Dave from Carter-Finley

Happy New Year!  As I look forward to 2010 I wonder what it will bring for Wolfpack Football.  It will be TOB’s fourth season at the helm and anything short of 8 wins will be unacceptable in my opinion.  Looking at the schedule, our depth chart, the continuously growing injury report, and our incoming recruiting class that looks like a tough challenge.

Spring practice is right around the corner so we’ll start to get a feel for the 2010 season soon.  I have always been the eternal optimist about NC State Football in the past, but I don’t have a good feeling about next season.  In the coming weeks I’ll delve more into why I feel this way and give my first annual State of the Football Program address.  For now everybody enjoy bringing in the New Year tonight and remember to be responsible.  I got a breathalyzer for Christmas (is my family trying to tell me something?) so we’ll put that to use tonight.  Cheers!

Merry Christmas from DFCF, Mrs. DFCF, and Ashes!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Murph,
Not a creature was stirring, not even Tom O’Brien.
The stockings were hung by the lockers with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The players were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of ACC Championships danced in their heads.
And Mrs. DFCF in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap.

When out in Carter-Finley there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to the balcony to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the banners and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new flat sod field,
Gave the lustre of hope for the future to yield.
When, what to my wondering eyes should await,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight former Wolfpack greats.

“Now Philip! now, Roman! now, Torry and Ted!
On, Bill! On, Dick! On, Dennis and Jim!
To the top of the stadium! To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each big foot.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the stairs St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed in NC State red, from his head to his toes,
And his clothes were all cluttered with ads and logos.
A bundle of footballs he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a winner, just opening his pack.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old dear,
Especially since the Pack beat the Heels 28-27 this year.
A wink of his eye and a flash of the wolf sign,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to fear.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And striking the most famous Heisman pose,
And giving a nod, up the elevator he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all Wolfpackers, and to all a good night!”

I’m probably a little late here, but I wanted to get in a plug for the Cap•A•Cooz.  They make for great stocking stuffers, party favors, etc.  One of my college roommate’s best buddies is the guy that came up with this brilliant invention.  So that makes this a Wolfpack Made in the U.S.A. product.  That right there should make you want to go out and buy a dozen of them.

When I first heard about the Cap•A•Cooz I said to myself, “a coozie that’s also a bottle opener … why the heck didn’t I think of that?”  While Tarheel alums are out writing B.S. articles for newspapers and magazines us Wolfpack alums are coming up with inventions that change the world.  I have my own Cap•A•Cooz, in red of course, and it works like a charm.  It is a must have and comes with the DFCF seal of approval.  They come in five different colors (red, green, yellow, pink, and blue) and you can even place custom orders with a logo or wording on the side.

Check out their website and place your order today.  http://www.capacooz.com/

Christmas is one of the best times of the year and it’s just a few days away.  I guess my family is a bunch of procrastinators because they are still asking me what I want.  Sure there are those Callaway irons I’ve been checking out for a while now.  There’s even that 50 inch LCD TV that I’d love to replace my 40 inch model that has all of a sudden become too small.  Oh, and I almost forgot that AR-15 I’ve really been jonesing for.  All those material things would be great, but what I really want is:

• an ACC championship - the Pack’s last one was way back in 1979, before I was even born.  I’m tired of being mediocre.  Us long suffering Wolfpackers deserve a championship.
• Russell Wilson, 2010 starting QB - this seems like an obvious one, but he has to return next year to be the QB.  Russell graduates in May and with a good baseball season could decide to go into the MLB draft.  Russell is the best QB in the ACC and he gives us a chance to win every game.
• the 2008 Nate Irving – all signs point to Nate being ready for Spring practice, but who knows how this ordeal has really affected him … physically and mentally.  For our defense to be better next year we need “Nasty Nate” back at full strength.
• no more wave at Carter-Finley – the wave was cool when I was like 5 years old.  If you’d rather do the wave than watch the football game please do us all the favor and just attend your local Pop Warner game.
• the end of the 5 hour rule – it’s just stupid.  We’re all adults (well except for those previously mentioned that love to do the wave every game) so quit treating us like kids.
• a kicking game - our kicking game this year was _________ (you fill in the blank with the worst adjective you can come up with).  We were 73rd (out of 120) in the country in kickoff returns against, 81st in net punting, and 1 of only 3 schools with zero touchbacks this season.  All those have to change for us to be any good next year.
• tackling - I thought one of the staples of a TOB coached team was fundamentals.  Well this year’s defense was the worst tackling bunch I can ever remember at NC State.  Our 3rd down conversion defense of 42.5% was 94th (out of 120) in the country.  Most of that was due to poor tackling.  It wasn’t that long ago that we were consistently one of the best defenses in the ACC.  It’d be nice to get back to that.
• WPC get my parking right – yeah they fixed it this past year, but how hard is it to get it right the first time.  I’d bet they find a way to get it wrong again next year.  Hope not.
• keep my streak going – I did make it to every game this year so my streak currently stands at 12.  It’s no Dewey Corn (402 and counting) but I’m proud of it nonetheless.  Next year will be a little tougher with only six home games, but I’m up for the challenge.
• 4-0 – no explanation needed … GO PACK!

