Know the Enemy - NC State

This week we welcome our friend Evan from the Red & White Podcast to breakdown the Hokies road matchup with the NC State Wolfpack in Raleigh.

Episode Transcript

(00:56):
And welcome back to the BoundaryCorner podcast along with my
partner, Brian Siegler, I am Curtis Wilson and this episode
is brought to you by Doctor Jeremy Counts down at the Counts
Family Pharmacy, your friendly neighborhood pharmacy located at
three O 1 S Main St. in Blacksburg.
We are also brought to you by moments on the Maori.

(01:18):
Looking for a weekend getaway but still going to try to make
it to one of those November games in Blacksburg.
Well the normal it's on the moreis exactly what you're looking
for on by a very proud hokey andlocated just outside Lexington.
So a little over hour drive fromBlacksburg.
Go fishing, kayaking, relax by the river with a nice fire and

(01:38):
just hang out. Check out the links in our
comments sections with the Moments on the Marry or visit
their Instagram page at Moments on the Maury What's up sigla?
Man, Andretti is on a heater already right up the gate.
We hadn't even we hadn't even gotten fired up just right
through the music running, running through the like a

(02:00):
fullback, going through a goal line right there.
Just soon we are going to get tothat time.
We. Got the funds to get saved right
out the gate. We got the funds to get saved
and huh, hey, hey you. Know what until until we see
different, keep that energy. Keep that.
Energy, I told you, I'll give usa couple weeks, let some things
unfold. You just saw how much money.

(02:21):
We'll talk about that a little bit later.
We're coming off a win. We're not going to go O and
12:00 this year. 1 and 11 is still there, but we're not going
O and 12, which would have been the worst record since in the
last 75. Years, I think we still, we
still got a, we're, we're coast alone, but we're keeping the
scoring streak alive so far as well.

(02:42):
So far as well. So tonight what do we got?
We are going to tell the truth. Couple things from the Wofford
game. Observations, ideas, thoughts we
saw from that. We are going to talk about the
BOV stuff that came out earlier this week.
Few other things as well, but tokick it off tonight we have got
us a guest and we are going to get to little.

(03:02):
Get to know a little bit more about the enemy in the NC State
Wolfpack. 7:00 Saturday night onThe CW, which I'm going to be
interested to see the ratings this game pulls because I have
seen NC State and Virginia Tech both pull 700 + 1000 against
really shitty opponents. Where's Tally?

(03:24):
Tally's taking care of some business.
He might slip in and he might not literally taking care of
business. And Sheldon's taking care is in
business too. So it's it's it's the O GS here.
But like I said, we're going to get to know the enemy tonight.
We are bringing Evan on from theRed and White podcast to give us
a little background. Evan, good evening, Sir.

(03:45):
How are you? I'm good.
Thanks for having me fellas. Well, we appreciate you coming
on, man. So Evan, we know that you host
the Red and White podcast with your buddy.
Will give us a little backgroundhow it came to be with the
podcast and then just a little bit about yourselves.
Oh man, so back in 2008 maybe. Maybe.

(04:11):
Before that 2009, yeah, it was that we were tailgating for the
spring game with my buddy, my buddy Dustin that time went man,
there's nothing, nothing good tolisten to and sports radio at
the time in the area and still kind of does very antagonistic
towards NC State in particular and didn't like it, right.
And that's what's our podcast and we started at my house in

(04:34):
the room together and that was God a long time ago and we've
been doing ever since. Dustin went on to do better
things. I did it by myself for a little
while, found Will and he's been with me for the last 5-6 years
now probably. We're getting close to overall
million downloads over all this time.

(04:56):
Yeah, so pretty happy before we've been built a nice little
community. And yeah, it's, it's my therapy
for being an NC State fan, man. I just get people ask why you do
it. It's like, I don't know.
I enjoyed, I enjoyed doing it, enjoy talking about it and just
makes me feel feel good. Well, first they are the.
They are the 2 deep of. NC State and you know what I
hear the million downloads I like I hear that it's like

(05:19):
there's a goal for the future right there.
Now, Evan, you, you mentioned being the NC State fan and you
know, the antagonistic views down there in the triangle for
NC State. But but how did you yourself
become, Did you go to state or was it just born, raised?
This is what it's always been. Man, when I moved to North
Carolina, I was about 8, 9 maybe, and my brother was going,

(05:42):
ended up going to college at NC State.
It was, he was freshman year, whatever.
My family moved down and there'sabout that timer, but it's like
we got to pick one. It was state Carolina or Duke.
And I was like, well, my brother's going there, right?
And my sister ended up going to Carolina, but a few years after.
But yeah, we have always pretty much been a state household from

(06:02):
that moment on. And yeah, just been in my blood
at this point. I love hearing that.
I love hearing that. We're, I mean, we're we're guys
that have been fans since going back to 95, since we really
started following the sport. We've been Virginia Tech fans
and yeah, both of us spend a lotof time in Blacksburg.

