Since last Wednesday there have been 5 articles on the Deacs - and that's fine. Of course, there's also been 5 articles on the Tar Heels. And here's where I get PO'd- there's been only one article on NC State during this same time span.
I could understand this discrepancy if it was UNC coming off a BCS bowl and NC State was coming off of last season - UNC isn't. They were miserable last year too.
I could understand this if there was a huge difference in the demand for football in Chapel Hill versus Raleigh. There isn't - NC State's Carter Finley Stadium is sold out for the 7th straight year in a row. Last year, in spite of an awful season, more people attended NC State football games than attended UNC football games. If you judge by those facts, there's more interest in NC State football than UNC football.
I do have to wonder why any paper that's covering the local teams - pays so much attention to UNC, but so comparatively little to NC State. NC State is the largest university in North Carolina after all, surely they merit similar preseason coverage.
Part of the problem is Bill Cole. He covers the TarHeel beat for the Journal, and if I was a Tar Heel fan - I'd love him. Like many writers that I've notice on the area who covers the Heels, he covers them as a fan. He has the latest scoop on Tar Heel recruiting and will often share it. Heck, this year in basketball recruiting, he managed to write an entire article on the Heels incoming class when they didn't even sign any new recruits!
A few years ago when the Pack had an early verbal from Mario Williams - the future 1st pick in 2006's NFL draft - UNC received a commitment from a high school player. Cole wrote that the verbal was the first one for the North Carolina ACC schools. I sent him an e-mail advising him that Mario Williams had committed to the Pack earlier. He did a retraction the next day - which proves he's a decent enough person. However, this points to a larger problem when someone covers a team that they favor over others. It's really only natural that theses biases would reveal themselves on occasion.
In this case, the bias is appearing on a pretty regular basis.
QB Controversey Part IV - More Snaps for Wilson!
Speaking of NC State football, based on the first 2 scrimmages, it looks like the Wolfpack could be heading for another QB controversey. While Daniel Evans had solid #s the first scrimmage, his numbers weren't as impressive in the second one. Burke's #s improved from his first scrimmage - but won't likely strike fear in any defense. Beck continues to struggle w/ his completion percentage, while putting up good yards per pass. However, he has to be more accurate if he's going to get the job. If you look at the numbers, it's hard to be excited about the position on the field that has led to so much frustration for the Wolfpack nation the last 3 years.
Enter true freshman Russell Wilson. In yesterday's scrimmage he was 2 for 2 w/ 1 TD pass for 58 yards.
Their cumulative #s thus far :
Evans 13-22 yards 127 yards (5.77 yards per pass) 1/1 INT
Burke 12-24 92 yards (3.83 yards per pass) 0/2 INT
Beck 7-20 154 yards (7.5 yards per pass) 1/3 INT
Wilson 5-8 106 yards (13.25 yards per pass) 1/1 INT
I have no idea who Wilson was playing, whether he was just lucky or anything else about these scrimmages. Tom O'Brien and Dana Bible aren't known for risk taking - they're fairly conservative guys. It's more likely that NC State will win the ACC than it is that Wilson will start the first couple of games. However, right now, he has the best completion % and the best yards per pass of the 4 QBs. I'm pretty sure this also gives him the highest QB rating of the four candidates.
If nothing else, it looks like this QB search should include Wilson as a potential candidate.
