Wow...

I haven't posted anything since August 25. At that time, I was quite excited by the fact the Russell Wilson was taking over as quarterback at NC State. I announced it by saying "Hello Mr. Wilson!" in the post just below this one.

As I write this, NCSU sits at 1-2. They have sandwiched losses to South Carolina (34-0) and Clemson (27-9) around a relatively lackluster victory over William and Mary. The defense has actually looked pretty good, and has been getting the turnovers that defensive coordinator Mike Archer and head coach Tom O'Brien talked about last year and over the summer. The problem has been that the offense has been inefficient.

That's really the nicest thing I can say about the offense.

Some of the ineptitude of the offense I attribute to Russell Wilson getting knocked out (literally) during the South Carolina game. The team had seemingly found a groove, and was moving the ball down the field, when Wilson got his bell rung. Daniel Evans entered, and you could literally hear the air come out of NC State's sails. Before you knew it, a 0-0 defensive struggle was a 34-0 blowout.

After missing the William and Mary game, Wilson played OK against Clemson. He didn't light the world on fire, but he did show an ability to avoid "big negative" plays. He may actually be too quick to throw the ball away. But, he is a redshirt freshman...I expect that as the season progresses he will learn when to challenge defenders and when to throw the ball away. Right now, he's a little timid about throwing the ball to receivers who aren't wide open.

So, going into this week, here's the story: NC State, decimated by injury, is getting ready to host the 15th-ranked team in the country. They are down to the 3rd string TE, have no receivers who made any significant contributions last year, have two converted defensive linemen starting on the offensive line, have lots of freshman and sophomores in the two-deep, and their quarterback is a RS-Fr. who has already been knocked cold this season. Recipe for disaster, right?

WRONG!!

That 15th-ranked team is from Greenville, NC. The East Carolina Pirates.

NC State's "get right" opponent.

Remember last year? 1-5 NC State went to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium and thumped the Pirates.

This year, ECU is riding high. Their fans are talking about going undefeated and making the a BCS bowl. Tickets for the game are selling on the "black market" for ridiculous prices. The Pirates and their fans are hyped and ready to come to Raleigh. They have something in store for the Wolfpack.

Whatever. I do not and will not believe it until I see it.

I think that the ECU team that played Tulane is much closer to the real thing than the team that beat West Virginia. I don't think the Virginia Tech victory means much, because Virginia Tech with Sean Glennon at QB is not much better (if any) than NCSU on offense. I think that Russell Wilson will be much more comfortable this week, and will begin to put things together. The Wolfpack offense doesn't necessarily need to score a ton of points. They just need to string together a few first downs, so that the defense can stay off the field for a while. I think that happens this week.

I don't care who they have beaten. I don't care where they are ranked. They are still East Carolina.

North Carolina State will win the game.