NC State

It was hot at the beach.

Not just hot I wanna drink hot, but hot in a my suit is stuck to my legs and every grain of sand whipped up by this blast furnace wind seems like it is permanently attaching itself to my body hot. I know I am breathing, but why does the air never get past my throat. The problem might be that I am sporting a little over 325 pounds and this dishrag that I thought would work as a towel long ago gave up on the idea of effectively wicking the various tributaries of sweat running down my limbs. I need to get in the ocean and now. My goal is no different than yours, and I can see other enlightened luminaries like myself reaching toward this Nirvana. We need to stand at the exact point where the 6 foot Jones Beach wave will crest at its highest point reaching toward this cloudless blue sky with extraordinary effort before it crashes back to earth and together we will absorb every possible square inch of this force. Maybe as a unit, we can even present such a formidable wall that the ocean itself will give up and retreat in its tide to attempt to thwart us again 12 hours later...

Alas no, the water hits us and rushes inexorably by to its destiny in the end zone errr beach. I am but a Seminole Nose Guard and even with all my defensive mates working as one, the water seems to always reach the damn beach. The good news is that today is only practice and the "water" is only a nickname for our offense. But why oh why can we not practice against a tidal pool like Charleston Southern. Why is every day like a tsunami slamming the rocks in Indonesia. Yes it is hot, but I am beginning to hate water...

Maybe the big news this week that legend Mickey Andrews is stepping down is the magic elixir of self confidence that needs to be infused into this group. His players truly love him...past & present alike share the same sentiments. A man that challenges their very manhood in between the white lines every day, is the same man that gently teaches them how to be men off the field every night. Is is ridiculously ironic that in the last 9 seasons of "decline", if we had an offense that just was in the top 2/3 of the United States, we might have won another 2 or 3 National Championships. Now, in 2009, his last at the helm, if our defense was not 109th in the US, this squad might have had a chance to make a run at glory as well...No explanation from this corner, but I would love for us to have an inspired week ummm soon. This week would be good.

Kevin McNeil is playing football with a jai-alai cesta attached to his forearm. I do not know what the trainers are trying to protect, but if it needs that much padding, he might be better served (ha ha, get it served...jai-alai...what a terrific pun, I mean outstanding) sitting on the bench. You may have noticed that the NC State RB's pregame were gathering official permission to coat their bodies in petroleum jelly. This allowed them to slither past our line unfettered most of the game. It does not help when they ran right at a guy with only one group of working fingers in McNeil. I actually was encouraged with the play of our outside linebackers this game. Dakota Watson looked healthier and quicker than he has in over a year, and Nigel Bradham - still playing out of position on the outside - made a number of nice close the gap plays.

I will remain miffed at the BS personal foul call on Greg Reid on a crucial drive. NC State got out of a 2nd and 27 with that completely clean hit. Maybe the refs were as shocked as any of us that the biggest hit of the day was delivered by a 160 pound kid. Our safeties need to take a notepad out and stop playing paddycake with opposing players wandering down the field without a care in the World like Laura Ingalls Wilder running home to Pa. There is a reason why her big sister went blind, and the nasty truth is that it was the result of a vicious hit by Marvin Jones. That year, not even Ma left the house to go to town without a gun. Intimidation works and our young safeties need to step it up. I saw a little nasty in Nick Moody again in this week, but we need to see a lot more going forward.

What more can we say about this offense. We watched Christian Ponder come to the sideline grimacing in pain after every series. They must have tried to adjust his rib protection a half dozen times to make him more comfortable. Granted, my wife was hurting her neck trying to see our hero without a shirt on so I got regular reports on his "sideline health", but he was really struggling. What an effort. Alex, I will take the definitively best Tailback on the team for $400. What is Jermaine Thomas? Sanders and Datko also need some love today as they did a terrific job sealing the outside for most of JT's big gallops.

Finally, and maybe the biggest factor this week moving forward, we need our freshman kicker to continue fulfilling the promise that he brought as the highest ranked kicker in the US. This week we are going to face the best two skill players in the ACC in CJ Spiller and Jacoby Ford. It is crucial that his kickoffs go high and deep or we will be like Wile E. Coyote staring at the back of the blur that is CJ Spiller. Please do not squib, pooch or whatever other ridiculous small critter moniker we could implore here for a crappy kick. Just man up and blast the KO as far as possible and let the dogs eat.

Enjoy the week. Thanks Mickey for 26 incredible seasons. Go Noles!