NC STATE #20

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Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 34 total)
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  • #124849
    rthomas44
    Participant

    To the tune of The Jefferson’s “Well we’re moving on up”

    #124851
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    Critical MASS appears to have been achieved…
    and Remember, the longer it takes to build something, the longer it takes to tear it down….

    The Wolfpack is definitely in the “conversation” and headed in the right direction….
    how far we go this season rests in the hands of the gods of football….

    Much to the angst of those in baby blue just 25 miles… whose conversations are all negative these days….

    Nothing could be finer in North Carolina….

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #124852
    tractor57
    Participant

    I told a eweUC fan today at church I had a problem yesterday. Hard decision whether to pull against eh Catholics or the sheep.

    #124855
    choppack1
    Participant

    Bill – agreed. A poster who hasn’t posted here in a while once said “progress is rarely incremental”. I think last year, as painful as it was made this team much better than they would have been of we had gone 6-2 or 5-3.

    I believe these guys love each other – and that combined with our talent, creates a great combination.

    #124857
    rthomas44
    Participant

    Finley is showing real talent and an extreme level of football brains. No interceptions,no turnovers… there are other examples of high level talent across the whole team, except for kicking.

    #124863
    McCallum
    Participant

    What goes up must come down.

    Chill out, enjoy it and stop claiming that somehow a corner had been turned.

    You’ll be eating your young when they run dive plays all day long against BC and State loses 11-7.

    McCallum

    #124864
    Greywolf
    Participant

    You’ll be eating your young when they run dive plays all day long against and State loses 11-7.

    Lose to L’ville by how many?

    #124867
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    Bro Mc…

    While I truly respect your intellect, your curiosity about all things and your wide range of experiences…may I tell a story?

    The first time I attended worship services at the old Primitive Baptist Church, the message brought that Sunday was one of the Salvation promised by a Sovereign God. The grayed headed preacher, who was more Calvinist than any Reformed Scotch Presbyterian named Mc- or Mac-, kept repeating one haunting phrase…

    “I’m not sure… we’ll find out when we get there….”

    Now… may I remind everyone of the paradox of ‘history’… On the one hand, “those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it” and on the other hand, “those who live in the past inevitably see a future with no hope”.

    No HOPE === Cynicism === Death.

    Bro…. in case you’re wondering…. I ain’t just talking talking ’bout WOLFPACK Football….

    Methinks, the only thing you’re enjoying more than the excellent progress our football team has made this season is poking the bears, which I will freely admit is fun, on occasion.

    Any alternative should be one of much more concern.

    So may I suggest?

    Let’s all just enjoy IT while it lasts… and see how this turns out when we get there… At our age, we won’t get as many chances as we used to…

    Or as the old men sitting at the Store used to say…
    “A promise is better than the real thing, ’cause it lasts longer….”

    Respectfully…. BOTB

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #124868
    tractor57
    Participant

    What goes up must come down.

    Chill out, enjoy it and stop claiming that somehow a corner had been turned.

    You’ll be eating your young when they run dive plays all day long against BC and State loses 11-7.

    McCallum”

    McC I’ll say you are consistent. Something to admire there in that you do not wave in the breeze. Maybe at the end of the year we shall see.

    #124869
    Greywolf
    Participant

    there are other examples of high level talent across the whole team, except for kicking.

    After watching our long snapper I’m beginning to wonder if our kicker is the problem. It all starts with the snapper, then the holder and finally the kicker, who always gets the blame when there is a miss. When the holder has to dig the snap out of the turf or the holder doesn’t handle the snap cleanly, the kicker has to make indescernable corrections in his kick.

    It’s all the kicking game but it ain’t all on the kicker.

    #124870
    Whiteshoes67
    Participant

    Some good wins. And we’ve still not seen a complete game of well played football for 4 quarters. I’ll be impressed when I see 4 quarters, and we dispatch the middle of the pack crowd. Win at Pitt. Give yourself a shot at South Bend. But good sign to win without having to be perfect.

    Last year, the staff can say what it wants, but I think they drank their own Kool Aid after the close loss at Clemson. As deflating as that loss was, that game could’ve easily swung to a 3-4 TD loss, which was roughly the spread, if not for some untypical plays and turnovers by the Tigers. My point, we should, as Mac does, and the coaching staff says it does, continue to harp on improvement. Because there is plenty of room for it.

    1. Drink is good between the 20s, but playcalling stinks in red zone.
    2. Too often, we still seem to have a difficult time getting off the field on 3rd and medium or long.
    3. Special teams, special teams, special teams.

    On 1, plays are too slow developing inside red zone. Some of the trick plays just seem badly conceived. Even if they’re designed correctly, the personnel is either wrong, or the execution is bad. TOO SLOW. Easily identifiable. And with the kicking game ups and downs, you have to think that you call the game down there as if you’re in 4 down territory if 4th is manageable.

    Drink doesn’t utilize the middle of the field enough in the passing game. Not sure why. We have some success there.

    Defense. More snaps for Pratt. Not just saying that because of the Pick6. As someone alluded to earlier, he’s too athletic to not be out there against spread teams.

    #124871
    Greywolf
    Participant

    Drink doesn’t utilize the middle of the field enough in the passing game. Not sure why. We have some success there.

    Drink/Finley is taking what the defense is giving. I suggest you (and others who give a hoot) go to the YouTube L’ville game. The Hasselback brothers do a terrific job of explaining the why’s and therefore’s of the game. They even call plays before they happen based on how the pre-snap set of the defense lines up.

    Very enlightening. I didn’t learn much but I did learn how little I do know.

