Big ups to Team ACC Now, we finally didn't lose to a guest picker. Caulton Tudor and special guest picker Joe Ovies tied at 3-3 last week. And like baseball, tie goes to the runner.
The week's guest is the creator/author of the excellent Tar Heel Fan blog.
On with the games:
Staff video by Travis Long, Joe Giglio and Caulton Tudor
Topic: In a season full of surprises, Tudor says Duke will pull off the biggest surprise.
N.C. State students participating in a non-binding vote rejected a requested increase of $25.50 in the school’s yearly intercollegiate athletics fee.
N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien doesn’t sound as though he is counting on linebacker Nate Irving returning to the lineup Saturday against Boston College.
O’Brien said Irving, who has an injured right ankle, has yet to get out of the training room and onto the practice field. During the ACC coaches’ teleconference Wednesday, O’Brien was asked whether Irving will play Saturday.
“I don’t believe so, no,” O’Brien said.
Tom O'Brien and Boston College reunite on Saturday and on the overplayed, beaten-to-death scale of 24-hour news cycles, this one's actually under the radar.
Even O'Brien, who won 75 games in 10 seasons at Boston College before taking the N.C. State job in Dec. 2006, acknowledges the second meeting with his former team feels different
than the first.
N.C. State's depth chart lists quarterback Harrison Beck as the starter for Saturday's game with Boston College.
Daniel Evans is the backup with no mention of Russell Wilson, who missed the South Florida game with a shoulder injury.
On third-and-goal from the 1 on Saturday night, N.C. State linebacker Dwayne Maddox came free off the backside and grabbed South Florida’s Jamar Taylor in the backfield.
Maddox started in place of injured standout Nate Irving, who has an ankle injury. Irving probably wouldn’t have missed that tackle.
Maryland: Faithful Late Hits readers (both of 'em) demanded an up arrow for Maryland after its big win over Cal on Sept. 13. Given Maryland's propensity to win one, lose one, the arrow judiciary board preached patience.
The wait is over.
1. I don't care if the Hurricanes say Matt Cullen's departure from Sunday's game was "precautionary." They also said he didn't suffer two concussions last season. He looked shaken after the hit by Nate Guenin and didn't come back out after the first intermission.
2. Dana Quigley, the Official Champions Tour Player of Talking Points, finished tied for 27th at the SAS Championship. Quigley was tied for the lead after the first round.
3. If only N.C. State had as many quarterbacks as wolf statues at Carter-Finley Stadium.
4. Speaking of quarterbacks, the Green Bay brain trust has to feel pretty good about going with two rookie backup QBs after watching the Packers blow a late lead after Aaron Rodgers got hurt.
Staff photo by Ethan Hyman
RALEIGH — The rain subsided in the third quarter, so did South Florida's offense.
It was too late for N.C. State or its fans. During a torrential
downpour during the first half, the 13th-ranked Bulls poured it on the Wolfpack, out-scoring, out-executing and out-classing N.C. State for a 41-10 win at a rain-soaked Carter-Finley Stadium.
