NC State embarrassed by Illinois, falls 88-74

This Wolfpack team is very very broken right now.

The signs for NC State basketball leading into this game were not exactly encouraging, and a second-half meltdown against Illinois on Tuesday night did not help. NC State led at the break by one point but ended up losing to a very probably not good Illini team, 88-74.

The Wolfpack played sloppy basketball throughout the first half, turning the ball over so often that they essentially negated a good-shooting half. That was the decisive bit, as Illinois bounced back from a cold first half to shoot ridiculously well in the second half, as State’s defense and competitive will faded to nothing.

Some guys did some good stuff, but my goodness what an unexpected—and really unneeded—poor performance this was. NC State never looked in sync, even as it managed to put a run or two together. Too many poor decisions, too much sloppy defense, too many passes to nowhere. I don’t even want to know what State’s turnover rate in this game was. It doesn’t really matter, though.

Looking long term, State just got housed by a Big Ten team likely to finish near the bottom of that league. Sound the alarms, because this is bad. Really bad. Illinois—not a good offensive ballclub—managed nearly 60 points in the second half.

This NC State team is not whole, granted, but it is not anywhere close to being NCAA-quality right now. And it may never get there. You gotta do better than this, man. These results early in the year, by these margins, portend very bad things. It may all change soon. State will get better. How much better? Well, let’s just say the next month will serve as a pretty good test.

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BTP The Podcast Vol. 13: Triumph over UNC Edition (plus basketball stuff)

NC State beat UNC in football and it was good and enjoyable. We talked about that game, and about Roy Williams’ wonderful booth appearance, and how we’re going to approach Dave Doeren’s return for 2017. Plus some hoops talk, from the Loyola-Chicago near-debacle to the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

As always you can listen below or find BTP The Podcast on iTunes. (Searching for that name should do the trick.)

The podcast is rated PG-13 for Will’s potty mouth. SMH Will.

(Music: “JC Auto,” Sugar, from Beaster.)

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NC Business Court Sends Some Important Messages About Fees To Lawyers For Class Action Plaintiffs

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I am very sour on substantial attorneys' fees being awarded to the lawyers for class action plaintiffs who obtain nothing more for the class than valueless additional disclosures with regard to a merger transaction.  You can read some of those posts here and here.

The Business Court has routinely been awarding substantial fees for disclosure only settlements up until now, but the Business Court's decision last week in In re Newbridge Bancorp Shareholder Litig., 2016 NCBC 87 sends the message that its relaxed examination of the value of such settlements is probably at an end.  That is partly based on the Delaware Court of Chancery's decision in In re Trulia, Inc. Stockholder Litig., 129 A.3d 886 (Del. Ch. 2016), which was characterized as the "death knell" there for such settlements.

Judge Bledsoe said in the Newbridge Opinion:

the North Carolina Business Court has historically been guided in its consideration of motions to approve, and award attorneys’ fees in connection with, “disclosure-based” settlements of merger-based class action litigation by the body of persuasive case law developed by the Delaware courts over a period of many years. The Court is also aware that the Delaware courts have recently subjected such motions to much more exacting scrutiny than they have in the past.  See, e.g., In re Trulia, Inc. Stockholder Litig., 129 A.3d 886 (Del. Ch. 2016).

In the absence of contrary instructions from the North Carolina appellate courts, the Court finds the recent trend in the Delaware case law requiring enhanced scrutiny of disclosure-based settlements to merit careful consideration for potential application in this State.  The Court recognizes, however, that the application of Delaware’s recent case law to the Motions would represent a marked departure from this Court’s past practices in connection with the consideration of such motions. As a result, the Court declines to apply enhanced scrutiny to its consideration of the Motions in this case but expressly advises the practicing bar that judges of the North Carolina Business Court, including the undersigned, may be prepared to apply enhanced scrutiny of the sort exercised in Trulia to the approval of disclosure-based settlements and attendant motions for attorneys’ fees hereafter.

Op. Pars. 4 and 5.

Notwithstanding Judge Bledsoe's decision that "enhanced scrutiny" would not be applied in the case before him, he did undertake a pretty close review of the value of the disclosures obtained for the class, and also the amount of the attorneys fees being awarded.

The Disclosures Obtained By Class Counsel Did Not Justify The Amount Of Fees Sought

He said that some of the disclosures touted as the basis for the fee award were "not material" or of "marginal benefit." Op. Pars. 64-65, 71 & n. 10.  He said that the Delaware Court of Chancery had "long rejected" the fallacy "that increasingly detailed disclosure is always material and beneficial disclosure."  Op. ¶64 (quoting Dent v. Ramtron Int’l Corp., No. 7950-VCP, 2014 Del. Ch. LEXIS 110, at *47  (Del. Ch. June 30, 2014)).

After that review, he sliced in half the amount of fees sought by class counsel, finding their fee request (of almost $275,000 based on an implied hourly rate of almost $525) was "not fair and reasonable, but rather excessive based on the circumstances of this case and the record before the Court."  Op. ¶69.

On the limited fee information provided by the class plaintiff's counsel, Judge Gale said that the $135,000 fee award he made yielded an implied average hourly rate of $258.  That probably seemed pretty skimpy to those lawyers, who said that the "usual and customary rates" for  the senior lawyers for the Court-approved Co-Lead Counsel ranged from $650-$850 per hour.  Op. ¶50.

But the lawyers for the class did little to justify their fees.  They did not offer any affidavits of North Carolina attorneys attesting to “the fees customarily charged in the locality for similar legal services,”  as contemplated by the Revised Rule 1.5(a)(3) of Professional Conduct.  Instead, they premised their fee request on a 2015 survey of billing rates published in the National Law Journal.  Judge Bledsoe rejected that, saying that "the NLJ Survey does not report the specific range of hourly rates customarily charged in North Carolina for legal services of the sort Plaintiffs’ counsel provided here."  Op. ¶51.

The Business Court Said That "Typical Fees" In North Carolina For Complex Litigation Are $250-$450 Per Hour

Left without any benchmarks for what North Carolina lawyers charged as "customary rates" for complex commercial litigation, Judge Bledsoe looked to affidavits offered to the Business Court in other class action fee applications which stated that "typical fees charged in North Carolina for handling complex commercial litigation range from $250 to $450 per hour."  Op. ¶52.  He also relied on the hourly fees charged by lawyers appointed by the Business Court to serve as receivers or as counsel for receivers (which ranged from $225 to $475 per hour). Op. ¶54.

Another Important Caution For Future Fee Applications

Another deficiency in the fee application was the failure to supply detailed time records justifying the time spent.  The fee applicants instead presented only summary charts showing the total hours spent on the lawsuit.  In another caution for lawyers requesting approval of fee applications, Judge Bledsoe said:

the Court notes that attorneys’ fees’ petitions in this Court are typically supported by detailed attorney time records and advises that the Court will be reluctant to approve future petitions for attorneys’ fees lacking such evidentiary support.

Op. ¶45 & n. 8 (emphasis added).

Judge Bledsoe also said that there was nothing so special about the work done by class counsel to justify the higher hourly rate that they requested.  He said that: the nature of the work performed by Plaintiffs’ counsel "could have been performed fully by competent North Carolina counsel and that the demands of the [litigation] did not require Plaintiffs to retain counsel from outside North Carolina in order to prosecute the [litigation].  Op. ¶55.

If you think that I am being too hard on Plaintiffs' counsel, I should point out that Judge Bledsoe said he found that:

Plaintiffs’ counsel are highly-regarded, highly-experienced class action counsel that have been involved in a number of significant class action matters including matters resulting in substantial monetary recovery for the class.

Op. ¶46.

Regardless of their qualifications, in the future these lawyers (who were undoubtedly disappointed in this ruling due to their success last year in getting a $550,000 fee award approved by a different Business Court Judge) and other lawyers for class action plaintiffs expecting big fees for anticipated disclosure only settlements of marginal value might need to find some other state in which to file those claims.

No more feeding at the trough in North Carolina.

A Couple Of Other Notes On This Opinion

One of the remarkable things about this Opinion is that there were no objections to the fees sought by the attorneys for the class.  Judge Bledsoe resolved, on his own accord, to closely review and reduce the fees sought.

Second, I recognize that even class actions leading to immaterial disclosure only settlements involve the need for North Carolina lawyers to defend those claims.  So it would be a shame if those out of state lawyers filing the suits leading to these settlements were to stay away from North Carolina altogether.

 

 

 

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Why McCrory Lost (?), Visualized

This map, comparing Pat McCrory’s performance with that of Donald Trump in North Carolina, tells you all you need to know about why Roy Cooper could be the next governor. It’s simple: Blue Dog Democrats out west came out for Trump, and then they voted for Cooper. The BLUE counties are where Trump/Cooper carried the […]
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The struggle to save Belhaven's hospital continues

Tuesday News: Sorry is as sorry does

BEING GOVERNOR MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU’RE SORRY: NO APOLOGIES TO VOTERS MISTAKENLY ACCUSED OF FRAUD (Raleigh News & Observer) -- Gov. Pat McCrory’s re-election campaign is staying silent on reports showing that election complaints included false accusations of voter fraud. A number of the 43 voters accused of being ineligible felons turned out to be cases of mistaken identity. Several other voters accused were serving a misdemeanor sentence, which does not affect voting rights. “We have no apologies to make, and we will keep doing this,” Woodhouse said. “Nobody has been disenfranchised or, to my knowledge, inconvenienced.”
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NC State RB Matt Dayes will play in Senior Bowl

Dayes can do a lot for his draft stock at this event.

The Senior Bowl is one of the biggest events each year for some of the country’s top potential NFL talent. The players get hands on attention from NFL coaches, and they have a chance to make an impression in front of scouts from every team.

Matt Dayes will be one of those kids under the microscope this year, as he has accepted an invite to play in the game. So far, he is the only NC State player confirmed for the game, though it’s not like there are a ton of candidates on the roster. Maybe Dravious Wright or Jack Tocho? Joe Scelfo?

