Open Invite to The Wolfpack Fan(s)

[WorldVisionGuy]

Thanks for a great post!!!

 

[EastTNVol6240]

Surprised more people don’t have a question mark beside our secondary. I know I do. QBs tend to have a highlight reel kind of day against us. I think we win, but don’t think it’ll be as decisive as some think.

 

[sjt18]

I think most State fans reasons for hope are 1. UT hanging 50+ on an FCS team and still being mediocre is a thing.

Would be except that UTC is ranked 8th in FCS and is expected to win the SC... same league as WCU plays in. UT played the better SC team and at no point or any phase was UTC competitive.

(I'm actually a WCU graduate many moons ago. I moved back there after 1.5 years at State. I was homesick and partied too much. I became a UT fan like virtually the whole town I grew up in did when Heath Shuler signed to play for the Vols.)

The Cats looked like they belonged on the field with NCSU talent wise. That's not good news for NCSU- nor is the possibility that WCU out-coached State. UT has a weapon in Nico and a BUNCH of talented WRs. But the thing that the Pack should worry most about is UT's run game. WCU averaged over 6 ypc vs your front. The Vols have ranked 3rd, 6th, and 1st in SEC rushing during Heupel's tenure. They had over 300 yds vs UTC.

2. UT looked great week 1 last year too and followed that up with a squeaker against Austin Peay and loss to UF.

But they didn't look great. A lot of us had serious concerns after that game. It looked honestly a lot like your game vs WCU. The Vols led 13-6 at the half. APSU was competitive and in the game. It was 23-13 until UT scored a final TD with about a minute left. The debate here over Milton got even more heated. He missed numerous opportunities to make big plays... unlike Nico on Saturday. The fan response was similar to yours- as if the Vols had actually lost.

3. We hope our rustiness was due to multiple transfers and looking ahead to week 2.

Very possible. That's one of the risks with the portal. The pieces may not fit as well as you hope.

"Looking ahead" or otherwise not taking care of business against a team like that usually comes down to coaching and team leadership. Sometimes it is players. Not usually. State has better players than WCU. They should have dominated.

As far as personnel, offense, we are still getting to know them. Qb, 2 of top 3 rb, 2 of top 4 wr, te, and C are all transfers. The one offensive weapon we had last year is back, slot WR Kevin Concepcion. He'll catch passes down the field, take handoffs, reverses, screens etc. 120 yards of offense and 2 tds is par for the course for him. Your dc is going to key off of him this week. Our hope is that the wrs, te, and rbs State picked up will take some pressure off of him. After one game, that doesnt appear to be the case...120 yards and 3 tds on thursday.

Those other guys may come along. Concepcion is a good WR. Just based on the WRs UT faces week in, week out vs the SEC... I think he'll get attention but not overly so. WCU's formula was pretty good with inferior players. Concepcion got his numbers. Waters got his numbers. No one else really showed they could hurt them.

A little surprised that Grimes didn't contribute more.

Defense: state fans typically expect a top 4 acc defense every year. Tony Gibson 3-3-5 has been here since 2019 and for most of those years, hes had high level linebacker play, with multiple all acc selections and culminating in a acc dpoy/bednarik/butkus winner in Payton Wilson last year. We're not sure if we have anywhere close to that production this season but our heir apparent(Fordham) dropped a pic 6, recorded a tackle, and got ejected all in 5 plays on Thursday. From most accounts, most of the transfer NIL was spent on the 2ndary and that is seen as the strength of the defense at the moment.

If the Pack can hold UT to under 200 rushing then it gets really interesting. Because of tempo and a lot of big plays in the passing game many think that it is a pass oriented O. It isn't. UT builds everything off the run. They want to tie up the back 7 trying to stop the run then find open spaces in the passing game. That also has a tendency to limit exotic coverages.


There is no doubt that State can win the game. But there are more reasons that UT should win than NCSU should win. What you don't want is for the Vols to get early offensive momentum. That's what happened to Mizzou a couple of years back. I believe what UT fans don't want to see is for someone other than Concepcion and Waters to have a big day. Neither team can afford turnovers.


