I was going to write about the game last night, but the hotel internet didn’t feel like working, so just throw another loss on the pile there. Got a nice big ol’ pile goin’. Big smelly heap of craptacularity.
Of all the unpleasant scenarios that seemed plausible, I can’t say getting outgained 460-143 was one of them, but one of these teams looked the part in the trenches and everywhere else, and one of them very much did not. I suppose the good news is NC State won’t see another team that looks quite like that, outside of Clemson, and the Tigers are not nearly as good offensively as Tennessee.
But certainly that performance did not bode well for the trip to Death Valley, or for the Wolfpack’s larger goal for this season. There was absolutely nothing to take from last night as a positive. Well, I did get a free beer from a nice concessions worker, but other than that.
Maybe the picture’s a bit different if Grayson McCall doesn’t toss that back-breaking pick-six in the first half but the run of play tilted heavily in Tennessee’s direction throughout, so flipping that one event wasn’t about to change the outcome.
I guess I should probably feel worse about the whole thing than I do, but I also haven’t stepped back into the online yelling machine at all yet. Hopefully everybody hasn’t been lopping each other’s heads off over this mess. Though I could understand it.
The goal for the week ahead is to re-establish some positive momentum, and never speak of the Tennessee game again.