Rocky Top you’ll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ole Rocky Top, Wooooooo
Rocky Top, Tennessee.
I have to say Rocky Top is a pretty cool song that can definitely get stuck in your head. Like when you take a trip to a Tennessee Vols football game which me and a few buddies did this past Saturday. There was no NC State football game, since we played on Thursday night, so this sounded like a great idea. We had a Florida grad with us so he was going to root on the Gators, but I was going to watch some SEC football, check out Neyland Stadium, and experience Tennessee football & it’s traditions.
I had been to Tennessee several times before, but never for a football game. Neyland Stadium is a wonderful setting to watch college football. It sits right on the banks of the Tennessee River where the Vol Navy gathers on gamedays. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to experience the Vol Navy firsthand, but it is one of the coolest things in college football so I might have to work on a return trip so I can be an honorary member for a day. Neyland is the 3rd largest college football stadium in the country behind Michigan Stadium (109,901) and Beaver Stadium (107,282) with a listed capacity of 102,459. Saturday 102,455 people were there to watch the Vols enter the stadium by running through the T. It’s nuances like this that makes college football the great sport that it is.
Running Through the T
With the stadium right in the middle of campus, the tailgating was scattered. We met up and tailgated with some family. They weren’t my family, but they became my family for the day. We were in a quaint, friendly parking deck about a block off Cumberland Ave. When we first arrived I wasn’t thrilled about tailgating in a deck, but being out of the sun was extremely nice on this scorching hot day so it worked out perfectly. We had several TVs right around us that were showing all the games going on so we had plenty to watch. We also had plenty to eat with a great spread that included sausage balls, spinach dip, brownies, pepperoni rolls, and maybe the best beef brisket I’ve ever eaten. It was so tender and the sauce was absolute money. I’m still hoping to get that recipe so I can add it to my Carter-Finley tailgating rotation.
There were a lot of extra curricular activities going on around the tailgate too so it was far from being a dull day. We had a Knoxville policeman bring over some applie pie moonshine (no lie). The same policeman even roughed me up and put me in some orange handcuffs. Of course, it was all just for fun. I also got a chance to hear some interesting stories from a retired Secret Service agent and see a lady pull down her pants and show her underwear which read “Hey You, Call Me.” I’m pretty sure the message wasn’t for me because I never got her number. She was the retired Secret Service agent’s wife anyway so probably best to leave that alone or risk disappearing off the face of the earth or something. All in all it was a very fun, interesting day.
Don’t worry, this has not turned into a Tennessee Vols football blog. I’ll be back talking NC State football tomorrow. We do play Tennessee in Atlanta for the 2012 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic so in addition to a fun trip I was trying to do some recon work. Not really, but that sounded good. Maybe I’ll try to do this once a year. I’d love to visit LSU, Georgia, Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, Texas A&M, USC, Penn State, Oregon, Nebraska, and Auburn so we’ll see.
ESPN Thursday night games are always great exposure for your university and your football program … even more so when you win the game in dominating fashion as we did. The Bearcats looked nothing like the two-time reigning Big East conference champs and the Wolfpack swiftly took care of business en route to a 30-19 victory. The game was never in doubt as the Pack improved to 3-0 becoming one of only two undefeated ACC teams (Boston College, 2-0, is the other). The schedule gets harder going forward, but the Pack is halfway to bowl eligibility and we’re getting votes in both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches’ Poll so life is good right now for Wolfpack Nation. Games like this are fun to watch and even more fun to grade so without further ado here they are:
Quarterback – Grade: A+
Russell Wilson shook off his poor performance from the UCF game and was absolutely fabulous for the ESPN national TV audience (333 yards passing, 3 TDs, 33 yards rushing). This is the Russell Wilson that Wolfpack Nation has grown to know and love so it’s nice that the whole country got to see what he can do.
Running Backs – Grade: B+
Mustafa Greene was very impressive (16 carries, 84 yards rushing, 1 TD & 5 receptions, 54 yards receiving) and does not look like the true freshman that he is. Dean Haynes struggled mightily putting the ball on the ground twice in only 5 carries. If not for that this would have likely been an easy A.
Receivers – Grade: A
There were a few drops and a Jarvis Williams fumble on a wacky play that dampered an otherwise great night for the receivers. To redeem himself for the fumble that cost us a TD, Jarvis did make 3 amazing catches and led the team in receiving yards with 111. Jay Smith is going to have to step up and take a bigger role next year so it was nice to see him get his first career TD. The receivers also did a great job of blocking down field.