PS- I hope you win out and thrash Clemson and Carolina... after losing this weekend.

 

[The Vin Man]

The one area that Tennessee can get beat at is the secondary. Especially if NC State can convert 3rd and longs and stay on the field. Every team that has given us trouble has done that. I did not see enough from NC State's passing game to be worried to be frank. However, it could very well be that NC State hid their playbook against and inferior opponent or your team had a bad game. It happens.

The biggest concern I have, outside of limiting Concepcion’s yard’s & touches, is making sure their TE is covered. This was the one area UTC had a little success in against our defense.

 

[wolfTrip]

Any recommendations on the best areas to hang around the stadium in Charlotte?

Depends on what you are looking for. The two closest options are Graham Street Pub(next to the baseball field) and Clutch Kitchen and Pour House. The restaurants around Romare Bearden Park(east of the Stadium) probably have more of a family feel. If you're looking for more of a drinking/party environment I'd encourage to look at South End(south of the stadium) and along the light rail. Hopfly, Slingshot, Wooden Robot, Sycamore will all have plenty of 20/30 somethings wearing their teams colors and watching the afternoon games.

 

[volbound1700]

The biggest concern I have, outside of limiting Concepcion’s yard’s & touches, is making sure their TE is covered. This was the one area UTC had a little success in against our defense.

There just wasn't enough in that UTC game to really know if our defense is improved or not or how much it has improved. I felt like we jumped on them and stung them early and they got flat after. I think that could work with a lot of teams we play but not everyone (Georgia for example).

We will see if it works or not against NC State.

 

[Erich]

Also, we're talking about the Research Triangle Park (RTP) here: Duke, UNC, NC state all within a short driving distance. I lived in this area from 1999-2016 before moving back to TN. Great area to work and live.

Cree Lighting was started by a couple of NC State grads. "Does NC even have internet capabilities?" Lol how about SAS Institute in Cary? For years it was one of THE places computer science grads wanted to land a job at. Cary basically exploded in the late 90s from the Dot.com boom (before the bubble collapsed).

I got my CS degree in '88 (yes, I'm old), got a job in RTP, and have lived here ever since. 20+ years in Cary but yeah, it exploded and I'm in Pittsboro now just outside Chapel Hill. Awesome little town.

Anyways, many years here gives me some perspective on the local schools. NCSU reminds me of Kentucky. They are a basketball school first and foremost. They would trade multiple FB nattys for one BB natty. The FB program cycles between decent to pretty good. Right now, they are pretty good and have a good coach. I don't see 10 wins on their schedule but they will play us physical and it should be closer than a lot of on here think.

UT: 41
NCSU: 24

GBO!

 

[VolForLife83]

You’d be surprised. I live in South Ga on a dirt road literally in the middle of nowhere, yet I have fiber optic that reaches 1000mbs+. I couldn’t believe that it was available way out here when I moved in.

Hell, I live in Ringgold and still stuck with dsl lol

 

[Vol_in_NC_1999]

I got my CS degree in '88 (yes, I'm old), got a job in RTP, and have lived here ever since. 20+ years in Cary but yeah, it exploded and I'm in Pittsboro now just outside Chapel Hill. Awesome little town.

Anyways, many years here gives me some perspective on the local schools. NCSU reminds me of Kentucky. They are a basketball school first and foremost. They would trade multiple FB nattys for one BB natty. The FB program cycles between decent to pretty good. Right now, they are pretty good and have a good coach. I don't see 10 wins on their schedule but they will play us physical and it should be closer than a lot of on here think.

UT: 41
NCSU: 24

GBO!

My degree is in mechanical engineering, but I worked part time in Ayers Hall in the CS department. My friend's mom was the secretary there and she got me a job in the office sorting mail, answering the phone, running errands, etc., so I got to know several of the CS faculty and staff. It was a nice, easy part time job I went to between classes. Good times!

