Posted by J.J. Greenstein on December 12, 2011 under Other ACC Coverage | Comments are off for this article
It was throw back day in Raleigh as NC State (6-3) hosted local North Carolina Central (5-5, 1-0 MEAC) at historic Reynold’s Coliseum Sunday afternoon. Popcorn and hot dogs were just a dollar and posters commemorating the 1983 National Championship team were handed out before and after the game.
But it was a throw back of the NC State teams from the late 2000’s that showed up for most of the second half of State’s 65-60 win.
State started strong, shutting Central out for the first six and half minutes of the game and jumping out to an early 9-0 lead, but State could not pull away from the Eagles, allowing them to hang around until the final horn.
After holding a double-digit lead for most of the game (led 37-27 at the half), the Pack started to get sloppy on both ends of the floor, using an ineffective 2-3 zone for most of the second half on defense while turning the ball over 16 times and shooting a low percentage (37%) on the offensive end.
State allowed the Eagles, who entered the game with the number two scoring offense in the country at almost 89 points per game, to cut the lead all the way down to three in the final minute, but four late free throws from sophomore Scott Wood, who is perfect on the season from the charity stripe, helped the Pack escape with the win.
Wood finished with 19 points, hitting five of his nine three-point attempts in 38 minutes. As a team, the Pack only made seven of their 23 attempts from three point land, and their inability to knock down outside shots has really hurt them so far this season.
State’s lone senior, C.J. Williams, led all scorers with a career-high 21 points. He also pulled down five of the Wolfpack’s 34 rebounds. Junior Richard Howell, who played only 27 minutes due to foul trouble, was the only other State player to score in double-figures, finishing with 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Sophomores Lorenzo Brown and Calvin Leslie both struggled to score, finishing with one and three points, respectively. Brown finished 0-7 from the floor but still managed to quarterback the offense nicely with six of the Pack’s 15 assists.
The Pack has a week off to prepare for their toughest test of the year, as Syracuse will come in to a sold out RBC Center Saturday evening. State pushed Syracuse to the brink last season at the Carrier Dome, eventually falling 65-59 to the then eighth ranked Orange.
The Orange should be the top-ranked team in the country when they get to Raleigh following losses by number two Ohio State to Kansas and then number one Kentucky to Indiana- a team the Pack led by seven late in the second half before falling apart a couple weeks ago.
State’s out of conference schedule has been very tough, but these games turn into learning experiences for a young Pack squad learning how to win under a new coaching staff. The strength of schedule for the Pack (deemed the 18th toughest schedule in the country by Rating Percentage Index), and the six wins, has the Pack at an RPI of 57- that’s higher than at any point all of last season.
The RBC Center should be rocking Saturday, and I expect Coach Mark Gottfried to have the Pack ready to play tough for a full 40 minutes against the Orange, who will be playing their first game this season outside the state of New York.
Posted by J.J. Greenstein on November 21, 2011 under Other ACC Coverage | Comments are off for this article
Only in the ACC does a team crap the bed on the road against arguably the league’s worst team, then come back home a week later and beat the league’s best team by 24 points.
That’s what NC State (6-5, 3-4 ACC) did Saturday against Clemson (9-2, 6-2 ACC) in a 37-13 win at home. Just a few days removed from an embarrassing loss in Chestnut Hill to ACC bottom-dweller Boston College, State came out and dominated every phase of the game against the then seventh ranked Tigers.
“I really have no explanation for what just happened,” said State head coach Tom O’Brien following the win.
And neither do the fans for either side, with the exception being Clemson not having their electric freshman receiver Sammy Watkins, but one player doesn’t make a game- certainly not one with his extreme of an outcome. Though, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had his explanation for the outcome.
“We looked like an immature team out there tonight… That’s really it in a nutshell.”
Immature? I guess. For the first time all season Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd looked like a true sophomore as the Pack defense kept pressure on him throughout, recording five sacks on Boyd and one on Clemson backup Cole Stoudt, forcing two fumbles and picking off two passes.
One of those interceptions fell into the hands of sophomore corner David Amerson, his nation-leading eleventh of the year, tying the ACC single-season record with one game to play. Junior Brandon Bishop got the other pick in his own end-zone, the ninth of his career- both of the Pack’s interceptions were in the red zone.
Boyd finished the day 21-34 for 238 yards before giving way to Stoudt in the second half. Boyd’s counterpart, Mike Glennon managed the game very well for the Wolfpack, keeping them ahead of the chains and making the Tigers pay for their turnovers.
The Pack was able to use the run game effectively to set up the passing game, which saw Glennon finish 19-29 for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Running backs James Washington (22 carries, 86 yards) and Tony Creecy (15 carries, 65 yards) paced the Pack on the ground. Creecy’s four yard touchdown run in the second quarter put the Pack up 24-3 and helped the Pack keep their foot on the gas heading into halftime. Curtis Underwood Jr. added nine yards on three carries late in the game.
The receivers were on point for the Pack, as Tobais Palmer, who had 82 yards, and George Bryan each had a touchdown catch, and six others caught a pass from Glennon during the game.
State did not turn the ball over, and was able to cash in when Clemson turnovers gave them good field position. State won the all-important turnover battle four to zero.