In the past, several NC State players have used a good week at the Senior Bowl to improve their draft stock. Jacoby Brissett did pretty well last year and landed in the third round, and back in the day, Philip Rivers helped to solidify his position as a top-10 pick with a nice performance.

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Tuesday Twitter roundup

Finally, some very good news:

NC Board of Elections dismisses election protests filed by Gov McCrory. AG Roy Cooper's lead grows to 9,700. #NCpolhttps://t.co/pzii58bvSn

— Beth McNastywoman (@BethR_27516) November 29, 2016

It's not over yet, because there's still a frivolous Civitas lawsuit to be dealt with, but this order makes it pretty clear the state Board of Elections isn't going to play along with McCrory's multi-county gambit. And even if sniffling Pat keeps whining, it looks like the NC GOP is also over it:

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The #goacc Moment of the Week (11/29/2016)

The weekly in-depth look at the best (worst?) moments in ACC schadenfreude.

After a week chock full of turkey, stuffing and plenty of booze, we’re back with a short but incredible #goacc Moment of the Week. Truth be told, all five of these entries are worth your vote, y’all. They’re just that good. We’ve also got a hysterical #suregrin winner, and a BAH GAWD I think you’re all going to enjoy immensely (well, except for you folks that read this post that are UNC fans...y’all are just going to have to deal with it). Let’s get down to the vote y’all. Which is your #goacc Moment of the Week? Vote below!

1. UVA got their ass kicked by VT, then managed to get their equipment truck stuck.

(h/t @SamiBoyd).

Poor Hoos.... http://pic.twitter.com/ebwxZ6PX3M

— Samantha B (@SamiBoyd) November 26, 2016

For real though, who’s bright idea was it to drive that massive truck down that narrow, weaving road? That person is the one that should really be catching this L. Good grief, man.

2. Clemson player gets a bit too amped up after beating South Carolina.

(h/t @SportsCenter).

Too much sauce on the celebratory chest bump. #SCNotTop10 https://t.co/10CA7k2Ha1

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 27, 2016

These sorts of videos always crack me up. So damn good. "YEAHHHHHH LETS GOOOOOOOOHHHHHH CRAP I FELL."

3. Red Panda this is not.

(h/t @RCorySmith).

The halftime entertainment has taken a serious dip here at PNC Arena. http://pic.twitter.com/CbmECGF3f6

— Cory Smith (@RCorySmith) November 26, 2016

Look, it’s hard enough to sing in front of thousands of people. You’re really going to make him sing Soul Sister by Train, one of the worst songs ever made? Cold blooded, mane.

4. The Return of Uncle!

(h/t @RobertReport).

Cops just got called to UNC's Craige Parking Deck after driver tried to avoid traffic by going in reverse down the ramp. He hit another car. http://pic.twitter.com/WZs851Bmro

— Robert Richardson (@RobertReport) November 25, 2016

Okay while it’s likely not that Uncle, my GOD is this amazing. This guy just up and decided it would be a good idea to drive in reverse down a parking deck ramp. What could possibly go wrong? That’s such a phenomenal idea...oh. Welp!

5. Marshall Plumlee had an incredible start to his NBA career without even actually playing.

(h/t @aaronwiener).

This is an awesome way to make your NBA debut http://pic.twitter.com/tUpS0QXPiF

— Aaron Wiener (@aaronwiener) November 21, 2016

Man, just look at that grit and determination! I would have totally paid money to see Plumlee sprinting his ass off on the streets of New York City trying to get to MSG.

the #suregrin award.

Have to acknowledge the most ridiculous fake rivalry trophy I’ve ever seen. Just look at this:

Trophymaker: what u want
Dumb ADs: I want a trophy that looks like the emoji come to life
Trophymaker: I got u fam http://pic.twitter.com/F9YJAa6hbC

— Will Thompson (@thrillis4) November 26, 2016

I believe this monstrosity is supposed to be some sort of bee hive, but good lord man, it looks like a pile of crap. Whoever paid money for this should seriously have their ability to purchase things revoked.

And now, for your moment of wrasslin’...

THE JIM ROSS BAH GAWD MOMENT OF THE WEEK!!

Let’s not waste another second - here’s a UNC player getting an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE!!

UNC PLAYER GETS AN RKO OUTTA NOWHERE!!!! https://t.co/GBT3tySiUI

— Will Thompson (@thrillis4) November 26, 2016

Have a great week everyone!

Poll

Which is your #goacc Moment of the Week?

• UVA got their ass kicked by VT, then managed to get their equipment truck stuck
• Clemson player gets a bit too amped up after beating South Carolina
• Red Panda this is not
• The Return of Uncle!
• Marshall Plumlee had an incredible start to his NBA career without even actually playing

  218 votes | Results

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Matt Dayes, Tony Adams, and Bradley Chubb earn All-ACC honors

The league announced the 2016 All-ACC teams on Monday afternoon, and NC State has three representatives, though none made the cut for the first team. Matt Dayes and Tony Adams received second-team All-ACC honors, while Bradley Chubb earned third-team All-ACC honors. Jaylen Samuels and Joe Scelfo earned honorable mentions.

Dayes ranks second among ACC running backs in rushing yards (1,119) but even so it’s hard to quibble with the writers’ decision to go with James Conner for the second first-team slot at RB. (Dalvin Cook, of course, has had the other slot locked down for a while. Conner has six more rushing scores this year, and he was also a bit more productive in conference games.

Here’s the complete list of the honorees:

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

WR, Mike Williams, R-Jr., Clemson, 131 pts

WR, Amba Etta-Tawo, R-Sr., Syracuse, 125

WR, Ryan Switzer, Sr., North Carolina, 107

TE, Jordan Leggett, Sr., Clemson, 95

T, Roderick Johnson, Jr., Florida State, 118

T, Mitch Hyatt, So., Clemson, 104

G, Tyrone Crowder, R-Jr., Clemson, 104

G, Dorian Johnson, Sr., Pittsburgh, 88

C, Jay Guillermo, R-Sr., Clemson, 86

QB, Lamar Jackson, So., Louisville, 125

RB, Dalvin Cook, Jr., Florida State, 139

RB, James Conner, R-Jr., Pittsburgh, 119

PK, Mike Weaver, R-Jr., Wake Forest, 47

Sp., Quadree Henderson, So., Pittsburgh, 103

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

DE, DeMarcus Walker, Sr., Florida State, 125

DE, Ejuan Price, R-Sr., Pittsburgh, 107

DT, Carlos Watkins, R-Sr., Clemson, 113

DT, Woody Baron, Sr., Virginia Tech, 79

LB, Ben Boulware, Sr., Clemson, 131

LB, Micah Kiser, Jr., Virginia, 99

LB, Devonte Fields, Sr., Louisville, 70

CB, Tarvarus McFadden, So., Florida State, 113

CB, Cordrea Tankersley, Sr., Clemson, 97

S, Quin Blanding, Jr., Virginia, 100

S, Jadar Johnson, Sr., Clemson, 94

P, Nicholas Conte, Sr., Virginia, 118

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE

WR, Isaiah Ford, Jr., Virginia Tech, 103

WR, Travis Rudolph, Jr., Florida State, 81

WR, Ahmmon Richards, Fr., Miami , 50

TE, Cole Hikutini, Sr., Louisville, 62

T, Adam Bisnowaty, R-Sr., Pittsburgh, 88

T, Jon Heck, Sr., North Carolina, 57

G, Tony Adams, Jr., NC State, 54

G, Kareem Are, R-Sr., Florida State, 54

C, Lucas Crowley, Sr., North Carolina, 64

QB, Deshaun Watson, Jr., Clemson, 102

RB, Matthew Dayes, Sr., NC State, 79

RB, Wayne Gallman, R-Jr., Clemson, 73

PK, Greg Huegel, R-So., Clemson, 39

Sp., T.J. Logan, Sr., North Carolina, 57

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

DE, Harold Landry, Jr., Boston College, 92

DE, Christian Wilkins, So., Clemson, 72

DT, Dexter Lawrence, Fr., Clemson, 67

DT, DeAngelo Brown, Sr., Louisville, 66

LB, Marquel Lee, Sr., Wake Forest, 64

LB, Keith Kelsey, Sr., Louisville, 56

LB, Tremaine Edmunds, So., Virginia Tech, 47

CB, Jaire Alexander, So., Louisville, 80

CB, Corn Elder, Sr., Miami, 53

S, Jordan Whitehead, So., Pittsburgh, 54

S, Jessie Bates, Fr., Wake Forest, 42

P, Justin Vogel, Sr., Miami, 78

THIRD TEAM OFFENSE

WR, Artavis Scott, Jr., Clemson, 46

WR, James Quick, Sr., Louisville, 44

WR, Stacy Coley, Sr., Miami, 30

TE, Bucky Hodges, R-Jr., Virginia Tech, 52

T, Brian O’Neill, R-So., Pittsburgh, 35

T, Jonathan McLaughlin, Sr., Virginia Tech, 33

G, Augie Conte, R-Sr., Virginia Tech, 48

G, Danny Isidora, Sr., Miami, 43

C, Freddie Burden, R-Sr., Georgia Tech, 27

QB, Mitch Trubisky, Jr., North Carolina, 29

RB, Mark Walton, So., Miami, 59

RB, Elijah Hood, Jr., North Carolina, 40

PK, Joey Slye, Jr., Virginia Tech, 37

Sp., Brisly Estime, Sr., Syracuse, 32

THIRD TEAM DEFENSE

DE, Bradley Chubb, Jr., NC State, 64

DE, Duke Ejiofor, R-Jr., Wake Forest, 37

DT, Derrick Nnadi, Jr., Florida State, 65

DT, Nazair Jones, Jr., North Carolina, 33

LB, Ben Humphreys, So., Duke, 46

LB, Andrew Motuapuaka, R-Jr., Virginia Tech, 41

LB, Zaire Franklin, Jr., Syracuse, 40

CB, Greg Stroman, Jr., Virginia Tech, 45

CB, Breon Borders, Sr., Duke, 37

S, Josh Harvey-Clemons, Sr., Louisville, 38

S, Chucky Williams, Jr., Louisville, 34

P, Sterling Hofrichter, Fr.-R, Syracuse, 30

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Fascism Watch: Spike of anti-Semitism on college campuses

