Dave from Carter-Finley

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:

Here’s The Spreadsheet (courtesy of Graham) with all stats, injury report news, etc., etc. updated through the Clemson game. Once again here are a few highlights to note:

• David Amerson (aka The Pickoff Artist) just continues to rack up interceptions. He had yet another against Clemson to give him 11 on the season (still tops in the nation) tying Dre Bly’s ACC record. He has more interceptions than 66 entire FBS teams.

• T.J. Graham had 34 kickoff return yards against Clemson to break the ACC career kickoff return record.

• The Pack’s 27 point outburst in the 2nd quarter against Clemson was its most points in a quarter all season.

• In six games before the bye the Pack defense had given up 181 total points (30.2 ppg), but in the five games since the bye the Pack defense has really turned it on and only given up 75 total points (15 ppg). Florida State is the only team to score more than 14 points in this stretch.

• On the flip side, the Pack offense scored 192 total points (32 ppg) before the bye, but has struggled since with only 88 total points (17.6 ppg).

• NC State scoring by quarter this season: 1st= 34 points, 2nd= 91 points, 3rd= 90 points, 4th= 65 points.

• Terrell Manning has stuffed the stat sheet in almost every defensive category this year: 63 tackles, 11.5 TFL, 5 sacks, 1 QB hurry, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 INTs, and 5 pass breakups. Just imagine what his numbers would be if he hadn’t missed 2 entire games and the majority of a 3rd earlier in the season.

• Clemson was only 2 of 14 on 3rd down conversions last week and the Pack won the time of possession battle 36:29 to 23:31. Wow, absolute domination!

• The Pack has averaged 134 yards rushing per game in its six wins and just 72.2 yards rushing in its five losses.

• The Pack is 6-0 when forcing 3 or more turnovers and 0-5 when forcing 2 or less.

Here’s The Spreadsheet (courtesy of Graham) with all stats, injury report news, etc., etc. updated through the Boston College game. Here’s a few highlights:

• David Amerson (aka The Pickoff Artist) had yet another interception bringing his season total to 10 which still leads the nation. He’s only one interception shy of tying Dre Bly’s ACC record.

• On the season the Pack is 5-0 when forcing 3 or more turnovers and 0-5 when forcing 2 or less.

• The defense has held our last 2 opponents to less than 200 yards of total offense per game and just 23 total first downs.

• T.J. Graham is 25 yards shy of breaking the ACC career kickoff return record.

• The Pack has scored just 34 points in the 1st quarter all season (5 games with zero 1st quarter points) compared to 64, 80, and 65 yards in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters respectively.

• The Pack still leads the nation with 20 interceptions.

Here’s The Spreadsheet (again courtesy of Graham) with all stats, injury report news, etc., etc. updated through the Carolina game. Here’s a few highlights:

• Our 1st quarter TD against Carolina is the only first quarter points we’ve scored this season against a BCS conference opponent.

• Punter Will Baumann pinned Carolina inside the 10 on 4 out of his 7 punts last week. Studly!

• David Amerson had another interception bringing his season total to 9 which still leads the nation and breaks the school record set by Art Rooney (1937 and 1938). He’s two interceptions shy of the ACC record.

• This is the second year in a row that we’ve held UNC to less than 5 yards rushing (-7 yards last year and 3 yards this year).

• We absolutely dominated the field position battle. Our average starting field position was Own 39 while Carolina’s average starting field position was Own 22. Almost an exact reversal of last week’s game against FSU.

• James Washington had his third 100 yard rushing game of the season and leads the team with 636 yards rushing. He’s also third on the team in receptions (26) and fourth in receiving yards (225).

• With 3 interceptions against the Tar Heels we now have 19 on the season which is tops in the country. We’re also 10th in the country in turnover margin (+9).

Note: I was using Zoho Sheet, but have decided to switch over to Google Docs. The spreadsheet still loses some formatting, but it looks much better and seems to be easier to navigate through the different tabs.

As one of my Twitter followers very aptly put it the other day, “a win over the Tarholes makes everything 1,000 times better.”  Five wins in a row and that feeling is even greater. Is this what heaven feels like?

All the engineers in my office are NC State alums so I don’t have to deal with the constant pompousness from Carolina fans that I know exists. Most of you out there are surrounded by Carolina fans and subjected to this stuff on a daily basis. I hope you are thoroughly enjoying this week!

