Quote :

"Loss leads to jumbled Atlantic With five teams in the ACC's Atlantic division having only one loss, a spot in the ACC Championship is anybody's game Josh Harrell Issue date: 10/16/06 Section: Sports Sophomore running back Andre Brown used one word Saturday to describe N.C. State's 25-23 loss to Wake Forest - devastating. But as Brown pointed out, five of the six teams in State's half of the ACC have only one loss, creating a logjammed race to the ACC Championship. With the Pack's loss to Wake, State joined Clemson, Boston College, Maryland and the Deacons as one-loss teams in the conference's Atlantic division, with Florida State next in line with two losses. As the Pack still has four more ACC games, redshirt senior linebacker Pat Lowery pointed out that State is still in control of its own destiny. "It is still in our hands, with Wake's loss to Clemson last week," Lowery said. "That's big because you don't want to be sitting at home watching other teams." The Pack (3-3, 2-1) will travel to Clemson Nov. 11, but the team must first travel to Maryland and Virginia in the next two weeks. Coach Chuck Amato said his coaches talked to the team about bouncing back from the loss with the thought that anyone can win the Atlantic division. "We have to focus on the fact that it isn't over. Every team in our division has one loss or more," Amato said. "Unfortunately we have to leave the friendly confines of this stadium, but we can't let this loss affect us like the last one going into our last away game." In State's last road game, the team lost at Southern Miss 37-17, a week after a last-second home loss to Akron. Saturday, the Pack will visit Maryland (4-2, 1-1) in State's second road game of the season. The Terps sit at the bottom of the Atlantic division, while still boasting only one conference loss. While Lowery said he doesn't believe the reason the Pack lost to Southern Miss was because it was a road game, he said he knows State will have to put on a stronger performance on the road this week. "I don't think it [being away] had anything to do with the loss," Lowery said. "Maryland is closer, even though it's the opposite way, so we'll see how things play out." Junior receiver Darrell Blackman, State's offensive star for the day with four receptions for 67 yards, said the difficulty of playing on the road for the majority of the remaining season is just another aspect of the adversity State has been fighting all year. "There's been a lot of adversity coming our way," Blackman said. "We haven't played much on the road so we've got to go out there and stay focused. We have to play Wolfpack football." Lowery noted the mood surrounding the program has been much nicer after the last two wins. He and the rest of the Pack are hoping that attitude comes back and the team can make noise in a crowded Atlantic division. "It's been easygoing in practice the last two weeks," Lowery said. "Now we just have to stick to the course and get things turned back around.""

http://tinyurl.com/y3hfo4

10/16/2006 7:59:20 AM

THE PROBLEM FOR WHAT?

10/16/2006 9:02:39 AM

Quote :

"As the Pack still has four more ACC games"

Maryland, UVA, GT, Clemson, UNC

More like 5 more ACC games.

10/16/2006 9:04:39 AM

maybe it's just me that's not seeing it... but is there a problem in this thread?

10/16/2006 9:16:29 AM

maybe he was pointing out the "its been easygoing in practice the last two weeks" part.

10/16/2006 10:09:55 AM

Yes, we can see what the bold is pointing out.

But if by "problem", he means, one bad decision resulting in a safety, and not having a Mike Nugent Jr kicker on our side, then I don't think easier practices is the cause of that.

10/16/2006 10:44:05 AM

"It's been easygoing in practice the last two weeks,"

10/16/2006 10:47:12 AM

Yeah the title could have been better, but its not . . . so bite me


What I meant is the problem that is typical of our team. Go at it hard in practice for the big games and then slack off for Wake Forest, UNC, etc. If we would keep that intensity for every game, we might actually play to our potential.

Quote :

"But if by "problem", he means, one bad decision resulting in a safety, and not having a Mike Nugent Jr kicker on our side, then I don't think easier practices is the cause of that. "

I don't expect the team to be perfect . . . but there was a lot more wrong with that game then one bad decision and them having a good kicking day.



[Edited on October 16, 2006 at 12:02 PM. Reason : ]

10/16/2006 11:46:09 AM

This has been a problem with our team throughout the MOC and Amato era.

Let downs against weaker UNC and Wake teams...getting up big for better FSU, Georgia Teach, Virginia Tech teams. I'd like to say, "it would be nice to be at practice or in the locker room to see if there was different preparation for different team"...but Lowery just seemed to give us a first-hand account right there.

10/16/2006 12:01:06 PM

Quote :

"but there was a lot more wrong with that game then one bad decision and them having a good kicking day"

There wasn't so much wrong that it's a real shocker we were beaten by a top 25, 5-1, best coached team in college football.