Offensive Line – Grade: B-
The blocking was good all night long protecting Russell for the most part (only 2 sacks allowed) and opening up decent running lanes (158 yards rushing). There were way too many penalties, though. It was good to see R.J. Mattes back out there even though he looked a good bit rusty. Hopefully his return to full strength will solidify the O-line.
Defensive Line - Grade: A
Led by J.R. Sweezy and Michael Lemon, the D-line played its best game of the young season in holding Cincinnati to only 75 yards rushing. They also did a good job of keeping pressure on QB Zach Collaros for most of the game.
Linebackers – Grade: A+
This is quickly becoming the best unit on our team. Terrell Manning, Audie Cole, Nate Irving, and even Sterling Lucas were all over the field making plays. They face a very tough test this week at Georgia Tech, but against Cincinnati the linebackers were dominant.
Defensive Backs – Grade: B-
It’s not as bad as last year, but we’re still giving up way too many big plays as evident by the 68 yard TD pass to D.J. Woods in the 2nd quarter and the two garbage TDs late in the 4th quarter. The DB’s tackling has improved, but it’s not yet where it needs to be.
Special Teams – Grade: C+
Special teams is still the weakest part of our team. Josh Czajkowski missed an extra point ending his school record 83 consecutive PAT streak that could have been the difference in a tight game. Also Jeff Ruiz had a punt shorter than 15 yards for the 2nd consecutive game and a pathetic 30.5 yard average on 4 punts. There were a few good things as the kickoff coverage team continued to impress and we did something I didn’t think could happen with a TOB coached team … we blocked a punt. This unit is still a liability, though.
Coaching – Grade: A
On a short week, the coaches had a great game plan on both sides of the ball and they had the players prepared, well rested, and ready to play. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to put this game away in the 1st half and then we gave up those 2 garbage TDs in the 4th quarter so that knocked down the grade just a tad.
TOB had a lot of interesting things to say in the post game press conference after last Thursday’s 30-19 win over Cincinnati that improved the Wolfpack to 3-0 on the season. Here are the highlights and of course my commentary:
“Sometimes we looked real good and sometimes we looked real bad. The bottom line means we’ve got a lot of work to do.”Most of TOB’s quotes are always straight out of the coach speak handbook and this one is no different, but this one is also very very true. Even with all our mistakes we won this game handily, but these are mistakes we will have to fix or it will cost us down the road.
“It’s still September. We’re not a good football team, we’re not a great football team, I don’t know what kind of football team we are. You don’t know those things until you get to October.”My how much difference a year makes. Last year after a much better win over a much better Pittsburgh team TOB said in his press conference, “we’re just not a very good football team right now … just so they realize because they got a tendency to think that they’re pretty good and they’re not.” I called TOB out for this and it turned into a self fulfilling prophecy so I’m glad to see him take a better approach this year.
“We’re still not doing everything right, but when you hustle and play hard like we’re doing, sometimes good things happen for you.” This has been my main problem with TOB’s tenure so far at State. His first 3 team’s did not play hard and thus good things didn’t happen for us. Save me all the injury talk, but losing 13 games (out of 37 … a whopping 35%) by 17 points or more happens because you’re not playing hard. Our guys have been playing ultra hard this year and it has been a welcome sight for these eyes. If that continues we will be bowling come Christmas time.
“The only thing … we have great fans, but you talk about the 3rd quarter. We come out and there’s nobody in the stands and it’s an important quarter to us. Then all of a sudden they show up later. We got to learn how to come for the whole game, just like we do.”Nothing pisses me off more than an ungrateful tough guy. TOB, you get paid $1.1+ million a year to coach football, not for babysitting Wolfpack Nation, so STFU and stick to your job. Why are you looking up at the stands anyway? If you think it’s a problem just win football games and the stands will stay full. Pretty easy fix. And if your team brings it for the whole game, please explain those 2 garbage touchdowns we allowed Cincinnati to score in the last 6:30 of the game? And the 4th quarter at UCF? Just sayin’.
Let me get off that subject before I really write something that I’ll regret later. So TOB is getting closer to the .500 mark, but he’s not quite there yet. The TOB-O-METER currently stands at:
I don’t think this is an official slogan of NC State football, but me and my buddies have always said it … we’re undefeated at tailgating! Despite the many losses of the Wolfpack over the years one thing stays the same … we win every time we tailgate! My tailgating skills have come a long way. I’ll get into some more specifics later in the season about that and our tailgate setup (maybe during the bye week), but for now I just want to talk about what a buddy of mine dubbed “the best pork chops in the history of the world.”
