Football legend Philip Rivers was the commencement speaker at NC State’s Graduation Ceremony this past weekend. He opened with, “Wow! I gotta tell you, standing in front of the Wolfpack family again, it makes me want to run out of the tunnel at Carter-Finley Stadium just one more time.” After that his message was very interesting and thought-provoking as he encouraged the graduates to identify their priorities (his are faith, family, and football … in that order) and stay committed to them. If you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend watching the video of his speech below:
The Kay Yow Spring Game is only 10 days away. [insert woohoo! here] There has been very little info come out of Spring Practice, which is just the way TOB likes it. I guess I’d rather have that than the circus surrounding the Arkansas Razorbacks football program right now. Although, I would give up just about anything to be coming off a two year stretch with a combined 21-5 record, 1 top 5 finish, and 1 BCS bowl game?!?!?!
While not much info has come out of Spring Practice, the one thing that has come out is a pretty big one. Expected starting RB Mustafa Greene has gotten himself into a myriad of trouble, on and off the field, that has caused TOB to hold him out of practice. You can read all about that here. Not good news at all from someone that we’re all expecting to have a big 2012 season. Hopefully this is a wakeup call for Moose.
I never got around to wrapping up my thoughts on the 2011 season. No extensive bowl wrap up, no Davey Awards, not even a look back on the season … probably for the best. Well to put a bow on the 2011 season here are the 2011 team awards and 2011 highlight video:
Governor’s Award (team MVP): David Amerson Carey Brewbaker Award (most valuable DL): Markus Kuhn Most Valuable Defensive Back: David Amerson Most Valuable Linebacker: Audie Cole Jim Ritcher Award (most valuable OL): Camden Wentz Special Teams Player of the Year: Zach Gentry Most Valuable Offensive Back: Mike Glennon Mike Hardy Award (winning attitude): Dwayne Maddox Bo Rein Award (unsung player): Zach Allen Bob Warren Award (integrity & sportsmanship): Wayne Crawford Al Michaels Award (team before self): Taylor Gentry Ken McNeill Iron Wolf Award (comback from injury): J.R. Sweezy Earle Edwards Award (highest GPA): Mikel Overgaard Gary Rowe Award (most receptions): T.J. Graham Captain’s Awards: George Bryan and J.R. Sweezy Offensive Scout team player of the year: Daniel Imhoff Defensive Scout team player of the year: Juston Burris
This is an NC State football blog, but when other NC State sports do extraordinary things I have to give them their props. Congrats to Coach Mark Gottfried and the NC State basketball team for making the Sweet Sixteen!!! Thanks for giving Wolfpack Nation something to be proud of. Good luck next weekend in St. Louis!!!
The two videos below embody the enthusiasm of the NC State basketball team’s run so far through March Madness. If you’re reading this blog I’m sure you’ve already seen them, but I can watch them a thousand times and not get tired of them so enjoy:
Note: Spring Football practice starts this Friday, March, 23 so check back more frequently in the coming weeks as I’ll be back to blogging on a more regular basis.
The 2012 recruiting cycle is in the books. If you want to check out the bios and videos of each NC State commit here is the GoPack Signing Day Central.
Another ho-hum recruiting class for the Pack that ranked 8th (Rivals), 9th (Scout), and 9th (ESPN) respectively in the ACC. Not too good if you plan on actually fulfilling the whole “Champions on the Football Field” part of the motto that we’ve been hearing from TOB since he arrived at State. I’ll go in-depth on my thoughts of the class later, but first here’s how TOB feels about it:
Excitement … Anticipation … Disappointment … Hope … Satisfaction … Relief. Those nouns describe the roller coaster of emotions that little kids go through leading up to and through what they call the best day of the year … Christmas. For college football coaches it’s called National Signing Day, which falls tomorrow.
It’s a little different in that most of the recruits have already verbally committed, but there’s always some last minute surprises that make the day interesting. Even though most of the classes are already set, I’m sure that most coaching staffs in the country still sit anxiously around the fax machines waiting for the National Letter of Intents to come in making it official.
