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ACC Foes Have Unflattering View of Wolfpack

Athlon Sports asked the ACC's 14 football coaches to provide anonymous assessments of their 2020 opponents. Their unflattering responses about NC State should provide the Wolfpack with plenty of motivational bulletin board material

It's uncertain whether football teams still have actual bulletin boards in their locker rooms in this day and age of virtual technology.

But if they do, NC State's ACC rival coaches have provided coach Dave Doeren and his Wolfpack with plenty of material to post as motivation for the upcoming season.

It comes courtesy of Athlon Sports, which asked the coaches of all 14 full-time ACC member schools to talk anonymously about their opponents, "in order to go get an accurate assessment of teams heading into 2020."

Accurate or not, it's clear that the rest of the league isn't sold on State's chances for improving on last year's 4-8 record.

Here's a look at some of the unflattering responses:

  • "They could be in trouble. There's some bad mojo around the program. They've turned over a lot of people in the building."
  • "They're very physical on the line, and that's the identity here. They must preach that to the kids because on film it looks like physicality is more important than technique or scheme."
  • "The wide receivers are OK, but no one stands out. The play-calling was uninspired; they could use some creativity here because they aren't going to out-talent the top-half teams."
  • "Defensively they're interesting. They ran a 3-3 stack a year ago, you need good corners for that which they had, then they went in Tampa 2 and couldn't stop anyone running."
  • "They're not doing well in recruiting; that's something the rest of the conference has noticed. It used to be that they would be able to fight for any kid that wasn't a national prospect; now they're getting shut out as soon as UNC or Clemson starts recruiting, let alone an SEC school."
  • "We saw a lot of contributors on their defense in the portal. That's caused some suspicion."
  • "Dave was a guy who almost had an SEC job, and now it looks like he won't be able to keep it together. They're far from those nine-win teams."
  • "If they make a move, it's a job a lot of coaches would jump at. You can figure it out there."

The good thing about these opinions is that they're only opinions and that the Wolfpack has an opportunity -- COVID-19 notwithstanding -- to prove them wrong on the field of play.

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