Not to be over-shadowed by great efforts from their offensive and defensive units, State’s special teams were solid throughout the game. Freshman place kicker Niklas Sade was three for three on field goals, with a long of 32 yards, and was perfect on his four extra point attempts. Freshman punter Wil Baumann punted eight times for the Wolfpack, averaging 37.5 yards per punt, landing three inside the 20 yard line. Adding to the stellar performance was kick-returner TJ Graham becoming the ACC’s all-time leader in return yards in a career during the game, too.
All in all it was an incredible afternoon for the Pack in front of another sold-out Carter-Finley crowd. Glennon, Bishop, and freshman defensive lineman Art Norman all received ACC honors today; Glennon as the offensive back, Bishop as the defensive back, and Norman as the rookie of the week. The 37 points was the most State has scored in an ACC game this season, and they did it by only scoring in the second and third quarters.
Player of the game: Art Norman. There are quite a few deserving guys here (Glennon, Sade, Darryl Cato-Bishop could all get the nod) but the freshman recorded 2.5 sacks, four total tackles, and forced a fumble on his way to being named the ACC’s rookie of the week.
What went right? Everything, I’m serious. State’s offense scored 37 points without committing a turnover. The defense was dominant and forced four turnovers while only giving up 34 yards rushing, and the special teams were solid when called upon.
What went wrong? If you had to pick something, State’s pass defense. While they made two interceptions, they gave up 303 yards through the air to Boyd and Stoudt. DeAndre Hopkins had 124 yards receiving for the Tigers, too.
What’s next? State has a huge game against Maryland at home this Saturday. State needs to win this game to go to a bowl, and really cannot afford another letdown against the Terps like they had at the end of last year. Maryland has nothing to play for, much like Boston College who beat the Pack last week, so State must take care of business.
Both coaches did a lot of talking during the week leading up to the game, but in the end it was once again NC State’s Tom O’Brien who came out on top, sending interim coach Everett Withers to his first defeat in the series.
Of all the predictions made for this rivalry match-up, I doubt anyone expected a shut out to be pitched by either side- especially not from NC State’s banged up, under-achieving defense.
A week after being completely out-matched in a 34-0 defeat in Tallahassee to Florida State, the Pack bounced back to shut down the Tar Heels, who were fresh off throwing up 49 on a good Wake Forest team a week before.
State’s defensive line was as healthy as it’s been all year, as the Pack was able to rotate four in, four out up front to stay fresh and keep pressure on Carolina quarterbacks Bryn Renner, who left in the second half with concussion symptoms, and back-up Braden Hanson.
“I’d certainly like to commend this football team and the coaching staff. If you look at the effort by the defense, it was tremendous today,” said O’Brien, who has now beaten the Tar Heels in each of his five meetings against them since he took over in Raleigh.
State held Carolina to just three yards rushing, recording four sacks that totaled 48 yards lost. Linebacker Terrell Manning led the way for the Pack, recording 11 tackles, and breaking up three passes to go along with a sack.
The defense did what it has done most of the year, forcing three Carolina turnovers. Safety Earl Wolff picked off his second pass of the season, defensive lineman Darryl Cato-Bishop got his first interception of his career, and corner David Amerson made his nation-leading ninth interception, which he returned 33 yards out of his own end-zone.
It was the first five-game winning streak for the Pack over the Heels since 1988-92. The shut-out was the first for State over the Heels since 1960- when the Wolfpack won 3-0, and the first in Raleigh since 1921.
While the defense played its best game of the year, the offense was far from perfect.
Paced by a solid game from junior running back James Washington (110 yards on 27 carries), who ran behind a solid performance from his offensive line, the offense did just enough to keep their defense off the field and contribute to the Pack dominating the field position battle.
Quarterback Mike Glennon was 16 of 33 for just 164 yards, tossing one touchdown and one interception. The interception came on the first drive of the game, but Glennon settled down and hit seven different receivers, while doing enough to help the Pack come out on top.
State’s leading receiver on the year, T.J. Graham, was kept very quiet as both a receiver and a return man in the game, but made the most of his one catch of the day; a 12 yard touchdown pass from Glennon off of play-action in the first quarter.
That would stand as the only touchdown of the game, as freshman place kicker Niklas Sade added a pair of field goals from 26 and 24 yards. Sade missed an attempt from 48 early on, but kept his head up and was solid the rest of the day.
State beat their in-state rival once again, and needs to build off of the momentum to finish the season strongly, and get to a bowl game at the end of the season.
Player of the game: This was a tough one but we’ll single out linebacker Terrell Manning and running back James Washington. Manning led the team with 11 tackles, broke up three passes, and added a sack for a 12 yard loss. Washington ran for 110 yards on 27 carries, his third 100 yard game of the year.
What went right? Defense as a whole. State picked off Carolina three times, sacked them four times, and held the Tar Heels to just three rushing yards en route to its first shut out of the year.
What went wrong? The passing game. Not that it really hurt the Pack, but Mike Glennon was only 16 of 33 for 164 yards, tossing one touchdown and one interception on the day. Luckily, a big game was not needed for the Pack to come out on top.
What’s next? NC State heads to Chestnut Hill to face Boston College. This is definitely a winnable game for the Pack and essentially a must-win if they want to go bowling this season. Tom O’Brien has not won a road game in the Atlantic Division since he arrived in Raleigh five years ago- he simply must change that this week. State is in the top ten in the country in turnover margin this season; Boston College is near the bottom at 106.
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