Clemson 56, NC State 41: Wolfpack can't keep up with Tigers

This was a tremendous football game for a while, a game in which both teams scored twice in the first five minutes. That was weird, sure, but it was also the start that NC State needed to make the ball game a good one. Apparently there are a lot more minutes in a football game beyond the first five, so Clemson won, 53-41.

The Wolfpack drove down the field to take a 6-0 lead on its first possession of the game (Kyle Bambard missed an extra point), and then then Nyheim Hines answered a fast Clemson score with a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown. This game was a lot of fun, right up until it wasn't.

Thing is, Clemson won the line of scrimmage, and while you can buff this out into a tenable line of thinking for an hour or so, time is always a factor.

NC Sate has not been able to force turnovers all season, and once again a crucial change in possession cost the Wolfpack, which might have made the game different otherwise. And State's kicking game was once again a problem, mainly in the sequence that ended the first half, as NC State went from a potential four-point lead to a six-point deficit.

These are margins you cannot allow and still win. NC State played well. Clemson is just really good.

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Bad Moon Rising

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VIVA trial update: Affidavits as escape valves

Kelly Fetty has been keeping score:

On June 18 the North Carolina General Assembly passed new legislation adding a "reasonable impediment" affidavit to VIVA. Like South Carolina's Act R54, the affidavit allowed voters to claim a reasonable impediment kept them from getting a photo ID and entitled them to a provisional ballot.

The sudden change to the law, just three weeks before the start of court proceedings, prompted the Plaintiffs to ask Judge Schroeder to drop claims against the ID provision from the trial.

This affidavit has nothing to do with helping people vote, and everything to do with helping Republicans prop up their un-Democratic attack on voting rights. Unfortunately, it appears Judge Schroeder is more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt:

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College football Week 9 schedule: TV channels, kickoff times

Syracuse vs. Florida State. Virginia Tech vs. Boston College. These may sound like horrifying noon-hour games to the layman, but we all know better by now. Sure, these games probably will be horrifying, but they will be horrifying in a distinctly ACC way, and as such there will be a lot of entertainment involved.

I, for one, would not have the early hours of my college football Saturday spent any other way. I mean, VT-BC is obviously going to be a 6-3 game in the fourth quarter, and from there? Who knows. If the BC-Wake game was a model for how not to finish a game, then I think we could see a new standard set for overall poorness. That's what gets me fired up in the morning, man.

Sure, there are some decent matchups slated for later in the day and they might be good games but, eh, it just won't be the same.

Here's the schedule:

Sat, Oct 31, 2015
12:00 PM ET FSNFoxSportsGo	Western Kentucky	at	Old Dominion
12:00 PM ET ESPNNWatchESPN	UCF	at	Cincinnati
12:00 PM ET CBSS	South Florida	at	Navy
12:00 PM ET ESPN2WatchESPN	Illinois	at	Penn State
12:00 PM ET ESPNUWatchESPN	Nebraska	at	Purdue
12:00 PM ET BTNBTN2Go	Rutgers	at	Wisconsin
12:00 PM ET ESPNWatchESPN	(19) Mississippi	at	Auburn
12:00 PM ET SECNWatchESPN	South Carolina	at	Texas A&M
12:00 PM ET ABC	Syracuse	at	(17) Florida State
12:30 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	Virginia Tech	at	Boston College
1:00 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	Massachusetts	at	Ball State
2:00 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	Central Michigan	at	Akron
2:30 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	UTEP	at	Southern Miss
3:00 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	Georgia Tech	at	Virginia
3:00 PM ET FOXFoxSportsGo	USC	at	Cal
3:00 PM ET PAC12Pac-12 Live	Colorado	at	(24) UCLA
3:30 PM ET ABC/ESPN2WatchESPN	(3) Clemson	at	NC State
3:30 PM ET CBSSEC Live	(11) Florida	at	Georgia
3:30 PM ET FSNFoxSportsGo	Marshall	at	Charlotte
3:30 PM ET FS1FoxSportsGo	(14) Oklahoma	at	Kansas
3:30 PM ET ESPNWatchESPN	(12) Oklahoma State	at	Texas Tech
3:30 PM ET ABC/ESPN2WatchESPN	Maryland	at	(10) Iowa
3:30 PM ET ESPNUWatchESPN	Boise State	at	UNLV
3:30 PM ET CBSS	San Diego State	at	Colorado State
3:30 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	Troy	at	Appalachian State
4:00 PM ET ESPNNWatchESPN	Tulsa	at	SMU
4:00 PM ET SECNWatchESPN	Tennessee-Martin	at	Arkansas
5:00 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	Louisiana-Monroe	at	Louisiana-Lafayette
7:00 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	Georgia State	at	Arkansas State
7:00 PM ET CBSS	Tulane	at	(16) Memphis
7:00 PM ET PAC12Pac-12 Live	Oregon State	at	(13) Utah
7:00 PM ET ESPN2WatchESPN	Vanderbilt	at	(18) Houston
7:00 PM ET ESPNUWatchESPN	Miami (FL)	at	(22) Duke
7:00 PM ET ESPNWatchESPN	(15) Michigan	at	Minnesota
7:00 PM ET FS1FoxSportsGo	Texas	at	Iowa State
7:00 PM ET ASN	Texas-San Antonio	at	North Texas
7:30 PM ET SECNWatchESPN	Tennessee	at	Kentucky
8:00 PM ET ABC	(9) Notre Dame	at	(21) Temple
8:00 PM ET ESPN3WatchESPN	Idaho	at	New Mexico State
10:30 PM ET CBSS	Air Force	at	Hawaii
10:30 PM ET ESPNWatchESPN	(8) Stanford	at	Washington State
11:00 PM ET FS1FoxSportsGo	Arizona	at	Washington

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