(06:24):
Love the place, love the area. So it's, it's nice here and not
only, you know, roots from a, you know, alumni standpoint, but
also just roots to the area and you know, just to love a place I
think is important as well. Yeah, yeah.
Eventually moved to about. I was less than a mile from
Carter from the at one point. So we used to be able to walk to
the games, right. And then when I had kids and

(06:46):
whatnot, we moved a little farther away.
But yeah, that was, it was an addiction.
It was real. Being close, being close to the
stadium was good. And yeah, so I've, I've been
there. I understand that.
I've got to ask, what years did you live that close to the
stadium? 2008 to 2014 I believe is when I

(07:10):
moved 20 somewhere around there,20/14/2016 somewhere in that
range. OK.
So there are a couple you know 20/10/20 what 20/10/2011?
Don't don't bring up the 2010 game.
Don't bring up the 2010 game. It's still I still have
nightmares of. David.

(07:32):
Wilson coming out of high schoolcoming out of half time, state's
leading 17/7 and 1/2 time and like, yeah, we're feeling good.
Pretty much owned that game early on opening kick, David
Wilson takes 90 plus yards to the house for a touchdown.
And it just like how did he justcompletely lost control of that
game ended up losing 4130 or something like that.

(07:54):
Like I still burned my my brain.It's just still see him running
a kick off return back. It's just, oh God, nightmares.
It's OK, it's OK. One of our best friends has the
same memories. He coached against him in high
school. He had to deal with it for
multiple years. So David Wilson running down the
sideline so he knows your pain. So.
It's just that was one of those you sorry, one of those years

(08:16):
that you know it stay at stake ended up going nine and four
that year. Just another example of just
being so close to it and then just letting it sit away.
And that was that particular game of Virginia Tech wasn't as
good and you just had control ofit and you just blew it.
Yeah. So anyway.
What do I ever feel bad about 2010?
Because 2010, we reeled off 11 straight wins after the Open and

(08:38):
two losses. Y'all were the first win that
year. Y'all basically.
Oh, you're welcome. Yeah.
Yeah. 14 years, 15 years ago. But let's get into what you know
about and which is the NC State Wolf Pack.
And let's talk about your team and kind of your feelings.
And I want to start on the offensive side of the ball
because as I was doing my research, everybody knows
Hollywood Smothers and we want. You to talk about.

(09:00):
But Y'all right now are one of the most explosive teams in
college football. 10 to 20 yard plays.
Y'all are 12th in the nation. Y'all are top 30 in both 20 to
30 yard plays and 30 to 40 yard plays.
Y'all are an explosive team. And I am assuming Hollywood is a
lot to do with that. Hollywood is, and I put this out

(09:24):
to to our people and in my opinion, he's the best back
we've had since TA McClendon. That was a long time ago.
He is a difference maker. He's everything to this team.
He's he just makes everybody else look better and he's Got
Talent around him. But he is he is it man.
He is so good at just making things happen.

(09:47):
He doesn't quit and he's a little dude and he will, he will
try to run you over. He will try to run around you.
He will do, he will do anything he he can to help his team win.
I forgot one of the quotes recently.
It was after the maybe the UVA game and they said somebody said
something to him. It's like, I, I don't know, we
won. That's what I'm worried about in
my yeah. Like it was a very candid answer

(10:08):
and he genuinely didn't care about how many yards he had.
And you're like, that's that's refreshing.
We've had some Migos in the past.
And man, I, I'm a huge HollywoodSmothers fan and he is, he is
the core to, you know, Dave Doran has always wanted to have
a running run first team and he's never really had a good run
game, which is whatever. But he's finally got Hollywood

(10:33):
Smothers that you can bank on tojust make everybody else look
good. Offensive line looks better
because Hollywood Smothers is running.
I mean, he is, he is the real deal.
He's so good and I love watchinghim play.
Yeah, man, having, you know, looking like last year, having
Basil tuned in the backfield, like there was a difference of
having that type of playmaker inthe backfield.

