Offline world interfered yesterday and all morning.
Right now it is time for the first cultural exchange of the 2009 football season. James of Yet Another NC State Sports Blog contacted me about swapping questions. You can find my responses to his questions here. This is what he had to say in response to my queries.
1. Pitt fans and local media are not sure about this Pitt team, given the competition faced. NC State seems even harder to get a sense of where they rank given the — let’s be honest — egg they laid against the Gamecocks to open the season and then smacking around a couple 1-AA patsies. So, what is it about this team that should make Pitt nervous?
The very fact that they’re such an unknown commodity. I do want to address the South Carolina game for a second…I know it wasn’t a pretty game with a lot of offense, but I think folks in Raleigh underestimated how good South Carolina was defensively, and were pleasantly surprised at how well State played defensively. The theme I’ve heard constantly about that game was how poor job both offenses executed…but let’s give a little credit to both defenses for taking away what the opposition hoped to run. And as we saw last night, South Carolina is a capable football team, so I think that SC loss will look better with time, for both teams.
Getting back to your question, I think it’s the return of our starting left tackle, Jake Vermiglio, to the lineup. He left the SC game early on with a calf injury and hasn’t played since, but he was absent on the injury report released yesterday and should play this weekend. His return should give Russell Wilson better protection and allow him a split second more time to let the passing plays develop down field.
2. Is the NC State offense Russell Wilson and 10 other guys? Does the Wolfpack have a guy that can run the ball, or are the O-line injuries wreaking havoc with the running game?
Well, it’s not much more than him. But as I mentioned above, Vermiglio’s return should help improve the line play, meaning Toney Baker may be more effective than he was in the SC game. Baker was playing in his first game in nearly two years following two knee surgeries, and I think he’s knocked off almost all the rust over these last three games. There’s a certain level of trust a player has to regain in their surgically repaired knee before he can regain the form he once had…I think Toney’s on the verge of being there. Establishing the run game against Pitt’s defensive front will be tough but necessary, so the O-line and Baker have to step up if State is going to be effective offensively.
3. The secondary for NC State is young and injured. How does the D-line look and can they generate the pressure to mask the secondary? Or am I doubting the secondary too much?
I think the secondary is young but talented. You never like to trust your last line of defense to a group of freshmen and sophomores, but I think these kids are good enough to compete with just about every team on the schedule. I mentioned getting an o-lineman back from the injured ranks — starting safety Clem Johnson is back off the injury report, as well, giving State some experience and leadership in the defensive backfield they were missing in his absence. I think the secondary will be tested but should play well.
The front four of State is the strong suit of the defense. Willie Young is strong and athletic at one end and Shea McKeen is disruptive at the other end spot. Expect to see a constant rotation at these spots, with Michael Lemon and Audi Augustine getting a lot of snaps. There’s not much drop-off in talent with these two (Lemon once played at Georgia) and O’Brien will try to keep all four fresh throughout the game. The tackles are solid, as well, with Alan-Michael Cash anchoring the group. In looking at Pitt’s offensive line, they look capable of handling State’s front four but don’t be surprised if Mike Archer dials up some zone blitzes to bring added pressure to Stull. He showed several blitz packages against our FCS opponents and should use some against Pitt, as well.
4. When was the last time NC State beat a Big East team? (Keep in mind that UConn was not a BE football team in 2003.) What does the Big East have on NC State?
You would have to make me do some research, wouldn’t you…unless I missed one somewhere, I think our last wins against the Big East came in ’97 and ’98 when we stunned Donovan McNabb’s Syracuse Orangemen two years in a row. (I actually covered that overtime win at the Carrier Dome for the school paper as a sophomore…probably my best memory as a young sports writer.)
The short answer is: I don’t know. We stood a great shot to beat Rutgers last year in the PapaJohns.com bowl and were leading by 11 at the half, but State fans all knew when Russell Wilson left with an injury and we had to rely on our two backup quarterbacks to hang on for dear life, the game was already lost. As close in proximity as our two conferences are, we don’t play a ton of Big East opponents. It seems like a natural fit, and I think Tom O’Brien — based on his comments regarding recruiting in the Pennsylvania area earlier this wekk — would love to play some more Big East opponents.
5. With year 3 of the Tom O’Brien era underway, how would you describe expectations at this point?
I would use a very commonly heard phrase among State fans — “Cautiously Optimistic.” I think some media publications went a little far in their preseason expectations for State based on the solid finish to last season to become bowl eligible. They started picking State to win the Atlantic division, had Russell Wilson in their preseason P.O.Y. discussions and predicted 10 wins. The truth of the matter is that this team is still lacking depth at critical positions and given our injury woes in the last three years, we’re not to the point where we can lose 5-10 starters over the course of a season and not have a drop-off in production.
Before the season I looked at our out-of-conference schedule and predicted a 3-1 mark, and predicted a 5-3 mark in-conference for a total record of 8-4. Losing that South Carolina game hurt our team’s perception nationally, and it stings to hear folks on the outside discount this team, but in the long run it might benefit this team to have lower expectations while O’Brien continues his rebuilding project. He’s not a fly-by-night architect, by any means…he builds teams slowly and methodically. I could see it taking all the way until year five before we get a true read on O’Brien’s potential as a head coach here. He’s got a tough job recruiting in-state against Butch Davis, but he’s beaten him twice since both coaches have taken over and that should help locally.