The best pork chops in the history of the world.
Yep. That was what was on the menu for last Thursday’s tailgate. It was a primetime ESPN game and we had a few special guests at our tailgate so I had to bring out the primetime pork chops. I can’t take credit for the recipe, though, since it was passed down to me from the one and only Mr. Gibson. Yep the same Mr. Gibson that was on the ESPN intro, as seen below. I’m not gonna reveal the specifics of the recipe since I don’t want to give away a trade secret … think Coca-Cola and how only a few top executives know the recipe … but the key is getting good thick chops (at least 1-1/4″) and letting them soak in the marinade for a good 12 hours. No, Coca-Cola is not one of the ingredients in the recipe, but if you send me an email and ask nicely I’ll probably break down and give it to you.
We had a big group for this game and since it was a Thursday game it meant guys only so I made 25 chops, a whole pork loin and half of another, and at the end of the night there were only 5 left. The only thing that made the night better was the Wolfpack won. 3-0 baby!
I know it’s been quiet around here since Thursday’s game. I took a little trip over to Knoxville for the Florida-Tennessee game on Saturday and had very limited internet access. I’ll be weighing in later today on my thoughts from the game, but for now here’s this weeks Pack the Caption (photos by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images and Ethan Hyman/N&O). C’mon give me some good ones.
Oops, I thought this was Whac-A-Mole.
This week ... I'm playing good enough to show my face.
Look, it's the 3rd quarter and DFCF isn't back in his seat yet!
Edit: I had to add one more photo, because it’s pretty sweet (by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images).
It’s time for DFCF the Greek’s week 3 college football picks. I’m still struggling with a 1-5 record, but last week I was 1-2 so that’s at least an improvement over week one so I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of this. Let’s get to ‘em.
ECU (+20.5) at Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech has struggled and ECU has been impressive so this looks like a trap line, but I’m gonna play it anyway.
Baylor (+21) at TCU
This is another line that looks too good to be true, but I have faith that Baylor QB Robert Griffin III will keep the Bears close enough all by himself.
Florida (-13.5) at Tennessee
DFCF will be in attendance at this game and sitting in the Gators section so I want to give myself something to pull for.
Season Record: 1-5
My leans are struggling too, but here’s a few anyway: Notre Dame (+3.5), Kansas State (-3.5), Texas Tech (+3), Auburn (-7), Georgia Tech (+3). Good luck!
The Pack is 2-0. Let me repeat that … the Pack is 2-0. This is not a joke. For the first time since 2002, Philip Rivers’ junior season, the Pack has started the football season with back-t0-back wins. The Western Carolina game was a given, but the UCF game was a tough hard-fought road victory. It’s a win that will get overlooked by a lot of people, but UCF is a pretty good team and it was a very good win for this team. This week we have a Thursday night primetime ESPN game against the Cincinnati Bearcats.
I love Thursday night games at Carter-Finley. It’s usually a guys game so the tailgating is always more hardcore and the atmosphere in the stadium is always louder than normal. This week we have a big crowd of guests that will be tailgating with us so it should be even more fun. The guest of honor is DFBHG (Dave from Ben Hill Griffin) a University of Florida alum making his first trip to Carter-Finley before we join him for the Florida-Tennessee game in Knoxville on Saturday. Hopefully we’ll be celebrating two 3-0 teams by the end of the weekend. Let’s get to the game preview.
Preview
This is the first ever meeting between the Wolfpack and the Bearcats. The Bearcats are the two-time reigning Big East Conference champions. They’ve lost several playmakers and HC Brian Kelly off last year’s team, but many pundits still say they have a shot to pull of the three-peat in a wide open Big East this year. They are 0-6 all time versus the ACC with the last game being a 20-7 loss to Virginia Tech in the ’08 Orange Bowl. The Bearcats stand at 1-1 with a win over Indiana State and a loss at Fresno State. They need a win badly so I don’t think they will be looking past us, but they do have a huge game with Oklahoma next week at Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, so you never know.
Players to Watch
QB Zach Collaros (#12) – he filled in brilliantly for the Bearcats last year when Tony Pike went down with an injury throwing for 1434 yds and 10 TDs and rushing for 371 yds and 4 TDs. His numbers are down so far this year, but he is still a very dangerous QB.
