NC State / Wake Forest!

Ksyrup · 09-06-2003, 12:11 PM

Wow. 28-3 WF.

Either the ACC is getting better...or the ACC sucks.

Sadly, I think it's the latter.

digamma · 09-06-2003, 12:28 PM

Wake Forest is a very well coached football team.

NC State was a bit overrated coming into the season.

Remember though, Wake beat Boston College last weekend and BC is having its way with Penn State today.

JonInMiddleGA · 09-06-2003, 12:38 PM

The ACC appears to be down a lot this year.

GrantDawg · 09-06-2003, 02:06 PM

Wake looks to be this years NC State.

VPI97 · 09-06-2003, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ksyrup
the ACC sucks.

Agreed

Wolfpack · 09-06-2003, 05:40 PM

Okay, okay. We suck. Happy now?

Seriously, I dreaded this game. Every year, I dread playing Wake Forest, actually. Especially with Jim Grobe as coach. I never got a chance to watch it (being in B10 country, I got BC-PSU instead), but the impressions I gleaned from internet traffic was that the Wake offense played absolute hell with our inexperienced DL. Combine that with TA McLendon out with an injury (great RB, but seems to be a bit on the brittle side) and State went straight into an ambush. Couldn't run the football and Rivers couldn't win the game by himself (though judging by his stat line, he tried).

Had OSU obliterated SDSU today, I'd be thinking we'd be in a world of hurt next week (we probably still are), but their struggles on offense may give our young defense a chance to get their legs under them.

I do also think that the expectations for this team were impossibly high for a team and school that hasn't had much to root for in football over the years. With OSU on the sked and the Bucks being defending champs, just about everyone thought a national championship was a possibility if the breaks went the right way. Now we may be facing the ghastly prospect of an emotional rivalry game with UNC in a near-must-win situation if they get beat next week. They'll be 1-2 and they won't play UVa, UMd, and FSU until the end of the season under that scenario, as well. People aren't quite ready to throw themselves off of buildings yet, but they're taking a nice look down right now.

BigDPW · 09-07-2003, 08:38 AM

Being a Pack alumnus I have been down in the dumps since the first quarter of that game. We sucked it up as a result of a completely ineffective defense. Our young D-Line and ineffective backfield play hurt us badly. We did not force a turnover the entire game and us forcing turnovers the last few years has been a big part of our game. Also TA McLendon did not play in the game and for the most part our rushing attack was nonexistent. That hurt us alot due to our excessive use of playaction to get the ball down the field last year. In fact late in the game down by 21 or 14 the Wake Defense was not even respecting the play fake at all - and when we did hand it off we were actually effective late due to them droping 8 guys on every down.

Our defense needs to be able to stop the run and we have to force turnovers to win - it is that simple. We are not a ball control team so if we give up lots of yardage we will get beaten unless we even the score with big INTs, fumble recoveries, or punt blocks. (Those are things we have been soing consistently for 2-3 years now) I was very concerned about our defense leaving the Western Carolina game last week. Our offense moved the ball very well but our defense looked very weak against the I-AA Catamounts - we made them look very good last week despite the final score of 59-20.

All that being said I want to say that I think Wake Forest played very well yesterday and I think that they are going to be a force in the ACC and nationally this year. Their misdirection rushing attack in combination with timely passing and protecting the football makes them tough to beat. If they shore up their pass defense this year they could challenge for the ACC Title (I honestly believe that). Jim Grobe has brought a swagger and confidence to the Deacons program that I have not seen in the past.

I certainly hope that we can turn this season around and fix some of the problems we are having on defense. I also hope that TA McLendon gets healthy quickly because after him we get very weak at the running back spot. His influence yesterday could have been huge (making WFU respect the run - and making it easier for us to compete in a field postition battle like early yesterday). I still believe we have a shot at Ohio State next week - though it certainly doesn't look as promising as it did on Friday... IF we can get some decent run defense and force a couple turnovers we will have a shot because of our great passing attack (esp if we have TA to complement it).

Now it is off to resurrect my football watching weekend!!!

GO PANTHERS --- BEAT JACKSONVILLE!!!!

Wolfpack · 09-08-2003, 10:24 AM

Wake Forest has hired the perfect coach for their program. Wake will never get five-star quality talent to come to their school that often, but Grobe has implemented a system that gets the maximum out of the talent he does have by levelling the playing field, at least when the Deacs are on offense. Since it's based on Fischer DeBerry's offense at Air Force, it has a track record of success, since Air Force can only use the players that commit to coming to the Academy, rather than just going into the best recruiting areas and getting who they want at will. Paul Johnson up at Navy has a similar maddening offense that once he gets his players used to it, should produce modest success.