I’m an old school guy that loves traditions.  The one thing about NC State football that disappoints me is that we don’t really have any good traditions.  The few we do have (Walk of Champions, Hey Baby!, wolf statue “Fury” to rub) are all copycats taken from other schools.  It would be nice if we had just one thing that was only ours.  I’ll get to work on coming up with something.

While the football program may be short on traditions, the university has had many great ones from the Delta Sigma Phi Lawn Party to Brent Road to campouts (I’m sure there’s been others too).  Of course all these have ultimately been canceled by the powers that be.  Enter the Krispy Kreme Challenge.

What is the Krispy Kreme Challenge you ask?  Well it’s a nice two mile run from the NC State belltower to the downtown Krispy Kreme store, a dozen delicious glazed donuts to eat, and then a nice two mile run back … and to complete the challenge you have to do it in under one hour.  Sounds pretty simple to me … right???  Maybe not, but all the money raised goes to the NC Children’s Hospital so it makes the decision for me to enter pretty simple.

The first KKC was held in December of 2004, my last semester at State, and it was started as a dare between a few buddies.  Since then the KKC has blown up and became one of the coolest traditions in the country.  Sports Illustrated placed it on its “102 Things You Gotta Do Before You Graduate” list and last year ESPN sent someone to cover the event (see the YouTube clip below starting about 1:15 in).

I’ve never partcipated before, but that will be changing this coming February.  Registration for the 6th annual KKC opened yesterday and I’ve already signed up.  Not sure what I’m getting myself into, but if it has to do with a cool new NC State tradition I’m there.  Plus I gave my brother a hard time last year for not completing the challenge so I have to back up my smack talking.  Regardless of how I do I’m looking forward to it.  If you want to join me sign up here.  The early Vegas odds of me actually completing the challenge are at 150 to 1.  I picked up my first dozen donuts on the way home from work yesterday so my training starts now … yum!

Yep that's a cookie jar

I know a thing or two about the Heisman Trophy.  Check out that awesome Heisman pose.  Desmond Howard’s got nothing on me.  The above famous picture was not taken after returning a punt for touchdown in a win over rival Ohio State on the way to actually winning the Heisman Trophy … that’s too cliche.  Rather that picture was taken in April 2006 at a wedding in Beaufort, South Carolina.  I didn’t even know the picture was taken until a week later.

So now that I’ve given you my Heisman credentials here’s my vote:  Stanford RB Toby Gerhart.  What an absolute beast.  I’ll even go as far as to say he’s been more of a beast this year than Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh.  Yeah Suh was dominant in the Texas game, so what, Gerhart has been dominant all year.  Gerhart had multiple TDs in every game except three and over 100 yards rushing in every game except two.  If Stanford had a defense that could have helped win another game or two Gerhart would be a lock, but as we saw with our own Philip Rivers back in 2003, the voters look too much at the team’s win-loss record.  Even though I think Gerhart should win, it looks like Alabama RB Mark Ingram is going to be the one to take home the hardware.  It’s pretty hard to believe that this will be the first Heisman Trophy ever for the Alabama program.  Maybe one day before I die I’ll see a Wolfpacker win the Heisman …

It’s just barely over a week since the 2009 NC State football season ended and I’m starting to go through Wolfpack Football Withdrawal (WFW).  I was really expecting to be planning for a bowl trip about this time, but the Pack football team didn’t get the memo.  I did go to the Carolina Panthers game this past Sunday to try and help soothe my WFW symptoms, but that didn’t work.  What a boring game and a boring atmosphere.  The tailgating wasn’t even that good.  The game did reinforce to me why college football is so much better than the NFL.

It’s just hard to believe that I wait what seems like forever for the Wolfpack football season to get here and when it finally gets here it’s over just like that (technically it was over back in October).  The easiest way to handle WFW is to start planning for next year.  The Kay Yow Spring Game is just around the corner, April 17th to be exact, so mark your calendars.  Lord willing, I’ll be there.  My birthday is that week so all I want is to tailgate and watch Wolfpack Football … and my wife says I’m hard to shop for.