10/16/2006 12:03:58 PM

there is a problem, Wake Forest is still way overrated and we should have beat them. Look back at their victories this year, they have not beaten ANYBODY... and they should have lost to Duke, which is pretty pathetic. It has been true every year since Amato came that we play to the level of our competition. Amato prepares the team for the big games and wins a lot of them which has allowed him to keep his job, but he doesn't take the lesser opponents seriously and we end up losing a lot of those games. I think that is a HUGE part of the problem. We shouldn't have been in the situation to let a couple bad plays lose this game for us. If we had came into this game with the same intensity and willingness to win that we played with against BC and FSU, those 2 plays wouldn't have cost us a victory!

10/16/2006 12:09:20 PM

Quote :

"best coached team in college football the ACC."

10/16/2006 12:14:28 PM

Do you know a better coach?

10/16/2006 12:35:41 PM

^ i would take pete carroll and jim tressel over jim grobe to name a couple

but grobe is one of the best 10-15 coaches in the country in my opinion

10/16/2006 12:36:53 PM

Well, you invalidated your opinion with picking those two.

OSU and USC manages itself. Imagine if you will how dominate WFU would be with the athletes these schools get.

10/16/2006 12:40:31 PM

WFU is probably the weakest Top 25 team in memory. They'll get wrecked once they schedule turns. They are just always tough on us for some reason or another and are very well coached. The still lack the overall talent to compete on a national level though. Just wait..

10/16/2006 12:43:05 PM

^^USC didn't manage itself when their previous coach was there and the program was in shambles.

I didn't exactly go out on a limb obviously, but I consider those two to be better coaches than Grobe.

and also, you can't just say that Wake would be so dominant if they had better athletes. Everyone said the same thing about Dan Hawkins at Boise St. and then he went to Colorado and look at what has happened so far.

10/16/2006 12:49:28 PM

Umm, I wouldn't really put Colorado in the same level as the tOSUs, USCs, and Texass of college football either.

10/16/2006 12:52:42 PM

no, but no one would deny that they have a way better talent base than Boise St.

and they did play in the Big 12 title game last year and have had great teams before.

I really like Grobe and think that he is a GREAT football coach, but I wouldn't call him the best coach in America. Prob. the best coach in the ACC though, and that probably isn't even close.

10/16/2006 12:55:31 PM

Quote :

"Do you know a better coach?"

I hope for your sake you are joking.

10/16/2006 1:22:44 PM

Someone else has done you the favor of responding. Go back to looking at your stock charts and leave football to the rest of us.

10/16/2006 1:49:21 PM

Weiss
Meyer
Carr
Chan Gailey

and

Skip Holtz...yeah i said Skip Holtz

and none of those coaches teach their kids to chop block and committing holding fouls whenever they can get away with them

and i know some of those coaches have better assets to work with than Wake, but they were badass even when they didn't

10/16/2006 1:55:35 PM

Quote :

"and none of those coaches teach their kids to chop block and committing holding fouls whenever they can get away with them"

Sounds like brilliant coaching to me!

10/16/2006 1:58:47 PM

Was Grobe brilliant the past two years???

I think this year is a flash in the pan for Grobe...and I don't even see it ending that well.

10/16/2006 2:04:15 PM

yeah it's funny how a coach can beat 5 below average teams and suddenly he is "brilliant"

10/16/2006 2:16:33 PM

Who said he was brilliant?

10/16/2006 2:17:54 PM

you did, look 4 posts up!, you also stated that Wake is "the best coached team in college football"

[Edited on October 16, 2006 at 2:24 PM. Reason : .]

10/16/2006 2:23:13 PM

I did say that wake is the best coach team in college football, I however did not say that grobe was brilliant.

10/16/2006 2:29:37 PM

I had a chance to meet coach grobe and experience a few days with the wake forest football program when i was being recruited in high school. Their program is at such a high level of maturity and character that it was hard to believe that their players and coaches are from the same planet as ours. Jim Grobe utilizes his talent better than any coach in the country.

10/16/2006 3:11:03 PM

hawkins has been there for less than a year. itll take a few years for him to get the atheletes he wants that will learn his system. look at how bad nebraska was a few years ago when they changed coaches. solich led them to a 9-3 record before being let go and callahan had them at 5-6 the following year, 8-4 last year, and now 6-1 to start 06. A new system usually takes a few years to develop.

10/16/2006 3:37:10 PM