RAS Official Plays - Week 4

North Carolina at NC State (-10.5) - 9:00am Pacific - Game #343-344
The Philip Rivers era ended in 2003 and last year the Wolfpack struggled through a season of inconsistent turnover prone offense.  As a junior, QB Jay Davis took the majority of snaps but completed only 55.9% with more interceptions than touchdowns.  Backup QB Marcus Stone never could do much better.  NC State ended the season with a horrible -17 turnover ratio and spoiled a great year by the defense which ranked #1 nationally.  In comes new offensive coordinator Mark Trestman, a Bill Walsh disciple who runs his own version of the West Coast offense.  He turned down the same job with the New Orleans Saints to be here.  QB Davis, now a senior, has looked like a completely different player to start the season.  In the opener vs a very good Virginia Tech defense, he completed 62.8% of his passes for 311 yards.  Despite it being a new offensive scheme, Davis has looked much more confident and in command of the team.  He's had a second game plus three more weeks of practice since then to get better and further learn the system.  Senior WR Tramain Hall and senior TE TJ Williams are both all conference type targets.  True freshman RB Toney Baker is expected to make his second straight start and looks like a future star.  Defensively, it is no secret that the Wolfpack are loaded with speed and talent.  They feature one of the best defensive lines in all of college football and they should dominate in this matchup.  While reviewing the NC State/Virginia Tech tape and already knowing the outcome, I thought to myself, how did NC State lose this game.  For the most part, NC State outplayed the Hokies who are now a top 10 team. 

Head coach John Bunting has a 19-30 career record at UNC.  He barely was able to keep his job thanks to a winning season last year I would not be surprised to see him go at the end of this year.  The Tar Heels will have a tough time winning more than 1 or 2 games this season.  UNC is breaking in a new QB in senior Matt Baker.  He has looked decent but he is getting no help at all from the running game and a banged up offensive line has looked shoddy.  UNC is averaging just 2.3ypc in first two outings while also allowing 3 sacks per game.  Baker is completing just 43.4% of his passes and has already thrown 4 interceptions.  Much of the teams offensive yardage is misleading as it has come on meaningless drives at the end of games.  Against Wisconsin last week, UNC's first 11 drives averaged just 4.6 plays and they did not reach the red zone once.  North Carolina's defense is experienced but has not been any good since Bunting's first year in 2001.  They suffered a blow last week losing starting MLB Doug Justice (foot) for the season.  Justice, a senior, was the signal caller for the defense and led the team with 11 tackles vs Georgia Tech. 

NC State head coach Chuck Amato takes this instate rivalry very seriously and the memory of last years 30-24 loss is still fresh.  In that game the Wolfpack dominated with 16 more first downs and 221 more total yards but lost thanks to -3 turnovers and a controversial bad call by officials at the end of the game.  I look for NC State to not only get revenge but serve notice to the rest of the conference with a big win here.  Give the points.