NC st (-2.5) over WVU
Now I fancy myself a bit of a WVU fan but looking and just the teams and no line I likes NC st. I was thinking this should be anywhere from 4 to 6. Watching WVU is painful, this past week against a terrible Rutgers team WVU managed to turn it over a ton but pull away late. If you want to teach kids how to run east and west then record WVU. They love the scat type player but the problem there is when they need the first down. The only true power back is Ryan Clark and he is not the best at holding onto the ball. NC state has been to one bowl game in the past four years and I expect this group will be hungry to play. WVU has a good QB he has a good arm but I question some of his throws and I certainly question his toughness to run when the play breaks down and get hit trying to get the first. Then again he normally runs out of bounds. WVU is in my mind led emotionally by the defense. They feed off that defense as games go on and they start to wear down a defense with ball possession on offense. But the game breaker is Russell Wilson. This guy is going to give WVU fits because of escapability. WVU has speed at LB but they rush the edge and Russell should have the middle open up for big gains all day. O'Brien is 6-2 in bowl games and I give him twice as much respect that Stewart. It's plan and simple in my eyes when you see both teams did not come from the toughest conferences but the ACC was two times what the big east was this year. The ACC alone did not look to many first year QB all had veteran offensive groups and this division has good speed. Now do you think WVU beats Miami or plays to the fourth quarter with VT? The answer is no. They played a decent game against LSU but ultimately the sched was soft. He'll Maryland gave them all they could handle at WVU before the terps started playing good football. South Florida down, UCONN down, Pitt completely underachieved, Cincy bad, Rutgers bad, in fact the two most improved big east teams were Louisville and Cuse. This game will be about who can coach better to gameplan at kickoff, who can beat that game plan and who can recover. Well game plan ore game goes to O'Brien, who can beat the game plan that's either Russell, Geno or Noel. Who can recover at half well again that's NC st. I think these teams will score and possibly at will. I am not sure if WVU will be able to run on State. I would think they crowd the box and take the edges. WVU does not have the line to power down so they use speed and misdirecting BUT a big issue is they string a ton out which should let NC st use the sideline as a big defender. I think WVU has more talent at WR but I think NC st can rattle Geno with the blitz. Like south Florida did to them. Mainly I do not think NC st will beat themselves like WVU. Turnovers and bad plays seem to be expected on WVU sideline and against good teams those are the difference. I agree WVU has a much improved defense but I think that is a result of playing a lot of bad offenses in the big east. They do not stop NC st and they hurt themselves and realize that the score is getting further and further from tied and we see the panic and the lack of disciple. Should be a fun game but I like almost every side of NC st compared to WVU. One interesting question is WVU does travel well but NC st is closer. I am wondering what is the dominate color in the stands. Bill Stewart is two and one in bowl games but a lot of that was talent on the field not coaching. Yes Bill won against Oklahoma when rod left and the team wanted to win. The following year a close win over UNC in a game where UNC had every option to win. And last year a 12 loss to FSU notice a trend? The bowls are getting further from January and the score is on the wrong side.
Good luck everyone
Cheers
Irish
Now I fancy myself a bit of a WVU fan but looking and just the teams and no line I likes NC st. I was thinking this should be anywhere from 4 to 6. Watching WVU is painful, this past week against a terrible Rutgers team WVU managed to turn it over a ton but pull away late. If you want to teach kids how to run east and west then record WVU. They love the scat type player but the problem there is when they need the first down. The only true power back is Ryan Clark and he is not the best at holding onto the ball. NC state has been to one bowl game in the past four years and I expect this group will be hungry to play. WVU has a good QB he has a good arm but I question some of his throws and I certainly question his toughness to run when the play breaks down and get hit trying to get the first. Then again he normally runs out of bounds. WVU is in my mind led emotionally by the defense. They feed off that defense as games go on and they start to wear down a defense with ball possession on offense. But the game breaker is Russell Wilson. This guy is going to give WVU fits because of escapability. WVU has speed at LB but they rush the edge and Russell should have the middle open up for big gains all day. O'Brien is 6-2 in bowl games and I give him twice as much respect that Stewart. It's plan and simple in my eyes when you see both teams did not come from the toughest conferences but the ACC was two times what the big east was this year. The ACC alone did not look to many first year QB all had veteran offensive groups and this division has good speed. Now do you think WVU beats Miami or plays to the fourth quarter with VT? The answer is no. They played a decent game against LSU but ultimately the sched was soft. He'll Maryland gave them all they could handle at WVU before the terps started playing good football. South Florida down, UCONN down, Pitt completely underachieved, Cincy bad, Rutgers bad, in fact the two most improved big east teams were Louisville and Cuse. This game will be about who can coach better to gameplan at kickoff, who can beat that game plan and who can recover. Well game plan ore game goes to O'Brien, who can beat the game plan that's either Russell, Geno or Noel. Who can recover at half well again that's NC st. I think these teams will score and possibly at will. I am not sure if WVU will be able to run on State. I would think they crowd the box and take the edges. WVU does not have the line to power down so they use speed and misdirecting BUT a big issue is they string a ton out which should let NC st use the sideline as a big defender. I think WVU has more talent at WR but I think NC st can rattle Geno with the blitz. Like south Florida did to them. Mainly I do not think NC st will beat themselves like WVU. Turnovers and bad plays seem to be expected on WVU sideline and against good teams those are the difference. I agree WVU has a much improved defense but I think that is a result of playing a lot of bad offenses in the big east. They do not stop NC st and they hurt themselves and realize that the score is getting further and further from tied and we see the panic and the lack of disciple. Should be a fun game but I like almost every side of NC st compared to WVU. One interesting question is WVU does travel well but NC st is closer. I am wondering what is the dominate color in the stands. Bill Stewart is two and one in bowl games but a lot of that was talent on the field not coaching. Yes Bill won against Oklahoma when rod left and the team wanted to win. The following year a close win over UNC in a game where UNC had every option to win. And last year a 12 loss to FSU notice a trend? The bowls are getting further from January and the score is on the wrong side.
Good luck everyone
Cheers
Irish