    Same is true on defense. They commented how we were jumping into the Buddy Ryan defense before the snap of the ball. I know who Buddy Ryan is but not what the heck they were talking about. What I got out of that mostly was I couldn’t tell from the pre-snap set what our defense was doing. We are disguising our coverages to keep the opp from picking us apart. It doesn’t take but one screwed up 3rd and long for the defense to get off the field.

    #124873
    66pack
    Participant

    How many ,if any, trick plays have worked.Most work best for the defense.

    #124874
    Greywolf
    Participant

    Defense. More snaps for Pratt. Not just saying that because of the Pick6. As someone alluded to earlier, he’s too athletic to not be out there against spread teams.

    The problem Pratt has had getting on the field is not his athleticism, it’s his head. He has been out of place too often in the past. Maybe the L’ville game the light turned on for Pratt. The trio of LBs are rotating and staying more fresh than last year. I would make sure that Pratt was in on 3rd and long. His experience at safety is too valuable to not be exploited.

    #124875
    McCallum
    Participant

    I do love poking at the bears.

    McCallum

    #124876
    Whiteshoes67
    Participant

    ^Yep, Grey, I’ve heard the same on Pratt. Know his high school coach pretty well. Agree on the third down substitutions. I think the redshirt year helped him.

    I don’t base my observations about the middle of the field on the Louisville game. It’s only year 2 with Drink, I know. As some of commented here before, very few slants, very few fades in red zone. Some nice throws against Louisville but the routes don’t tend to be in middle of the field. If it works, it works. But I think against better defenses, we need to utilize the whole field.

    #124877
    tractor57
    Participant

    I agree there are some issues. Maybe play calling, maybe on field performance in some areas however we cannot deny the results on the filed have improved. Is that “movin’ on up” or a one season thing it the question. I think a bit of “movin’ on up” but I’m not so confident that it is.

    #124878
    Greywolf
    Participant

    I don’t base my observations about the middle of the field on the Louisville game. It’s only year 2 with Drink, I know. As some of commented here before, very few slants, very few fades in red zone. Some nice throws against Louisville but the routes don’t tend to be in middle of the field. If it works, it works. But I think against better defenses, we need to utilize the whole field.

    Nice conversation, Whiteshoes.

    I see your points about using the middle of the field and what I have to say is just my thoughts and certainly not knowledge of what Drink is thinking. So I have a few “maybe’s” to offer up for consideration.

    Maybe the blocking for our run game by the WRs is better keeping the receivers out side vs. slants.
    Maybe slants would be a ‘tell’ that we are not going to run.
    Maybe throwing towards the bandaries lessens the risk of INTs

    One thing for sure, our offense is by committee. (Hines has commented how he likes that.) George McDonald is the receivers coach so it may not be all on Drinkwitz. Also it seems most balls thrown on Sunday are sideline routes with a few mixed in to the middle. The abundance of sideline routes tends to open up the middle. IOW it may not be as simple as not realizing the slants and other mid-field routes are available.

    Changing the subject slightly, I’m wondering what influence Dan Patrick’s pro experience is making in what we are doing on defense.

    #124882
    NCSU88
    Participant

    I think the boundary passes leave the receivers less vulnerable to injury and are therefore more popular

    #124884
    Whiteshoes67
    Participant

    ^Think there’s something to the boundary pass observations. Safer for sure. And I suspect that the spread to run is definitely at play, with a preference for throwing wide to let the big WR block instead of running into a congested middle. I get all that strategy wise. But where I see it bogging down is in the red zone. Teams are more prone to blitz there, and you have less room to work. That leads to vulnerabilities and getting behind the sticks on second and third down. And it seems to me the risk of playing side to side there isn’t as effective.

    Teams with fewer vulnerabilities on defense, like Notre Dame and Clemson, will present fewer weaknesses to exploit. I don’t see us getting the advantage against those teams playing side to side. Just as last year, the way you attack Clemson is straight ahead, even with big Dex stuffing the middle. I think they’re better on defense from what I’ve seen. Boulware was stout but he was a liability in the pass game. We hurt them last year when we got him isolated on Samuels and a few other. Went and saw the Irish whack the Holes this weekend, and I’m impressed by Notre Dame. That close early GA loss is looking better and better.

    #124885
    Greywolf
    Participant

    We notice all the things we don’t do well and then come here to let everyone know what we have seen and how poor the coaching is that allows such to occur.

    Well, we do some things well, too. Hines scored running straight ahead. Gallaspy the same. We went over the top for six. Would we all be happier if we picked up a 1st down or 2 and then punted instead of moving down the field into the red zone and not doing so well?

    I grit my teeth and shudder when we go up the middle for a yard or 2 in the red zone. Yet later we score on plays up the middle. Are we picking up information that is enabling us to open running room?

    It’s hard to realize that we are 5-1 over-all and 3-0 in the conference standings. That dumb, dull Doeren has got his team operating pretty darn efficiently. And I don’t think this is the end of it. The red zone riddles will get solved.

    #124888
    McCallum
    Participant

    That dumb, dull Doeren has got his team operating pretty darn efficiently.

    Dapper Dave if you please.

    His Indian name is BC three yards and a cloud of dust.

    McCallum

    #124892
    rthomas44
    Participant

    MC, about poking bears, don’t forget… sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.

    #124893
    gso packbacker
    Participant

    I am glad that we have a veteran contrarian like McCallum to ensure this forum doesn’t become an echo chamber.

    Not many of us would offer to eat their shoes based upon the outcome of a NC State football game. 🙂

    #124902
    StateRed44
    Participant

    I’m starting to enjoy this. We do look the part of a potentially all time great Wolfpack team. Hope we get to 10 wins. Finley has been very impressive with his passing and lack of mistakes. Hope he sticks around another year.

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