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 (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.

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

Another game against an FBS opponent and another blowout loss.  We were down only 21-14 heading into the 4th quarter, but in the span of 2:22 Georgia Tech finished a 13 play drive with a short touchdown run, returned a Glennon interception for touchdown, and threw a long touchdown pass after we turned the ball over on downs at our own 38 yard line.  We scored two touchdowns in the last 0:34 to make it look close, but Georgia Tech thoroughly dominated this game.

Of course TOB is still blaming everything on the injuries and lack of depth.  We do have injuries, but that’s part of football.  Every team has to deal with injuries to some degree or other.  The good teams overcome injuries with depth built through good recruiting, however, we have been in the bottom third of the ACC recruiting rankings almost every year under TOB.

Enough downer talker for now, here are the photos (by Ethan Hyman/N&O) for this week’s Pack the Caption.  Be creative and give me some good captions.

Who does #2 work for?!

NC State wins engineering battle with levitating cheerleader

Right here ... Bingo!

If I close my eyes long enough will this season go away?

Bonus photo (by Mrs. DFCF):

Gentry takes a football ... to the face!!!

The Pack played a very sloppy game Saturday against Liberty.  The O-line struggled, we had several mishaps on special teams, there were too many turnovers, and Glennon was anything but sharp.  Had it been against a real opponent it would have surely been a loss.  Having said all that, a win is a win so we’ll definitely take it and move on.

The pundits always say a football team improves the most between games one and two so let’s hope that is the case with this team and we look a lot better next Saturday.  A loss against Wake Forest would be a crucial blow to our hopes of making a bowl game for the second consecutive year.

I’ll go into that a little more in detail later, but for now it’s time to bring back Pack the Caption, my poorly named write the caption contest.  I’m hoping for a little more reader involvement this year.  Have fun with it and be creative.  All photos are by Ethan Hyman (News & Observer):

My dreads are way cooler than yours, punk!

I'm not even gonna look at that WRAL site after this game.

Sonic Boom ... we have liftoff!

Finally … game week is here!!!  I don’t know why, but the offseason has seemed extraordinarily long this year.  It’s time to start talking games, depth chart, injuries, tailgating menus, and everything else.  TOB had his first weekly presser this week to talk Liberty.  I won’t bore you by rehashing that so go over to GoPack to get all the info and quotes.  Here’s the depth chart (courtesy of The Wolfpacker):

A few quick thoughts … It’s nice getting Duran Christophe back so quickly after his surgery for a torn knee meniscus.  No sooner than getting good news like that, though, we find out Sterling Lucas will be out the entire season with a knee injury.  James Washington will get the first shot at stepping in for Mustafa Greene while his out with his foot injury.  Other than that there weren’t many surprises.  The biggest surprise will be if the depth chart looks the exact same next week for Wake and then again the following week for South Alabama and so on.

I’m ready to get out to Carter-Finley and start tailgating now.  Saturday can’t get here soon enough.  Here’s a video to tide you over until then.  Go Pack!

I told anybody that would listen to me after the Clemson loss (and corresponding Carolina win over Florida State) that if we took care of business against Wake and Carolina we would definitely find a way to blow a trip to the ACC Championship Game against Maryland.  Who didn’t see that one coming?  TOB has never won a conference championship in his 14 years as a head coach and the knock on him has always been that he struggles to win the big games.  Add to that the fact that Ralph Friedgen and the Terps have absolutely owned the Pack (now 7-3 against us) over the past decade.

Even though I had strong doubts that we would win this game, I let myself get caught up in the ACC Championship Game hype so the loss felt like a Mike Tyson left hook to the gut.  I had started putting together tentative plans for a weekend long party at my place.  I was trying to find extra beds for buddies coming in town.  I was looking to track down extra tickets.  Now I can just relax this weekend, get some stuff done around the house Saturday morning (namely Christmas decorations), and go to the game with no pressure and just enjoy it.  At least I take some solace that Maryland is not the Atlantic Division representative.