 

[Vol in Buckeye Land]

I come in peace. 37 yo, 2009 grad of State who lives in Charlotte. I will be there Saturday.

Coming into this season, I think most fans had these goals, in order.

Win 10 games
Make/win the acccg
Make the cfp

In order to do that, we see the need to accomplish 2 of the following 3 feats. In order; 1. Beat Clemson in DV in week 4. 2. Go undefeated(8-0) after Clemson. 3. Beat UT.

You all might have anecdotes of State fans talking about being super confident about this week but we as a fan base see them as the drunk guy at the bar who is mouthing off. COULD State win Saturday? Its possible. But not likely. I think most State fans reasons for hope are 1. UT hanging 50+ on an FCS team and still being mediocre is a thing. 2. UT looked great week 1 last year too and followed that up with a squeaker against Austin Peay and loss to UF. 3. We hope our rustiness was due to multiple transfers and looking ahead to week 2.

As far as personnel, offense, we are still getting to know them. Qb, 2 of top 3 rb, 2 of top 4 wr, te, and C are all transfers. The one offensive weapon we had last year is back, slot WR Kevin Concepcion. He'll catch passes down the field, take handoffs, reverses, screens etc. 120 yards of offense and 2 tds is par for the course for him. Your dc is going to key off of him this week. Our hope is that the wrs, te, and rbs State picked up will take some pressure off of him. After one game, that doesnt appear to be the case...120 yards and 3 tds on thursday.

Defense: state fans typically expect a top 4 acc defense every year. Tony Gibson 3-3-5 has been here since 2019 and for most of those years, hes had high level linebacker play, with multiple all acc selections and culminating in a acc dpoy/bednarik/butkus winner in Payton Wilson last year. We're not sure if we have anywhere close to that production this season but our heir apparent(Fordham) dropped a pic 6, recorded a tackle, and got ejected all in 5 plays on Thursday. From most accounts, most of the transfer NIL was spent on the 2ndary and that is seen as the strength of the defense at the moment.

As I mentioned, most State fans saw this as our hardest game coming into the season. This weekend reinforced that. A lot of us were flipping back and forth between UTCvsTenn and ClemvsUGA early Saturday. We ended up locked into the Clemson game bc that seems the more likely win in the next month that will help unlock the aforementioned goals.

PSA: Have a great time in Charlotte. Lots of good bar/brewery/restaurants to choose from near the stadium. Don't spend too much in the stadium...everyone hates David Tepper(Panthers owner). Don't give him too much extra money.

Good to have ya! I think you’re pretty spot on. I would issue a counterpoint to one of your “reasons for hope:” we did dominate Virginia last year, but if you were to peer back through the past into the living rooms of some Volunteer faithful on that day (or dig up the game thread on here) you would find evidence of a fanbase none too pleased with our performance, at least on the offensive side of the ball. We were pretty inept that day, with very little of the improvement we had hoped to see from Joe Milton from 2021 to that point (the receivers were sloppy, which exacerbated Joe’s struggles).

In fact, more broadly, I can say that I usually find myself with quite a bit to gripe about in openers like this, which often prompts my wife to look at me incredulously and say “Aren’t you winning by 30?” Well this year, we won the opener by 66, and gripes were in short supply, even for our highly critical fanbase.

Anyway, welcome again! Always nice to have opposing fans like yourself on the board, and I wouldn’t mind seeing you go 11-1 this year.

 

[DirtyDawg]

Hell, I live in Ringgold and still stuck with dsl lol

Dang, that stinks. I’ve been to Ringgold before, my dad took the family there. I think we spent 1 night in Ringgold or at least in the area. Very pretty landscape in the area if I’m remembering correctly. We went to Ruby Falls I think, my little six year old mind was sure I’d find a Ruby! Sadly, I did not find a Ruby.

 

[93wolf]

Here's my thoughts from a State fan...

I wouldn't put much stock in us having a close game or you have a blowout, it's just week 1.

