NC State

Timmy and Jimmy were best friends. It was meant to be. They lived next door to each other, were the same age, loved every sport but crickett and incredibly both their Dads were dentists. These boys got away with most things boys do, but they had one more thing in common. They both loved candy corn and for obvious reasons, their Dads forbade it except for one week a year. Well, it was not Halloween yet, but their teacher Mrs. Turner had a huge jar on her desk and if you got an A on an assignment, you got a full bag to take home. Two A's and four hours later, Timmy and Jimmy were happier than pigs in slop as raced in their respective doors, threw their backpacks on the table and pounded up the stairs to their room to relish the treasure bestowed at school...Unfortunately, the email to their parents arrived minutes earlier. "Congratulations to your child for getting an A on the test this week, and hope your child enjoys the candy treat". "Jimbo, Timmy!!, Come down here!" seemed to ring out in unison as their parents called from a door away. Busted. Timmy, preparing for this possibility had already separated his bag in three parts and hidden them all over his room. Jimbo (as his parents called him) did not even imagine the possibility of getting caught and was left with nothing but tears.

I thought we were past this. But I was wrong. It was the worst coaching effort by our head man to date, and I am not sure there is even a debate. This was not a close loss to a solid team. This was a beat-up, discouraged, dilapidated NC State team that did not belong on the same field as Florida State and they knew it. Ridiculously reminiscent of the Virginia and Florida games last year, our offense simply went away in the second half. This was the fifth loss by Jimbo Fisher to an unranked double digit underdog...in three years. Once in a decade, maybe. Three times in five years is just depressing.

Why did I think we were past this? Remember, three years ago when our first year coach in a crucial late situation against the Hurricanes -up by just a little - eschewed the safe call and the obvious Bowden-esque FG, and called the kill shot with a deep TD pass to Rodney Smith. Ballgame. Granted, three years ago we had less faith in our defense than Hitler had in the Old Testament. But the bravado was there. I still think it is, but in the last few seasons as the defense has matured into its present form, he has changed his philosophy. It cost us a game, a prime chance at a National Championship, and maybe even a shot at the low hanging fruit of an easy ACC Championship.  With the ball and a six point lead in the fourth quarter, we had two series to put the champagne on ice. We ran the ball every down. This against a team that had conceded that they could not stop the pass, so they committed 8 to the box and gave us single coverage all over the field. So, we ran. Result was five yards gained in these six plays and two punts - one of which was blocked. Folks, this is the most talented WR corps we have had in Tallahassee in 20 years. They were just about uncoverable on Saturday night, and we had a Heisman (burp) contender at QB, and we ran into a wall of red until 5'7" Chris Thompson was 5'5".

If we were so hell bent on the conservative route, and our deep set belief in our defense is that strong, then why in tarnation with 3rd and 3 on the 19 with Lonnie Pryor and JWJ (who had 0 carries in this affair), did we call a timeout to run a chocolate mess of a play that lost us 15 yards. Run the ball there up the middle - if that is who we are - and worst case we kick a routine 36 yard FG to put us up by 9. Folks this is an NC State team that gave up 566 yards of passing to Miami last week, and it was not a fluke. They blitz someone on almost every down, so one of our boys is wide open on every play. In fact, as long as we are throwing spears, EJ - who clearly did not have enough second half at-bats - missed two wide open throws that both would have been walk in touchdowns in that stanza. He had Kelvin Benjamin so far ahead of the defense that I honestly can not believe that he had the arm strength to overthrow him. But he did. We also called a perfectly timed screen to CT where we caught NC State in an all-out blitz. They sent 8 guys, and we had Chris with four blockers in front along with three wideouts (7 dudes total for those of you at home using an abacus) all to block the three tiny DB's still ahead of him. Somehow, he badly missed him too. Maybe he thought that Chris had magically morphed into a 325 pound lineman since he saw him in the huddle seconds earlier.

All this frustration after a first half that was just a smidge below what most expected. Folks, it was only 16-0 because we did not turn all of our easy scores into sevens, but everyone in the house knew that this was a mismatch. They had less than 100 yards of offense and both of their lines were getting thrown around like baby seals in a Killer Whale convention. The State fans in the Stadium were so discouraged with their red heroes that they took to booing on every single play call. This tradtion-less school allows their fans to head to the parking lots at halftime and refill their needs. So, when the teams came out of the locker room, less than half the stadium was there - and they did not come back until early in the fourth quarter when it was apparent that we were not going to put this away. It was surreally quiet in Carter Finley until about 5 minutes left in the game. Everyone in the place knew this was a uneven battle but apparently our coaching staff.

Tough to talk about this game and not mention the incredible disaster that is the ACC officiating staff. I am cognizant of the fact that the last few seconds of a basketball game, it is tough to blow the whistle. Yes, this was a huge underdog Carolina-based team that was on a roll to pull the upset, so they feel they can't get in the way. But, c'mon. Timmy Jernigan had three straight plays where he came off the ball, lifted the center up off the ground and drove him - sometimes airborne - directly back towards the QB. The only recourse this poor sap had was to grab Timmy with both hands and pull him down on top of himself. Then as #8 dog crawled over the top of him to get to Glennon, the center would grab his legs and clutch like it was the last sticky bun on the plate. Werner had a offensive tackle wrap his arm around his neck and clothesline him from the side to prevent him from getting around him. All this happened on the last two series. Yes, they completed two fourth down plays, but they should have been 4th and 35. It is beyond unfair to allow this horsepuckey in a football game. Our coaches can't say it, but our AD ought to. It is an uneven playing field and not good football. If the conference does not think they need to start protecting their football powers like they do Duke and Carolina in basketball (rather than going stupidly in the other direction to allow Carolina schools to compete in underdog roles), then they are badly mistaken. Our conference is a national joke and the only thing this hilarity of a football collection had going was the national reputation that FSU has/had. To consistently create an unfair fight is just ludicrous, and fiscal idiocy.

I do not have a lot to complain about on the defensive side. With the offense giving up the ball so incredibly quickly that you would have thought Adrian McPherson was on the sideline with two men from Sicily in tow, the D did not have a real chance to win. First game we really missed Brandon Jenkins. We were tired at DE, and needed some juice there. It was clear that State determined that they did not have time for anything other than a quick drop and a snap pass over the middle to a cutting back or slot receiver racing ahead of a LB. If I was in Stoops shoes, I might have mixed in a safety blitz or gone to a dime package with 6 DB's to take away this route. It was all they had. Heard from some that the final TD was a pick play, and that would fit in nicely with my referee musings, but I can not confirm that.

Players get better over time, and experience is the only teacher. Let's hope the teachers get better with experience too. We would not have expectations like we do if not for Jimbo and his staff, so the idiocy of fans shouting for a firing is ridiculous. He used the word "hindsight" six times in his post-game presser, so if that was not an admittance of guilt over the way he handled everything, I don't know what to tell ya. We felt all year that these two road games were the key to the season, and hate that it came to fruition. Now, let's see how we do for the rest of 2012. Another double digit dog coming to Doak this week. Uh-oh.