack today! (Link) All the marbles on the line — either Tom O’Brien will go to his third bowl in five years at NC State…or he won’t. We will either have two straight winning seasons…or we won’t.

Joe Giglio sets the table for you here…but nobody did a better job of setting the historical backdrop of today’s game than our very own ‘ruffles’ in this fantastic entry. You can click herefor CFN’s take on the game; and Caulton Tudor projected a similar score (link).

The regular-season finale finds the Wolfpack (6-5, 3-4 ACC) with a lot more to gain than anyone could have guessed three or four weeks ago. It’s hard to remember that Maryland (2-9, 1-6) started the season with that impressive win over Miami. That game must seem like a million years ago to Randy Edsall. Wolfpack, 31-14.

We’d like to remind you that we’ve been very active on the blog this week even while you were away with the turkey….so, please click through some of our work. And, as always, you can click here and participate in our message forums.

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365 Responses to Pump up time! To bowl, or not to bowl?

  1. ScottieJ2000 11/26/2011 at 5:29 PM #

    ^^^^^^ TOB could always retire but for job security… he has earned at least one more year. Hope we can end up with 8 wins!

  2. gopack 17 11/26/2011 at 5:30 PM #

    Have to admit it was a really fun game to watch from the stands today. The Seniors and the entire team deserves the “W” and the chance to have a post-season bowl game.

    TOB is back for another year. Just hope Bible and team spice up the play book going into 2012.

  3. Lunatic Fringe 11/26/2011 at 5:32 PM #

    TOB4PREZ,

    I am glad we won and always cheer for the pack, but I thought the team was ill prepared for this game despite the “exceptional preparation” & “we’ll be ready to go” comments from the coaching staff.

    I thought the Clemson game actually saved TOB’s job not necessarily this one. IF we had laid an egg vs Clemson & Maryland after that horrible trip to BC than the AD would have looked really hard at a replacement.

    On financials (others probably know more), Fowler was a horrible AD, but thankfully he was extremely cheap when it came to coaches salaries.

    Fowler – 280K a year until 2013
    Lowe – 900K (I believe to be split over next two years)
    TOB – buyout would be 360K for remaining years (contract ends 2013)

    It would not have been preferable, but it was definitely doable for TOB to be fired. It is a moot point though since he is not going anywhere with bowl appearance and wins vs Clemson, UNC, and Maryland.

    …with that said… I am not sure it is best practice to call a fellow fan ignorant for sharing an opinion.

  4. eas 11/26/2011 at 5:37 PM #

    Had it been a blow out loss I think TOB would have probably not been back next year. Now I say it is very likely he is here for at least 1 more year. Unfortunately his coaching staff will also be back. So we may be stuck with the Princeton offense of college football. Who knows what to make of Archer anymore. I will say whatever they discussed at the half worked.

    TOB please stick with the no huddle offense. It has worked every time you have ran it. Glennon seems to do better in it as well.

  5. Lunatic Fringe 11/26/2011 at 5:39 PM #

    Our play calling (on both sides of the ball) improves exponentially when we are aggressive and desperate.

  6. tjfoose1 11/26/2011 at 5:44 PM #

    “Our play calling (on both sides of the ball) improves exponentially when we are aggressive and desperate.”

    That is soooo true with many “old school” coaches. Think Dan Reeves and Elway.

  7. SkyKing 11/26/2011 at 6:15 PM #

    It seems that everyone that posted on pages 3-8 quit posting when the game turned around. Don’t give up don’t ever give up.

  8. WV Wolf 11/26/2011 at 6:33 PM #

    I will freely admit I had given up at 41-14. If Maryland scored again I was leaving. I ended up staying for the whole game.

    Still not sure I believe what I just saw.

  9. triadwolf 11/26/2011 at 6:45 PM #

    I watched until we got within 14, went for a run and got back in time to see CJ’s pick-six. I hope they replay the game, sounds like one helluva 4th quarter. 2nd largest comeback in ACC history and State’s largest. 42 unanswered points in a quarter and a half of football is pretty damn impressive.

  10. 61Packer 11/26/2011 at 9:18 PM #

    State scored 42 points in the 4th quarter alone.

  11. TruthBKnown Returns 11/27/2011 at 12:54 AM #

    I tried to tell y’all, we WILL beat Maryland. 🙂

  12. ancsu87 11/27/2011 at 1:38 AM #

    “And the monkey is off our back. End of the Clemson string of wins. End of the Maryland string of wins. Hot damn.”

    “You should be concerned. TOB will not be fired now. No way. Our only hope is an early retirement.”

    Such a contrast. I’ll take the 2 wins to close out the year / 7-5 / Bowl Game / next year’s potential. Here’s to a bowl win and 8-5.

  13. GAWolf 11/27/2011 at 7:21 AM #

    Sky king: I think our concerns were proven very correct and guys like you who said we were idiots for being concerned and/or bad fans should apologize. But honestly the fact that you’re still here reading this blog is evidence that you know you’ll get educated, experienced, assessments from longtime fans on our current situation. We’re all thrilled we won, but having to come back and score 42 points to do so is evidence that our guys didn’t cone out to play in the first half and thus we were pretty…well….right.

  14. Wolfgarden 11/27/2011 at 11:27 AM #

    Bobby Purcell is clamoring for more money, even going to raise our club member fees…I guess they have to pay these outstanding salaries to the near do well coaches we have hired and fired. I know many will say this money does not go to them..Okay that may be true. But in an indirect way it is meant to assist with the situation and we know it. You want more money get rid of TOB and be careful who we hire…get Mike Leach or Philip Fulmer, hell ask Lou to come back…You want more money get rid of TOB, add him to the list of those we owe…and move forward and maybe, just maybe we will give more for the players.

  15. TLeo 11/27/2011 at 11:33 AM #

    I am happy to have been wrong yesterday and glad they won this game but as GAWolf just said…this kind of comeback should never have been necessary. They didn’t come ready to play and that has been a problem all year and in previous years. I read someone’s post (don’t remember who) about a player basically calling the team together on the sidelines and getting after them. It’s about time some player stepped up to be a leader and help focus these guys so I congratulate him for doing that!

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