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Vandy win bad news for Pack
Thursday night's college football offering had to be almost as disturbing for N.C. State fans as the previous week's season-opening, ESPN event.
On Aug. 28, N.C. State suffered a 34-0 humiliation at the hands of South Carolina while Erin Andrews prowled the sideline. A week later, that same South Carolina team fell 24-17 at Vanderbilt.
Yes, Vanderbilt. The team that hadn't won at home over a nationally ranked foe in 16 years. The team that hasn't been to a bowl since 1982. The team Gamecock safety Emmanuel Cook said was the "sorriest" in the SEC after Vanderbilt upset South Carolina last season.
The same South Carolina defense that held N.C. State to 138 yards of total offense allowed three second-half touchdowns to Vanderbilt. That's not good news for the Wolfpack.
On Saturday, N.C. State meets a William & Mary team that's from a lower division and is disadvantaged because it hasn't played its season opener yet. For those reasons, the Wolfpack should be OK this week.
But the Wolfpack's season-opening embarrassment in Columbia doesn't bode well for the rest of the season, especially now that we've got some idea of how good the Gamecocks really are.
Ken Tysiac
Ken Tysiac has covered the ACC for The Charlotte Observer since 2003, and spent the previous eight years covering Clemson for the Anderson Independent-Mail and then The State in South Carolina. He grew up in Rochester, N.Y., and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Comments
An Irish fan commenting on football????????
Sat, 09/06/2008 - 16:31 — morgannyyI thought Notre Dame was the sorriest football team...... oh, you said in the SEC, not overall.
Vandy > SCAR means nothing
Sat, 09/06/2008 - 10:35 — BoKnows (not verified)Vandy beat South Carolina last year too when SC was highly ranked. Sometimes teams just match up better against one another. Trying to jusdge a team's strength or weakness this early in the year has no meaning. Case in point -- the 1991 Clemson team barely beat Tulane 13-5 in their second game and then went on to win the National Championship.
State's D looked good until they had to stay on the field 75% of the game due to the lack of Offense in the second half.
Playing a tough schedule makes for a stronger more confident team later in the Pack's season. Who would have thought that the Pack would have rolled off those 5 straight wins last year. Keep the faith and ignore the media pundits.
Stand Up for the Wolfpack
Sat, 09/06/2008 - 07:39 — tcd24035I went to the game in Columbia and watched the entire thing. And I wasn't happy with the final score either. But it was great to see all the Wolfpack fans there and it was good for our program to have played in 'SEC-land'. What an environment! Believe me when I say that the Gamecock fans were NOT happy even though they were leading at the first half. Our defense DID play well that first half and overall we were the better team. I know this is 'Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda' but if we'd have scored a touchdown at the end of the 3rd quarter then it was an entirely different ballgame. Now it's time for the Wolfpack fans to step up and support our team with CLASS and DETERMINATION. See you all Saturday.
Dont jump ship
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 16:47 — BUBBA (not verified)Yes the Pack was shut out last week at South Carolina. Yes they were not the better team on the field that night. Look we knew this was going to be a tough season and with the early injury bug going around we are going to lose more than we win most likley. OBrien will restore the program to the levels Sheridan had it in the early 90's and all will be well in Wolfpack land. We are dealing with 18,19 and 20 year old kids playing a sport. Dont go throwing yourselves of bridges yet, mistakes will happen, we will get out tails kicked a few times but in the end we will have a program to be proud of in the future. God forbid we return to the days of Amato when out teams were undisciplined and made the univeristy look terrible everytime we were on television win or lose. Go Pack and Go coach Obrien!! True fans know a good thing when they see it!
I agree with dwm1190
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 16:29 — Lowcountry (not verified)I agree with the last poster. I see no reason that a gamecock loss to vandy means anything to the pack, much less comes as bad news. Please, is this what we can expect from the WolfPack beat writer for the Charliegh Observer. Spare us the infantilism.
If Ken tissue paper is trying to say that a loss to sc, who lost to vandy, makes the pack a blowout loser to vandy, well, I guess we could say that Appalachian State should have been playing in the BCS Championship game last year.
Carolina scored their first unassisted touchdown against the pack with 10 minutes to go in the game. The pack was without their 3 top skill players by the end of the 1st quarter and ant hill went out shortly after that. Let the pack play the cocks at CF with a full team and visor boy would have been pulling out his hair by the third quarter.
Again, can we get a beat writer who treats WolfPack fans like we have a brain instead of condescending to us like the typical UNC fan. You, sir, are the moron.
You're an idiot.
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 15:54 — Anonymous (not verified)Wow, what an insightful blog. It easy to see the N&O is paying you for your keen insights. Gees, my 4 year old could have written that!