(10:54):
Looks like you've got that with Smothers, you know, 5th in yards
in the country, 6.29 per carry. I mean, just putting up some
borderline video game numbers atthis point and it's impressive
and it's definitely something that's got me concerned as a
hokey fan. It's like how you going to you
got you got to contain this. You're not going to stop him,
but you got to be able to not let him ring off those big plays

(11:17):
or turn those, you know, 5 to 7 yarders into those 20 and 30
yarders that we've seen. It's got y'all put in a pretty
good spot as far as those big plays in the country.
And let's talk about that too. And we can build off that.
Looking at CJ Bailey, how does what he does within this offense
also compliment the skill set that Smothers brings to the

(11:38):
table? Yeah, I totally ignored Curtis's
question. I apologize for that.
Hollywood has got a a group around him of other skill
players that really the the combination is really what makes
it work, right? I mean, he is, he's that good.
CJ Bailey looks better because he's got Hollywood Smothers
there. He he can, you know, lean on

(12:00):
Smothers more than we've had in the past.
And CJ Bailey, man, you know, I was critical of him last year
and not not a negative way. He was a freshman quarterback.
He was, you know, 18 years old in high school.
He's thrown to Jeremiah Smith and the other guy.
I forgot. And you just like he didn't have
to do much, right? He didn't have to learn.

(12:20):
He's like, OK, Jeremiah, you go that way and I'm going to throw
it that way and he can Chuck it a long way.
Like it was it was not a hard game for him.
So he you could see that in his freshman year, like he was
nervous in the pocket. He wasn't looking downfield.
And this year he has made a humongous leap and he has been
so much better with his pocket presence.
He's keeping his eyes downfield,extending plays right, not just

(12:42):
bailing out and running. I think his development this
year has just been it's been better than I think anybody
could, could have expected. Like, I know he's talented, but
to see him mature as a quarterback is really what's
making this team, you know, cometogether.
He he's phenomenal. He's got the pieces around him.

(13:03):
But really he has developed a lot this year.
And I know Kurt Roper is one of the reasons he stayed this year.
And you can see those two, you know what has come from it.
And he keeps getting better every week.
He did have a great week last week, but nobody did.
And it wasn't his fault completely.
I mean, but every game this yearhe has gotten just a little bit

(13:26):
better. I wish they would change some
things and how they're using him, but that's just a armchair
quarterback for you. But he's just, he's phenomenal.
He's such a good player. And he's still young, right?
He's only his, he's really his second year.
You know, he's still a year and a quarter into college football,
right? So he's still young and he's
still getting better. But his development this year is

(13:48):
just what is keeping this team as aggressive as it has been.
Yeah, and his you know, his, hisstatistics is here.
You know, he's on, he's on trackfor over 3000 yards.
He's above 70%. I think it's 72 or right at 72
more touchdowns than he had lastyear.
And that's what Smothers primarily carrying the ball,

(14:10):
which is which is always the thing you have that dominant of
a running back. If your quarterback is trending
in the right direction for, you know, additional passing
touchdowns, it's always helps out.
Let me flip back real quick to Smothers because it's one of
those stories, right? West, Charlotte, Kidd, North
Carolina grown y'all go after him as hard as you can and a

(14:33):
blue blood comes in and takes him.
What was the story of him comingback?
Was it I went to Oklahoma. It it, it wasn't right because
we're getting this more and moreit more and more what I would
call 15 to 40 schools, good schools, good programs in state.
Kid leaves because always greener pastures at the blue

(14:55):
bloods and then they come back. So what was his story with that?
Yeah, exact, exact same thing. He did give us a chance out of
high school. I mean, we were close and and
just like my NCAA 26 dynasty man, I got to recruit a guy and
I'm right in the end. And then Georgia comes in the
end and offers him like, damn, like I was recruiting all
season, right? It's the same thing happened
here. He ended up going to Oklahoma.

(15:18):
Oklahoma got a ton of talent, right?
And there was a coaching change in Oklahoma and they had that
transition period there. But we NC State makes a lot of
makes their living on those kindof kids that leave and come
back, right? I mean, it's just we have the
good relationships. And one of our coaches said at
some point, yeah, we'll get him on the flip side, right?

(15:39):
We'll get him when he wants to come back home.
Noah Rodgers went to a hot from Wake County.
It went to Ohio State came back to Raleigh, right?
I mean, he's five star kid out of high school and you know,
Hollywood's no different, right.It's easy for those kids to come
home. It's kind of a safe choice.
It's you know, what are your options here?
You going to go to Wake Forest now?
I'm not going to run slow mesh. You're going to Carolina now.

