Wake (Game 6)

So, I get on a plane yesterday in Phoenix, Arizona to head home to lovely Tampa Bay after a long work road trip. It is a long flight, so I have packed a movie to entertain me and pass the time. I picked a thriller with Halle Barry (yowza) and Bruce Willis.

For those of you who have watched a movie on your computer at 30,000 feet, the only issue is if there happens to be some adult scenes during the flick. In the comfort of your home, no problem. On a plane, not so much. How about when the lady who sits next to you IS A 75 YEAR OLD NUN. Well, that my friends is the definition of uncomfortable. You might ask, why I continued to screen this picture? Well, someone was a tad bit more uncomfortable than I...Although she tried to hide it, my friend the penguin was reading a Danille Steele novel! AHA!!! See you in confession, sister!

That feeling was duplicated the week before in Winston-Salem. Watching a team that had maybe 5 kids on the whole roster who would have been offered an FSU scholarship beat us and then preen around the field in their (crossed out UN) Conquered tee shirts made me want to puke.

The seeds were sown in pregame. Xavier Lee was absolutely awful in warmups. He could not hit anyone and Jimbo was apoplectic. Now, I am not talking about missing guys by a little. Our coaches gave up on the broad side and just were asking him to hit the roof of the barn...whoosh. Fisher was grabbing X's facemask, screaming at him and kicking everything in his path he was so upset with him before the game. I guess he knew what was coming, and maybe we all did. Three years of hearing about inconsistency at practice, and now we fans got a front row seat. But at Wake, everyone gets a front row seat. I love coming to a stadium for a tailgate and feeling that you are there on the wrong day there are so few people. I heard one Wake fan absolutely crying at halftime because there was a line in the restroom "I hate the FSU game!" -he moaned. Big time football...

So when the passing game is not running on even three cylinders, you turn to...the passing game. Unfortunately, as I mentioned last week, Bugs Bunny got us. That running game anvil hit hard. The biggest problem was that we were really close in this game to blowing their doors off, even with X struggling. Up 14-7 and driving. Any score from the 20 and they are done. The Wake offense had basically given up. Their lineman were getting beat so bad that 5 first downs in a row resulted in negative yardage. They were holding and chop blocking on literally every play, and it was so obvious that even our crack ACC refs were calling it. Mentally, this team was ready to pack it in. Then, we gave them another crack, and they drove a truck through it. Because we could not hold the ball for any length of time, their offense (aided in large part by a spate of ill-timed penalties) finally broke through.

So, what do we take from this? Another unfortunate growth lesson. Maybe now X will listen to the details he is given in practice since his mistakes (and they were numerous) were illustrated on game day. Is he the answer? Well, with only 5 starts, he deserves more time. And let's face it...with five matadors in front of the flap, we need some hop in our giddy-yup in the backfield. I believe we should start dumping the ball to Antone in space, and give Jamal Edwards a few more carries between the tackles. Jamal is big enough to get 2-3 yards when there are no holes, and unfortunately our doughnuts don't have munchkins.

On defense, I actually thought we played pretty dadgum well. Patrick Robinson got another pick and we did not hear Tony Carters name for a reason. Paul Griffin played his best game this year as he gets healthy, and if you don't love the effort our future All-American Everette Brown is giving, you ain't breathing. Alex Boston had 40 yards in penalties and Justin Mincey will replace him this week. I hope Marcus Ball heals quickly, because he has the spark that this club has been missing. I still question why Jamie Robinson was whispering sweet nothings to Wakes' only real threat at WR in Kenny Moore on that crucial 3rd down in the 4th quarter. I have got to think that we have proven that we have three other guys that should have had that assignment. Result - TD.

For some crazy reason - probably because being a pessimist is simply no fun - I feel really good about us this week. Let's beat the ibis out of these boys from the South this week, and get this train back on track.

Go Noles!