Monday News: Good luck with that

SOLAR, WIND INDUSTRIES HOPE YEARS COURTING REPUBLICANS PAYS OFF (Reuters) -- U.S. wind and solar companies for the first time gave more money to Republicans than Democrats during the 2016 election cycle, according to federal campaign disclosures, part of a years-long effort to expand renewable energy's appeal beyond liberal environmentalists. … Recipients this year included 34 House Republicans and 19 Senate Republicans. U.S. Sens. Richard Burr from North Carolina, Dean Heller from Nevada and New York Rep. Tom Reed - all vocal proponents of renewables - together accounted for more than 40 percent of the Solar Energy Industries Association PAC's total federal campaign donations.
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An assault on democracy

If Pat McCrory’s attempt to win the election through challenging voters does anything, it should put to rest the Republican notion of widespread voter fraud. His appeals have shown that fraud is rare and statistically insignificant. GOP attempts to restrict access to the polls would clearly disenfranchise more people than it would prevent fraud. Unfortunately, […]
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Meet Illinois, a veteran but deeply flawed team

How to watch or listen to the game

Tip time: 9 p.m. ET, Tuesday, Nov. 29

TV: ESPNU

Online streaming: WatchESPN

Radio: Wolfpack Sports Network (affiliates)

Illinois vitals

Record: 4-3
Pomeroy ranking: 94
Best win***: 79-64 over Northern Kentucky (No. 259 in Pomeroy Ratings)
Worst loss: 84-80 to Winthrop (No. 116 in Pomeroy Ratings)

(***Based on opponent's Pomeroy Rating, not margin of victory.)

Adjusted tempo: 68.8 poss/40 minutes (ranks 214th)
Adjusted offensive efficiency: 104.5 (ranks 108th)
Adjusted defensive efficiency: 98.9 (ranks 93rd)

Illinois roster
Illinois schedule
Illinois stats 2016 / 2017

The Illinois offense and starters

Illinois Offense -- Four Factors	eFG% (National Rank)	TO%	OR%	FT Rate
2015-16	50.2 (156)	14.9 (12)	21.5 (344)	30.5 (322)
2016-17	51.2 (128)	21.9 (284)	29.5 (182)	38.7 (132)

If this is a make-or-break year for fifth-year head coach John Groce, Illinois' start to the season is not ideal. After plowing through some tomato cans to open the season, the Illini have lost three straight, including double-digit losses to West Virginia and Florida State. The Illini are looking for signs of hope after finishing 2016 with a 15-19 (5-13) record, and so far there isn't much to like.

Offensively, at least, Illinois should be better in 2017 with a good chunk of production returning, including leading scorer Malcolm Hill. But the Illini did lose sharpshooter Kendrick Nunn this offseason--Nunn was dismissed following a domestic battery charge--which is not the sort of setback that Groce or Illinois need right now. Nunn averaged 15.5 points per game last season.

It's good news/bad news: losing a career 38% three-point shooter is bad, but since the Illini are built to score from the perimeter, they have enough other threats to remain a viable unit. This can still be an above-average three-point shooting team like it was last year. (And it had better be.)

Illinois' consistent problems under Groce have boiled down to offensive rebounding and getting to the line. These are not necessarily crucial factors to every team--if you are lights out in the shooting and turnover departments, for example, then offensive rebounds become far less important.

Illinois has taken great care of the ball over the last two seasons, but one of the roster's shortcomings has been a lack of low-post scoring threats. The Illini have been pretty bad when shooting inside the arc, which has dragged down the offense despite their accuracy from three. If Illinois is going to have a turnaround season, it needs to solve its scoring problem inside the arc, because the offense is going to have to lead the way back to prosperity.

Starters

Jaylon Tate (6-3, 170) -- Tate is unlikely to factor significantly into the scoring, as he shoots about as often as BeeJay Anya or Lennard Freeman. Over the course of his career, he's maintained an outstanding assist rate, but he is also incredibly prone to turnovers. He is 5-53 from three in his career.

Tracy Abrams (6-2, 185) -- Abrams desperately wants to be a major contributor from outside, and hey, maybe this is the year--he's 8-17 from three so far. For his career, however, he is only a 28% three-point shooter.

Malcolm Hill (6-6, 225) -- Here is your official Guy To Watch. He averaged 18.1 points per game in 2016 and is at 18.3 this year. Hill is a versatile wing player--he can shoot it from deep, he gets to the line a bunch (where he shoots 80%), and he's a pretty good passer. Illinois' offense runs through this kid, with good reason--he has been an efficient high-workload player since his sophomore year. (He's a senior now.)

Michael Finke (6-10, 230) -- A tough matchup because so far Finke has proven to be a solid three-point shooter. Pretty good offensive rebounder but not much on the defensive glass.

Maverick Morgan (6-10, 245) -- Hey, another Maverick! What are the odds. Illinois and NC State, #MaverickSolidarity. Morgan is a low-usage player with a decent shooting percentage in the paint--it's just that, y'know, he's not going to be shooting often. Dude is turnover prone and a terrible rebounder for his size.

The Illinois bench and defense

Reserves: Jalen Coleman-Lands (6-3, 190), Mike Thorne (6-11, 280), Aaron Jordan (6-5, 190), D.J. Williams (6-7, 210), Te'Jon Lucas (6-0, 170).

Thorne is a good rebounder at both ends and was a primary contributor at Charlotte before transferring to Illinois and spending a lot of time on the bench. Basically, he has the potential to be Random Good Game Guy.

Coleman-Lands made 42.2% of his 206 three pointers last year but is off to an ice-cold start to this season.

Illinois Defense -- Four Factors	eFG% (National Rank)	TO%	OR%	FT Rate
2015-16	53.6 (323)	19.0 (112)	28.1 (96)	26.5 (12)
2016-17	51.0 (202)	18.8 (192)	26.7 (88)	32.5 (124)

The Illini have done a pretty good job lately of keeping teams off the free throw line and grabbing defensive boards, but they've also not been any good at defending the paint or the perimeter, which is just a little bit more important. Illinois' defense bottomed out last season after a pretty good run, and so far this season there's not a lot of clear reasons for encouragement. Both their block and steal rates are terrible.

The Pomeroy Predictor likes NC State by one point.

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Bowl Poll: Where? Against what opponent?

Sorry, none of the above isn't an option.

Alrighty, folks. Now that we know NC State has lived to play another game this season, just what game will that be?

Shortly after State dispatched of UNC, one prognosticator noted the possibility of NC State getting together with its old pal Maryland in the armpit of the Earth that is Detroit, but that scenario isn't getting any traction with the experts. At first I threw up in my mouth a little at the idea of this rekindling of the flame with a former ACC foe, but what better way to gen up interest in a middling bowl game than to add infinite amount of hate and old grudges into the equation? I, for one, would welcome that matchup with open arms. Arms opened so wide, in fact, that they could almost wrap around Ralph Friedgen's fat fucking neck to choke him for 2010.

Sweet Jesus, 2010. TWO THOUSAND AND FREAKIN' TEN. Let's digress, shall we? The Pack enters the polls in week five only to lose at home to Virginia Tech. The Pack later lose on the road to a far inferior Eastward Carolina (sound familiar?). Alas, after beating Florida State the Pack are back in the polls and in the driver's seat for the conference championship! Then they lost to Clemson in the infamous punt game. TOB, why? You gutless wonder! Do the goddam Marines punt on 4^th and one? No worries though. Consecutive wins over Wake and UNC meant that all the Pack, back in the polls at 21^st, needed was a win over the Turdles to take the Atlantic and PLAY FOR A CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP. State jumped to a 14-0 lead only to lose spectacularly despite holding Friedgen's offense to nine yards rushing on the day. It was steadily downhill for TOB and the program after that soul crusher.

Okay, sorry. Enough of that business. Where are my pills?

What follows in the table below are the first eight bowl projections that came up on the Google when "college football bowl projections" was googled. As you'll note in the asterisk below, not all of these fine journalists have gotten around to a new round of projections, but since they rightly believed NC State would topple the Tar Heels to make it, we're going to use them anyway.

Source	Bowl	Opponent
SB Nation's Jason Kirk	Independence	Vanderbilt
CBS's Jerry Palm	Independence	South Carolina
College Football News	Military	Houston
ESPN's Brett McMurphy*	Independence	South Carolina
NBC's Bryan Fischer	Independence	South Carolina
247sports' Brad Crawford	Military	Houston
Campus Insiders' Dave Miller	Quick Lane Bowl	UT-San Antonio
Fox Sports' Stewart Mandel*	Independence	Ole Miss

*prediction made before this weekend's games; kudos for believing in us, fellas. However, Ole Miss did not warrant such belief and lost the Egg Bowl to finish 5-7. With the Rebels lacking a strong APR, you can probably ignore that bit of Ole Miss prognostication.

It looks like there are four possibilities, with the most likely scenario being a trip to the artist formerly known as the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl to face South By God Cackalacky. Note that State opens against the Cocks in Charlotte next year, but I don't think that will factor in the Bowl Gods' decision making (though perhaps it adds a bit of intrigue for the respective fan bases). Vanderbilt is another possibility for the Shreveport-based bowl. The Military Bowl (sponsored by questionably legal drone strikes) against now coach-less Houston is an intriguing matchup. And then there's UTSA in Detroit sticking out like the proverbial turdle in the punch bowl. (See, I called the Terps "turdles" and then reused a similar childish pun here, creating a sort of framing of lame humor within which I've nestled the rest of this clownbloggery. And you don't even have to pay for this stuff.)