Recruiting has become it’s own sport within college football. John Brandon of Grantland.com put it best, “Only a good winemaker can make good wine, but nobody can make good wine out of bad grapes.” DFCF’s translation, you can’t win if you don’t have good players. TOB recently sat down and chatted with college football recruiting guru Tom Lemming about his recruiting philosophies. Here’s the video:
TOB has never been a great recruiter, which listening to him talk is pretty understandable. He continues the “champions on the football field” mantra, but it’s hard to win championships when you’re finishing in the bottom half of your conference in the recruiting rankings year after year. I’ll discuss that in more detail and talk about the commits that I’m the most excited about tomorrow after TOB’s presser. In the meantime, here’s a good NC State Signing Day Snapshot by the guys over at ACC Sports Journal.
I hope everybody enjoyed the holidays. The holidays are always better for me when the Pack is in a bowl game and a bowl game win is the best so it was happy times in DFCF land. Best wishes to everybody in 2012. Before I move on here are my Belk Bowl thoughts and the final Pack the Caption of the 2011 season (photos by Ethan Hyman/N&O).
State improved to 14-11-1 all-time in bowl games (has won 5 of past 6) and won bowl games in consecutive seasons for only the 4th time in school history.
TOB now has a career 8-2 bowl record (2-1 at State).
David Amerson added 2 more INTs to his already impressive season to set the ACC single-season INT record (13) surpassing UNC’s Dre Bly’s record set back in 1996. Amerson’s INT return for TD was the play of the game and the deciding score.
Mike Glennon finished a pretty good season with 264 yards passing and 3 TDs earning himself Belk Bowl MVP honors.
It was a Special Teams nightmare for the Pack … a botched punt (led to Louisville TD), allowed Louisville to convert a fake punt (led to Louisville TD), and allowed Louisville to recover an onside kick (State defense nullified). And we continue to have one assistant coach that’s dedicated solely to handling Special Teams … unbelievable! Hard to win a game after getting dominated like this on Special Teams, but we found a way to get it done.
The key to the Pack’s season this year was the defense’s ability to force turnovers … 3 more in this game raised the season total to 39, good for 2nd best in the nation.
Hey Teddy ... it's the Boogeyman!!!
You complete me!
Interceptions: Easy as 1, 2, 3
Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake your booty
Guys, who pissed in the Gatorade cooler?
Also, ncsu01 does a great job of putting together highlight videos of NC State football games. Here’s his Belk Bowl highlight video:
In case you’ve been hiding under a rock here’s what you’ve missed this week:
All I can say is it sure has been nice to have a little spice put back into this rivalry. I could have done without the two Chancellors lamely apologizing to each other, though. If I was Randy Woodson I would have laughed in Holden Thorp’s face and told him how big a douche he is. Too harsh? C’mon, that’s why they call it a rivalry. Go to hell Carolina!!!
Head-to-Head Results: UNC leads the all-time series with a 63-31-6 record (first game was 1894), but the rivalry has been pretty even recently. The series is split 7-7 over the past 14 meetings with eight of those being decided by 8 points or less. State has won the last 4 in a row, but three of those wins were by a combined 9 points so it hasn’t been in dominating fashion. With a win this weekend, State would match its longest winning streak in the series (5 in a row from ’88 – ’92). The Vegas underdog has won 10 of the past 14 games outright and, good news, Carolina is a 3.5 point favorite in this one.
Interim Head Coach: Everett Withers (1st season, 6-3) … took over a month before the 2011 season started after Butch Davis was fired amid an NCAA investigation.
Players to Watch:
QB Bryn Renner (#2, So.) was a highly rated prep QB that has played very well for the Heels in his first year as starter. He’s completed 72.7% of his passes for 2,195 yards, 19 TDs, and 9 INTs. Had a 4 turnover game against Clemson two weeks ago, but played his best game of the season last week against Wake (21 of 28 for a career-high 338 yards and 3 TDs).
RB Giovani Bernard(#26, RS-Fr.) has been an absolute beast for the Tar Heels in the running game this year. Has 965 yards on 168 carries (5.7 ypc) including six 100-yard rushing performances to go with 11 rushing TDs. Also has 243 yards receiving and 1 TD. Will be the first Tar Heel to run for 1,000 yards in a season since Jonathan Linton did it back in 1997.
