Where: Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh, NC
When: Saturday, November 28th, Noon
TV: ESPN2
Records: UNC 8-3, 4-3 ACC; NCSU 4-7, 1-6 ACC
41-10
Those numbers have been a pox on the UNC house for over a year now. Any football discussion with NCSU fans comes back to that score. It was an embarrassment. It was humiliating. And for all the good we saw last season with Butch Davis turning the program around from a 4-8 season to finish 8-5 with a bowl game appearance, 41-10 became that ugly wart UNC could not rid itself of.
Until today.
Despite the atrocious nature of the NCSU defense which should make even T.J. Yates look good this game is fraught with danger. It is a rivalry game on the road. NCSU is as wounded as they possibly could be in terms of their record. At 4-7 and 1-6 ACC, this game serves as the thin line between crowing about a 3rd straight win over UNC and a season rendered completely worthless by every available measure. NCSU has nothing to lose so it is a safe bet the Wolfpack will throw everything they have onto the field. In addition to the already volatile nature of this game emotionally, NCSU lost their offensive coordinator Dana Bible for a period of time while he undergoes treatment for leukemia. That fact alone is enough to have Wolfpack players amped up to win one for their missing coach. Needless to say the Wolfpack will be ready to toss a monkey wrench into the Tar Heels’ season.
So do the Tar Heels do about it? They come is and beat the ever living crap out of NCSU. The Heels’ defense comes in and gives Russell Wilson all the encouragement in the world to go ahead and focus on baseball full time. The UNC offense, as woeful as it might be at times should do what every other offense in the ACC has done and score points in droves. Unlike last season UNC comes into this game on a roll. Ever since the loss to FSU, this team has been clicking, especially on the defensive end. Last season it felt like the Heels had peaked. In 2009 it just seems like UNC gets better with every game.
For the Heels this game is about nine wins and revenge. There is some stirrings that maybe Butch Davis did not emphasize this game enough with his team last season pulled a Herb Sendek in his approach. The irony of this season is Butch Davis does not really have to correct that mistake this season. These players know what the deal is and have had this game in their sights since last season. I expect the Heels to come out ready to play.
There is no excuse for them to do otherwise.
UNC 38 NCSU 7
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Nine wins and revenge sounds good to me…..
much anxiety over this one.
win the turnover battle.
ECU, Dook…now State. finish the job.
What is so annoying is that, if we win this game, as (on paper) we ought to, we would have been 11-1 but for the inexcusable, and inexplicable, Virginia disaster and the atrocious second half against FSU.
At 11-1, we would be in contention for a REAL bowl. As it is, we’ll play in one of these recently invented dot.com “bowls.”
There will be receivers open all day, it’ll be up to Yates to hit them…if he does the Heels win going away, if not, it may be a nailbiter.
Rivalry is fun – but let’s remember broadcaster Gary Hahn (prostate surgery) and the football coach diagnosed with lukemia – both in the past week or two.
If I listen to this, it will be the Wolfpack feed. Because I can’t get the UNC one!
ugh. holding call. please.
theyre just determined to make this more difficult than necessary. should be 14-0, not 3-0.
someone jinxed the RBs, thats for sure.
and now it should be 17-0, minimum.
this is either going to backfire on us, or its still going to be UNC blowout.
That wheel route TD pass to Boyd was underthrown and a pick against most teams
truly. that dude must be incredibly slow. that ball was in the air for about 12 1/2 minutes.
It got there and someone in blue caught it. Small favors.
Still pissed about White’s fumble. Should be 17-0.
should be reclined with my feet up enjoying a cold one and a 17 point lead. instead i have to sweat out this nonsense.
the 10th drive all year by an opponent for more than 65 yards. great time for that.
statistically, that should be it for State.
White redeems himself thanks to missed tackles
well. its some redemption. he still could have scored THIS td, even if he scored the last one.
uh oh, penalties might get us
Defense doesn’t have its head on straight right now. Too many penalties. Not enough discipline.
on that call on Brown, that receiver wanted to attend Dook. nice flop.
77 yds. unbelievable. i’m not posting stats ever again.
but i like our guys punching their guys in the mouth working out for us in the long run.
TJ, best not to look away when you throw the ball. just a little QBing tip for you there.