State has skilled players outside of KC, so you're secondary will be tested. That being said, your DL can definitely disrupt any well laid plays if we can't come up with a good scheme to deal with them. We do have a lot of Transfers in key positions, QB, RB, Center, TE, WRs. All but the WRs are well tested and proven though from their previous schools. But everyone still has to mesh together no question.

Think you will see a lot more RPO action than you did in the WCU game, the coaches were holding that back for a few reasons. Not giving away too much for the next game and trying to settle McCall in with his new WRs. Obviously he was a little erratic but I think that's just rust from not play since mid year last season. But yeah he needs to be more accurate this game no doubt.

Now Tenn fans have never lacked for confidence in their teams, have some relatives that are fans, but the hype for Nico is thru the roof. He's a good young talent, but he is still a freshmen. 2 keys to game imo is control your DL the best we can and make Nico pass and read from the pocket. We do those things and I think this will be a 4th quarter game. We are very capable of scoring with you imo.

All that being said we have a terrible history playing at Charlotte for some reason. Hopefully the past doesn't predict future results yet again!

Hope for a good clean game, and good luck the rest of the season!

 

[Volfan1000]

I got my CS degree in '88 (yes, I'm old), got a job in RTP, and have lived here ever since. 20+ years in Cary but yeah, it exploded and I'm in Pittsboro now just outside Chapel Hill. Awesome little town.

Anyways, many years here gives me some perspective on the local schools. NCSU reminds me of Kentucky. They are a basketball school first and foremost. They would trade multiple FB nattys for one BB natty. The FB program cycles between decent to pretty good. Right now, they are pretty good and have a good coach. I don't see 10 wins on their schedule but they will play us physical and it should be closer than a lot of on here think.

UT: 41
NCSU: 24

GBO!

Norm Sloan was North Carolina State's version of Adolph Rupp.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

...2 keys to game imo is control your DL the best we can and make Nico pass and read from the pocket. We do those things and I think this will be a 4th quarter game....

Welcome to the board, 93wolf.

So I agree with you that those are two key aspects to the game.

#1 Problem for the Wolf Pack is, I don't think anyone short of Georgia is going to be capable of controlling our DL. You're more than welcome to try. If I were Dave Doeren, I might instead go with really quick slants and screen passes in the flats to get the ball away from the pocket before our lads arrive. Maybe traps if you're finding even marginal success inside. Otherwise, I would not tempt those fellas or give them time.

#2 Problem for your lads is, if you try to make Nico pass and read from the pocket, he's going to do that: pass and read from the pocket. See, the only way you can make him stay in the pocket and not hand the ball off is if you flood the box. You flood the box, and Nico's going to find open receivers. What he finds, he hits. And you guys could be in for a long night.

Anyway, it is a plan you have, I just don't think you're gonna enjoy it too much if that's what Doeren does.

Go Vols!

 

[LordVOLdemort]

WGWTFA

 

[LittleVol]

I come in peace. 37 yo, 2009 grad of State who lives in Charlotte. I will be there Saturday.

Coming into this season, I think most fans had these goals, in order.

Win 10 games
Make/win the acccg
Make the cfp

In order to do that, we see the need to accomplish 2 of the following 3 feats. In order; 1. Beat Clemson in DV in week 4. 2. Go undefeated(8-0) after Clemson. 3. Beat UT.

You all might have anecdotes of State fans talking about being super confident about this week but we as a fan base see them as the drunk guy at the bar who is mouthing off. COULD State win Saturday? Its possible. But not likely. I think most State fans reasons for hope are 1. UT hanging 50+ on an FCS team and still being mediocre is a thing. 2. UT looked great week 1 last year too and followed that up with a squeaker against Austin Peay and loss to UF. 3. We hope our rustiness was due to multiple transfers and looking ahead to week 2.

As far as personnel, offense, we are still getting to know them. Qb, 2 of top 3 rb, 2 of top 4 wr, te, and C are all transfers. The one offensive weapon we had last year is back, slot WR Kevin Concepcion. He'll catch passes down the field, take handoffs, reverses, screens etc. 120 yards of offense and 2 tds is par for the course for him. Your dc is going to key off of him this week. Our hope is that the wrs, te, and rbs State picked up will take some pressure off of him. After one game, that doesnt appear to be the case...120 yards and 3 tds on thursday.