So, if you had your druthers (and if you do not, I suppose you're married! Ha! I'll be here all week. Try the veal), which of the four matchups would you prefer? Vote early and vote often.

Poll

Which bowl/opponent would you prefer?

• Independence vs. Mustardy BBQ Sauce
• Independence vs. The One Smart Kids School in the SEC
• Military vs. Phi Slama Jama
• Lube Bowl vs. Whatever a UTSA is

  656 votes | Results

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Highlights! Trickery and a heavy dose of Matt Dayes lead NC State past UNC

great success!

For the fourth straight time in this series, the road team was victorious. And while it would be nice if NC State could beat UNC in front of the home crowd one of these years, it is a little extra sweet to win in Chapel Hill, even if we’ve made that fairly routine since 2008 (State has won four of five in Kenan since then, and probably should be five-for-five.)

NC State won on Friday because its offense was both good and relatively consistent—and because all-world quarterback Jaylen Samuels got to show off his skills. If you listen to the call from Mack Brown during that play, you can spot the moment when his heart breaks in half. Sorry, Mack. But not really though.

Between that nice TD toss by Samuels and Matt Dayes’ tremendous, hard-fought touchdown run early in the second quarter, State produced two of the biggest highlights of the season. Not a bad way to go out.

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Another Sunday, another "emergency" NC BoE meeting

ICYMI: @NCSBE holds emergency mtg tomorrow (11/27) on McCrory’s Durham protests, Civitas suit. Dial (213) 929-4212 (code 696-443-050) #ncpol http://pic.twitter.com/If9w7lcbws

— Democracy NC (@democracync) November 27, 2016

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Sunday News: A new trick every day

NC State holds off Loyola-Chicago for 79-77 win

I DID NOT NEED THIS STRESS TODAY, OK GUYS.

You had to go and do this, basketball team. We couldn’t just have a nice relaxing holiday weekend, COULD WE. NC State started slow against Loyola-Chicago, came back to take a comfortable lead, then had to hold on for dear life down the stretch. The Wolfpack improved to 5-1 with a 79-77 victory over Loyola-Chicago.

That was certainly not what anybody wanted to see this afternoon—Loyola is not a basement-level mid-major, but NC State was still a 14-point favorite according to the Pomeroy Ratings. Obviously it never worked out quite that way.

Dennis Smith scored 30 points on 13-22 shooting, and made some key plays down the stretch. Draining a couple of free throws in a one-and-one situation during the final minute counts among those. Torin Dorn added 20 points on 7-10 shooting, while Markell Johnson stepped up with some big steals late in the second half.

None of this game was ideal, but State got through it, so we can live with it for now. This is absolutely a red flag type of result, though. I’m trying to cut this group some slack simply because they have not spent a lot of time together, but some old problems remaining problems (see: defense) is discouraging. You can’t change a lot within a program if you can’t address that, and so far Mark Gottfried’s team hasn’t bothered.

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NC State AD Debbie Yow: Dave Doeren ‘is our coach moving forward’

Yow released a statement Saturday confirming that Doeren will not be replaced this year.

NC State delivered a big win at UNC on Friday afternoon, and probably to nobody’s surprise, Dave Doeren isn’t losing his job. Athletics director Debbie Yow released a statement on the matter Saturday, confirming that Doeren will return for 2017.

Full statement, via Gopack.com:

During my 26 years as an Athletics Director, I have held the belief that all programs should be evaluated at the conclusion of their respective seasons rather than in the midst of them.

With our regular season complete, I want to put to rest any speculation surrounding the future of Coach Dave Doeren and let our student-athletes, recruits and fans know he is our coach moving forward.

Our roster is composed of 65 percent freshmen and sophomores. Additionally, in 2017, we will return over 75 percent of our players currently in our two-deep, giving us experience and continuity moving forward.

Dave shares the values of our athletics department and University. He and his staff recruit both character and talent to NC State. And he runs his program with integrity.

We are now bowl eligible for the third consecutive year. And while we have not yet achieved our goals as a program, we continue to make progress.

We remain committed to becoming a Top 25 program and Dave shares that vision. We continue to support him, his staff and our terrific student-athletes.

Decisiveness is important with these situations, especially at this point in the year, when recruiting is a little more important, so this was the right move by the administration. This is as much a message to recruits as it is to NC State fans.

I disagree with this decision, but it was done the right way. This weekend my recommendation is to just enjoy everything about yesterday and get excited about a bowl game, which means one more game this year of Matt Dayes and Jaylen Samuels.

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Have we outgrown our Electoral College system?

Or was the idea flawed from the start?

Much has been written since Election Day about the need to resist the “normalization” of racism and misogyny. Less has been said about the “normalization” of democratic dysfunction, the signs of which are all around us.

Take the popular vote. Sorry, Americans, it’s just not “normal” for the candidate who came in second to be declared the winner of the race for the second time in the space of a mere 16 years. In 2000, George W. Bush was elected the 43rd president of the United States despite winning about 540,000 fewer votes than his Democratic opponent; in 2016, Donald Trump has been elected 45th president despite trailing Hillary Clinton by 2 million votes.

The short answer to both of those questions is "Yes." And as much as some of you might get angry at me for saying so, the idea we could appeal to individual Electors to change their votes and "fix" the Trump mistake is just more evidence the system is broken. You'd be giving them more power, not less, and also your tacit approval of a ruling class "deciding" what voters really wanted or needed. I've received several e-mails from friends wanting me to sign petitions asking Electors to do that, and I've refused (quietly) to throw my name in. Why? Because there's no middle of the road. We either do away with the Electoral College via the laborious (but Constitutional) method, or we allow it to operate the way it was designed. As we've learned from the behavior of the NC GOP, winning isn't everything, and the ends don't always justify the means:

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Saturday News: SCSJ stands up to Civitas

ADVOCACY GROUPS JOIN FRAY OVER GOVERNOR VOTES (AP) — Voting-rights advocates have joined the legal wrangling over how votes are being counted in North Carolina’s close governor’s contest. Lawyers from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice asked a federal judge late Wednesday to reject a lawsuit questioning voters who used same-day registration to cast ballots. The request for a dismissal was by some of the same lawyers and advocates who successfully sued to overturn parts of a wide-ranging 2013 elections law enacted by the GOP-controlled General Assembly. Now the coalition opposes a lawsuit filed this week by the head of the alt-right Pope Civitas Institute.
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The morning after with Omega: Carolina edition

No more not quite for NC State.

Preseason, we thought NC State's schedule was going to be murderous. Now that we're at the end of the regular season, we can see that it was every bit as difficult as anticipated. NC State faced six teams slotted in the top 35 of the Football Outsiders F/+ rankings, including four in the top 16. Going 2-4 against that group with three of the four losses coming down to critical plays in the fourth quarter—a missed field goal, a dropped interception, a muffed punt—is more encouraging than discouraging. NC State was right there with the best programs in the country.

There wasn't much middle ground in the schedule, as the remaining six opponents are all ranked outside the top 70. Going just 4-2 against the bottom of the schedule, again with losses coming down to excruciating fourth quarter gaffes, was more discouraging than encouraging. It is what ultimately doomed the Pack to fighting for their bowl lives, and perhaps their coach's job, in their season finale against rival North Carolina. And fight they did. Dave Doeren's second win in Chapel Hill in two tries not only bought the Pack and senior leaders like Matt Dayes another football game, it also changed the calculus on his future in Raleigh.

The salve of ruining senior day at Carolina, eliminating the Heels' feint hope of an ACC title game appearance, and pulling the rug out from under their hopes of a 10-win season, masks a lot of earlier misfortune. The Pack's ability to get off the mat after a season wrought with so much "almost" and keep fighting for their program and their coach, as calls for his head built to a crescendo, was truly remarkable. You could point to a dozen different times this year where it would have been easy to call "ballgame" on this regime, but the players and the coaches never saw it that way, stayed together, and finally finished one. Kudos to all of them. Resiliency is a good look, especially when it nets a North Carolina loss to close the campaign.

But it ain't all rainbows and unicorns; going 2-5 in games that were decided in the fourth quarter isn't good enough, but beating the sheep in their pasture two straight and getting the club to three straight bowls will do, for now. Doeren has repeated the mantra that first you lose by a lot, then a little, then you win by a little, and then you win by a lot as he's talked about the slow process of building a program. And let's not forget how empty the cupboard was that he inherited. Coach, you won the most important one. We expect more winning next year, whether by a little or by a lot, with what will be your deepest and most experienced team yet.

And, with that out of the way, your good, bad, and ugly bullets from the finale:

The Good:

• Much like two years ago in Chapel Hill, NC State was the more physical team, punishing Larry Fedora's defense to the tune of 259 yards on the ground and three rushing scores.
• Dayes led the way with 104 yards and two TDs, but the running game was bolstered in large part by contributions from Reggie Gallaspy and Jalen McClendon, who combined for 108 yards on 17 carries. Four Pack runners had a rush of at least 10 yards and Jaylen Samuels found pay dirt on a jet sweep.
• Dayes is one of the all-time greats for this school, but (as I've been screaming for weeks) he (and the rushing offense as a whole) is much better when the running game consists of more than hand it to Dayes every time.
• Samuels took a lateral and flung one up to Stephen Louis for a 59-yard TD. That was a brilliant call against an undisciplined defense, especially given how much attention Samuels commands.
• Louis finished with four catches for 124 yards. He completed the regular season with a team-high 657 yards receiving on just a shade under 20 yards per catch (19.9) after missing all of last season due to injury.
• Ryan Finley didn't have a big game, what with the run game churning up and spitting out Heels left and right, but his escape of pressure and throw on the run to Jakobi Meyers was a thing of beauty. It also led to what ultimately held up as the winning score.
• The defense had nothing for Ryan Switzer (13 catches for 171 yards) but otherwise held the Heels in check. Carolina's 21 points were 13 less than its average, and the Heels per play average was close to a yard under their norm. I'd just like to wish Switzer, a senior, the best of luck in his future. Buh-bye, Ryan.
• Carolina came in tied with State as the 24^th hardest team to sack, giving up 1.46 per game, but the Pack bothered Mitch Trubisky more often than not and BJ Hill and Mike Stevens got him to the turf for a pair of sacks. The Heels were also flagged for holding on several occasions. State won this one in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
• Further evidence of said trench domination: State threw Carolina for a loss six times; Carolina caught State for a loss but twice.
• The Pack was able to run the clock out at the end with McClendon at quarterback. I love the way we run the football with him at the helm; even knowing what was coming and with the game on the line, Carolina couldn't get a stop.
• You would rather not need to tip your cap to the punter, but AJ Cole was excellent in his five booting efforts, averaging 47 yards with two inside the 20. Switzer, who has something like 400 career punt return TDs, was only able to return one kick and for not too much damage (13 yards). Bye-bye Ry guy.
• State took the high road when the Heels started chirping, pushing, and showing their collective asses. It would've been easy to lose a player during the bench-clearing mess, but it was Carolina who went down a man after Jalen Dalton threw a punch (right in front of an official, you moron). Dalton showed serious respect for Fedora, dragging his coach behind him as he jumped into the fray. (Also, Terronne Prescod ain't skeerd.)