Outside of work, it’s not a coincidence that I don’t have many friends that are Carolina fans. Of the few that I do reluctantly call friends, only 2 actually went to school there. I guess that’s how it works with the “flagship” school of the state (click here to hear Gary Hahn’s radio call). I don’t like hanging out with Carolina fans more than I have to, which always brings me back to this? No way in hell for this guy!

Well enough of me ranting on and on about how much I hate Carolina. I’m gonna go back to celebrating. I know everybody can come up with good captions for this week, so let me hear ‘em (photos by Ethan Hyman, Chuck Liddy, & Robert Willett – N&O).

Hey Everett, losers that way.

1, 2, 3, 4 ..... 5!

You invited Tom? I thought Tom gave you the creeps?

Jazz hands!!!

Bonus Photo: Come up with your best/funniest MasterCard Priceless parody.

Beating that ass 5 years in a row ... Priceless

The Pack got a much needed win at UVA on Saturday to get back above .500 and give our fading bowl chances a glimmer of hope. The defense played its best game of the season holding the UVA rushing attack to just 124 yards, their lowest total of the season and 69 yards under their season average coming into the game. That was helped by questionable play calling by the Wahoos as they abandoned their power running game way too early, but the defense made the stops when they had to. The UVA quarterbacks have struggled all season and that continued here as they threw for only 125 yards and 3 INTs. All-in-all a very solid effort by the Pack defense

The Pack offense, on the other hand, struggled for most of the game. We had 12 non-scoring drives of 6 plays or less, there were way too many dropped passes, we turned the ball over twice, and we only got one first down the whole third quarter. All of those things kept the Wahoos in the game longer than they probably should have been. In the end, though, we made enough plays to prevail.

With the win TOB improves to a very strong 10-4 (6-1 away) against teams from the Coastal Division. On the contrary, TOB has struggled mightily with a 5-16 (0-11 away) record against teams from our division, the Atlantic. Stuff like that just makes me scratch my head and think WTF? Of course when TOB was asked about this in his weekly press conference yesterday he said he had “no clue” about that and was “just trying to win them all.” Well Coach, try harder because you ain’t getting the job done.

So that’s a brief rundown of my thoughts from the game. We’ll have to play a lot better this week to get a win at Florida State, but we can talk more about that later this week. Let’s go ahead and get to this week’s Pack the Caption (photos by Ethan Hyman/N&O):

Creecy & Washington audition for Riverdance mid-game

You sure you're not related to Steve Urkel?

It's a bird ... It's a plane ... It's the national interceptions leader

It’s been mostly quiet around here for the past two weeks.  I took off for the bye week and this week has been very hectic with being out of town for work a few days and then having dinner club and a Darius Rucker concert the past two nights. I had a lot of stuff I wanted to do this week like a midseason report card, a UVA preview, an ACC standings update, the updated Spreadsheet, and of course my picks of the week.  I have to leave for UVA soon so I’m gonna give you a CliffsNotes version of everything.

Report Card

Offense:  B-  …  Glennon has been okay, but not the level TOB hyped him up to be. The RBs, O-line, and WRs have been exciting some games and disappointing others.

Defense:  D  … The defense has been bad on all levels giving up an average of 30.2 points per game.  The only reason this isn’t an F is because we’ve forced 11 turnovers largely thanks to David Amerson’s 6 INTs, which leads the country.

Special Teams:  B  …  The Freshmen have been better than expected and T.J. Graham has been our best player.  The coverage units have been very mediocre.

Coaching:  F  …  There have been injuries, but the team has seemed under prepared all season.  Coming out flat and getting behind in every game is a direct result of poor coaching.

UVA Preview

Series Record:  NC State leads 33-21-1 all time, but 0-5 last 5 games in Charlottesville (last win 1994).

Coach:  Mike London (2nd season, 8-10)

Players to Watch:  RB Perry Jones (#33, Jr.), RB Kevin Parks (#25, RS-Fr.), LB Steve Greer (#53, Jr.), CB Chase Minnifield (#13, Sr.)

Prediction:  Virginia had a huge upset win last week at home over previously undefeated Georgia Tech while we were on bye.  I think both of those play in our favor as Virginia will have to fight the letdown factor and we’ve had extra time to prepare.  Call me crazy, but I think we break the Charlottesville losing streak.

