To help prevent injuries, O'Brien has switched to poofy footballs.
Joe Giglio compiled some head-to-head numbers of Butch Davis and Tom O’Brien for today’s N&O.
It’s an interesting look at how the two coaches’ careers here in the Triangle have unfolded over the years. The number that jumps right off the page is that 7-2 mark against the Coastal Division. Wow. As Joe points out, State let the Duke game get away last season, meaning State would’ve been 8-1 against Coastal opponents with a lone loss to Virginia Tech. Fascinating. Of course, it helps when State’s 3-0 against Carolina.
WV Wolf emerged from his Stat Cave to further break down the Director’s Cup standings (SFN).
All-Time (1994 to 2010)
Over the past 17 years of the Directors’ Cup, NC State has an average finish of 50.6 with a high of 32 in 1995 and a low of 89 in 2010.
NC State had 3 different ADs during the existence of the Directors’ Cup, Todd Turner (1994 to 1996), Les Robinson (1997 to 2000) and Lee Fowler (2001 to 2010). Here are the average finishes for each AD:
Turner – 41.7
Robinson – 50.8
Fowler – 53.2
There’s further analysis that shows where State stands to improve quite a bit. Here’s a scary stat: 29 NON BCS schools finished ahead of State in the standings. Yikes.
Tom O’Brien released limited stats from their situation scrimmage yesterday.
36 rushes for 122 yards; 11-29 for 88 yards passing with one TD. The defense had eight tackles-for-loss, four sacks and picked off four passes.
122 yards/36 rushes = 3.4 YPC. That’s “right on schedule,” as they say, and consistently posting those numbers would put State in third-and-short situations more often than not. Folks were probably scared at the passing stats, what with 14 incompletions and four picks, but it’s important to remember that this was a situational scrimmage. It’s possible that most of these picks came when O’Brien set things up with the team down a score with time running out, resulting in a lot of forced passes. That’s just a guess on my part.
The last scrimmage of the year will be the true litmus test of fall practice. Nate Irving will be in the lineup, and I imagine it will be structured more like a typical game format. And of course, the Western Carolina game will be a “live bullets” scrimmage of sorts and give us a much better idea of just where this team stands.
