NC State In League Play: Avert Your Eyes!

What's an 0-3 start to ACC play look like on paper? You can probably guess.

(***Obligatory note that we are not even halfway through the conference schedule.***)

NC State ranks 12th in yards per play in league games and 11th in yards allowed per play. Not everybody has had to play--or will have to play--Clemson, but then again not everybody has had the (unfortunate, in our case) opportunity to play Wake Forest and Syracuse either. We've entered worst-case scenario territory in the last couple of weeks, but at least we have a bye week ahead, which might be as important for the mental status of the team as it is for anything else.

Jack Tocho and Pete Thomas (should we need him) will be fine by the time the FSU game rolls around, and Brandon Mitchell should be ready to go at that point as well. (One thing I've kicked around half-seriously: do you think about holding Mitchell out of that game to make sure he doesn't get killed, because it's almost certainly a loss either way?)

I hope it's enough time for Rob Crisp and Darryl Cato-Bishop to get healthy, but I haven't got a clue. If we can come back post-FSU significantly closer to full strength, I'd feel a lot better about winning six or seven games. If the setbacks keep coming, though, I think the first three conference games are evidence enough that the season isn't going to end well.