Defense: state fans typically expect a top 4 acc defense every year. Tony Gibson 3-3-5 has been here since 2019 and for most of those years, hes had high level linebacker play, with multiple all acc selections and culminating in a acc dpoy/bednarik/butkus winner in Payton Wilson last year. We're not sure if we have anywhere close to that production this season but our heir apparent(Fordham) dropped a pic 6, recorded a tackle, and got ejected all in 5 plays on Thursday. From most accounts, most of the transfer NIL was spent on the 2ndary and that is seen as the strength of the defense at the moment.

As I mentioned, most State fans saw this as our hardest game coming into the season. This weekend reinforced that. A lot of us were flipping back and forth between UTCvsTenn and ClemvsUGA early Saturday. We ended up locked into the Clemson game bc that seems the more likely win in the next month that will help unlock the aforementioned goals.

PSA: Have a great time in Charlotte. Lots of good bar/brewery/restaurants to choose from near the stadium. Don't spend too much in the stadium...everyone hates David Tepper(Panthers owner). Don't give him too much extra money.

Welcome. Nice post.
I’m originally from Western Carolina myself and love Charlotte.

- We have a true freshman as our 5th DB star position in that will lock up with Conception. He’s very talented and it will be a monumental task to stop him.

- Last year we did struggle against Austin Peay. That’s because Joe Milton. He’s gone.

- We could have scored 100 on Chattanooga. Chat had a barn burner with WCU last season. Like 52-50 or something?

- NC State added some talent, but we added more and extended our offensive potential. Because of the QB change. We’re still average in the secondary. Better than last year but still average in the SEC and NC State even with Roger’s and Conception I don’t think they can go up and down the field on our defense.

In summary it’s still the beginning of the season, but Heupel has a killer mentality like Steve Spurrier. Tennessee is deep. They’re fast. They’re experienced and very mature as a team.
NC State may have been looking ahead to Tennessee and perhaps that’s why they played poorly? Tennessee does not look ahead.

You have Clemson who is no longer a National Title contender. They’re not comparable to Tennessee. Tennessee very much is a Playoff Caliber team and NC State unfortunately will be playing them a year too late. If this were last year, it would have been very close. But this ain’t last year.

This game will be in hand way quicker than NC State is prepared for. Mostly because Nico will hurt NC State with his legs first. He’s a 4.4 guy at 6’6 and is more polished than any pocket QB around. He’s a Unicorn. Like Vince Young…with good mechanics and accuracy

NC State is playing the best team they have ever played under Doreen’s stint. You’ll see as the seasons goes on, but you’re playing a Top 3 team this weekend…

49-10 Vols

 

[aRmo]

Here's my thoughts from a State fan...

I wouldn't put much stock in us having a close game or you have a blowout, it's just week 1.

State has skilled players outside of KC, so you're secondary will be tested. That being said, your DL can definitely disrupt any well laid plays if we can't come up with a good scheme to deal with them. We do have a lot of Transfers in key positions, QB, RB, Center, TE, WRs. All but the WRs are well tested and proven though from their previous schools. But everyone still has to mesh together no question.

Think you will see a lot more RPO action than you did in the WCU game, the coaches were holding that back for a few reasons. Not giving away too much for the next game and trying to settle McCall in with his new WRs. Obviously he was a little erratic but I think that's just rust from not play since mid year last season. But yeah he needs to be more accurate this game no doubt.

Now Tenn fans have never lacked for confidence in their teams, have some relatives that are fans, but the hype for Nico is thru the roof. He's a good young talent, but he is still a freshmen. 2 keys to game imo is control your DL the best we can and make Nico pass and read from the pocket. We do those things and I think this will be a 4th quarter game. We are very capable of scoring with you imo.