Seriously…how freaking ridiculous was that? The last pass interference penalty was a joke.
Butch and Withers need to get everybody on D together and try to re-instill some discipline. If we continue to lose our composure due to the high emotions and left-over resentment, a QB like Wilson is going to take advantage big-time.
sure that wasnt PI, ref? our defender WAS in the vicinity, after all.
wow. State’s dbs really are awful.
LOL @ NC State’s secondary. The word “coverage” is not in their vocabulary.
if someone can tell me WHY you would ever shorten the field when there’s little time on the clock, by kicking short, i will give you $1 million.
you can’t, so sorry.
^When the deep returner is someone like Devin Hester or Joshua Cribbs (or Dante Hall, back when he was in his prime), and you’d rather take your chances letting their QB (and considering the QBs Hester/Cribbs have had on their teams…) work the short field than you would trying to make sure they don’t take the kickoff to the house. It’s not as good a decision today (as opposed to, say, against a guy like BC’s Shinskie) because Wilson is a very accurate quarterback, but then, our D is also better at not yielding necessary yardage for scores than the average defense.
Man, Marvin has really come to play today. There’s the sack through four blockers, and he also had a play earlier where he tackled two guys — the guy trying to block him and Russell Wilson. Hope he’s not this fired up because he secretly knows it’s going to be his last State game before he jumps to the NFL.
Why didn’t Butch think of this before: Put Johnny Unitas in TJ Yates’ uniform?
Sure, some of it is State’s ineptitude, but Yates is throwing the bomb like few I’ve seen since Sonny Jurgenson.
Amazingly, astoundingly, our offense is playing as well or better than our defense.
^Not to bash Yates or anything, but A LOT of it is State’s ineptitude. When the opposing DB apparently doesn’t care and just lets you run free, it’s easy to adjust on the ground and catch any deep ball that may not be 100% accurate but is in the neighborhood (especially if you have the kind of speed that Boyd and, to a lesser extent, Little have).
ANOTHER PENALTY? WHERE DID THIS STUPID LACK OF DISCIPLINE COME FROM?
Greg Little needs to stop taunting opposing players after the play. That needs to have been stopped yesterday, and if it keeps up, it’s going to cost us a ballgame one of these days.
I cannot stand this lack of maturity and discipline. What did UNC do – invite Chuck Amato to give the pregame speech? Not only are they keeping State in the game, they are making the program look bad in the process.
there was an uncalled facemask prior to the “hit”. naturally, not seen somehow.
Childress’ crew and Cherry’s crew should have an Incompetency Bowl matchup.
anyone hearing Sexton at halftime can tell how much he wishes he didnt feel like he had to leave.
4 O lineman watching Yates get tackled. nice work.
D needs to score a TD.
Only Yates could miss a wide open Highsmith
F#$%@!$%355ERT$%*4^$U$%^I@RJTO%&IO!!!!!!!!!!
wtf?
and you throw it in the stands on FOURTH down, beeecause??
Yates unable to see a guy wide open over the middle. i can see why we’re having the RBs throw once a series.
score shouldve been 31-14 or 34-14 at one time, and now i’m near needing paramedics. if i was coach, i’d have an old lady on staff set up on the sideline sitting at a table, wrapping up a “victory”, getting a bow ready. ridiculous it should be close.
one dumb or completely wrongly called play every single series on offense and defense that blows up in our face.
you couldnt deliberately script it.
^We really do look like the dumbest team in America right now…
ballgame. i’m out. 9-4 will mean next to nothing after this.
to me, anyway.
Top five reasons we lost:
1. The fumble into the end zone.
2. Penalties.
3. Lousy tackling.
4. Overall pood defensive effort.
5. Johnny Unitas was replace by TJ Yates in the second half.
Any way we can have John Bunting coach UNC during the State game next year?
This loss is on the D, which did nothing to stop the Wilson-Spencer connection in the second half (and couldn’t stop Baker in the 4th quarter, either). Despite some big mistakes by the O (White’s fumble, penalties to push us out of field goal range on the third-to-last possession, missed field goal by Barth), we had enough points to win this game.
^Agreed – the offense really overachieved in this game. And the defense… well, Russel Wilson still owns our defense…