The Bad:

• The penalty that negated the flea-flicker pass.
• The phantom late hit out of bounds penalty. (Though, all in all, I thought it was a well-officiated game and was pleasantly surprised to see a few pivotal calls go against Carolina, especially the ruling on the onside kick. It appears that Fedora's players weren't even aware of the rule that you can't block downfield until the ball travels 10 yards, as they were trying to bury every State player in the vicinity. Cheating bastards.)
• This game didn't have to get interesting; the fumble that led to Carolina's first points shunted the snowballing momentum and perhaps prevented an early knockout and another 35-7 result like we enjoyed in '14.
• Pass protection was good for the most part, but Will Richardson must have thought there was a back in the backfield when he blocked no one and let Carolina's end come free for the team's only sack allowed. The backfield was empty, and Finley got buried.
• Jay-Sam's drop that prevented a first down was another play that contributed to keeping Carolina in it. I know at that point a lot of us had that "We've seen how this movie ends" feeling. Samuels finished the regular season with a less than stellar (by his standards) 648 total yards and 10 scores after going for 965 and 16 last year, but he does have a 925.6 QB rating! (Note that he averaged right about eight yards a touch in both years, so it's not that he's been less effective, just less utilized.)

The Ugly:

• Kyle Bambard and Connor Haskins are a combined 9-for-17 this season, and Haskins' makes have often just barely cleared the crossbar. Yet, even with these field goal woes, Doeren again played for three at the end of the half against Carolina. At Clemson there was time to get closer, even to try to go for a TD, and the team went into conservative leave it up to the kicker/don't let the other team get the ball back mode with predictable results. Against Carolina, Doeren was again more concerned with not letting the Heels get the ball back, despite how well the defense was playing, than managing the clock for a TD. Another field goal was, predictably, yanked and the door was left open for a Carolina comeback that came too close for comfort in the second half. I don't know if it's more frustrating that Doeren would employ this conservative strategy that flies in the face of everything he preaches about playing physical football in the first place—as in both the Clemson and Carolina games the offense was moving the ball effectively and had momentum at the time—or if it's more frustrating that Doeren didn't learn from his first mistake. Good god, man. Most of us want to like you. Nearly all of us want you to be successful. Grow a pair! You've earned a reprieve, but your clock management and decision making has to improve if you want to elevate this program.

Phew. Let me catch my breath here. It's nice to be able to rant AND taste victory anyway for once, especially when that victory comes against Carolina.

Fuck Carolina.

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Matt Dayes closed out his career at his best

We’re going to miss this guy.

Matt Dayes wasn’t an immediate impact player at NC State; it took him a while to become a headlining, crucial component to the Wolfpack’s offense. He doesn’t have great speed, but that matters less when you attack football with a self-aware perspective. He’s physical, and he is decisive in the backfield—he sees a spot, he plants a foot, and he goes. That’s such an under-appreciated trait—the kind of thing you don’t realize you miss until it’s gone.

Dayes was outstanding in his final regular season game on Friday, running for 104 yards and accounting for 36 receiving. He did this:

Dayes as a dagger that killed Carolina is one thing we won’t forget, but at the same time, he’s been so much more than that. His development at State made him into an outstanding run/pass threat in his last two seasons, and if he hadn’t been derailed by injury last season, who knows what his career numbers would look like now.

But man, how much fun was it watching him run through North Carolina’s defense on Friday? He earned that, and his teammates helped to make it possible. THAT was a ton of fun. We’ve got another game this season, so let’s do that again. Matt Dayes earned it.

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2016 bowl projections: NC State is going to the Independence Bowl?

State is going bowling somewhere. Maybe not the best where, but that is okay.

Some discussion emerged during the NCSU-UNC game that if the Wolfpack ended up bowl eligible, they would have an offer from the Independence Bowl. That came from NC State’s radio broadcast, according to Steve Wiseman:

Per NC State radio broadcast, Wolfpack will be offered Independence Bowl trip to Shreveport with a win over UNC today.

— Stephen Wiseman (@stevewisemanNC) November 25, 2016

And then, after the game:

Shreveport rep hanging out outside State’s locker room http://pic.twitter.com/6FbQKQ81ju

— Lauren Brownlow (@lebrownlow) November 25, 2016

IT’S ALL HAPPENING, FOLKS, WE GONE GO TO THE SHREVEPORTS.

Seriously, though, a team’s bowl destination can be a continuously moving target throughout the last weekend of the regular season, and while NC State hasn’t exactly earned a spot higher up the pecking order within the ACC, you never know***.

(***However, there is a certain tier that, as a 6-6 team, NC State cannot reach. As a 6-6 team within a league full of a lot of bowl-eligible teams, it’s unlikely that the Pack would end up in, say, Charlotte. Pretty much impossible, actually.)

At least we’re talking about a bowl game today, though. That is an improvement over the last several days and/or weeks. Also: we beat UNC. Don’t forget that NC State beat UNC today. Worry about the rest of the stuff later, and just for now remember that NC State beat UNC and it was good and we enjoyed it.

Party on, everybody.

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NC State holds on for 28-21 win over UNC

heh

Let’s not worry about the bigger picture right now, let’s just enjoy this moment. NC State out-played North Carolina on Friday afternoon, and won 28-21. With that win, State will be going bowling. Also, with that win, UNC lost.

Matt Dayes and the Wolfpack offense paced State early; there were trick plays, including a nice touchdown throw from Jaylen Samuels, that gave State an early 21-0 lead. NC State was the more aggressive team in the first half, and took full advantage of a UNC turnover.

State probably should have been up by more at halftime, but the playcalling late in second quarter demanded a late field goal try, which of course was shanked badly. The coaches may eventually figure out that they have zero half-decent field goal kickers.

But when you win in Chapel Hill, I suppose ultimately that sort of criticism amounts to quibbling. NC State got the jump today and did not let go, despite the necessary periods of suspense. NC State beat UNC and that is good and I enjoyed it. Go Pack.

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NC State vs. UNC game thread

well here’s this thing now

NCSU vs. UNC

Kickoff: Noon ET, Friday, Nov. 25

TV: ESPN (Adam Amin, Mack Brown, Molly McGrath)

Online stream: WatchESPN / ACC Network Extra (these are the same thing, basically)

Line: North Carolina -12

Radio: Wolfpack Sports Network

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Fascism Watch: Assaulted in a kindergarten classroom

Because choking little children will Make America Great Again:

In a three page complaint submitted to the State Board of Education and the Charlotte Mecklenburg school board, the David Cox Road Elementary teacher reportedly forced the child to carry a heavy backpack with a large textbook and headphones, causing him significant back pain.

The complaint claims the teacher also called the child “bad Muslim boy” on multiple occasions, and allowed his classmates to tease and mock him. On November 16, the complaint alleges the abuse turned physical when the teacher grabbed the kindergarten student by the neck and began choking him. "Another teacher then separated the two and began consoling the student, who was crying and extremely shaken," the complaint said.

Bolding mine, and before you say, "Hold on, Steve, let's wait and see what the investigation turns up," I fully expect that "investigation" will end up like this one:

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Friday News: The shameful acts of a desperate man

MCCRORY'S BASELESS CLAIMS OF ELECTION FRAUD UNFAIRLY DEMEAN VOTERS (Capitol Broadcasting Company editorial) -- It is time to end the hyped-up claims of fraud and corruption in an election that was free and fair. Gov. Pat McCrory needs to urge the vote-counting process move ahead without delay. This is Pat McCrory’s last chance to demonstrate some leadership. He should, for once, stand up to the legislative bullies and partisan political manipulators, and be the governor voters thought they’d elected four years ago.
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NC State vs. UNC: How to watch, game time, TV channel, online streaming, odds, and more

The regular season ends a day earlier than usual for the Pack and Heels.

Ready or not, everybody, here it comes. This game we have to play in Chapel Hill, that is. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, of all days. But who knows, maybe this timing helps—it ain’t like UNC was going to have a bunch of folks at a noon game regardless of the date, and a Friday afternoon game won’t help that situation.

NC State heads into this final regular season game with plenty still unclear: how secure is Dave Doeren’s job, and how much will the result from this contest affect his status one way or the other? The Wolfpack is also a win shy of bowl eligibility, and it is at least do-or-die in that sense. (Despite any potential APR/academic exemption to fill empty spots, a 5-7 NCSU team is not going bowling, per the N&O’s Joe Giglio.)

NCSU vs. UNC

Kickoff: Noon ET, Friday, Nov. 25

TV: ESPN (Adam Amin, Mack Brown, Molly McGrath)

Online stream: WatchESPN / ACC Network Extra (these are the same thing, basically)

Line: North Carolina -12

Radio: Wolfpack Sports Network

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Friday fracking video

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Thursday News: When duty calls

Turkey day open thread

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NC State vs. UNC-CH: Predict the final score

Y'know, something tells me the predictions this week are not going to be especially optimistic. Call it a hunch. But I can never actually bring myself to confront the idea of losing when the opposing team is North Carolina. Just can't do it. We could have a wheelchair-bound paraplegic horse at quarterback and I'd still find a reason to believe that State will win.