WR Armon Binns (#80) – was a major threat last season as the #2 WR behind Mardy Gilyard as he finished the season with 61 rec, 888 yds, and 11 TDs to garner 2nd team All-Big East honors. This year he takes over as the #1 WR and is looking to have an even bigger year.
WR D.J. Woods (#3) – is stepping in to a bigger role this year for the Bearcats offense. He’s not as good as the aforementioned Gilyard, but he is pretty solid and he combines with Binns to form one of the Big East’s best WR duos.
DT Derek Wolfe (#95) – is the only returning starter on a weak D-line so the Bearcats are relying heavily on him to lead the way for the young guys. Currently 2nd on the team in tackles.
LB J.K. Schaffer (#37) – is the team’s top returning tackler (100 in ’09). His strong play last year earned him 2nd team All-Big East honors. He anchors a strong LB unit that will have to pick up the slack for a weak D-line. Currently leads the team in tackles.
Tidbits
This is a home-and-home series so next year we play at Cincinnati.
Cincinnati has been playing football since 1885 making it the nation’s 5th oldest football program. The only NCAA Division 1-A schools with older football programs are (in order): Rutgers, Michigan, Navy, and Minnesota.
Cincinnati Head Coach Butch Jones succeeded Brian Kelly at Central Michigan when Kelly left for Cincinnati. Now Jones succeeds Kelly at Cincinnati after Kelly left for Notre Dame.
USC transfer WR Vidal Hazelton is out for the year with an ACL tear that he sustained in the Fresno State game.
I’m sure everybody has heard the I.P. Freely jokes before. Well Cincinnati has the next best thing on its roster … Isiah Pead. He doesn’t have I. Pead on the back of his jersey, but he should. That jersey would sell like hot cakes.
Prediction
Before the season I thought this would be a win and then after watching Cincinnati lose at Fresno State the first week of the season I still thought this would be a win. The closer we get, though, the more this game worries me. If Cincinnati spreads us out and throws the ball all game (e.g. Duke last year) it could be a very tough matchup for us. I still think we win, but it’s gonna be a tough game. Pack 35 – Bearcats 34
Road trips are always fun. Especially when you go to a cool city like Orlando that has a lot of things to do … like Mickeyworld. We did mostly that since I had never ever been before and it was loads of fun, but also very very expensive. Mr. Walt Disney was an absolute genius. But Saturday was the reason for our trip so there would be no Disney activities on that day.
Saturday was the day to relax at the pool in the morning and cheer the Wolfpack to victory at night. It was brutally hot so tailgating at the resort pool all day was perfect. There were even several other Wolfpackers at our resort that had the same idea. We were out there so long I started turning my favorite color … RED. Yep nothing like a little sunburn action to prepare for the football game.
We had to take a toll road to get up to UCF. What a crock, right? What do I pay taxes for? Anyway, we paid at the exact coins lane most of the way up there, but had to go through an attendant lane for the last toll. The young lady working the booth was wearing a UCF Knights shirt. I couldn’t help myself so I may have said “Boo on your shirt!” to her. Nothing like some good natured ribbing, but she didn’t even flinch. So professional.
We parked way out from the stadium in a small lot by the UCF President’s house. The lot was filled with mostly State fans so that’s why we chose to park there. It was a good 20 minute hike to the stadium or, as we State fans say, a three beer walk. On our way to the stadium we had to walk through the Memory Mall, an open grass area about 2 or so football fields long where all the UCF students tailgate.
It’s always interesting walking through the student tailgate areas as an opposing fan. You hear some doozies for sure. When we first entered the Memory Mall this group of guys started talking junk. I decided to walk up to them and have some fun with it. I gave them a hard time for not showing us any Southern hospitality and what would you know, we ended up laughing at each other and me walking off with a cold PBR. We had a lot of people booing us, but it wasn’t too bad. It did look like a pretty cool place to tailgate. The scenery wasn’t bad either if you know what I mean.
Past that was a street lined with a few bars, a couple places to eat, a coffee shop, and a bookstore. That’s where I scalped my ticket. It took a while and I had to endure comments like, “I got two tickets for you … in my ass!” but eventually I got two tickets on the 45 yard line for a cool $40. We sat in those seats for the first half and all the UCF fans around us were extremely nice. I would have liked to sit there all game, but I had to join the Wolfpack faithful for the second half so I could really let loose and celebrate. The last quarter may have been a bit dicey, but we pulled it out and it was a perfect ending to a great road trip. Can’t wait for the next road trip … Hotlanta.
