Friday, September 5, 2008

Gamecocks' loss reflects poorly on Pack

Thursday night's college football offering had to be almost as disturbing for N.C. State fans as the previous week's season-opening, ESPN event.

On Aug. 28, N.C. State suffered a 34-0 humiliation at the hands of South Carolina while Erin Andrews prowled the sideline. A week later, that same South Carolina team fell 24-17 at Vanderbilt.

Yes, Vanderbilt. The team that hadn't won at home over a nationally ranked foe in 16 years. The team that hasn't been to a bowl since 1982. The team Gamecock safety Emmanuel Cook said was the "sorriest" in the SEC after Vanderbilt upset South Carolina last season.

The same South Carolina defense that held N.C. State to 138 yards of total offense allowed three second-half touchdowns to Vanderbilt. That's not good news for the Wolfpack.

On Saturday, N.C. State meets a William & Mary team that's from a lower division and is disadvantaged because it hasn't played its season opener yet. For those reasons, the Wolfpack should be OK this week.

But the Wolfpack's season-opening embarrassment in Columbia doesn't bode well for the rest of the season, especially now that we've got some idea of how good the Gamecocks really are.

– Ken Tysiac

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought the same thing - State Grad

Anonymous said...

Hey not to tell you how to wirte but the score of the State - USC game does not tell the whole story. How many starters were out/injured for USC and could not play? None. How many of thier starters dominated against our defense before 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter? None. The story of attrition and losses at QB is the key to that game, not the score. I am not saying that USC did not play decent but until QB loss and fatigue set in on the defense we more than held our own on USC.