So with that said, WE'RE GONNA WIN BABY WOOOOOO all right probably not but you can't smash these hope-assed dreams, pal. Only Dave Doeren has that power.

(As always, you don't need to submit an email address in order to submit a score into the dealio below.)

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College football schedule, Week 13: Rivalry Week! Kickoff times and TV schedule

The regular season comes to a close this weekend.

College football season always seems to fly by, even when NC State is not very good. This is the final weekend full of games, so enjoy what’s left. At least college football has the courtesy to go out with a strong slate of games: it’s rivalry week for a big chunk of FBS teams, and there is no shortage of interesting games.

Led first and foremost, of course, by Rutgers-Maryland on Saturday. Boy howdy, when those two tangle it’s always an adventure. I don’t love Big Ten football—really I just barely tolerate it—but you do have to admire the league’s ancient traditions like this one. Will there be a dry eye in the stands as the clock hits zeros in the fourth quarter?

Unfortunately, there’s only one college football game on Thanksgiving, but there are more than a dozen games to keep us company on Friday afternoon, headlined by the Apple Cup. Oh, and NC State is playing that day also.

Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016
Matchup	Time (ET)	TV / Streaming
LSU at Texas A&M	7:30 p.m.	ESPN / ESPN3

Friday, Nov. 25, 2016
Matchup	Time (ET)	TV / Streaming
(20) Houston at Memphis	12 p.m.	ABC / ESPN3
NC State at North Carolina	12 p.m.	ESPN / WatchESPN
NIU at Kent State	12 p.m.	CBSSN / CBSSports.com
Arkansas at Missouri	2:30 p.m.	CBS / CBSSports.com
Buffalo at Bowling Green	2:30 p.m.	ESPN3
(5) Washington at (23) Washington State	3:30 p.m.	FOX / FS Go
(16) Nebraska at Iowa	3:30 p.m.	ABC / ESPN3
(19) Boise State at Air Force	3:30 p.m.	CBSSN / CBSSports.com
TCU at Texas	3:30 p.m.	FS1 / FS Go
Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss	4:00 p.m.	ESPNEWS / WatchESPN
Toledo at (21) Western Michigan	5:00 p.m.	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
Baylor vs. Texas Tech (in Arlington, TX)	6:00 p.m.	ESPN / WatchESPN
Cincinnati at Tulsa	8:30 p.m.	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
Arizona State at Arizona	9:30 p.m.	ESPN / WatchESPN

Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016
Matchup	Time (ET)	TV / Streaming
(3) Michigan at (2) Ohio State	12 p.m.	ABC / ESPN3
Kentucky at (11) Louisville	12 p.m.	ESPN / WatchESPN
Georgia Tech at Georgia	12 p.m.	SECN / WatchESPN
Illinois at Northwestern	12 p.m.	BTN / BTN2Go
Kansas at Kansas State	12 p.m.	FS1 / FS Go
Purdue at Indiana	12 p.m.	ESPNU / WatchESPN
Rutgers at Maryland	12 p.m.	ESPNEWS / WatchESPN
Virginia at Virginia Tech	12 p.m.	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
UCF at USF	12 p.m.	CBSSN / CBSSports.com
Arkansas State at UL Lafayette	12 p.m.	ASN / ESPN3
Syracuse at Pittsburgh	12:30 p.m.	ACCN / ESPN3
Boston College at Wake Forest	3:00 p.m.	RSN / ESPN3
(13) Auburn at (1) Alabama	3:30 p.m.	CBS / CBSSports.com
Minnesota at (6) Wisconsin	3:30 p.m.	BTN / BTN2Go
Michigan State at (7) Penn State	3:30 p.m.	ESPN / WatchESPN
Notre Dame at (12) USC	3:30 p.m.	ABC / WatchESPN
(18) West Virginia at Iowa State	3:30 p.m.	FS1 / FS Go
(25) Navy at SMU	3:30 p.m.	ESPNU / WatchESPN
Duke at Miami (FL)	3:30 p.m.	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
FIU at Old Dominion	3:30 p.m.	ESPN3
Mississippi State at Ole Miss	3:30 p.m.	SECN / WatchESPN
San Jose State at Fresno State	3:30 p.m.	CBSSN / CBSSports.com
South Alabama at Idaho	3:30 p.m.	ASN / ESPN3
Oregon at Oregon State	4:00 p.m.	Pac-12N / Pac-12.com
Appalachian State at New Mexico State	4:00 p.m.	ESPN3 / AggieVision
Nevada at UNLV	4:00 p.m.	ESPN3
Troy at Texas State	4:00 p.m.	ESPN3
Tulane at UConn	4:00 p.m.	ESPNEWS / WatchESPN
Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee	5:30 p.m.	beIN Sports / beIN Sports Connect<
UCLA at California	7:00 p.m.	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
Charlotte at UTSA	7:00 p.m.	CampusInsiders
WKU at Marshall	7:00 p.m.	ESPNU / WatchESPN
(22) Utah at (9) Colorado	7:30 p.m.	FOX / FS Go
South Carolina at (4) Clemson	7:30 p.m.	ESPN / WatchESPN
(17) Tennessee at Vanderbilt	7:30 p.m.	SECN / WatchESPN
East Carolina at Temple	7:30 p.m.	ESPNEWS / WatchESPN
(15) Florida at (14) Florida State	8:00 p.m.	ABC / ESPN3
Rice at (24) Stanford	8:00 p.m.	Pac-12N / Pac-12.com
North Texas at UTEP	8:00 p.m.	CUSA.TV
Colorado State at San Diego State	9:00 p.m.	CBSSN / CBSSports.com
Utah State at BYU	10:15 p.m.	ESPNU / WatchESPN
Wyoming at New Mexico	10:15 p.m.	ESPN2 / WatchESPN
UMass at Hawaii	11:00 p.m.	Oceanic PPV

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NC State vs. UNC: Key matchups to watch

NC State needs a win to get bowl eligible, and also a win would mean UNC loses, which is good too.

NC State travels to Chapel Hill this Friday in their annual rivalry game against North Carolina. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 pm ET at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill and it will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. The Pack’s game against their in-state rival always looms large on the schedule, but this year’s matchup is even bigger for the Wolfpack. If NC State wins, they become bowl eligible and keep their season alive. If they lose, they have a long offseason to wonder how a season that seemed so promising back in September managed to go so wrong.

Five games into the year, NC State looked like one of the best teams in the ACC with a 4-1 record. That seems like a long time ago after the Wolfpack have managed to lose five of their last six games. They desperately need to win this game to right the ship and keep this season from seeming like a total disaster.

NC State head coach Dave Doeren could well be coaching for his job. If they lose to the Tar Heels, that would mean that NC State finishes with a losing record for the second time in his four seasons coaching the team. If they win, it would mark three straight years in a bowl game. This is undoubtedly the biggest game of Doeren’s coaching career. These will be the matchups to look out for:

Elijah Hood vs. NC State Rushing Defense

Hood is likely licking his chops to face the Wolfpack D again. He ran for a career-high 220 yards against NC State last season in Raleigh. He should find it much tougher this time around against a Wolfpack rushing defense that is ranked sixth in the nation, giving up an average of just 102.1 yards rushing per game.

Ryan Finley vs. UNC Passing Defense

Finley has done a fine job this season leading the NC State offense. The sophomore quarterback has thrown for 2,669 yards and 15 touchdowns with just 8 interceptions. He will face one of his stiffest tests of the season against a UNC passing defense that is ranked 12th in the country, giving up an average of 178.5 yards per contest. Finely will have to avoid turning the ball over and stay cool under pressure. It will be difficult when he is faced with the rabid Tar Heels fans screaming their lungs out whenever NC State has the ball.

Matthew Dayes vs. UNC Rushing Defense

While the UNC passing defense is very good, they are very bad against the run. They are ranked 115th in the nation, allowing opponents an average of 233.4 yards per game on the ground. If the Tar Heels play true to form, Dayes should find plenty of running room. The senior tailback is already over 1,000 yards rushing on the year, and he will need to add significantly to that total if the Wolfpack are going to come out on top.

You cannot underestimate the importance of this game. NC State must find a way to win this game to save their season and possibly their coach’s job. It should be a hard-fought contest that may well come down to the final possession.

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Wednesday News: The stink of desperation

Primer on the 2004 contested election for NC Superintendent

McCrory is not the first Republican sore loser:

Few would have envisioned this moment back in November, when candidate Fletcher challenged candidate Atkinson’s 8,500-vote margin by questioning the legality of 11,000 out-of-precinct provisional ballots cast in the election, enough ballots to draw into question the outcome of the election and perhaps justify a court order for a new election.

The procedure followed by the General Assembly on August 23 was specially designed to fulfill the requirements of a provision of the state constitution that until then had escaped almost everyone’s notice: Article VI, Section 5. It says that a contested election for any of the ten Council of State offices (for the offices involved, see the sidebar on page 44) “shall be determined by joint ballot of both houses of the General Assembly in the manner prescribed by law.”

Bolding mine, because that date tells us many things. First, the General Assembly didn't "rush" into making a decision about this race, it viewed such a decision as a last resort. No doubt they considered her 8,500 vote lead to be strong enough to stand on its own. That date also tells us the lengths that some people are prepared to go in an effort to undermine the will of the people. And the legal actions that took place in 2004 are eerily similar to what Civitas is trying to do now:

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BTP The Podcast Vol. 12: Dave Doeren, NC State basketball, acceptance, and anger

The month ahead is going to be interesting.

Is this the end for Dave Doeren? Who the hell knows. But it probably should be. We talk Doeren’s tenure and this strange season during the podcast this week, along with the basketball team’s 2-1 run through the Paradise Jam.