I’m also already making plans for the first road trip next year to Central Florida in lovely Orlando.  Never been to Disney World so that’s the angle I took to get the wife’s approval.  Sneaky, huh?  I think about NC State football 24/7/365 so I’m also working on upgrades and additions to our tailgating.  We absolutely brought it this year, but there’s always room for improvement.  Just this past Friday me and the wife went on a wild goose chase trying to find a NC State tailgate table.  I find at least five Carolina ones everywhere we go, but have not found a State one yet.  Very frustrating, but surprisingly a good treatment for my WFW.

Note:  I’ll be checking back in randomly throughout the offseason so if you want to know when something new is posted just subscribe to my blog by clicking the link on the right side of the page.

Today is the game everybody’s been talking about all year, right … Georgia Tech vs. Clemson in the ACC Championship game in Tampa.  Well there is another game of minor importance going on in Atlanta, but I’m here to break down the Jackets and the Tigers.  Both are coming off disappointing losses last week to mediocre rivals from the SEC.  Those losses took a lot of luster off this game that was shaping up as an interesting one.

These teams met earlier in the year on a Thursday night (Sept. 10) in Atlanta with Georgia Tech winning 30-27.  Georgia Tech dominated the 1st quarter with 3 big play TDs (including a punt return and a fake field goal) to go up 21-0 and then went into cruise control.  Clemson took advantage and dominated the rest of the game actually taking a lead in the 4th quarter, but fell short of finishing off the big comeback.  Clemson has the better athletes all around including the ACC Player of the Year C.J. Spiller, but Georgia Tech is the better coached team lead by the ACC Coach of the Year Paul Johnson.

I’ve been one of the most critical towards Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, but I have to give him credit for a good coaching job this season.  Several times I thought Clemson was on the brink of that typical late season collapse and he kept that from happening … well until the South Carolina game that is.  It will be interesting to see if Dabo can continue this success season after season.  I’m still not convinced he was the right hire for Clemson, but a win today would definitely say otherwise.

The first meeting was a great one and if the teams can match that excitement it will make for a great ACC Championship game, something the conference really needs.  My prediction is these teams won’t be able to do that and this one will be a little bit of a snoozer.  Georgia Tech 34 – Clemson 20.  Now about that game in Atlanta …

I’ve watched the ending to this past Saturday’s game probably 50 times already.  It feels sweeter each time I watch it.  And no need to pinch yourself, I can confirm that is actually TOB and he is in fact smiling, fist pumping, and celebrating the win over the Tarheels.  Wish he would show that emotion a little more often.  I’m not asking for a cheerleader on the sidelines, just a coach that looks like he wants to win every game.  I am glad that he understands and revels the hatred of the rivalry.  Enjoy!

It’s Tuesday night, a full three days since the Pack’s big win over the Tarheels and it still feels so good.  All last week leading up to the game I had a bad feeling about this one so I was just hoping the Pack wouldn’t get embarrassed at home like against Duke earlier in the season.  The team came out flat and looked very uninspired early on so I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable, but the longer that Carolina let us hang around the better we started playing.  It was real nice to see us pick up our intensity and play with passion, both which had been sorely lacking for most of the season, and pull out the win.  Did I mention how good it feels?  Just checking.

Russell Wilson once again showed why he is the best QB in the ACC, even though the media hosed him on what should have been another 1st Team All-ACC selection.  Josh Nesbitt, really?  At RB maybe, but a 1st Team QB with only 1553 yards passing and 9 TDs is an absolute joke.  Anyway, after the terrible QB play that Pack fans have had to endure recently it sure has been fun to watch Russell these past two seasons.  He was good last year, but this year he was even better.  He absolutely carried the offense on his shoulders all season.  All four of his TD passes Saturday were things of beauty, especially the game winner to Owen Spencer.  Everybody in Wolfpack Nation just hopes he returns next year, but even if he doesn’t he has firmly etched his name in NC State football lore.

Saturday was an emotional day all around for me.  In addition to the big upset win over the team I hate most in this world, it was my little brother’s last game as a Senior team manager.  He’s spent four years putting in just as much time, energy, hard work, and passion as any of the players … with very little success as a reward.  At the beginning of the season I believed we would have a special year if for no other reason than I wanted it so badly for him.  Things didn’t quite turn out that way, but going out with three straight wins over Carolina was a nice consolation.  I told him before the game that if they could pull it off they would be the first Senior Class to go out with at least three straight wins over the Tarheels since 1992, so after the game I was honestly happier for him than anything else.  Thanks bro for all you’ve done for the Wolfpack football program!  I’ll miss seeing you on the sidelines next season!