(16:02):
They don't care about football. You come back, you come here,
right? It's come somewhere we can play.
And I think you'll see a lot of kids do that.
And it's not not a surprise thatyou end up here.
And he's a perfect cultural fit.He's just a perfect fit here.
But he comes back here. He's close to home.
He said, you know, my parents come to the games now and just
it feels better for me. And you know, he's a rolling

(16:23):
kid. He's he's, he's going to be
here. As much as.
I like I like the the fun disrespect that you shared a
Wake Forest. Yeah, that was, that was great.
That was great. All right, now I want to talk
about another guy now. Thanks for that story.
It's one we've seen so much. We've seen it here at Tech for
the last few years. But let's talk about a higher
recruited in state guy that you brought and he's producing on

(16:46):
the field this year. And Terrell Anderson, that guy
was a top 100 player, top 20 wide out.
It seems everyone was on him. Everybody thought he was going
to Georgia. Joker Phillips, If you don't
know the name Joker Phillips, you ain't been around on college
football long enough because that man can recruit his ass
off. But this year really stepping
out, you know, averaging I thinkwhat close to 20 yards catch

(17:10):
over like borderline at 300 yards in the first four games.
What have you seen him do? Because he played a lot last
year, didn't have the stats. What has he done for you?
Impressive this year. Last year was it was weird.
I think the most critical point was how they use the wide
receivers last year and the rotations.

(17:30):
You you didn't you couldn't get anybody into a flow.
So I don't hold any of that against him.
And he was a freshman, right? But when I did see him on the
field the first time was like, who is that?
And why is a tight end, you know, line up in the X and
you're like, that's not a tight end, That's that's Terrell
Anderson. Oh my God, that guy's enormous.
Like he is bigger than you thinkhe would for beer waters If he's
thick and he has come out, he's come on this year, right?

(17:53):
I think. And he stays done a better job
of being more consistent with their rotations, especially the
skill positions. And guys like Keaton Jackson and
Terrell Anderson are, are getting the benefit of that.
I, I really like Terrell Anderson.
He's been, I don't even want to call him a possession guy, but
he's just been reliable. Like you would consider a
possession guy. But state is spreading it around

(18:13):
like our, our, we had 10 guys get 4 catches.
Was it last week or the week before?
And I'm like, it's just, when has that happened?
Right? It was just, they're being
productive and they're being productive because they can
spread around to anybody, right?One day it might be Lester
Grimes, one day it might be KingJackson.
It's the best wide receiver group we've had in a long time.

(18:35):
I, I can't even remember the last time we had a group that
you could literally rely on any one of these dudes, any at any
game. And Charlie Anderson's no
different. I I really like him and people,
when people see him, just his sheer size, it's just bigger
than you would expect, you know,especially coming out of high
school. It's like, man, I thought he was
going to be a skinny, tall wide receiver, but he's a thick boy.

(18:55):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he's, he's got to
build. We we've already seen a bigger
wide receiver. You know, we we had Nick Harbor
earlier in the year. The South Carolina, obviously, I
don't think Anderson's quite that big, but certainly just as
thick has that like almost running back type build, like a

(19:16):
tall running back can can kind of run through you, run by you.
I'm a I'm a little concerned just because we didn't match up
that great in that game and we really the only person that beat
us in that game was Nick Harbour.
One time, one time he. Beat us.
He beat us one time, but he beatus.
He he beat us a couple times over on the digs as well.

(19:37):
So he was getting separation. Obviously we, we were fighting a
couple different battles on our end at this point between
coaching changes and, you know, potential, you know, opt outs
and things coming down the Pike.So we'll, we'll see what this
game looks like this week in, in, in any additional roster

(19:59):
churn that we may see as the as the season goes along.
Let's flip it over the offensiveline a little bit.
You, you, you said earlier that,you know, a guy like Smothers is
making them better. Where have you seen the most
improvement in that unit this year?
Yeah, I mean, improvement wise, I'd say run blocking, but again,

(20:23):
I don't know how much of that isHollywood Smothers.
I'm not well versed enough to bepicking apart PFF grades for
offensive lineman. I can tell if a guy with some
block or is kind of out of position or you know, like we
let a damn field goal get blocked from 10 yards because
they weren't doing their job. Like those things are obvious,
but run blocking as a whole has been better.

(20:45):
But I think a lot of that is is smothers.
He's a better running back than we've had pass blocking.
They've been pretty good over the last few years, but we've
just struggled to run the ball and, you know, basically control
the line of scrimmage. But I I think they've improved a
little bit this year. They're still trying to find
their rotation and they were nine different offensive line

(21:08):
line UPS last game. And I think it was the same for
Wake Forest. They just haven't figured out a
couple spots like right guard and a guy starting and then he
didn't play much and then just kind of moving guys around.
So that I mean, that's still ourbiggest area concern.
I think they'll figure it out. But they've they've been better
than they have in the recent years and particularly run

(21:29):
blocking. Right pass blocking has been
pretty consistent for them over the last 3-4 years, but run
blocking just always been SUS. I just, I really attribute a lot
of that to smother. So I just he just makes
everybody look better. All right.
I want to bring up one other guythat kind of goes with the line
because yeah, we, we, we jumped into PFF this week and looking

