Giftastic Recap of Saturday – Thanksgiving Edition
Miami at NC State – Duke at Pitt – Citadel at UNC – Clemson at Wake Forest – Navy at ECU
Miami at NC State:
NC State welcomed Miami to Carter-Finley, looking to become bowl eligible and salvage something good out of this dumpster fire of a season. The game started off with each offense trying to one-up the other’s ineptitude. The long and short of this game is basically the same as every game this season has gone for State. Just when State would like to climb back into things, a stupid penalty, mind-boggling turnover, or idiotic coaching decision killed any momentum. This time, a Ryan Finley end zone interception on one of the worst quarterback decisions you’ll ever see turned this game on its head. The Wolfpack also punted early from the Miami 39. What a waste this 2016 season has been in Raleigh.
Duke at Pitt:
Certainly, Duke’s season hasn’t gone the way that anyone has expected. For the first time in a while under Cut, Duke has looked overmatched in a few of the games they’ve played. The most recent was Pitt where the Devils found themselves down 14 at the half and then couldn’t scratch a single point in the second half. Pitt, meanwhile, scored 14 points in each quarter to blow Duke out 56-14. Fumbles, interceptions, and an inability to stop James Conner led to Duke’s demise. Let’s just drink this one away and hope they pull out a win this week and get into a bowl somewhere based on their APR.
Citadel @ UNC:
UNC played a high school this late into the season. I have no words other than to say I’m sorry. UNC has another really good football team this season and if not for a hurricane, would be in the driver’s seat to the Coastal Division title again. Not sure this game does much to prepare them for the finale against State, but hey, Citadel is a cake walk and UNC came to eat.
Clemson @ Wake Forest:
It’s hard to gauge Wake’s progress for real this season. They’ve got 6 wins so they’re bowl eligible, which is huge. However, those 6 wins are against pretty poor competition with a combined record of 22-44. Indiana is their best win and that says quite a bit. They’ve hung tough, though, against FSU and Louisville (for three quarters). The Clemson game was over by the first quarter, likely due to the fact that Clemson is world’s better and had a renewed vigor after losing to Pitt. Things could’ve gone better, but they obviously could’ve gone worse.
Navy @ ECU:
ECU has done pretty much diddly since their close victory over NC State. They’ve looked outmatched against just about everyone and worse so after they managed to beat UConn. They’ve given up an average of at least 41 points in each of their losses. Frankly, this is a bad football team. Navy was up 31-17 at halftime and ran roughshod over Dowdy-Ficklen. To the tune of 480 yards on the ground and 9 touchdowns. The Pirates were just dismantled and this season can’t end quickly enough.