All that being said we have a terrible history playing at Charlotte for some reason. Hopefully the past doesn't predict future results yet again!

Hope for a good clean game, and good luck the rest of the season!

One thing i noticed in your game, you guys really struggled on defense with the Tempo WCU brought. If you guys were preparing for TN you guys should have been ready for the tempo in this game, that is kinda worrysome. Tennessee's tempo is almost unmatched. The only teams thave have matched it over the past few seasons are Kiffin and Golesh at USF. Golesh was our OC in 22'. Also, UT didnt show anything to NCST on Saturday either. Our best player played 10 snaps, and Chattanooga's game plan was to get out of this game unscathed because it doesnt matter in their division, so they had quick passes and didnt really allow their QB to drop back. The one time he did, he got absolutely crushed by West. I expect both teams to show some wrinkles on Saturday.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

...

NC State is playing the best team they have ever played under Doreen’s stint. You’ll see as the seasons goes on, but you’re playing a Top 3 team this weekend…

49-10 Vols

Hmm, not sure about that, Little. Doreen got to NC State in time for the 2013 season.

-- That year, they played conference mate FSU (and lost, 49-17). That's the FSU team that went on to the BCS championship with Jameis Winston at the helm, and beat Auburn. So a pretty good team.
--Played FSU again the following year, losing 56-41. FSU ended that season ranked #3.
--Played Clemson in '15, losing 56-41 (you might see a trend developing). Clemson ended the year #2 behind Bama.
--Played Clemson again in '16, losing 24-17 in overtime. That was one of Clemson's NC years.
--Clemson again in '17, losing 38-31. Clemson ended the year #4.
--Again in '18, Clemson's other national championship season. Lost 41-7.
--Again in '19, lost 55-10. Clemson finished that year #2, behind LSU.
--They didn't play Clemson in '20, which you'll recall was the weird covid season. Schedules all goofy. The quality of their top annual opponent dropped off after that.

But the point is, Dave Doeren's tenure at NC State might be longer than you remembered. He has gone up against several national champs and playoff teams, even back when the playoff was just the top 2 (BCS) or 4 (CFP).

The man can't beat those top teams, but he has definitely run into them.

Are the Vols better than some, many most, all of those? No way of knowing yet. We'll have to watch the season play out.

But I at least do agree with you that this game should be viewed along those lines by the NC State faithful.

Go Vols!

 

[LittleVol]

Hmm, not sure about that, Little. Doreen got to NC State in time for the 2013 season.

-- That year, they played conference mate FSU (and lost, 49-17). That's the FSU team that went on to the BCS championship with Jameis Winston at the helm, and beat Auburn. So a pretty good team.
--Played FSU again the following year, losing 56-41. FSU ended that season ranked #3.
--Played Clemson in '15, losing 56-41 (you might see a trend developing). Clemson ended the year #2 behind Bama.
--Played Clemson again in '16, losing 24-17 in overtime. That was one of Clemson's NC years.
--Clemson again in '17, losing 38-31. Clemson ended the year #4.
--Again in '18, Clemson's other national championship season. Lost 41-7.
--Again in '19, lost 55-10. Clemson finished that year #2, behind LSU.
--They didn't play Clemson in '20, which you'll recall was the weird covid season. Schedules all goofy. The quality of their top annual opponent dropped off after that.

But the point is, Dave Doeren's tenure at NC State might be longer than you remembered. He has gone up against several national champs and playoff teams, even back when the playoff was just the top 2 (BCS) or 4 (CFP).

The man can't beat those top teams, but he has definitely run into them.

Are the Vols better than some, many most, all of those? No way of knowing yet. We'll have to watch the season play out.

But I at least do agree with you that this game should be viewed along those lines by the NC State faithful.

Go Vols!

I know he’s been there a while.

It’s way too early to say what I said. I prefaced that in my summary.

But our team looks like 2022 with a much better defense. We had the Biletnkoff Award winner but our WR room is actually deeper this year.

