Pirates vs Tar Heels: Slideshow
Here’s a slideshow from Saturday’s ECU-UNC contest. (Photos by Rob Rowe)
Showing posts tagged “Football”
N.C. State Rebounds From Loss, Blows Away Murray State
N.C. State Quarterback Russell Wilson scrambles past Murrary State's Lamar Hall in the first quarter of the contest. (Photo by Rob Rowe)
CARTER-FINLEY STADIUM/RALEIGH - George Costanza would’ve been proud of the N.C. State Wolfpack on Saturday night as they crushed Murray State 65-7.
For the balding down-on-his luck Jew it was no more tuna on toast, and a new day with chicken salad on white bread, untoasted. For the Wolfpack, Instead of fumbling on the first offensive play as they did against South Carolina, they recovered a fumble on Murray State’s first play. Instead of an anemic offense that put up 3 points and 133 total yards, they scored on every possession. Instead of a sellout and a national television audience, there was no TV broadcast and a stadium that cleared out by halftime. But could you blame them?
Name a record and there’s a chance N.C. State achieved it against their Football Championship Subdivision foes. They had 45 points at halftime, the most the most since 2001. The 65 on the board at the final whistle were the most of O’Brien’s coaching career and as many as the Wolfpack have scored since 1920. Quarterback Russell WIlson had a career-high four touchdown passes — at halftime. He also passed former Buffalo signal-caller Drew Willy for second place all-time in most consecutive passes without an interception with 293 attempts. He’s just 32 short of Andre Woodson’s record.
It was exactly what they needed to build some confidence after last week.
“It seems like it took us a long time to play again after the South Carolina game,” N.C. State Head Coach Tom O’Brien said. “Certainly we think we made some improvements but we have a lot more to go. We understand that more of the teams we’re going to play in this league are like South Carolina than like Murray State.”
Wolfpack Wants to Forget Opener and Outrace Racers
N.C. State (0-1) vs. Murray State (1-0)
6 p.m., Saturday, Carter-Finley Stadium
Video on Accsports.com, Audio on 101.5 WRAL FM
Key stats … Coming off a heated North vs. South battle last week against Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks, N.C. State now gets to start a new history. This marks not only the first meeting between the Wolfpack and Murray State of the Football Championship Division (formerly I-AA), but also the first time the Racers have faced any ACC school. The game seems a cupcake on it’s face, but that’s probably what Duke and Virginia thought last week before they fell to Richmond and William & Mary, respectively.
The Racers from Kentucky are talented. Last week against Kentucky Wesleyan they set a school record by scoring in seven different ways, including two safeties in the first half in a 66-10 drubbing. Make no mistake, this is a huge stepup in competition. Murray State failed to score an offensive touchdown last year in two contests against Football Bowl Division opponents Western Kentucky and Indiana.
N.C. State will win if … They get back to the basics. Hanging onto the football (Toney Baker’s fumble on the team’s first offensive play proved the difference last week), protecting the quarterback and achieving some offensive balance. They’ll have to improve on their 133 yards of total offense from last week not only to win, but to gain confidence for Pittsburgh next week. If the defense plays as well as it did against South Carolina, Murray State won’t find pay dirt.
Murray State will win if … They can get after the quarterback, play ball control football, keep it close and knick it at the end. Short of that they’ll need return man Marcus Harris to duplicate last week’s effort when he scored on both a kickoff and punt return. They also need to pretend no one is watching. They had 6,000 fans last week. This week they’ll contend with 50,000 enemies, likely a few taking advantage of the two tickets for $24 deal.
Players to watch … With 14 students bearing “Wilson4Heisman” across their chests N.C. State Quarterback Russell Wilson, who’s on Maxwell Award watch list, looked pedestrian against a stout South Carolina defense last week. But any quarterback, even Wilson, won’t look great when they’re sacked six times. Look for him to rebound and for his offensive line to give him more time in the pocket.
The key question is if the Wolfpack line can prevent 6-7 270 pound sackmaster Austin Lane out of the backfield.
Vegas line None.
Score prediction and brief explanation This week is just what the Wolfpack need, if they take advantage of it. The offensive line will want to prove its worth this week, and Wilson should have time to pick apart the Pacer defense. Murray State could provide a few highlights and thrills, but they just aren’t in the same league, even with an N.C. State team that was disappointing in its opener. N.C. State 31 Murray State 10
Bye Bye Saint Nick
Hakeem Nicks
On a sour day for Tar Heel fans across the state after Roy Williams’ squad dropped a thriller to Boston College Sunday, junior wideout Hakeem Nicks announced he will declare for the 2009 NFL draft after pulling in 217 yards receiving in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Nicks is leaving UNC already holding 14 school records including yards in a season (1222) and touchdowns in a season (12).
“Carolina has been a special place for me,” said Nicks. “I want to thank my teammates, the coaching staff and the Tar Heel fans for supporting me during my three years in Chapel Hill.”
The departure of Nicks and the graduation of Brooks Foster and Brandon Tate leaves Carolina’s receiving corps severely depleted.
Here’s a video of one of Nicks’ greatest catches of his career.
Meineke Car Care Bowl NCAA 2009 Simulation
West Virginia’s Pat White rallied the Mountaineers from a 10 point deficit with under three minutes to play, beating the Tar Heels 28-24.
T.J. Yates threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks with 2 minutes and 53 seconds remaining to give the Heels a 10 point lead. The play would have solidified the game, but Noel Devine returned the kickoff 102 yards for a score, narrowing the Carolina lead to only three points.
UNC’s Paschal Done for Career
Mark Paschal
Carolina’s senior linebacker Mark Paschal sustained a cervical spine injury, according to Tarheelblue.com.