(21:49):
at some of your height and graded players and Terrell was
there, Bailey was there, some others was there, backup
quarterback was there. But there was this guy at the
top of the list. And at first, I overlooked and
said it's a tight end. And I just kind of said I
probably had like 8 snaps, went back and looked a little bit
closer. close to 100 snaps has one catch and he's ranked

(22:12):
borderline at a 90 PFF. And when you think PFF grades,
if you're not catching a lot of passes and you're grading almost
a 90, that means you are run blocking your ass off and that's
Cody Hardy. What has he meant?
Because 25 snaps a game averaging on the field, and when

(22:33):
you grade that high, he's got tobe popping off on paper some of
his blocks. Yeah, he has.
He did, especially in that Duke game.
I, I wouldn't say he is. I don't know.
He's found his role, I guess, soto speak.
He hasn't been somebody they've utilized a lot because he's

(22:53):
behind Justin Jolie, who was just phenomenal tight end.
But Hardy is the more physical version and they've been using
him sort of wing back, tight end, kind of moving him around,
doing different things for him. He's a transfer, came in from
Elon. They've talked about him all
summer and they really liked him.
I don't think they've seen we'veseen his usage on what they

(23:17):
would like yet. But again, they're spreading the
ball around so much that I don'tknow if you'll key on one guy in
every on every game. I guess it's just going to be
somebody different. It's what we had every, every
game this year, somebody from the, you know, skill position
spot. It's just been a different
person every year, Wes, or everygame.
Wesley Grimes, Tyrell Anderson, Key and Jack's had a real good

(23:39):
game last, you know, last game. So it's kind of all over the
place. I like Cody Hardy's from his
physical nature, but they haven't, yeah, I haven't
utilized him in the way that I think they will in the future
where he's a little bit more flexible than just a blocker.
Yeah, good deal. We're going to flip it over to
the defense and, and when we do,we'll kind of we'll, we'll,

(24:01):
we'll put this comment up there and we'll let you kind of lead
off with answering this and thenwe'll kind of go from there.
The defense is a sieve. Yeah, I mean, being honest,
somebody in my podcast communitysaid said it.
And it's still a quote of the year for me is just the DJ

(24:23):
Elliott Higher, which is our newdefensive coordinator.
Everybody kind of sussed like where'd this guy come from is
going to look brilliant and I'm going to be happy with it
because it's making Dave Doran want to score more points,
right? That's always been the biggest
thing is a lot of aggression on offense.
But you've got to score now because you have no idea what
you're going to get from the defense.
Now. We have played three of the top

(24:47):
35 most explosive offenses, passing offenses this year, ECU,
Virginia and Duke. And I don't we don't see anybody
else in the top 70 for a while until Notre Dame.
So, you know, I try. I try.
Probably not us. I, I try to factor that in, you

(25:08):
know, when, when evaluating the defense, because we've had two
games in the ECU game and the weight game where they have just
absolutely bottled up the opposing team, right?
Just did absolutely nothing wakeeverybody's worried about
Claiborne and they had 29 yards in the second-half.
Like that's just absurd. And I don't know, I I don't

(25:30):
nobody trusts our defense to to do anything, but they've been
pretty good on 1st and 2nd down.We can't get off the field on
3rd down like is that? Yeah, 1.4 in the country, that's
that's painful. Right.
I mean, is like, is that going to be consistent all year?
I, I got a feeling they got to get better with that, but it is

(25:51):
annoying. I don't, I don't really know
like the defense is bad, like there's some pieces, but I don't
know what they're doing right. It's just self-inflicted wounds
and just dumb. And again, if, if it makes our
offense have to actually be interesting and score more
points, then OK, I'll deal with it.
Right. It's just college football these

(26:11):
days. Score more points and the
defense is going to give everything up.
Like, yeah, I don't know, the defense is terrible.
We've we've got some players, we've got some, you know, Key
and Sloan and Sebastian Harsh, 2guys that transferred in super
solid, had been really productive.
Sloan was out last game, Harsh was out for the first half of
the last game. The secondary, you know, we're

(26:36):
just just not there like they hadn't come together.
Safeties leave a lot to desire. Corners have been hit or miss,
right? They be boom or bust, man.
They're playing really good or just blowing every coverage and
you just don't know what to expect.
And then, you know, what we've usually banked on is our
linebacker play. And I'll be honest, Kaden Ford,

(26:59):
my thought, he's been pretty badmost of this year.
I mean, he's had his moments andpeople who are, I don't know,
people look at the numbers and look, he's got total tackles,
you know, but doesn't tell this whole story.
Look at his PFF grades and put alittle bit more of the picture
together and he's, you know, averaging like a 50 in PFF.
And like that's your that's yourcaptain, that's your starting

(27:19):
linebacker, starting middle linebacker.
Like you got to be better there.But he just, I don't know if
it's the injury or what it is, but maybe the defensive scheme
change. But it's been he's slow to react
and just doesn't seem like he's the guy there and like he's
done. He's better when he's trying to
be him and not Peyton Wilson making every play.

