The Odyssey is in Raleigh tonight for a game that was highly anticipated before the season. Now, not so much.
North Carolina State has proven that the Wolfpack is a “rebuild not reload” program after significant graduation losses on the heels of two fine seasons. Its 2 most pivotal games to date have both been embarrassments: a 45-27 loss at a rebuilding West Virginia and a stomping at Florida State. Quarterback woes have been an issue (not the only one as the defense has played poorly in the aforementioned losses). Dave Doeren has demoted Matt McKay in favor of 4-star transfer from Florida State, Bailey Hochman. Based on Hochman’s previous play this year, we have doubts this solves the woes of NC State.
Despite said woes, NC State is a 4.5 point favorite over Syracuse — which tells you a lot about Syracuse. The Orange (and they reportedly will be wearing all Orange unis tonight, even as a road team) has laid the biggest egg of the year. No, we are not talking about Clemson’s decisive 41-6 victory at the Carrier Dome. We are referring to the shocking, embarrassing 63-20 annihilation at Maryland when the Cuse were utterly helpless against Maryland’s offense. Did we mention that Syracuse was favored in their visit to College Park??
Still, we think Syracuse’s excellent pass rushers and some NC State defensive injuries will combine for us to think the Orange will pull the upset if the Cuse QB, Tommy DeVito is back to 100% physically. Regardless, we look forward to an enthusiastic crowd, as one constant for NC State is a passionate fan base.
Tomorrow, the Odyssey travels to Conway, South Carolina (close to Myrtle Beach) for Saturday’s Coastal Carolina – Georgia State tilt. While most view this as a ho-hum Sun Belt tilt, we beg to differ. Both have upset Power 5 teams impressively. OK, Coastal beat Kansas, 12-7, so perhaps not so impressive, but they did hold the Jayhawks to 280 yards of offense. Georgia State pulled off the year’s biggest upset by pummeling Tennessee, 38-30, in a game they outplayed the Vols in all phases. Georgia State pulled off another upset last Saturday by beating perennial Sun Belt power, Arkansas State, 52-38. Led by QB Dan Ellington, the Panthers shockingly tallied 722 yards against the Red Wolves. Georgia State’s success is doubly impressive since their Atlanta home is overshadowed by both the Falcons and Georgia Tech. Their 2019 is tremendous when grading on the curve as an ATL afterthought.
We slightly had to modify James Taylor’s song “Carolina On My Mind” in our article title to again reference the great luck of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers. For the 4th straight game, the undefeated Gophers may be facing a backup quarterback in the wake of Adrian Martinez’ injury in Nebraska’s 13-10 win over Northwestern last Saturday.
We are wondering if P.J Fleck is the 21st Century version of Joe Hardy and that some Satanic pact has been bartered. Regardless, the weather will not be Hellish on Saturday as Winter arrives early to the Twin Cities: temps will be in the high 30s, with wind and possible snow flurries.