BTP The Podcast is available through SoundCloud and iTunes (search “BTP The Podcast”), or you can listen right here by hitting play.

(Music this week: “Christmas Time Is Here,” Vincent Guaraldi Trio, from Charlie Brown Holiday Hits; “Eyes to the Wind,” The War on Drugs, from Lost in the Dream.)

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Rivalry week retrospective: Chuck Amato and NC State break through in Chapel Hill

Ah, the fun old days.

Some of you kids out there might not remember this, but it is true: there was a time when UNC went an extended period of years without losing to us. NC State’s success against the Tar Heels since the beginning of the Tom O’Brien era may feel normal and just and absolutely a thing we should do forever—and I totally agree--but it was not always this way.

Let us venture back all the way ... to the year 2000. NC State has lost seven straight games to the Tar Heels. As Mack Brown’s UNC teams thrived in the 1990s, Mike O’Cain completely sputtered as Dick Sheridan’s successor, resulting in a long run of futility against those folks down the road.

Enter Chuck Amato and true freshman quarterback Philip Rivers, who ushered in a brand new era of NC State football in myriad ways. And enter poor Carl Torbush, who, in rather impressive fashion, quickly dismantled all the progress Mack Brown made in Chapel Hill. (My cap is eternally tipped in his direction.)

The 2000 game State-UNC game was Amato’s first as head coach and I still remember this one because it marked much had changed in so short a time. Rivers caught a touchdown pass on a trick play to start the scoring, and the Pack ended up winning easily. That shit blew my mind, man. It was beyond foreign.

(Fun fact! Mike O’Cain joined Torbush’s staff at UNC after being fired by NC State in 1999. So he was on the sideline for this one wearing Carolina blue.)

Thanks again to area internet hero CylonWolf for uploading this and countless other games to YouTube.

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Dave Doeren: ‘It’s been my most challenging year as a head coach’

Safe to say it’s been hard on everyone.

Dave Doeren opened his Monday press conference with a few words about the 2016 season as a whole, and he offered up a little pep talk as well. Maybe as much for him as for the fans.

#NCState's Dave Doeren opened pre-#UNC presser w/ honesty abt how tough 2016 has been&a message #WPN
FULL>>#wral http://pic.twitter.com/2foz6aLuzc

— Marilyn Payne (@marilyn_payne) November 21, 2016

And these are nice sentiments, but the thing about sports is they’ll always test the merits of whatever you assert about your team. Ball don’t lie, as it were. Nor does effort. So we’ll see on Friday.

I hope he’s right, that everybody has hung together throughout the year, and I hope that NC State plays well in Chapel Hill. But the question for Doeren’s teams is always this one: if the Pack does play well, will positive results follow good performance? That’s been an iffy proposition to say the least.

It’s defined his stint here, and it may well end it, too.

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Maybe Democrats should fight like Republicans

Maybe Democrats should take a page out of Pat McCrory and the NCGOP’s playbook. Almost before the votes were counted, McCrory and company were crying voter fraud. As McCrory’s inevitable loss became apparent, they upped the game by filing complaints of voting irregularities in counties across the state. Now, they’re claiming that so many complaints have […]
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Live stream NC Board of Elections hearing

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Tuesday News: NC a national spectacle, again

Tuesday Twitter roundup

Francis DeLuca joins the ranks of petty tyrants trying to steal the election:

.@NCCivitas sues State Board of Elex in federal court to temporarily block votes case by same-day registration in 2016 election. #ncpol

— Craig Jarvis (@CraigJ_NandO) November 22, 2016

He's going after Same-Day Registration voters in an effort to delay the outcome of McCrory's stunning loss, implying many of these voters are "illegitimate" and should not be able to counter "legitimate" voters. And he's also using the same Civitas legal entity that challenged NC's very first wind farm. Let's hope they fail just as bad this time too.

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Dave Doeren: Yea or Nay?

How do you feel about NC State's head coaching situation? Is beating UNC this weekend enough to earn him another years (it would be three consecutive bowl games), does the result of this weekend's game do nothing for you either way, and/or should Dave Doeren be fired following the 2016 season?

Let's go ahead and conduct this unscientific poll. If you feel like Doeren should be fired, what would change your mind in the near term--is there something that could change your mind. It's about time for a decision one way or the other, so what is you gut feel?

This whole thing ended up a lot more complicated than I ever would have expected, but no matter, is Dave Doeren toast or only slightly crispy? Make your choice now. It stinks that it's come to this, but where else is there to go now? I don't know, and I don't think Dave Doeren knows, either.

Poll

Should Dave Doeren be fired this year

• Yes, I've seen enough.
• No. Football coaches deserve five years.

  401 votes | Results

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Observations From The 2016 Paradise Jam

I observed some stuff and then wrote about it

NC State won two of three games in the 2016 Paradise Jam and finished third, which is fine when you consider the circumstances they faced. Creighton was a nightmare scenario that State almost certainly will not face again this season. I think we can safely put that game behind us, especially since the team played pretty well in the third place game. Here are a few key observations from this year’s tourney.

NC State has perimeter shooters

State really struggled to shoot the three early this season, going 9-45 over the first three games including game one in the Virgin Islands against Montana. Something changed though after Friday’s win, because the Pack came out blistering hot from deep against Creighton and has yet to cool down. Despite the loss, State actually shot a higher percentage from beyond the arc than the Jays, which is easily one of the nation’s best three point shooting teams.

Terry Henderson made 10 of 16 from three over the course of the final two games in the Virgin Islands, which is darn impressive, even for a guy whose job it is to make three point shots. It wasn’t just Henderson who shot with a hot hand in this tournament though. Dennis Smith knocked down 5 of 11 and Dorn hit 7 of 10 against Creighton and Saint Joe’s. Neither of those guys are heralded as elite shooters, but they both did more than hold their own over the last couple of days.

State as a team took a high volume of three pointers and made 51% over the last two games. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that that percentage is not likely to hold up all year, but if nothing else, the Pack proved they have multiple players who are legitimate perimeter shooting threats.

NC State really needs Kapita and Yurtseven

These dudes cannot get into the lineup soon enough. Depth was a huge concern throughout this year’s Paradise Jam for State, specifically on the interior. State traveled with three big men on the roster, two of which average about 347 fouls per 40 minutes, and it hurt them. Not having enough bodies hurt them as they tried to keep up with a million mile per hour Creighton team. Being forced into playing strange lineups with inexperienced players hurt them after Abu and Anya had each collected their four fouls. These problems were nowhere more evident than when State got demolished on the boards in game three. BeeJay Anya has never been a good rebounder, and Darius Hicks just doesn’t look ready. State was left with little to work with when Abu was on the bench.

Furthermore, none of the trio of Anya, Abu, and Hicks possess the ability to score down low and actually make the post part of the offense. Abu is a good player, but State makes too much of an effort to get him the ball down low. That’s just not a part of the game that he is particularly good at, and the same can be said about Anya. I’m not dogging them as players, that’s just not the kind of forward that they are. The scoring options can open so much more if and when Kapita and Yurt prove to viable offensive options.

Abu makes free throws now

This is very good news. Abu seems like he gets fouled a lot, so free throw stat lines like the 9-10 he posted against Montana are welcome with open arms.

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NC State closes out Paradise Jam with 73-63 win over St. Joe’s

That’ll work.

NC State’s trip to the Paradise Jam may not have ended like we’d hoped, but I don’t think anybody expected the Wolfpack to be down three players this weekend, either. The Wolfpack didn’t win the tournament but did go through a useful route at the same time, if that makes sense. Playing Creighton and St. Joe’s was pretty much the ideal scenario going in, but it worked out backwards.

That is, I’d hoped for State to beat Creighton in the semis and then meet St. Joe’s in the final. Instead, State lost to Creighton in the semis and met St. Joe’s in the consolation game.

NC State overcame the tough loss to Creighton with another hot shooting night from beyond the arc, which held off a St. Joe’s team that was terrible from the field but dominated the glass. If there’s one big takeaway from the weekend, it’s the Pack’s perimeter offense coming to life without Maverick Rowan.

While turnover margin and poor defensive rebounding kept this game relatively close, NC State’s far superior shooting and free throw rate paved the way to victory.

Dennis Smith led all scorers with 24 points and added eight assists, while Torin Dorn scored 19 and Terry Henderson scored 15. Good night for the Rescue Squad.

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The Happiest Man on Election Night

The happiest man on Election Night, at least here in North Carolina, was Senate pro tem Phil Berger. Why? Not only did his son win a coveted seat on the Court of Appeals, Senate Republicans actually managed to gain a seat, against all odds, in a district drawn to elect a Democrat. Who is Danny […]
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Van der Vaart could be fox in the EPA's hen house

NC State a 10-point underdog to UNC

It may be a very black Friday indeed for NC State. The Wolfpack closes out the regular season at North Carolina and will enter the game as a double-digit underdog. The line opened at UNC -10, per Vegas Insider, but has already gone up to -12 in some places. Confidence is low, repeat, confidence is low.

I'm worried that State's players are not going to be interested in playing this game at all, after all of the frustrating performances and close losses they've gone through this season. It's an important game, no doubt--it is UNC we're talkin' about here--but if they came out flat, let's just say I wouldn't be stunned.

And if they do come out like that, the odds of a win or even covering the spread shrink substantially. They certainly won't have a chance in hell if they play like they did against Miami over the weekend.

UNC, meanwhile, can finish the season with 10 wins by beating the Pack and winning its bowl game.