(27:40):
But you know, Shawn Brown is basically anchoring that
linebacker crew. And now we lost AJ Richardson,
who they haven't said he's out for the year, but he's out for
the year. And he came in, he was ultra
productive kid from Norfolk State.
And I, I liked him early on. He was one of my breakout
players. And you know, he hurt, he got

(28:01):
hurt and that's that that reallyhurts your your production at
the linebacker spot. And I, I don't think they have a
lot of guys they really like there.
So it, it is a concern and the defense as a whole has just been
not been good. They, they've got to score more
points is what it's going to come down to.
Otherwise, they're going to. It's going to be a long year.

(28:22):
It's really funny, Brian. Literally, we had everything
mapped to who to talk about withdefense.
Clearly this is a pain point foryou because you hit every single
thing we were going to talk about.
We were going to talk about the safety play.
We were going to talk about youredge guys and this, I love it
because I'm sitting here, we're talking.
Nope, he just talked about that.He talked about.

(28:45):
That, oh, I mean, I can keep going.
You know what, And you hit the points and you know, when I was
watching some of the tape and, and kind of going through
things, I was like, OK, well, you got a pretty good decent
look in front. You know, especially the the
defensive line in particular, and then a lot of inconsistent
play at the linebacker position and then very boom or bust in

(29:07):
the secondary. And you really hit on all of
those points that I was going through that was like, OK, all
right, check, check, got it. All right, all right.
And, and that that that can explain the whole third down
troubles because if you're, if you got inconsistent play at the
second and third level, your defense, you're going to
struggle to get off the field third down.
Yeah, I mean, and that's just been, that's just been it.

(29:28):
Like what are the plays in the Duke game?
And it was kind of towards the end and Duke was running out the
clock and we're trying to get the ball back and they just they
let the little fullback run for 60 yards and touchdown the end
of the game. I'm like, how does that happen?
Like they were Duke was just trying to get a yard and they
got 60 in a tutty and you're like, what what is going on?

(29:52):
And that's just out of position.Somebody's out of position.
Just what we've been seeing all year, Like Ronnie Royals been
playing safety. He's been boomer boss, made a
couple great plays in the weightgame, in the UVA game, and then
just disappears one game. Like I can't, can't have that.
Yeah. They got to get better, but it's

(30:13):
not there right now, yeah. I'm, I'm interested to see what
this game turns out to be because I mean, when we look at
our offense, we've been very inconsistent with our play.
Very much a we go as our emotions go really on both sides
of the ball. Yeah, we, we, we have not

(30:34):
managed swings and momentum verywell.
We have not managed responding when the bad play happens very
well. Yeah.
We, we've, it's, it's basically especially, you know, you look
at South Carolina, you look at Vanderbilt and then the debacle
with ODU, any little bit of adversity and we were, we were

(30:57):
folding. You know, we'll see if that's
changed with a interim head coach and a little bit more of a
accountability both on the fieldand on the field.
We'll, we'll see if that that type of mentality changes a
little bit more, you know, toughness out of this team.
But that's my concern is that wewe've got to manage because we

(31:19):
know y'all's offense is going toscore some points.
Yeah. The question is going to be can
we score enough to keep up and that that's that's really what
it's going to be. And I think the talent for us to
do so is there. I just don't know if we are
consistent enough and can managethose mentals and emotions

(31:39):
enough to be consistent enough to score with what you guys are
going to do so. Yeah, that he, he, he had it
right there on all the points. To me, everything on this team
is right here. Everything is right in between
the years for the team, right inthe mind.
Because again, when bad things happen, they don't know how to
stop it. And again, we, we are now in the

(32:00):
coaching search. Well, there's a lot of things
going on, coaching search potential GMs, but I'm going to
pitch to you because in a littlewhile here after you jump off,
we'll go over our keys and our predictions.
So for you looking at this game,what's the biggest key for NC
State? Whether positive, negative,
hokey or Wolfpack, what's the biggest key for you in this game

(32:25):
as an NC State fan? Don't be don't be dumb.
I mean, it's so cliche to say don't beat yourself, but they
absolutely just gave that game away against Duke.
I mean, if you look at all the projected win analysis, you
know, you know, stats of war always puts out and you're like,
that's so depressing to see us like outperform Duke at every
level except for turnovers and just lose, you know, just lose

(32:49):
that game. And that is the biggest beef I
think everybody has with Dave Dorn.
There's always one game where you just like, what the hell
happened there? And just, you know, neglecting
an in state opponent sometimes awake, sometimes it's Duke and
you're just like, how does that happen?
You're like, how does this team that has looked so good
offensively just look like a hotmess?

