NC State

 It was a gorgeous Fall night. The kind of night that happens in the Carolinas, but is completely foreign to most Floridians. Our two seasons, “Winter” and Hell’s Front Porch do not afford us such luxuries. Mid-fifties, with the colors of the trees subtlety shifting and cars traveling down lonely two lane roads greeted by cascading leaves reassigning themselves to the lawns you pass. A large halftime lead felt expected, and the grumbles in the halftime concourses of the home folk was satisfying. We knew this team was coming and a road win against a solid team like NC State felt like it could be a validation with a huge home game approaching next. But our Noles could muster exactly nothing on the scoreboard in the second half, and it just seemed like the refs, the walls and forces outside of our control were collapsing in on this early October Raleigh night. However, one last opportunity remained, and our QB - who had played better than his teammates had allowed him to show, drove us down the field in the last minute for a chance to send these rude fans home unhappy. With the small corner of Noles in Section 1 on their feet in anticipation of a breathless comeback win, one bizarre turnover turned the omnipresent wolf howl sound machine on repeat and the garnet and gold walking dead to their knees. It was 2010 and what we all hoped would be a rocket ship back up to the college football summit was derailed by a Christian Ponder crazy fumble. 

2012 the script for EJ Manuel was almost identical, but a crazy play on a 4th quarter Seminole punt ended up the clincher. Oh boy, what is it about this place that brings us horror on repeat? We brought all the hits back last night, although I think it might be some time before we get that kind of special teams amazingness again. Our Aussie had a bad rugby flashback and with 30 yards in front of him decided that the line of scrimmage was only a suggestion and decided to punt anyway. Hell, even I did not know that rule meant loss of down and another gift wrapped FG for the home team. But, I digress. This game f’n hurts right now, and that is glorious. 2010 and 2012 were unbelievably painful, but they were a prelude to 2013-2016 which were not so bad. Last time, we came up here, we had just about no chance to win and that proved prescient. But, we now have a team that does not only have a chance to win, but breaks our damn hearts when they don’t. The next rung on this ladder ain’t so high now kids.

There are a passel of fans who are angry enough to want to fire everyone with a paycheck bigger than theirs. The Head Coach will admit that he is not innocent of blame. But a pitch play on the goal line that would have scored walking in, and trying to win the game with an end zone shot are damn sure not fireable offenses. The armchair quarterbacks would have destroyed him if he pulled a classic Miami Bobby and ran into the center three times before our kicker - whose confidence is on a greased teeter totter - stepped out there to hook one into the bench. He did not. He went for the win. Right move, maybe the wrong call. I might have rolled right, given Jordan a two way call with his legs or a toss to our megatron in the corner of the end zone. But, I like where Mike’s head is. The truth is that the receiving corps picked a godawful night to play hot potato. Malik dropped a really easy touchdown, and Pokey and Johnny both dropped converting third downs; and Wilson doubled his pleasure by whiffing a perfect fourth down conversion toss. So, do you deep down in your gut blame the braintrust for throwing to the only passcatcher on the field who had not succumbed to Wolfpack fever on this night when it all mattered? 

Treshaun Ward is the best back on this team at running the zone read, and having him in a sling in the second half was not ideal. Darius Washington getting dinged up early in the second half and then leaving with teammate assistance late also was not a Julia Childs recipe for a great running game. But Robert Scott returning did make a huge difference and the boys had more explosive ground plays this week than any game this season other than Duquesne. The problem is that the Pack knew we could only run with success to one side, and that is a muppet without a handler. So, it fell to Jordan and misdirection to save the day, and catching the football became an challenge. It does seem that injuries are coming in bunches on both lines this season. Things that make you go hmmm, Coach Storms. 

Tough to fault the defense on another night where you spent the entire second half on the field. But, are the Branch Davidians leading our recent halftime sessions? We are the opposite of inspired. The last two weeks, we have come out of of the locker room and just acted like it was Palm Sunday throwing fronds on the ground while we passively cheer the other guys marching down the road. I don’t believe that on either of these second stanza first drives we even forced a third down. Even Norvell admitted that the other team made some adjustments that worked coming out of the locker room. Ya think!? Coach Fuller needs to anticipate that when the sky is full of clouds, it might rain. And when their QB went down, and it was apparent even to the tee-retrieving dog that NC State employs that this kid could not throw a lick. Stop with the two high safety look and send  9 to the line to stop this garbage. If Amari can play, he needs to be on the field, because Warner and Briggs are simply not great DE options right now. On the flip, Verse and Payton are monsters. They can’t go every down, but only the zebras stop these two, and stop them they did.

I am self aware enough to know that with extreme fandom comes a ridiculous bias against refs. But, this Flanagan crew is special in a short bus way when we get them. We have the Pack deep, and Verse destroys his man on the edge to corral the back for a 5 yard loss. Next play is a dropback where Jared was around the tackle so fast his only option - roughly 5 yards from the ref with literally nothing else to look at - was to reach up and grab his neck from behind and yank him down. The easiest hold call in history…nothing. Ok, moving on. Next play, repeat. Verse explodes by him again, and the OT says “Why not?”, and grabs his neck again and throws him down from behind…crickets. Meanwhile, Josh Farmer has battled through and is hitting the Pack slinger as…he…is…throwing. The evidence? Well, your honor, the ball went straight up in the air and his throwing arm is dangling by a thread. The call from this moron, roughing. Just wow. After a pick, a Pack d lineman runs across the field to find Jordan and smashes him from the side, then doubles down by violently falling on top of him. Offsetting. Dillon Gibbons does play hard, but when an NC State player drags him on top of him after the play, and gets a flag to derail a drive, Coach gets ripped for undisciplined play. Gotcha. Every crew member on the field somehow missed the headhunting PF at the end of the game. Only the ACC home office saved the day by seeing the grass was green there. It was a night of awfulness, but we are used to that, aren’t we kids?

I said a few weeks back that I was hoping to steal one of these three games. The good news is twofold. One, we still got a chance with one to play, and two, a win in either of the last two weeks would not have been stealing. In fact, most of you are rightfully pissed off because you felt that your boys were flat out better than the #15 team on the road and deserved to win. You are not wrong and deep down, that should make you happy. You may not remember, but the build from 2010 and 2012 resulted in 2013. Hang in there, my little orangutans, the climb is better than the fall.