WR Dwight Jones(#26, Sr.) is a big, explosive receiver and the go-to guy for Renner and the Heels. Leads the team with 54 catches, 841 yards, and 8 TDs. Should see a lot of coverage by State’s Amerson so that will be one of the more intriguing matchups to watch.
DE Quinton Coples(#90, Sr.) is the biggest NFL prospect on the Heels defense. Right now ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. has him listed #7 on his Big Board. Has great size, strength, and athleticism so will pose a big problem for the struggling NC State offensive line. Has 35 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble.
LB Zach Brown (#47, Sr.) is the team leader in a lot of statistical categories (62 tackles, 9.5 TFLs, 5.5 sacks, 2 INTs, and 2 forced fumbles) on defense. He’s also another highly rated NFL prospect per Mel Kiper Jr. (#21 on the Big Board). Here’s what Kiper has to say about Brown, “An absolute flyer, isn’t big, but he can get after the quarterback, and also back up and cover like a safety.”
Offensive Summary: The Heels have a very balanced offense with some very athletic skill players so they can be very tough to defend. The winner in this series is usually the team that runs the ball best so I expect the Heels to run the ball early and often. If I was the Pack, though, I’d stack the box and make Renner beat me.
Defensive Summary: This isn’t last year’s Heels defense, but they are still very formidable.They are very active along the front seven with several NFL caliber players that can take over and dominate a game. They really struggle in the secondary, however, so expect the Pack to put pressure on them by taking some shots down the field.
Keys to the Game:
1. Good start … We have only scored 24 first quarter points all season and 0 against BCS conference opponents. We have to come out with some intensity and get on the scoreboard early.
2. Big plays … Our team (offense, defense, and special teams) has lived off the big plays. It would be nice to just grind out a win, but we don’t have the horses for that so we have to get some big plays Saturday and keep the Heels from having any big plays of their own.
3. The trenches … We have struggled the most this year on the offensive and defensive lines. On offense we haven’t protected Glennon very well and haven’t been able to run the ball consistently. On defense we have struggled stopping the run and getting pressure on the quarterback. We have to find a way to reverse these trends.
Prediction: As much as I want the Pack to win, I just don’t see it, but it’s a heated rivalry and you never know what’s going to happen. I do know this … DFCF is gonna be loud, so apologies in advance to those that sit around me. Go Pack!
This post isn’t NC State football related, but it’s sorta still the bye week so you’ll just have to deal with it. My NC State baseball teammate Mike Sollie is now a State Farm agent in Raleigh and stars alongside Aaron Rodgers in the new State Farm commercial. I laugh every time I hear Mike give his, “The discount double check?” line. The whole commercial is great! Check it out below. And if you’re in the Raleigh area and need an insurance quote give Mike a call.
I just ran across the this video on that thing the kids call the YouTube. I actually have yet to make it into Carter-Finley in time to see it on the new Jumbotron so this was the first time I had seen it. I like the concept, but I think it could have been executed a little better. Also, per one of the comments on the YouTube page, the team hasn’t run out of the tunnel at the right time. I don’t know if that’s been the case every game, but it did happen at least once and I will say that doesn’t surprise me. Precision and attention to detail are not NC State’s strong suits. I digress, here is the 2011 NC State Football Intro Video:
Jenn Brown calling the Cincinnati coach “Bitch” Jones on live TV was nowhere near the worst thing of the night last Thursday. That distinction would go to the abomination that was the NC State football team. Losing is never a good thing, but a 44-14 ass whooping on national TV makes it that much harder to take.
This team still has a lot of problems and we haven’t improved any from game one. Hopefully the extra days in between games this week will allow the players to forget about this game and give the coaches time to correct some of our problems. I’m a realistic fan so although I pull hard for us to win every game, I don’t expect to win them all. I do, however, expect our coaches to put a competitive team on the field every game. Last Thursday night was an embarrassment to all State fans (especially those of us in attendance) and is unacceptable.
It’s year 5 of TOB’s tenure so this is squarely on his shoulders now. Can’t place the blame on the previous coaching staff anymore. It’s time to come through on that whole “champions on the football field” thing we keep hearing about from the football program.
Ok, it’s time for you to vent too so I’ve picked some photos (all taken by Ethan Hyman/N&O) for this week’s Pack the Caption that give you that opportunity. Let her rip!
