sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Writing this as I wait for my flight home from the Raleigh Durham airport.
Had a great time on this brief road trip. My first visit to Carter-Finley Stadium, first encounters with NC State fans, first ACC roadie.
Based on all the negative comments from opposing fan bases, I was prepared for a lot of hate and anger from the Wolf Pack fans. Not the case. TexanMark and I walked through a big part of the tailgating area surrounding their stadium, resplendent in Syracuse Orange, and did not get a single negative comment. We didn't get a warm welcome either; they ignored us almost completely, to the point where we started engaging some of them in conversation; maybe just to prove to ourselves that we were there and alive.
One stopped us, welcomed us to the league and told us how impressed he was with the way that Syracuse fans travel. Said there were a ton of people in Syracuse gear there and thought we were going to be a good fit for the league.
Mark and i talked about this at some length before the game. He thought we would bring 2K to the game,I thought more like 3. Hard to tell from the upper deck of the place; still not sure how many ended up bringing.
Parked at the Chase Office Complex, which was about half a mile from JackBauer's tailgate, and maybe 3 quarters of a mile from the stadium. Not bad, looks like we could have a fine board tailgate at the complex next time, though they would have to be willing to reserve some spots for us.
Anyway, props to Jack, Cuse Juicy, Crusty, MiniCuse and all the other locals and semi locals who made the tailgate happen. Plenty of good food and I am happy to report that you can get a fine vintage of ginger ale south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Met a lot of posters and lurkers for the first time, too many to name. As always, great to talk to fellow fanatics and talk SU sports.
After eating our fill, we eventually headed to the SU stronghold at the Backyard Bistro. I was told it is owned by a CNY native who loves SU. It looked like it yesterday. Filled to the brim with Syracuse fans. Hung out with Jerry and his pals and had time for a brief chat with friend of the board and former SU captain Jason Poles.
Nice tailgating scene here. Nothing extraordinary, but lots and lots of people gathered under their red canopies, eating bad Southern hotdogs and good Southern BBQ. There are lots of big lots surrounding the stadium. Hope some day we can enjoy the same situation in Syracuse.
Got to the stadium early. They had a major renovation recently that really helped improve the facility. It has a really wide open concourse you can walk around the perimeter of the stadium. Individual seats on the lower deck, bleachers on the upper. Looks like they filled in an open end zone and added a upper deck over the years. Really nice high def scoreboard behind one of the end zones, nice ribbon boards too.
A nicer, less cheap version of what Rutgers has where the before picture was probably similar to what UConn and BC have.
The NCAA State fans were some of the most laid back, quiet fans I have seen. They never made much noise and were not a factor in the game. They kept trying todo a Wolf Pack chant but no one was interested. This is another place that tries to get thec crowd to shout "Another Wolf Pack first down!" but almost no one wanted to do that one either. The loudest cheers were the LGO chants from the Syracuse people.
Had a Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich and a Carolina Pit BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Both were good. The chicken sandwich was tender and the Carolina style pork was very good. Not used to the high vinegar content but it was excellent and the touch of heat made it even better.
Prices for food were low. Chicken sandwiches were $5. Ice cream was $2. Sodas were I believe $3; maybe $3.50. Might be the first time I have seen lower prices than at the Dome.
Let's talk football.
Though the game was ugly, hard to watch. Two largely incompetent offenses. Still, we dominated their defensive line, could seemingly run at will whenever we wanted but some awful calls and ghastly execution kept the game close.
The OL continues to emerge as a strength of this team. Macky, Trudo and Hickey are all playing well, Foy gets better each game and Robinson is really coming on. Pass blocking was always good but wow, the run blocking is getting better. This is all the NC State radio guys could talk about on the post game show; how physical Northern teams are.
Thought Smith and PTG did a real good job reading blocks and making good choices.
They had a lot of success running inside the tackles but when State jammed the middle, they broke outside for very good gains as well.
Our only WRsright now are Broyld and Kobena. West remains an enigma; at this point I am convinced he is playing hurt. Was hoping Lewis might get some reps.
Hunt is interesting to watch. He is a warrior out there, you can see why his teammates love him. That TD run was a beautiful thing. What desire. He made one bad decision I remember that resulted in a pick, other than that, his problems relate to the accuracy of his throws. Can he throw long and medium passes more accurately? If so, he is going to be solid. I think he can but time will tell.
Our OL dominated but so did our DL. Great effort by everyone on the unit. Happy to see our DEs getting their arms in the air and deflecting some passes. Good to see consistent pressure from them without blitzing. That allowed us to get more people in coverage, which made it hard for them to pass.
Those strange formations they were using were designed to give their troubled OL an easier time run blocking and because we did not stack the box, NC State tried and tried to run but could not do it. The DL was a big part of this but it was a team effort. The linebackers were great and the secondary was too. Especially Eskridge who redeemed himself after the Clemson disaster.
Liked the conservative gameplay Bullough used. Like the improvements but it must be said that State was without its best QB and WR and we benefited a lot from that. But our secondary played much better. Kelly is a difference maker back there and it was good to have Reddish back.
The biggest concern with the team right now is with the sometimes bizarre play calling. We did some cool things, running out of 4 WR sets then bringing in 3 TE sets. I loved some of the long throws called. But there were some other calls that I really could not understand. It took Hackett a couple of years to hit his stride. Hope it doesn't take GM as long to get all the cylinders firing. I think there is reason for optimism here.