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To steal an election

For six years, Republicans in the General Assembly have undermined the democratic process in North Carolina. They began by overriding county and municipal governments’ redistricting plans by redrawing local political districts like the Wake School Board and Buncombe County Commission to make them more favorable to Republicans. Without local approval or support, they changed nonpartisan elections to […]
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Monday News: Normalizing bigotry

KLAN’S PARADE AND CONCERNS ABOUT WHITE SUPREMACISTS IN NC (Raleigh News & Observer) -- Within 48 hours of the Trump win, the Loyal White Knights of Pelham posted plans on the group’s website for a celebratory parade on Dec. 3, though no time or location has been listed. “Victory Klavalkade Klan Parade Dec. 3rd 2016 North Carolina,” is all the site mentions about the event. “Trump = Trump’s Race United My People.” Not only did the announcement bring condemnation from across the political spectrum, it raised questions about the state of the Klan in North Carolina, a battleground state for the presidential candidates.
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NC State blown out 112-94 against impressive Creighton squad

Defense optional?

Well, that escalated quickly. Despite an impressive start for the Wolfpack behind an onslaught of Terry Henderson triples, NC State took a 112-94 loss against a gifted offensive team in Creighton. Creighton's starters ranged between scoring 12 and 20 points as State offered little resistance on most possessions.

The Pack shot 45.6% from the floor and were a shocking 14-29 on threes. Creighton finished 60.6% overall and went 13-27 from deep. Given the out of nowhere three-point production from State, it seemed like they might have been heading in the direction of snagging an early season signature win. However, the positive early trends were eventually overshadowed by horrid defense and foul trouble.

The brightest spot for State was Henderson's shooting. He totaled 28 points as Dennis Smith Jr. dropped 21 and pulled 7 boards. Smith was only 6-16 from the floor, though, and at times looked unsure of how to attack the Creighton defense.

Without question, the Wolfpack didn't receive the production it needed from its big men, the partial result of foul trouble for Abdul-Malik Abu and Beejay Anya. Anya fouled out and Abu was 1 of 4 State players to commit 4 fouls. Frequent fouling became part of why backup guard Markell Johnson logged 30 minutes to fill in the gaps. He was active but only managed to go 3-9 shooting.

For Creighton, Cole Huff did much of the damage as he went 8-8 from the line and 4-5 from deep on the path to 20 points. Maurice Watson Jr. had plenty of help as Khyri Thomas and Marcus Foster contributed to an overwhelming backcourt performance by Creighton. That trio had between 13 and 16 points. State had extreme difficulty keeping Creighton's guards outside of the lane throughout the contest.

Of course, the primary takeaway is hard to be anything but the Wolfpack being torched defensively. However, I attribute much of this game to playing Creighton under the worst possible conditions. Opposing a team of that offensive skill and depth with State down three important players is quite a bit to ask.

In other words, no one should overreact to one loss against a potentially great team who State played under way less than ideal circumstances. Hopefully some of what we witnessed tonight won't be transpiring once Omer Yurtseven and others are in the fold.

With the loss, State now turns its sights toward St. Joseph's. That game will occur tomorrow 11/21 at 6:00 PM ET.

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Dave Doeren has become an expensive waste of time for NC State football

Fascism Watch: The re-emergence of the Red Hat gang

Sunday News: Burr the hypocrite

BURR SET TO TAP REPUBLICAN DISTRICT JUDGE (Rocky Mount Telegram) --- Local Democratic lawmakers at the state and federal level claim a just re-elected U.S. Senator is poised to approve a Republican nominee for federal judge in Eastern North Carolina after blocking liberal appointments for years. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC, blocked two judicial nominees for a vacancy in the Eastern District of North Carolina, which is classified as a judicial emergency and at more than a decade is the longest running vacancy in the nation. Burr's judicial nominee obstruction is unprecedented, said U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield.
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The morning after with Omega: Miami edition

Bridesmaids again in a winnable game.

Here we are again. NC State failed to reach bowl eligibility in its first attempt, dropping a 27-13 decision to Miami on senior day to guarantee another losing season under Dave Doeren in the ACC, and, as has been the case in most of the Pack's losses this season, it's easy to point to one play that turned the game. Well, lots of ones.

The most glaring "what if" this week was Bra'Lon Cherry's muffed punt in the fourth quarter when the score was 17-10 and the Pack had the momentum. The Canes capitalized with a field goal to take a two-score lead. Later, with the Pack back to within a touchdown, Jack Tocho was called for what seems like his 100^th career pass interference when he was in good position but didn't get his head turned around to find the ball. Had he made any play on the underthrow, rather than plowing into the halting receiver, the hanky stays in the pocket and it's Pack ball. Instead, Miami punched it in three plays later to salt the game away.

Those late-game miscues stand out, but let's not forget Ryan Finley's pick in the end zone as State's red zone woes continued, or Stephen Louis's drop of a touchdown in the first half. Any one of the aforementioned plays goes the other way, and it's potentially a different outcome. Instead, State is all out of what ifs with one game to play.

A win over UNC would salvage the season to some degree, as a win over a rival with a bowl game on the line always does, but the Pack will once again play as the underdog and will be looking for just their second win in four years under Doeren against a bowl-bound conference opponent. Maybe the problem isn't that State is tantalizingly close to breaking through against a good team, but rather the problem is that the Pack are still an underdog against every decent team on the schedule in year four of the Doeren regime.

Let's swallow hard and take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Wolfpack's home finale.

The Good:

• It was tough sledding, as he managed just 76 yards on 20 carries, but senior Matt Dayes eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Dayes, who ran for his eighth touchdown, is at 1,015 yards on the year. T.A. McClendon was the last Pack back to rush for a grand in a season, way back in 2002.
• Walk-on Brady Bodine had a day he'll remember; his 11-yard run on a gutsy fake punt call got State a first down, though it didn't ultimately lead to points.
• Kelvin Harmon's impressive freshman season continued with four catches for 68 yards. He's got 26 catches for 458 yards and a freshman record five TDs for the year. Louis shook off the drops—in addition to bungling a sure TD, he dropped a sure first down throw in the first half—to catch five balls for 70 yards. He's been a pleasant surprise with 29 catches for 533 yards for a team-high 18.4 yards per catch.
• The defense withered in the second half, but its first 30 minutes were stout against a Miami team with an NFL quarterback and a wealth of riches at the skill positions. The Canes had just three points in a first half that saw them feebly run for a mere 22 yards on 15 carries.
• Bradley Chubb and Darian Roseboro each recorded sacks in the first half. That's nine for Chubb and seven for Roseboro. Chubb is second nationally with 19.5 tackles for a loss. Start crossing your fingers that he's back for his senior year.
• Even with Miami coming alive for 24 second-half points, the defense held the Canes to half a yard under their per-play average per snap and more than a touchdown under their scoring average.
• They were some seriously low line drives that died just beyond the crossbar, but Connor Haskins remained perfect since wrestling back field goal duties from Kyle Bambard. Coming away with three is better than coming away with nothing.
• Cherry had a 31-yard punt return; too bad that big special teams play also yielded no points and that we'll remember his last, muffed return instead.

The Bad:

• Doeren elected to punt from Miami's 39 (with the predictable result of a touchback).
• Eight of State's first 15 plays went for negative or no yardage, and the offense failed to convert on its first seven third downs. There hasn't been a script planned to come out and successfully move the ball since Clemson.
• I counted five drops in the first half and six for the game. Those drops contributed to a rough afternoon for Finley, who completed just 20 of 44 passes for 210 yards, no TDs, and a pick. He did improve after a brutal first half that saw him average just 3.3 yards per attempt.
• The stadium had that half empty look after halftime again. Whether this exodus, and the attendant lack of crowd noise, negatively affected the defense is anyone's guess, but it's not a good look.
• To wit, Miami ran 17 times for 107 yards and three scores after the break, and no more QB sacks were forthcoming against a patchwork Canes' line that was dominated in the opening 30 minutes.
• A false start on Thaddeus Moss made the Pack settle for three during their fourth-quarter comeback bid. They needed two scores at the time, but of course you would rather have the TD. And that gaffe came after the phantom clip on Clark Eyers erased Dayes' spectacular TD run.
• Make no mistake, Miami's defense is very good, but State's 329 total yards were its second lowest output of the season in a game not played in a hurricane. The 4.5 yards per play was also the second worst non-hurricane total of the year.
• Despite Finley's inability to run the ball and his penchant for throwing INTs in the red zone (he had a second pick given back on a replay reversal), Jalen McClendon got just ONE snap at QB. Miami's linebackers didn't cheat on Dayes due to respecting McClendon's legs, and Dayes got the edge for about the only time in the game for an easy 5+ yard gain. I'm not calling for a QB change, but McClendon needs to be used more to open up the run game.
• Scrap the wildcat please. See above about using McClendon. Also, in a game where the base offense is underwhelming, why not also use Jakobi Meyers in some razzle dazzle?
• Jaylen Samuels was a non-factor. He headed to the locker room at one point due to a bum shoulder and is simply either hobbled or human. Or perhaps he's simply underutilized.

The Ugly:

• -2 in turnover margin.
• All of that "what if" business from the opening. Scroll up and reread it if you have a strong stomach.
• The prospect of UNC ending your season.

We know now that Matt Canada's dismissal was not due to performance but rather due to rancor in the coaching ranks. After Canada's offense was among the top 10—6^th, actually, according to Bill Connelly—rushing offenses in the nation last year despite a gaggle of attrition at the running back position, most of us decried that State fired the wrong coordinator. Dave Huxtable's defense certainly got its act together this year, so apologies to the old man on the staff, but I'm still searching for a reason justified by football performance to have jettisoned Canada. Meanwhile, Canada's offense hung 56 on Duke yesterday a week after beating Clemson. I said at the time that the Eli Drinkwitz gamble would either be brilliant or the beginning of the end for Doeren. Like a close game against a P5 opponent, this isn't breaking Doeren's way. Whether or not Debbie Yow will pull the plug on this experiment gone wrong is anyone's guess, but it's clear that the switch at coordinator cost this team a chance at a winning season. Canada's offense, coupled with this defense, might have even competed for an ACC title. That may seem like hyperbole, but what game other than Louisville would State have NOT won with a competent offense?

A loss to UNC to end the season would make the timing perfect, and the pill easy to swallow, Dr. Yow.

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