These are the kinds of coaches you need at these smaller schools to compete at the highest level. Defensively, it's hard to be inventive and have a scheme the opponents can't prepare well for, but offensively is another story. If the better teams only see that offense once or perhaps twice in a season and it's nearly impossible to reproduce well in practice, the less-talented team has that chance of causing chaos at least early in the ball game. It's then up to the defense to find a way to cope. FSU, for example, found themselves down 14-0 after one quarter at Wake last year before finally getting the ship righted and whipped Wake the rest of the game. We never got the ship righted because we just don't have the meat or experience up front to stop this sort of offense.

I should also amend my post above. We could be 1-3 going into the UNC game because we have a game in Raleigh on Sept. 20 against Texas Tech. We had an experienced D last year and we still gave up 48 points. Fortunately, it's a new QB and it's on grass at home, so I think we'll be better, but if we get buried at OSU next week, the season could get ugly quickly.

Ksyrup · 09-08-2003, 11:06 AM

Yep, I was thinking of the WF/FSU game from last year when I was watching this one. But it never really turned around for NCST. For the sake of the conference (and FSU's strength of schedule), I hope NCST, VA, and MD right the ship. And I hope WF and GT keep it up. If they are going to knock off the better teams, the least they can do is be consistent. Don't knock off NCST then lose to Duke, for example.

Wolfpack · 09-08-2003, 12:53 PM

It's always been one of the things that has held NC State back from being considered a very good program, these toe-stubbing games. After we toppled FSU in '98, we proceeded to get smacked around by Baylor the next week. We go 9-0 to start last year, but that included a near miss against Duke and ultimately a stumble against Tech at home and then the offense disappears for two games against Maryland and Virginia.

Invariably, we just end up losing a game somewhere along the way we should have had no problem winning. I don't know if I can put the Wake game Saturday quite into that context, but certainly we should have been more competitive.

09-06-2003, 12:38 PM	#3
JonInMiddleGA Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Behind Enemy Lines in Athens, GA	The ACC appears to be down a lot this year. __________________ "I lit another cigarette. Unless I specifically inform you to the contrary, I am always lighting another cigarette." - from a novel by Martin Amis

09-07-2003, 08:38 AM	#7
BigDPW College Prospect Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Raleigh, NC	Being a Pack alumnus I have been down in the dumps since the first quarter of that game. We sucked it up as a result of a completely ineffective defense. Our young D-Line and ineffective backfield play hurt us badly. We did not force a turnover the entire game and us forcing turnovers the last few years has been a big part of our game. Also TA McLendon did not play in the game and for the most part our rushing attack was nonexistent. That hurt us alot due to our excessive use of playaction to get the ball down the field last year. In fact late in the game down by 21 or 14 the Wake Defense was not even respecting the play fake at all - and when we did hand it off we were actually effective late due to them droping 8 guys on every down. Our defense needs to be able to stop the run and we have to force turnovers to win - it is that simple. We are not a ball control team so if we give up lots of yardage we will get beaten unless we even the score with big INTs, fumble recoveries, or punt blocks. (Those are things we have been soing consistently for 2-3 years now) I was very concerned about our defense leaving the Western Carolina game last week. Our offense moved the ball very well but our defense looked very weak against the I-AA Catamounts - we made them look very good last week despite the final score of 59-20. All that being said I want to say that I think Wake Forest played very well yesterday and I think that they are going to be a force in the ACC and nationally this year. Their misdirection rushing attack in combination with timely passing and protecting the football makes them tough to beat. If they shore up their pass defense this year they could challenge for the ACC Title (I honestly believe that). Jim Grobe has brought a swagger and confidence to the Deacons program that I have not seen in the past. I certainly hope that we can turn this season around and fix some of the problems we are having on defense. I also hope that TA McLendon gets healthy quickly because after him we get very weak at the running back spot. His influence yesterday could have been huge (making WFU respect the run - and making it easier for us to compete in a field postition battle like early yesterday). I still believe we have a shot at Ohio State next week - though it certainly doesn't look as promising as it did on Friday... IF we can get some decent run defense and force a couple turnovers we will have a shot because of our great passing attack (esp if we have TA to complement it). Now it is off to resurrect my football watching weekend!!! GO PANTHERS --- BEAT JACKSONVILLE!!!! Last edited by BigDPW : 09-07-2003 at 08:39 AM.