Paschal was injured in the NC State game Saturday and had an MRI Sunday. The medical staff recommended he not play any more football due to the risk of further injury.
“Our sports medicine staff has assured him and his parents that he will make a complete recovery,” Butch Davis said. “Mark has had a terrific senior season, has been a great leader for us, and is on track to graduate in May.”
This is a huge blow not only to Carolina’s defense but also for his future. Not many experts would have projected Paschal to be drafted highly in the NFL, but this injury will prevent any chance of a pro-football career. Paschal was UNC’s leading tackler this season and has been an anchor for the Heels.
Update: Paschal has written an open letter to the Carolina community, which can be seen here.
There are no moral victories: Miami 49, Duke 31
Standing on the sideline at Wallace Wade stadium Saturday, I watched Miami’s Matt Bosher get off the best punt I have ever seen, a booming 76-yard kick in the third quarter that left the 32, 011 on hand for the game momentarily silent and the Blue Devil return men scrambling to catch up as the ball sailed overhead. Coach David Cutcliffe would later call this the play of the day. And while it’s unusual for a punt to be singled out in such a way, it wasn’t at all surprising.
Prior to Bosher’s kick, the game was Duke’s. Deft play-calling and solid rushing by committee members Jackson, Harris and Hollingsworth had given the normally slow-starting Blue Devils an early lead. Led by Mike Tauiliili, the front seven had managed to keep Miami’s youngish but potent offense playing on their heels. But then Bosher tilted the field in the Hurricanes favor, pinning the Blue Devils on their own 11 yard line. It would not tilt back.
Duke’s O sputtered on the ensuing drive. Six plays later, Miami took the lead on a six yard TD pass by precocious redshirt freshman quarterback Jacory Harris. And thus the rout began.
The 49-31 loss leaves Duke with a record of 3-3 heading into next week’s game against Vanderbilt, a team that seems to be staging their own football renaissance. Conference wise, Duke is now 1-2, which is good enough at this point in the season to join the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels in the ACC cellar. So given that, what do we think of the Blue Devils? Much of what I’ve written in this space has been an attempt to determine what progress looks like for a program like Duke’s. Six games in to the season, I’m not any closer to doing so than when I started.
To be sure, Duke lost this game. A second half chocked full of costly penalties, missed opportunities and dropped passes doomed them, making this perhaps more troubling than beatdown by Georgia Tech. There Duke lost by virtue of the athleticism gap. On Saturday, the team simply unraveled against an ACC rival that was ripe for an upset. That does not bode well, which is not to say that the season is lost, I mean, I’ll bury no body before its time, but whatever momentum Duke had following its win against Virginia is at this point a memory. And, as previously stated, there are no more gimmes left on the Blue Devil’s schedule.
What does progress look like for this long beleaguered program? I’m still not sure, the expectations keep on moving. What’s more, this is but the first year of the David Cutcliffe era. But if the team is to retain the attention of its fledging fan base, if the new coaching staff hopes to attract the caliber of talent that will enable the Blue Devils to beat teams that are actually worth a damn, than it’s going to need to show some, and soon.
The worst team in the ACC is not named the Blue Devils…
Other than that, there aren’t many conclusions to be drawn from Saturday’s 31-3 victory over Virginia—just more questions.
The Blue Devils have quietly managed to climb out of the ACC cellar, but have done so by stepping on the piled carcasses of inferior and failing programs. They picked up their first conference win in 26 tries Saturday, but left the defense to do the heavy lifting while Thaddeus Lewis and the rest of the Duke offense again struggled through the first half. Final stats show that Duke was outperformed in nearly every quantifiable aspect of the game, and before Michael Tauiliili and the rest of the Blue Devil defense harassed Cavalier Quarterback Marc Verica into a second half meltdown, the outcome could have gone either way. And yet Duke won, convincingly.
“We made a lot of mistakes that good teams don’t make,” said David Cutcliffe at the post-game press conference, “But I’m extremely proud of our guys for doing what they needed to do to win.”
So, the Blue Devils are no longer a doormat, but are they any good?
The truth won’t begin to shake out until next week as Duke continues its long march through conference play which, N.C. State notwithstanding, sees them pitted against the class of the ACC.
Conjecture, thy name is Vernal. (Also, Duke is 2-1)
Take notice Blue Devil nation, it may very well be that your football team—by ACC standards at least—does not suck. True, their only wins have come by way of teams who either played seemingly without the benefit of a secondary (Navy), or who were altogether lacking of a pulse (James Madison). And it’s also true that the offensive fireworks and final 41-31 score do mask what was an otherwise sloppy game. That said, it’s customary for teams to fill out the early portion of the season with twinkies, creampuffs and other easily digested confectioneries; all the better to work out the kinks before getting to the meat of the schedule. David Cutcliffe, who some are calling the first legit coach Duke has had in years, knows this, or rather, this is something I’d expect a legit coach to know.
Whatever. Thaddeus Lewis—he of ACC player-of-the-week fame—scorched the aforementioned porous Navy pass defense to the tune of 317 yards. Under Cutcliffe’s tutelage, the still rawly talented Lewis seems to be blossoming. That and the fact that the team is now in the business of breaking losing streaks (Note: The Midshipmen have taken four of the last five contests.) rather than starting them should I think give the fan base reason to be cautiously optimistic about the team’s prospects.
So to those 10 or so thousand Dukies that did not show up to Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday, and to the ones who did but fled for cooler locales after the first quarter, I’ll say this: Get happy. There are no gimmes on the schedule, and the road to the Orange Bowl (Yeah, I said it.) only gets tougher from here.
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