(33:10):
You know, we were talking about CJ barely earlier.
He had three picks in his game, but they weren't his fault,
right? Like the one bounced off the
receiver's hands. The other one was the no
offsides call that, you know, hethrew a Hail Mary play
essentially and got picked. And then the other one was in
the game. You know, whatever, trying to
make a play, but just don't do dumb stuff and you'll be fine,

(33:31):
right. You know, I, I think you have
all the advantages of the world with Virginia Tech being a hot
mess coming to Raleigh, you know, a home game, you know,
your offense is exciting. Like you just, you have it all
there. Don't be dumb and you win this
game and it shouldn't be, you know, shouldn't be a big issue,
but it's NC State and you never know if they're going to be dumb

(33:51):
or not, man. Just you just don't know.
Like it's just. One of those things I, I would
love to be confident that we're going to go and kick your ass,
but I've seen this before. I, I mean, I think we're the
better team, but it doesn't meanthat the gap is that big that we
should, anybody should feel comfortable, right?
I mean, just it's not. And I don't know what's good The

(34:12):
weather's going to be like, right?
They're projecting to be some serious storms coming in and
does that play a factor, right? It's there for us.
But you know, if we do what we did against Duke, which to Dave
Dorn's credit, they don't usually do dumb stuff two weeks

(34:32):
in a row, right? They usually don't beat
themselves two weeks in a row. So I feel pretty good in saying
that that's not going to happen.But you never know, right?
You never know. And we're not good enough to
cakewalk through any, any game, right?
Especially not a Virginia Tech team.
So, you know, if NC State, just,I sound like a coach press

(34:53):
conference here, just do what you're supposed to do, like do
your job right, Go out and do. Those take care of your business
and let them get smaller. They may, yeah.
Exactly like I, I feel pretty good about that, but that's the
truth, man. I really feel like if they just
don't do dumb stuff, they will be fine.
Lean on their guys that can carry, lean on Hollywood, lean
on Jolie and you know, just do do that, right?

(35:16):
Sit back on defense, make Virginia Tech have to do
something on offense, Mick Kyrondrones have to beat you with his
arm, right? I mean, these are things that
sounds like, I think they're very recent.
Against us. All right, real quick before we
let you go, Evan, score prediction if you do that, I
don't know if you do that on your show every week, we do it
here. Well, most weeks.

(35:37):
Last couple weeks been a little bit wonky, but a lot of shit
going on. But what's your score?
Prediction for this game, yeah, I, I typically don't pick scores
because it just makes me look stupid.
And I already have, you know, I don't need any more help doing
that. So I do feel like NC State's
going to win. I do feel like they, they should
cover. Caveat being if the weather is a
horrendous downpour, then take the under.

(35:59):
That's that's my pick back in the under.
All right, so Evan, real quick, while everybody's out here, tell
them where they can find you, social media, YouTube, all that
fun stuff so they can check out kind of your preview what they
think, what y'all think those guys are going to do.
Yeah, we will record, actually usually record Wednesday night.
I don't know why we didn't tonight.

(36:20):
We're a little bit informal as you can tell.
But yeah, Will and I, You can find us all at Red White Podcast
on Twitter. He's at NC State football on
Twitter. Redwhitenetwork.com is our
website and all leads to the same places.
Perfect. Well, Evan, we appreciate you
taking a little bit of time thisevening to really answer pretty
much every question we had aboutNC State going into this game.

(36:43):
I got 2 questions. And sometimes predicting the
questions that are coming I. Know I love it.
I got, I got a question for you.Coaching search, man, everybody
wants to know about the coachingsearch.
Who, who? Who's on your list?
We're we're, we're 10 weeks awayfrom November.
Man, this I don't. Care.
Come on. Alright, Curtis.
Curtis, you've you've named names.
There's one name. Matt Campbell.

(37:05):
Matt Campbell. Matt Campbell.
OK, Matt Campbell, we can doublehis salary.
We can give him a hell of a lot more money for his coaching
staff and a hell of a lot betterfootprint to recruit in.
I like that I hadn't heard that one.
I mean, that makes sense. I, I say that and I'll throw Dan
Mullen in there. It's going to be hard to get him
out of where he's at, though. I feel like I, I think he's in

(37:25):
a, he's in a spot where he can exceed.
They can't hate him next year. They can't hate him next.
Year Dan Mullen's on my list. Y'all can't have him.
Dan Mullen's on my list. Oh, we got.
I want to get rid of Dave Wade. Of basketball, I want the
wilweed of football. Y'all aren't getting Dave rid of
Dave Dorn this year. I think he's retired, I think
he's done, I think he's tired. If he's done, then this might be