Looking down the road, though, I worry that the Pack’s window for winning an ACC Championship may be closed.  Florida State has better athletes and what seems to be a darn good coach in Jimbo Fisher.  Maryland has Friedgen and Freshman ACC ROY QB Danny O’Brien for the next 3 years.  Clemson always has superior football players and will be very dangerous if they just get rid of Dabo Swinney and get a coach that has a clue.  Boston College is always disciplined, consistent, and they never beat themselves.  I don’t see Wake Forest as a threat, but kudos to them for taking advantage of their one and probably only ever opportunity and winning the ACC Championship back in 2006.  Combine all that with our current recruiting class being ranked dead last in the ACC by both Rivals and Scout and the loss of our two best playmakers in Nate Irving and Russell Wilson (yes I’m assuming he plays baseball and doesn’t return next season) and I just don’t see how we go up from here.

Anyway, let’s get to the game grades.  Once against I’m gonna pass on the position by position breakdown and just hit some areas I feel were the most noteworthy.  Feel free to add any additional grades you feel necessary in the comment section.

Jarvis Williams - Grade: A

He must have been pissed about his ejection last week against Carolina because he came out ultra focused and played a great game (8 catches, 78 yards).  Sometimes he can get complacent, but that was definitely not the case in College Park.  He didn’t match Torrey Smith and his out of this world day, but he did catch every pass thrown to him which is more than the rest of our receivers can say.

Effort – Grade: B+

Even with a trip to the ACC Championship Game on the line I was worried that our guys would come out flat after the emotional win over Carolina the week before.  This was not the case.  Our guys weren’t jacked up like I wanted them to be, but we jumped to an early 14-0 lead on Maryland so we came ready to play.  Then a few turnovers turned the momentum and we couldn’t do anything to stop it, with our terrible game plan and poor execution, until it was too late.  The guys didn’t give up and fought hard to the end which never happened last year so that was nice to see.

James Washington - Grade: B

He was surprising effective all day finishing with 101 total yards (55 rushing and 46 receiving) taking over after Mustafa Greene left the game early with a neck injury.  He still gets manhandled when trying to pick up the blitz, but he seems to be coming into his own.  All the preseason Sonic Boom talk was laughable, but Washington and Greene could form a dangerous running combo for the next few years if our O-line will ever live up to the expectations of a TOB coached O-line.

Offense - Grade: C

Let’s look at our drive chart:  TD, TD, Punt, Fumble, Punt, INT, Missed FG, Half, Punt, Punt, FG, Punt, Downs, TD, TD.  So we came out strong, did absolutely nothing for the majority of the game, then scored some garbage touchdowns at the end after the game was all but decided.  Pretty sad for the offense that spent most of the season as the #1 offense in the ACC.  Of course all the drops didn’t help, but we still had plenty of chances couldn’t take advantage of them.

Special Teams – Grade: D

Will our special team woes ever end?  Once again we had a 12 yard punt.  I haven’t done the research, but we have to be in the top 5 in number of punts under 20 yards.  Unbelievable.  I was at the game and it was very windy, but a 12 yard punt is unacceptable no matter the circumstances.  We also had a field goal blocked right before the half.  Not only was it blocked but the Terps picked it up and got it across midfield setting up a field goal for them giving them a 17-14 halftime lead.  We also lost the field position battle big time (State avg starting was S26.6 while Maryland avg starting was M39.9) largely due to ineffective return and coverage teams.

Defense – Grade: F

We absolutely stuffed Maryland’s running game early and they totally abandoned it (finished with -9 total yards) yet they still were able to do whatever they wanted to in the passing game and move the ball on will.  We somehow forgot about their best receiver Torrey Smith (14 catches, 224 yards, 4 TDs) and decided not only to not bracket/double him like FSU had done so effectively the week before, but to not even cover him at all.  Of course I’m exaggerating that a little bit, but there were a lot of times where we let him run free and clear through our zone.  The worst part about it was that we made zero in-game adjustments.  We didn’t generate any pressure on QB Danny O’Brien all day and made him look like a Heisman Trophy candidate.  Did the 2009 NC State defense come and abduct the 2010 unit?