09-08-2003, 11:06 AM	#9
Ksyrup This guy has posted so much, his fingers are about to fall off. Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: In Absentia	Yep, I was thinking of the WF/FSU game from last year when I was watching this one. But it never really turned around for NCST. For the sake of the conference (and FSU's strength of schedule), I hope NCST, VA, and MD right the ship. And I hope WF and GT keep it up. If they are going to knock off the better teams, the least they can do is be consistent. Don't knock off NCST then lose to Duke, for example. __________________ M's pitcher Miguel Batista: "Now, I feel like I've had everything. I've talked pitching with Sandy Koufax, had Kenny G play for me. Maybe if I could have an interview with God, then I'd be served. I'd be complete."

09-06-2003, 12:28 PM	#2
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Wake Forest is a very well coached football team. NC State was a bit overrated coming into the season. Remember though, Wake beat Boston College last weekend and BC is having its way with Penn State today.

09-06-2003, 02:06 PM	#4
GrantDawg World Champion Mis-speller Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Covington, Ga.	Wake looks to be this years NC State.

09-06-2003, 05:40 PM	#6
Wolfpack Pro Rookie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Raleigh, NC	Okay, okay. We suck. Happy now? Seriously, I dreaded this game. Every year, I dread playing Wake Forest, actually. Especially with Jim Grobe as coach. I never got a chance to watch it (being in B10 country, I got BC-PSU instead), but the impressions I gleaned from internet traffic was that the Wake offense played absolute hell with our inexperienced DL. Combine that with TA McLendon out with an injury (great RB, but seems to be a bit on the brittle side) and State went straight into an ambush. Couldn't run the football and Rivers couldn't win the game by himself (though judging by his stat line, he tried). Had OSU obliterated SDSU today, I'd be thinking we'd be in a world of hurt next week (we probably still are), but their struggles on offense may give our young defense a chance to get their legs under them. I do also think that the expectations for this team were impossibly high for a team and school that hasn't had much to root for in football over the years. With OSU on the sked and the Bucks being defending champs, just about everyone thought a national championship was a possibility if the breaks went the right way. Now we may be facing the ghastly prospect of an emotional rivalry game with UNC in a near-must-win situation if they get beat next week. They'll be 1-2 and they won't play UVa, UMd, and FSU until the end of the season under that scenario, as well. People aren't quite ready to throw themselves off of buildings yet, but they're taking a nice look down right now.

09-08-2003, 10:24 AM	#8
Wolfpack Pro Rookie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Raleigh, NC	Wake Forest has hired the perfect coach for their program. Wake will never get five-star quality talent to come to their school that often, but Grobe has implemented a system that gets the maximum out of the talent he does have by levelling the playing field, at least when the Deacs are on offense. Since it's based on Fischer DeBerry's offense at Air Force, it has a track record of success, since Air Force can only use the players that commit to coming to the Academy, rather than just going into the best recruiting areas and getting who they want at will. Paul Johnson up at Navy has a similar maddening offense that once he gets his players used to it, should produce modest success. These are the kinds of coaches you need at these smaller schools to compete at the highest level. Defensively, it's hard to be inventive and have a scheme the opponents can't prepare well for, but offensively is another story. If the better teams only see that offense once or perhaps twice in a season and it's nearly impossible to reproduce well in practice, the less-talented team has that chance of causing chaos at least early in the ball game. It's then up to the defense to find a way to cope. FSU, for example, found themselves down 14-0 after one quarter at Wake last year before finally getting the ship righted and whipped Wake the rest of the game. We never got the ship righted because we just don't have the meat or experience up front to stop this sort of offense. I should also amend my post above. We could be 1-3 going into the UNC game because we have a game in Raleigh on Sept. 20 against Texas Tech. We had an experienced D last year and we still gave up 48 points. Fortunately, it's a new QB and it's on grass at home, so I think we'll be better, but if we get buried at OSU next week, the season could get ugly quickly.

09-08-2003, 12:53 PM	#10
Wolfpack Pro Rookie Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Raleigh, NC	It's always been one of the things that has held NC State back from being considered a very good program, these toe-stubbing games. After we toppled FSU in '98, we proceeded to get smacked around by Baylor the next week. We go 9-0 to start last year, but that included a near miss against Duke and ultimately a stumble against Tech at home and then the offense disappears for two games against Maryland and Virginia. Invariably, we just end up losing a game somewhere along the way we should have had no problem winning. I don't know if I can put the Wake game Saturday quite into that context, but certainly we should have been more competitive.

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