(37:49):
a record ACC coaching tournament.
Hold on, can I tell you Evan, what you really need to happen
and this will be good for y'all?Y'all need to go 10 and two in
Wisconsin, come down and hire him back.
That's what you. Know yes, that would be great.
I don't think I don't think he Ithink he retires before he goes

(38:09):
anywhere. He just seems like a guy's
absolutely exhausted from this error in football.
Like, you know, he's but he's close friends with freaking
Bronco and Dave Clawson and someof these other guys who have all
stepped down like they've just, they don't need to do it
anymore. And I, I don't think he would go
anywhere. I think he would retire before
he leaves. OK, Three or four years to deal

(38:32):
with it, we have. To go don't, don't do that to.
Me, don't do that to me. I'll jump through this thing and
joke. All good, man.
Well, but we don't know. The whole thing is with tech.
We're going to talk about it in a little while here.
It's already been structured that there will no longer be an
AD over football. There will be a general manager
over football, which is pretty much everybody's going to.

(38:54):
So, you know, you heard Bruce Arian say stuff on McAfee the
other day. We don't know.
And a, a, a lot of our stuff is probably going to get answered
and part of them is going to getanswered next.
Is it Tuesday or Wednesday? Might help me out here.
Tuesday, 30th, 30th, our BOV unveils their plan.
And then probably from there you're going to probably start

(39:16):
to see the Domino's fall in the AD in the GM.
And then it's still going to take some time for the coat
because the honest truth is, I don't think we're going to get a
guy in retirement. I know our boy Andretti wants
Saban, but I think it's going tobe a sitting coach.
And if it's a sitting coach, youcan have everything in place.

(39:37):
As we all know, it will be announced on Thanksgiving
weekend when we're playing UVA. Any concerns that it's going to
be the absolute wildest coachingsearch cycle we've had in a long
time? No, no, I think I, I was, I
wouldn't be worried if we were working with the same money that
we've been working with the lasttwo coaching hires.
If we're if we were going out there and saying we can pay you

(40:00):
between 4:00 and 6:00 million, I'd be concerned.
I think the number that we're going to be able to come out
there with is at least going to be competitive where our top
three candidates should be. One of those should be willing
to to take that. I think the bigger thing is
going to be how we end up. Structuring what's, what's the
relationship with the general manager that we hire and what

(40:21):
sort of commitments can we make consistently on the recruiting
front, on the money front to to make this job.
Not something just where the coach can go out there and coach
and not have to worry about as much of the other pieces of the
puzzle. You know, they'll have somebody
that they can lean on for for those aspects.

(40:42):
Very cool, it'll be interesting to watch.
I mean, it's a great job in my opinion.
You should be able to pull a candidate, that's for sure.
Appreciate it Evan so again y'all check out Evan healthcare
because I'm whenever they go live and put their obviously you
guys know your stuff Evan. I I can't wait to take a peek at
yours in a couple days here to see what you got to say about

(41:03):
the Hokies. So appreciate it, take care of
yourself and we'll talk soon man.
Y'all have a good one? Thanks, Evan.
All right, so again, there's Evan from the red White podcast.
Check him out. You know, this is the second
time we've had some other podcast on this year and I love
when I can check my boxes to saythis is what I'm wondering

(41:24):
about. This is who I want to know
about, you know, and, and don't don't worry, There's a reason we
look at these guys. There's a reason that those
names pop out. It's research.
It's stuff like that. It's a lot of fun stuff.
It has something like. I, you know, I can go out there
and look at tape for, you know, 3 or 4 hours, but you know, I'm,
I'm not Evan. That's that's watching this team

(41:46):
every week, every week. So.
Every day reading the post. Getting the insight from, from,
from folks that, that are eatingand breathing and living this
stuff is, is important for us. And I think it gives, you know,
all the listeners out there some, some additional insight
that you know, they may not get.And you know, you're not going
to get it through a maroon and orange colored lens that you

(42:07):
would, you know, if I'm presenting it out there, just
just, you know, full honesty there.
You're, you're getting the, the full story from the, from the
folks that, that see it every day.
So. Well, but but The thing is about
when it's through your lenses, you're trying to find where is
there an advantage protecting this situation That's like like
it was wonderful. He mentioned the safety because
you said can we can we because you were talking before we jump

(42:29):
on tonight, the safety struggle a little bit for them.
Sometimes our linebackers don't feel right.
Can we take advantage of that? And when he says it, he says it
as an NC State fan, you know, it's not just your eyes saying I
hope we can do that. It's like that's been a problem.
So again, it's laid out there and I can't wait to check that.

(42:52):
I I will be checking their podcast out this week just with
the game Evan Broth here.