ACC Standings

The Spreadsheet

Note: It’s easier to read if you click on the full screen view link.

DFCF the Greek

#6 Wisconsin (-7) at #16 Michigan State LOSS

#11 Kansas State at Kansas (+11) LOSS

#25 Washington (+20.5) at #8 Stanford LOSS

Season Record: 11-8-2 (2-1-0 last week)

Here’s a few leans for this week: Northwestern (+4.5) L, LSU (-20.5) W, Alabama (-29.5) W, Oklahoma State (-6.5) W, and NC State (+5.5) W.  Season leans record: 15-18-0 (4-4-0 last week).

I avoided re-watching the Wake Forest game as long as I could, but finally broke down tonight.  I’m still very pissed about the outcome so I’m gonna go rapid fire on my observations from the game.  Here we go:

• The tackling on Wake’s first TD (31 yd pass to Campanaro) was absolutely pathetic.

• Will Baumann’s punting was spectacular … 40.5 net yards per punt and 3 punts inside the 20 (2 inside the 10).

• With our experienced secondary, the receiver on the trick play TD pass should have never been that wide open.

• Curtis Underwood ran the ball very well (12 carries, 56 yards, 4.7 ypc).

• Niklas Sade absolutely drilled both of his FGs (45 yards & 37 yards).

• The offensive line played better than the Liberty game, but they still have a lot of improving to do.

• George Bryan, you’re a Senior Captain … Catch!  The!  Ball!

• Third down conversions killed us on both sides of the ball.  The defense allowed Wake to convert 50% of third downs and our offense only converted 36%.

• In a game against Wake and we got the only flag for chop blocking?  I call bullshit on that one.

• The penalty on T.J. Graham’s long kickoff return was ticky tack.

• David Amerson went from a stud last week to a scrub this week.

• Tobais Palmer is a playmaker.  We need to get him the ball more.

Well 2010 National Signing Day has come and gone.  It was a pretty routine day around the Murphy Center.  No surprises, good or bad.  My take: there are a few guys that really impress me, but overall it’s a lot of average.  I will admit it’s a little crazy ranking the classes 7 months before these guys ever play their first game, but if you think the rankings don’t matter then you’re a little naive.

There’s a bunch of different recruiting services that release rankings, so I averaged the rankings from Rivals, Scout, and ESPN to come up with a consensus ranking.  Let’s look at the consensus Top 10 classes in order:  Florida, Texas, Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma, USC (sorry Cock fans … this is the real USC), LSU, UCLA, Florida State, and Penn State.  That list reads like a Who’s Who of college football programs.  It includes the last seven national champions and eight of them show up in the top 14 on the Top 25 College Programs of the Decade list put together by my buddies over at Frumpzilla (one of my college roomies and half my fantasy football league keep that site running so show them some love).  It’s a lot easier to win when you have the best players so let’s all just agree that the rankings do matter.

Speaking of rankings let’s get back to the Wolfpack’s class.  The recruiting gurus have it as the 6th or 7th best class … in the ACC.  I guess that is better than where we’ve finished in the actual league standings during the TOB era.  I just expect better than that, especially with our passionate fan base and the best facilities in the ACC (per ESPN).  We did get a few guys that I’m really excited about (shown in the picture below) including one BIG time pickup, literally.

The six guys I'm most excited about.

The jewel of the class is OL Rob Crisp (6’7″ 299lb.) out of Raleigh.  He was rated one of the best players, regardless of position, in the country and should man the LT spot for the next four years.  Two others that have me excited are DB’s David Amerson and Dontae Johnson.  Hopefully they can step in immediately next year and help solve the massive problems we had in the secondary this past year.  The final three I can’t wait to see in the Red and White are WR’s Tony Creecy and Bryan Underwood, and RB Mustafa Greene.  You can never have too many speedy playmakers and I think these three will fit that mold for the Pack.  I’m sure there will be a really good player or two come out of the rest of the class, but these are the six that have me looking to the future with hope and anticipation.

To these six and all the other new Wolfpackers (click here for bios) … welcome to the family!  You made the best decision of your life (I’m not biased at all).  To TOB, take a day to do your honey do’s, then start working on next year’s class.  GO PACK!