As Saturday proved, we need more college football games like NC State-ECU, UNC-App State
OK, yes, that was fun.
The state of North Carolina should open the college football season like that more often. For all the consternation about Power Five teams going on the road to play against non-Power Five teams —and indeed there is consternation — these games often produce, among North Carolina schools. They’re usually fun.
And, get this: when they involve in-state teams that don’t often play each other, they matter. People care. What transpired in Greenville and Boone on Saturday offered another reminder that the likes of N.C. State at ECU, and North Carolina at Appalachian State, make for much, much more compelling theater than those ACC schools going against, say, Connecticut (which State will do later this month).
And as for those two games themselves on Saturday? In the words of the wise men: “holy moly.”
In the span of about 15 minutes, give or take, we witnessed State and UNC — both, remember, with considerably more resources than their Saturday opponents — escape in the most dramatic of fashion. The Wolfpack won the kind of game it has so often lost, when the Pirates’ kicking game went haywire, twice, including once in the final seconds; the Tar Heels won, meanwhile, perhaps because App State simply ran out of time and could no longer score more points.
State’s 21-20 victory over ECU and UNC’s 63-61 (!) victory against the Mountaineers both came down to the final play, pretty much: a missed field goal in Greenville; a failed two-point conversion attempt in Boone. And then folks in Raleigh and Chapel Hill could breathe again.
For historical context, Saturdays like that one just don’t come around too often. Only three other times have State and UNC both won games by two points or fewer on the same day. The last time it happened, before Saturday, was Nov. 1, 1986. In Raleigh, State beat South Carolina, 23-22, on Erik Kramer’s 33-yard touchdown pass to Danny Peebles after time ran out. In Chapel Hill, UNC’s Lee Gliarmis made a 28-yard field goal as time expired to give the Tar Heels a 32-30 victory against Maryland, sending Terrapins coach Bobby Ross on an angry chase after the officials.
UNC’s quarterback that day: Mark Maye. Father of Drake.
Speaking of which ...
ONE BIG THING
A Star is Born: the Drake Maye Story.
Look, it’s early. More difficult tests await. Yada, yada, etc. But: is it possible that UNC lost Sam Howell and upgraded at quarterback? It is. Which is an absurd thing to ponder, as good as Howell was, but two games into his redshirt freshman season it’s arguable that Maye could prove to be even better. His line at App: 24-for-36, 352 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions.
And all without Josh Downs. In two games, Maye has nine TD passes and no interceptions. Yes, that’ll do.
THE HOTTEST TAKE*
What was Tar Heels coach Mack Brown thinking, dancing in the locker room like that? His team gives up more than 60 points; it barely wins; it commits silly penalties at inopportune times and ... Brown has the gall to celebrate? Why, there’s no room for fun in sports. Or, for that matter, for football coaches to express joy. They should be autobots, whose only emotive feature is an icy glare. Shame on Brown. Shame on his players, who should’ve refused to partake.
* A take in which we sarcastically poke fun at a real, actual take. Not meant to be taken seriously.
THREE TO LIKE
1. The festive atmospheres in Boone and Greenville. The good people of Western and Eastern North Carolina brought it, indeed, on Saturday. Both App State and ECU set attendance records. Both stadiums made for bonkers environments, at times, and especially in the fourth quarter. More of this, please — not less.
2. As the old saying goes, can’t spell M1ke Elk0 without 1-0. We’re all about the forced references here but dramatic football happenings call for dramatic writing devices. So, yes, not a bad debut for first-year Duke head coach Mike Elko. When last we saw the Blue Devils, before Saturday, they’d more or less given up. They closed last season with eight straight defeats, most of them blowouts. Temple is not good, but, still, you have to say Duke’s 30-0 victory exceeded expectations.
3. The Tar Heels’ offense. Cue the ol’ Bon Jovi lyric: “Whoa, we’re halfway there/woah, oh, livin’ on a prayer!” A classic 80s rock song and, also, a valid description of the Tar Heels through two games. They’ve got the makings of half of a great team. And, indeed, it seems like they’re going to be living on a prayer — that being that 50 points, or thereabouts, will be enough to win games this season. Young playmakers abound here, though, and UNC should be fun (and perhaps infuriating) to watch.
THREE TO ... NOT LIKE AS MUCH
1. UNC’s defense, which so far is the football personification of the “yikes” emoji. A cool thing about sports is that, sometimes, they’ll produce moments never before seen, ones that couldn’t even be conceived. Like, say, a football team scoring 40 points in the fourth quarter, as App State managed to do Saturday. You’d think that’d be impossible. To which the Tar Heels defense said: “watch me.” All that alleged talent, and this is the result?
2. ESPN’s scheduling nerds got it wrong. If ESPN is trying to help the ACC bolster its brand, and allegedly the network is indeed trying to do that, then why did it place both State-ECU and UNC-App at noon, on competing networks? Two of the most compelling non-conference games in the state this season deserved their own space to breathe. They deserved larger audiences, which they would’ve had if they hadn’t been played at the same exact time.
3. The Wolfpack’s goal line offense. Speaking of “yikes:” State got it down to the ECU 1-yard line twice in the fourth quarter on Saturday, and came away with a grand total of zero points. Nothing like seeing a team go shotgun and hand off a few yards into the backfield when it’s less than a yard away from the end zone. The Wolfpack’s offense left a lot to be desired at ECU, but the failure to score from the 1, twice, was not ideal.
CAROLINAS RANKING
1. Clemson; (Big gap ... still gapping ... stiiillllll gapping ... more gap here ... still a gap) 2. N.C. State (maybe?); 3. South Carolina; 4. Wake Forest; 5. North Carolina (best offense and worst defense equals the middle, overall); 6. App State; 7. ECU; 8. Coastal Carolina; 9. Duke; 10. Charlotte.
FINAL THOUGHTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
▪ One of the weekend’s best moments, not to be lost in the hoopla in Boone and Greenville: N.C. Central snapped a six-game losing streak against North Carolina A&T, with a 28-13 victory in Charlotte in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. More than 35,000 spectators watched it live inside Bank of America Stadium. A special night for Central. An excellent moment for HBCU football.
▪ N.C. State now improves to something like 2-and about-2,000 in games like the one on Saturday. And the “2” happen to have come in State’s past two games, dating to last season’s miracle comeback against UNC. Another blow to N.C. State ... stuff? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
▪ A public service announcement: If you’ve sent or have thought about sending ECU kicker Owen Daffer a Mean Tweet after his late misfires Saturday, please reevaluate your life, and priorities. Think any fan felt worse than he did after missing a 41-yard kick in the final seconds? Probably not.
▪ If the Tar Heels and Wolfpack could combine their offenses and defenses, that Frankensteinian concoction might just form the makings of a national contender.
▪ Now entering the ACC’s football canon: Virginia Tech coaches being stuck in an elevator.
▪ Which ACC coach would you most want to be stuck on an elevator with? I’m going Mack Brown. Could stand to learn a few new dance moves.
This story was originally published September 5, 2022 at 5:10 AM with the headline "As Saturday proved, we need more college football games like NC State-ECU, UNC-App State."