This game was a tale of two halves. The Pack absolutely dominated the first half with the lone exception being the UCF kickoff return TD. The offense was clicking (174 total yards, 3 TDs, and 4 for 8 on 3rd down) and the defense was shutting down the UCF offense (2 turnovers, 5 yards rushing and 0 TDs allowed). Then in the second half the offense totally fell apart (only 65 total yards and 5 first downs) and the defense slacked up, but we made enough plays in the end to barely hold on. That caused the grading to be a little harder than normal.
Quarterback – Grade: C
Russell Wilson certainly looked rusty. He missed several throws, his decision making was questionable at times, and he had a number of throws knocked down at the line. He even had several throws that should have been intercepted, but the UCF defenders didn’t make the plays. He did make some plays with his feet to extend drives so I won’t be too harsh on him.
Running Backs – Grade: B+
Mustafa Greene almost had that disastrous fumble right before half time, but he recovered it and everything was okay. Other than that we had good ball security the entire game and even out-rushed UCF. Greene and Dean Haynes ran hard all game, but struggled to find yards in the second half.
Receivers – Grade: C+
Owen Spencer once again got deep for a big play, but something happened that I’m not sure we’ve ever seen … Russell overthrew him. George Bryan had a decent day and Darrell Davis scored a TD, but other than that there wasn’t much for the receivers to do with Russell having an off night.
Offensive Line – Grade: D+
The O-line looked fine in the first half until RT Mikel Overgaard left the game with an injury. I could have miscounted, but it looked like we tried 4 different O-line combinations after that and not one worked. The run blocking was better than last week, but the pass blocking was terrible.
Defensive Line - Grade: B+
The UCF offense only mustered 5 yards rushing in the first half and QB Rob Calabrese was constantly under pressure. By the time QB Jeff Godfrey came in the D-line was gassed and it showed as Godfrey had all day in the pocket to throw and he was able to run at will.
Linebackers – Grade: A
Audie Cole was all over the field making plays. His interception on the trick play was SportsCenter Top 10 worthy. Terrell Manning recovered the final fumble that sealed the win. The only thing keeping this group from an A+ was that they didn’t contain QB Jeff Godfrey better when he came into the game for the last quarter and a half.
Defensive Backs – Grade: A+
Earl Wolff’s pick set up our first TD, C.J. Wilson’s pick six was the deciding points, and Brandan Bishop forced the fumble to clinch the win. The tackling still needs to improve and there were some lapses in coverage, but this much maligned group stepped up big.
Special Teams – Grade: C-
Let’s see … we allowed a kickoff return TD and had a terrible 33.7 yards per punt avg. including the 14 yarder at the end of the game that gave UCF great field position to start their final drive. We did recover the ball that hit a UCF player on the punt which led to a TD and Czajkowski had two touchbacks giving us two more than we had all of last year.
Coaching – Grade: D/A-
I’m going to split this grade up into separate grades for the offensive staff and the defensive staff since it wouldn’t be fair to lump them together. The offensive game plan was very predictable and not very effective as we were held to under 250 total yards for the first time since the South Carolina game last year. The defensive game plan was very aggressive and totally shut down the UCF offense until QB Jeff Godfrey came in late in the 3rd quarter. I’m sure we prepared and had a game plan for him, but whatever it was it wasn’t very good so that’s the only mark against the defense.
Saturday’s 28-21 win at UCF raised the TOB-O-METER to:
It was a big, road, non-conference win for the Pack that could ultimately be the difference in going to a bowl or staying home for Christmas. The NC State faithful that made the trip realized the importance and stuck around to celebrate with the team. You could feel the excitement oozing from the team as they left the field. Enter Coach Buzzkill. In the postgame press conference, TOB made a huge point to complain about our schedule. Un-freakin-believable!
The schedule was released way back on Feb. 5th so if you want to complain do it then. Now is the time to shut up, get to work, and find a way to win the game. Yeah it’s a short turnaround, but Cincinnati is in the same boat and they’re the team that has to travel for this Thursday night primetime ESPN game. I haven’t heard Cincy HC Butch Jones complaining. Just saying. This offseason we heard all about injuries and youth/inexperience. Now we’re hearing about scheduling. If this keeps up I might have to start a new feature called the “TOB Wheel of Excuses.” C’mon Coach, don’t make me do it.