T.J. Graham - Grade: F

He went from being the hero last week to the goat this week faster than his world class track speed.  His fumble gave Maryland a short field which by missing a field goal they failed to capitalize on, but it killed the Pack’s momentum and was a sign of things to come.  To make matters worse, on the first play of the next State drive a catchable Russell Wilson pass bounced off T.J.’s hands, was intercepted, and returned to the Maryland 3 yard line setting up the game-tying touchdown right before the half.  He also returned to his pedestrian ways in the return game with a 1.5 yard average on 2 punt returns and a 13.7 yard average on 3 kickoff returns.

Maryland Fans – Grade: F

Dare I say it, but Maryland fans have now surpassed ECU fans and Carolina fans as my most hated fan base.  They just flat out suck.  They only get an F because that’s as low as the grades go.  I wish I could make a new grading scale to reflect just how much I hate them.  I could make a whole blog entry about this, and maybe in the offseason I will, but this has been going on for the past decade and Saturday just put it over the top.  If you look up the definition of classless thugs in the dictionary you’ll find a picture of Terp fans.

I tweeted yesterday before the game that anything less than a two touchdown victory would be unacceptable.  It was nice of TOB & Co. to oblige.  We hadn’t really shown a killer instinct all season, but Saturday we had Boston College on the ropes early and we never gave them a chance to get back in the game.  We were clicking on all cylinders yesterday (there I go using clichés again) and it sure was pretty to watch.  So it’s time for this week’s Pack the Caption (photos by Ethan Hyman/N&O).  Give me some good ones.

Spaz, remember last year? Yeah we do too. Haha!

Look Ma, one hand.

TOB & FAL discuss the Brett Favre sexts during the 4th quarter.

When I say Sonic you say Boom. Sonic! Boom! Go Meat!

The Pack held their first scrimmage on Monday and the stats that were released sure as heck don’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.  Check ‘em out for yourself:

• Rushing – 55 carries for 92 yards (1.6 ypc)
• Passing – 8 of 20 for 116 yards
• Defense – 6 sacks, 8 tackles for loss
• Czajkowski – 2 of 4 FG (misses 45yds & 43yds)
• Punting – 5 punts for 40 yard average

I know you can’t put too much stock into these stats because they were working on a lot of situational stuff, but you also can’t totally ignore them.  We all know how bad the defense is so this doesn’t seem to bode too well for the offense, especially the offensive line and the running backs.  With a running back tandem recently dubbed “Sonic Boom” one would expect more than 1.6 yards per carry average.  Wait, we have a running back tandem that has a nickname?

Surely there’s been other running back tandems with this nickname, but it’s catchy and I’ve never heard it before so I’ll give a solid B grade for creativity.  For execution, however, it’s more like a D-.  Two guys that have combined for 72 carries, 276 yards, and 3 TDs so far in their collegiate careers don’t really deserve a nickname.  I’ll cut Washington (Sonic) and Underwood (Boom) some slack since it was Audi Augustin that came up with the nickname, but what about Tony Creecy, Brandon Barnes, and Mustafa Greene?  I got it … Mach, 9, and Hyper respectively for a sick running back quintuple called “Mach 9 Hyper Sonic Boom.”  Now that sounds pretty kickass I must say.

In other news from today’s scrimmage Nate Irving was held out for precautionary reasons and Russell Wilson looked very rusty.  The second part is something that has gone largely ignored so far this preseason.  Russell has proven how good a quarterback he is and what he means to the NC State football team, but he hasn’t done any football related activities in the last 8 months (sorry, throwing the football around with your baseball teammates before a game doesn’t count) so of course he’s going to be rusty.  I have faith that the rust will be gone by the start of the season and if it lingers for the Western Carolina game it really won’t matter, but if it’s still around on Sept. 11 then that turns a toss-up game against UCF into a very loseable proposition.

Finally, I don’t talk too much about recruiting around here because, frankly, there’s rarely anything exciting to talk about and that’s a huge problem.  TOB just doesn’t seem to relate well to high school kids in the South and thus his recruiting has declined every year since he got here.  You cannot build a successful program with nothing but “sleepers” and “diamonds in the rough” but that seems to be his strategy.  Well if you thought NC State recruiting couldn’t get any worse than it has been the past 2 years … guess again.  Damn!