Seldon and Lewis aren’t even up to speed yet and our running game still looks solid.
Our TEs the year will at least match the production of 2022

Defensively I think Tennessee could be Top 5 in the SEC. But no one is expecting that. We definitely will be Top 3 in offense.

 

[ntxVOL]

IMHO, the first thing NCst must do to have a chance is stop our run game without loading the box.

If they can do that, it's game on.

 

[wolfTrip]

Hmm, not sure about that, Little. Doreen got to NC State in time for the 2013 season.

-- That year, they played conference mate FSU (and lost, 49-17). That's the FSU team that went on to the BCS championship with Jameis Winston at the helm, and beat Auburn. So a pretty good team.
--Played FSU again the following year, losing 56-41. FSU ended that season ranked #3.
--Played Clemson in '15, losing 56-41 (you might see a trend developing). Clemson ended the year #2 behind Bama.
--Played Clemson again in '16, losing 24-17 in overtime. That was one of Clemson's NC years.
--Clemson again in '17, losing 38-31. Clemson ended the year #4.
--Again in '18, Clemson's other national championship season. Lost 41-7.
--Again in '19, lost 55-10. Clemson finished that year #2, behind LSU.
--They didn't play Clemson in '20, which you'll recall was the weird covid season. Schedules all goofy. The quality of their top annual opponent dropped off after that.

But the point is, Dave Doeren's tenure at NC State might be longer than you remembered. He has gone up against several national champs and playoff teams, even back when the playoff was just the top 2 (BCS) or 4 (CFP).

The man can't beat those top teams, but he has definitely run into them.

Are the Vols better than some, many most, all of those? No way of knowing yet. We'll have to watch the season play out.

But I at least do agree with you that this game should be viewed along those lines by the NC State faithful.

Go Vols!

I rarely use the term "should have beaten" because there is so much that goes into games and outcomes. But a very mediocre State Team(6-6) absolutely should have beaten the 16 Clemson Team that won the natty. State took advantage of some timely turnovers and was physically dominating Clemson's NFL dline that day all to miss a 30 yard field goal as time expired that would have ended the game there.

IMO, the best team Dave has played against was 13 FSU. I think every starter on that team got drafted and had playmakers at every spot on the field. That was Dave's first team and he did not come anywhere close to beating them.

 

[knoxvol52]

Depends on what you are looking for. The two closest options are Graham Street Pub(next to the baseball field) and Clutch Kitchen and Pour House. The restaurants around Romare Bearden Park(east of the Stadium) probably have more of a family feel. If you're looking for more of a drinking/party environment I'd encourage to look at South End(south of the stadium) and along the light rail. Hopfly, Slingshot, Wooden Robot, Sycamore will all have plenty of 20/30 somethings wearing their teams colors and watching the afternoon games.

Biggest Question of all..

Is the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair going to be styling and profiling at the game?

 

[adam.vol]

They've got everything we have.

In fact, NC is TN's closest relative among all the 50 states. They're our mom, in sort of the same way we are Texas' daddy. We come from North Carolina. We are the western extension of North Carolina. And thus we share a lot of culture with them.

Lot of respect for NC. Good people there, and a ton of interesting history.

Go Vols!

Mack Brown seems to agree. Left his home to live with mom and then moved out west to raise the delinquent child.

 

[adam.vol]

the hype for Nico is thru the roof. He's a good young talent, but he is still a freshmen.

He’s a redshirt freshman. While his game experience is only two starts, Nico has had a year and a half to learn the playbook and to watch Joe Milton run the offense. He enrolled at TN just before the Orange Bowl in 2022.

He’s a great QB, but it’s not like he just walked on to campus and started running the offense as he learned the system.

 

[DirtyDawg]

IMHO, the first thing NCst must do to have a chance is stop our run game without loading the box.

If they can do that, it's game on.

I agree with this 100%. If you guys have success running the football you can compete with any team in the nation IMO. It keeps the offense rolling and makes Nico’s job much easier. Nico will have a field day if the running game gets going. Sadly for NC State I expect Sampson will have a very good day!