With Wake, Pitt and BC still to play in the Dome, if we can hold serve there, we are gonna go bowling. Maybe to Annapolis. That would be pretty awesome.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Had a great time on this brief road trip. My first visit to Carter-Finley Stadium, first encounters with NC State fans, first ACC roadie.
Based on all the negative comments from opposing fan bases, I was prepared for a lot of hate and anger from the Wolf Pack fans. Not the case. TexanMark and I walked through a big part of the tailgating area surrounding their stadium, resplendent in Syracuse Orange, and did not get a single negative comment. We didn't get a warm welcome either; they ignored us almost completely, to the point where we started engaging some of them in conversation; maybe just to prove to ourselves that we were there and alive.
One stopped us, welcomed us to the league and told us how impressed he was with the way that Syracuse fans travel. Said there were a ton of people in Syracuse gear there and thought we were going to be a good fit for the league.
Mark and i talked about this at some length before the game. He thought we would bring 2K to the game,I thought more like 3. Hard to tell from the upper deck of the place; still not sure how many ended up bringing.
Parked at the Chase Office Complex, which was about half a mile from JackBauer's tailgate, and maybe 3 quarters of a mile from the stadium. Not bad, looks like we could have a fine board tailgate at the complex next time, though they would have to be willing to reserve some spots for us.
Anyway, props to Jack, Cuse Juicy, Crusty, MiniCuse and all the other locals and semi locals who made the tailgate happen. Plenty of good food and I am happy to report that you can get a fine vintage of ginger ale south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Met a lot of posters and lurkers for the first time, too many to name. As always, great to talk to fellow fanatics and talk SU sports.
After eating our fill, we eventually headed to the SU stronghold at the Backyard Bistro. I was told it is owned by a CNY native who loves SU. It looked like it yesterday. Filled to the brim with Syracuse fans. Hung out with Jerry and his pals and had time for a brief chat with friend of the board and former SU captain Jason Poles.
Nice tailgating scene here. Nothing extraordinary, but lots and lots of people gathered under their red canopies, eating bad Southern hotdogs and good Southern BBQ. There are lots of big lots surrounding the stadium. Hope some day we can enjoy the same situation in Syracuse.
Got to the stadium early. They had a major renovation recently that really helped improve the facility. It has a really wide open concourse you can walk around the perimeter of the stadium. Individual seats on the lower deck, bleachers on the upper. Looks like they filled in an open end zone and added a upper deck over the years. Really nice high def scoreboard behind one of the end zones, nice ribbon boards too.
A nicer, less cheap version of what Rutgers has where the before picture was probably similar to what UConn and BC have.
The NCAA State fans were some of the most laid back, quiet fans I have seen. They never made much noise and were not a factor in the game. They kept trying todo a Wolf Pack chant but no one was interested. This is another place that tries to get thec crowd to shout "Another Wolf Pack first down!" but almost no one wanted to do that one either. The loudest cheers were the LGO chants from the Syracuse people.
Had a Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich and a Carolina Pit BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Both were good. The chicken sandwich was tender and the Carolina style pork was very good. Not used to the high vinegar content but it was excellent and the touch of heat made it even better.
Prices for food were low. Chicken sandwiches were $5. Ice cream was $2. Sodas were I believe $3; maybe $3.50. Might be the first time I have seen lower prices than at the Dome.
Let's talk football.
Though the game was ugly, hard to watch. Two largely incompetent offenses. Still, we dominated their defensive line, could seemingly run at will whenever we wanted but some awful calls and ghastly execution kept the game close.
The OL continues to emerge as a strength of this team. Macky, Trudo and Hickey are all playing well, Foy gets better each game and Robinson is really coming on. Pass blocking was always good but wow, the run blocking is getting better. This is all the NC State radio guys could talk about on the post game show; how physical Northern teams are.
Thought Smith and PTG did a real good job reading blocks and making good choices.
They had a lot of success running inside the tackles but when State jammed the middle, they broke outside for very good gains as well.
Our only WRsright now are Broyld and Kobena. West remains an enigma; at this point I am convinced he is playing hurt. Was hoping Lewis might get some reps.
Hunt is interesting to watch. He is a warrior out there, you can see why his teammates love him. That TD run was a beautiful thing. What desire. He made one bad decision I remember that resulted in a pick, other than that, his problems relate to the accuracy of his throws. Can he throw long and medium passes more accurately? If so, he is going to be solid. I think he can but time will tell.
Our OL dominated but so did our DL. Great effort by everyone on the unit. Happy to see our DEs getting their arms in the air and deflecting some passes. Good to see consistent pressure from them without blitzing. That allowed us to get more people in coverage, which made it hard for them to pass.
Those strange formations they were using were designed to give their troubled OL an easier time run blocking and because we did not stack the box, NC State tried and tried to run but could not do it. The DL was a big part of this but it was a team effort. The linebackers were great and the secondary was too. Especially Eskridge who redeemed himself after the Clemson disaster.
Liked the conservative gameplay Bullough used. Like the improvements but it must be said that State was without its best QB and WR and we benefited a lot from that. But our secondary played much better. Kelly is a difference maker back there and it was good to have Reddish back.
The biggest concern with the team right now is with the sometimes bizarre play calling. We did some cool things, running out of 4 WR sets then bringing in 3 TE sets. I loved some of the long throws called. But there were some other calls that I really could not understand. It took Hackett a couple of years to hit his stride. Hope it doesn't take GM as long to get all the cylinders firing. I think there is reason for optimism here.
With Wake, Pitt and BC still to play in the Dome, if we can hold serve there, we are gonna go bowling. Maybe to Annapolis. That would be pretty awesome.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
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