SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- We are 13 points from being 7-0, #1 in the Atlantic Division of the ACC and at least a top 10 team. The number of plays that would have to be reversed could be counted on one hand and you wouldn’t need the thumb. NC State didn’t have to play West Virginia and are 34 points from being 6-0 and you’d need both hands and perhaps your toes to count the plays needed to reverse that.
- NC State is 10-1 all-time against us. So was Florida State.
- Our team is really a very young team despite some veterans like Dungey, Slayton and Cordy. It’s a team that is getting better as the season goes along, a fact obscured by an improvement in the opposition and Dungey’s problems. In many cases, the second string guy is a freshman who will clearly turn out to be a better player than the first string guy and they are getting more and more playing time, (Andre Cisco, Trill Williams, Iffy Melafonwu, Tyrell Richards, Dakota Davis, Taj Harris and, yes, Tommy DeVito). The more these guys play, the more formidable we will become. It will be the opposite trend form recent seasons when we got worse as the season went along.
- I have a feeling the highly competitive Dungey will respond to being benched last week and a week of doubt about his future with a big game. Last year Dungey had 429 yards total offense against the Pack. Nunes interviewed Will Thompson who covers the Pack and he said: “DeVito sparked the offense against UNC this past Saturday, so I’m worried about that, particularly if there’s not a lot of tape on him. Dungey is the cagey veteran and I think the Pack knows more what to expect from him on paper, but he’s also capable of chucking the ball all over the place and scrambling as he did last year in Raleigh, so I’m not sure that either makes a difference for me, at least -- I’m concerned about both of them.”
- If the DeVito Era really is beginning, we will certainly have a much greater big-play capability than we have had. Thompson also said: “The Pack’s secondary gives up huge plays a lot more often than they should (the end of the Boston College game being a troubling example).” That might favor DeVito starting. I do think that having to prepare for two very different quarterbacks will give us an advantage against the Wolfpack defense.
- We seem to have fixed our run defense against UNC. Dino said he did it by keeping his linebackers fresh, which means playing the young guys more. There many have been some scheme changes, too. State has had some injury problems with its running game anyway so maybe our rush defense won’t be that much of a weakness in any case. We are 90th against the run with 179 ypg. They are 102nd in running the ball with 138 ypg. Average that out and you get 158-9 yards rushing. The teams that beat us rushed for 293 and 265 yards.
- If we can adjust our run defense successfully, we could also fix our pass rush to get to Finley more than we got to Elliott.
- They are #3 in the country in third down conversions with 54%. We are #5 in third down conversion defense with 25%. That will be the real battle. Average that and it’s 39-40%. I’ll take that.
- Finley has all of NC State’s TD passes with 10. Dungey and DeVito have 14. Both teams have 5 interceptions. So who has the aerial circus? We are averaging 43 points a game. They are averaging 29. If it’s going to be a shoot-out, it looks like we have more ammo.
- Our special teams dominance has faded in these last two games, (which is why we wound up in overtime). It may return in this game. Nunes: “You know how the Orange are really good at special teams and No. 1 in the country on average starting field position? NC State is none of that. They’re 112th in average field position, in the 100’s for kickoff and punt efficiency and they’re in the 80s for returning efficiency. The Orange are fourth in punt return efficiency, so stop a few more third downs than the Wolfpack are used to and there’s a huge weakness to be exploited.”
- This also hasn’t been an advantage the last two games but we remain +8 in turnover margin, 9th in the country. The Pack is -1, 81st. it wouldn’t require a huge advantage to make a difference.
- I wonder who Clemson would predict will win this game.
- Every year we beat a ranked team in the Dome and Dino gets to make his big speech. This is the only ranked team we will play in the Dome this year. From all reports, we are finally going to get a decent crowd at the game, 40,000+, even with the weather reports, (and those who pine for an open air stadium will be glad to be under a Dome for this one). Even a far from capacity crowd can make the Dome the loudest place in college football. We can make a real difference. Be there or be square!
5-2 and 4+ to do!
LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
- NC State is 10-1 all-time against us. So was Florida State.
- Our team is really a very young team despite some veterans like Dungey, Slayton and Cordy. It’s a team that is getting better as the season goes along, a fact obscured by an improvement in the opposition and Dungey’s problems. In many cases, the second string guy is a freshman who will clearly turn out to be a better player than the first string guy and they are getting more and more playing time, (Andre Cisco, Trill Williams, Iffy Melafonwu, Tyrell Richards, Dakota Davis, Taj Harris and, yes, Tommy DeVito). The more these guys play, the more formidable we will become. It will be the opposite trend form recent seasons when we got worse as the season went along.
- I have a feeling the highly competitive Dungey will respond to being benched last week and a week of doubt about his future with a big game. Last year Dungey had 429 yards total offense against the Pack. Nunes interviewed Will Thompson who covers the Pack and he said: “DeVito sparked the offense against UNC this past Saturday, so I’m worried about that, particularly if there’s not a lot of tape on him. Dungey is the cagey veteran and I think the Pack knows more what to expect from him on paper, but he’s also capable of chucking the ball all over the place and scrambling as he did last year in Raleigh, so I’m not sure that either makes a difference for me, at least -- I’m concerned about both of them.”
- If the DeVito Era really is beginning, we will certainly have a much greater big-play capability than we have had. Thompson also said: “The Pack’s secondary gives up huge plays a lot more often than they should (the end of the Boston College game being a troubling example).” That might favor DeVito starting. I do think that having to prepare for two very different quarterbacks will give us an advantage against the Wolfpack defense.
- We seem to have fixed our run defense against UNC. Dino said he did it by keeping his linebackers fresh, which means playing the young guys more. There many have been some scheme changes, too. State has had some injury problems with its running game anyway so maybe our rush defense won’t be that much of a weakness in any case. We are 90th against the run with 179 ypg. They are 102nd in running the ball with 138 ypg. Average that out and you get 158-9 yards rushing. The teams that beat us rushed for 293 and 265 yards.
- If we can adjust our run defense successfully, we could also fix our pass rush to get to Finley more than we got to Elliott.
- They are #3 in the country in third down conversions with 54%. We are #5 in third down conversion defense with 25%. That will be the real battle. Average that and it’s 39-40%. I’ll take that.
- Finley has all of NC State’s TD passes with 10. Dungey and DeVito have 14. Both teams have 5 interceptions. So who has the aerial circus? We are averaging 43 points a game. They are averaging 29. If it’s going to be a shoot-out, it looks like we have more ammo.
- Our special teams dominance has faded in these last two games, (which is why we wound up in overtime). It may return in this game. Nunes: “You know how the Orange are really good at special teams and No. 1 in the country on average starting field position? NC State is none of that. They’re 112th in average field position, in the 100’s for kickoff and punt efficiency and they’re in the 80s for returning efficiency. The Orange are fourth in punt return efficiency, so stop a few more third downs than the Wolfpack are used to and there’s a huge weakness to be exploited.”
- This also hasn’t been an advantage the last two games but we remain +8 in turnover margin, 9th in the country. The Pack is -1, 81st. it wouldn’t require a huge advantage to make a difference.
- I wonder who Clemson would predict will win this game.
- Every year we beat a ranked team in the Dome and Dino gets to make his big speech. This is the only ranked team we will play in the Dome this year. From all reports, we are finally going to get a decent crowd at the game, 40,000+, even with the weather reports, (and those who pine for an open air stadium will be glad to be under a Dome for this one). Even a far from capacity crowd can make the Dome the loudest place in college football. We can make a real difference. Be there or be square!
5-2 and 4+ to do!
LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