Does Tysiac know anything about the SEC?
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 15:09 — Proudwolf (not verified)The writer obviously knows very little about the SEC.
Vandy is a team on the rise, South Carolina was picked to have a mediocre season and it looks like a fair prognostication.
The Wolfpack just has to learn to put some points on the board, it's not rocket science.
Score isn't everything
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 14:56 — Wolf-N-Atl (not verified)As anyone who was at the USC game will tell you, the score doesn't tell the whole story. I'm not surprised to see USC go down to Vandy. At the end of the first half of our game it was 3-0 and we were still in the game until almost 10 minutes in the fourth quarter. If Russell doesn't go down or we find any sort of offensive rhythm in that game, we have a chance to win.
On the flip side of that coin, if we don't get Wilson back and we don't show some improvement on offense - any team can beat us and any halfway decent team can blow us out.
Wolf-N-Atl
Sat, 09/06/2008 - 08:18 — gvillegatrwhich is precisely what I meant by my 1st posting. NCSU was clearly in the game in the 1st half.
I still think if the shotgun snap had not been mishandled/overthrown (sitting on the opposite side of the field) before half, the game could have gone better. I really feel the team was let down when Evans came in. then the defensive wore out in the 4th.
USC's 34 pts was no indication to how good they were. 0 pts for NCSU kinda was.
C'mon Ken Ken
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 14:25 — Herb sendek (not verified)We will be lucky to win a game this year other than the William & Mary game, which has me worried at this point. We lost 34-0 to a bad football team. Now I have to get back to my BBall players here at Arizona St. Tell Sidney I said hello.
To "Herbie"
Sat, 09/06/2008 - 07:50 — Rabid (not verified)Looks like someone took time out from finally washing all their ADORABLE powder blue outfits to make a lame attempt at a cheap shot at the 'Pack. IF the Wolfpack is a perennial "loser", what does that make a team that lost to them? Go back to your knitting, and leave the sports blogs to those of us who actually know something about sports.
So?
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 13:56 — Scott (not verified)A loss by South Carolina at the hands of Vanderbilt doesn't mean a thing for the Wolfpack. Let's go back a while.... remember when Florida State lost to the Wolfpack in 1998? The Wolfpack lost the following week to Baylor. Did that mean Florida State was a really bad team? NO! They finished that regular season with a record of 11-1. Not too shabby! I'm not saying the Pack will run the table this year. But a loss by USC doesn't mean squat for the Wolfpack!
Who cares about Vandy?
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 13:54 — JPDOhioSouth Carolina is clearly overrated and their loss to Vandy means nothing as far as the Wolfpack is concerned. Anyone paying attention knew this was going to be a tough year for the Pack. If the offense can do enough to keep the defense off the field for a reasonable amount of time, the defense should hold up nicely. All we can hope for is that the offense will improve once Wilson, Eugene and Hill get back. I think it is likely to struggle in the meantime.
Vandy's offense had some
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 12:56 — aideanVandy's offense had some luck on their side too....i.e. muffed punt and blocked field goal that set the offense up in outstanding field position...not to take anything away from their qb (who looked like a Russel Wilson that could throw in the second half) and recieving corps.
aidean
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 15:23 — gvillegatrso I guess Frank Beamer has been getting lucky since the late 90"s!!!??? someone erase the above post.
We've all heard this one
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 18:44 — JPDOhioThe harder you work, the luckier you get.
Sigh
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 12:22 — Anonymous (not verified)Really? You really never thought once while writing this that it may be a short sighted knee jerk reaction? Vandy just beat a decent team last week, and we have no idea what Wilson can do so far in this one game old season.
me and 10 other guys were
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 11:33 — gvillegatrme and 10 other guys were driving back to our destination last thurs after the USC and NCSU game. me and this other fella were telling all those COCK fans this game was NO INDICATION of how they were going to be and they would get beat at Vandy next week. obviously, none of them believed us. 24-17 Vandy!!
You are a little quick to
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 10:56 — GSD (not verified)You are a little quick to bury the Pack. Most teams make the most improvement from game 1 to game 2.
ken ken
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 09:54 — izzykareemI'd say the injuries and no viable QB option at this point are the real reasons we're concerned. If you watched Carolina (south) against NCState you obviously had to see that they still can't stop the run and their QB's are still making poor decisions. NCState also doesn't play anyone else the rest of the season, except maybe Clemson, who has the overall skill players Carolina (south) supposedly has/had. If we can get a QB, we can reasonably win 5 games this year, Carolina (south) might not win 2-3 more games looking at their schedule, they surely won't be favored in more than 2-3 for the rest of the year.