North Carolina escapes Minnesota with 19-17 victory; NC State struggles early, secures 38-21 win

[Music] and we are here we have made it to the counting weekend of college football and what a crazy start we had Paul iander with you this Final Friday of August Graham Hill here on the ones and twos we have said in the past we stay up so you don't have to and that's where we're going to start this morning as we talk about Carolina as Carolina got weather delayed like a lot of games did last night there were 21 college football games played last night you wouldn't have known it listening to a lot of the radio you just listened to uh but there were 21 college football games last night some of them had to not do with Deion Sanders in Colorado many of them happened right here in this great state and that's where we're going to start one of them didn't start in this great state but did involved with a team from this great state and that is Carolina Carolina went up to Minnesota delayed by an hour managed to get a dub and I say managed by all all due respect managed to get a dub over PJ Fleck and Minnesota 19-17 Carolina essentially a scholarship kicker away from zero and one in which Minnesota if their kicker didn't get iced late and they get that's part of that game management and missed a 47y field goal the second of three miss or two misses on the night for Minnesota this game is not 1917 it's 20 to9 and Carolina takes a loss in the game but also in the back field as well we stayed up late last night and unfortunately it also led to Max Johnson getting carded off the field everyone hoped he was going to stand up and walk off the field late in that third quarter but he ended up getting carded off the field we've heard it's a hip injury and not quite sure what his status is going to be but it forced ma Brown's hand ma Brown essentially turning into the bud Kilmer of the ACC right now all right go get me a win Conor but he did praise Connor Harold for stepping up with when his call came Connor had two drives to win the game uh the the play that he made where he looked like he was going to run on the option and and stopped and threw the ball downfield was a game-winning play and that's who he is that's what he can do um Conor never pouted about not starting he was all in and when he came off the bench he said let's go I'm I'm ready to play so um what we we haven't done well in my estimation in the last few years we haven't won games where one of the phases didn't play well and we found a way to win this game and that's what's so important that was a muck It Up game Graham I don't know I'm trying to find the right word to say here because I don't know if ironic is the best term to use here but I I just after Max Johnson's injury the first thing I thought of was last Friday literally a week ago when m brown had his final media availability before this first game of the season and he said the re reason why they were going to play both quarterbacks is because in previous Seasons they have not done a good job of preparing a backup quarterback in case Drake May got injured or Sam how got injured you saw it last year in the duk's mayoo when Conor Herold played when Drake may sat out and sure enough Max Johnson gets injured in the game and then they have to throw Connor herrell in there who did a great job of taking over and leading the charge and being a part of Carolina's offense to help them get win so you hate it for Max Johnson but I I guess I'm left here to say maybe there was a method to Matt Brown's Madness all around or all along as far as not announcing a starting quarterback okay so staying on the bright side of things and we just really stay on the bright side of things here Graham when it comes to this team Jeff Collins's defense did enough to muck things up against Minnesota Minnesota couldn't get Uncorked at all in this football game they really didn't have a lot going for him Max Bronner couldn't find anybody open Minnesota really didn't really played to the level of of Carolina right and Carolina was not magnificent throughout this football game as a matter of fact it only reaffirmed a couple of things one if amarian Hampton isn't getting a 100,000 touches and that's not an understatement he carried the ball 30 times Graham and this is something you and I talked about getting him touches he also had five receptions which means he was involved in 35 plays of the 55 plays that actually led to any sort of positive or negative yardage for Carolina I mean to set up on that on the on the game drive or the drive that set up Noah Brett's go-ahead field goal it was essentially amarian Hampton who was the only offensive Factor along other than that pass along the sidelines by JJ Jones but no you're exactly right if it if it's not for Marian Hampton being on this team this North Carolina team looks totally different and they lose this game last night Carolina did enough to muck things up as they said Jeff Collins's defense did what it had to do was to hold Minnesota because as much credit as you want to give caror harell for coming in and stepping in and he was being prepared or whatever it was it's not like he put a stat line together that was like oh my goodness the the game plan was simple feed Omari and Hampton the ball and see what happens Collins got a great performance out of Javari ritzy who had three sacks in that ball game so it shows you they're able to get some pressure and Cayman Rucker did what he did got some tackles also managed to get to the quarterback as well Minnesota played Just well enough to keep them in that football game and North Carolina played Just well enough to stay ahead of Minnesota without aarian Hampton this is fact Common Sense Sharpie period without him Carolina loses that football game flat out hands down going back to Jeff Collins's defense real quickly I was very impressed by North Carolina's ability to stop the run and I think that's kind of what you get out of Jeff Collins live and die with his fast ball what Ross Martin was talking about yesterday as far as you know he's going to throw the kitchen sink at you and they were able to get just enough pressure as you mentioned to uh make Minnesota's quarterback uncomfortable uh get him out of his progressions and you know word of the day or phrase of the day muck it up on on defense for for Carolina that's the bright side right that's the bright side for Carolina they have a stud there's a stud running back who's not going to be mentioned in any conversations because they're in the ACC right he not I mean you've heard more of the hype about shadur Sanders and Travis Hunter and for for rightfully so shadur Sanders last night Colorado yeah I mean he he had he's the number one passer in NCAA after 25 games right Grayson McCall is third on that list so let's just put that in perspective the tar Hills have a Bonafide star and it seems like they have a pretty decent defense again they played Minnesota this wasn't the FCS teams that we were all used to seeing in a week one right they actually gave themselves an actual test was it a pregame no it was not that was not a pretty football game but was it enough to show you that at least there's some grit and some heart when it comes to the Carolina Tar Hills now I think at quarterback they have some bigger discussions to have like they've got to get somebody else like on the ball there has to be somebody else in catch the ball besides amarian Hampton on on screens Bryson Nesbit on some on some uh on some XY routes jjones JJ Jones but there's just it never felt like and maybe that's a credit to Minnesota maybe that's a credit to Minnesota when it came to their defense because they were also playing some pretty good football too like this was a z00 football game after the first quarter maybe the weather delay did something to these teams that kind of shocked him into place or whatever it was Minnesota wasn't an explosive football team by any means outside of the outside of that pick that came back and led to that second score so I guess that's that that's not guess that is the good news for ma Brown and the and Chip Lindsay who's going to have to figure a few things out right you going to have to switch things up different quarterback M Brown saying Conor Harold wasn't soaking and he was bought all in and didn't get into the into the offense or whatever it was fine whatever what what what do you expect Conor Harold to say nah screw it I'm hitting the portal after after half a game or Seas yeah season has even started yeah I'm like I'm a red shirt okay I totally get that where have you heard that story before in the uh in the Triangle but MC Brown was right that offense was uptight but maybe that had something to do with him we're not going to name a starter until later and we're really going to go away from the game plan if Carolina wants a game plan moving forward as they make start making this run right as they start making this run of not playing away from home playing close to home or whatever it is over the next several weeks with Charlotte you know a banged up Charlotte coming in next week and you still have NC Central James Madison and then Duke in that instate just pound the rock yeah just Pound The Rock I don't need you don't have to be flashy right I don't I don't need flashy in substance but I I chip Lindsay's got to find some some some uh some answers when it comes to being able to get that ball moving a little bit because either we need to overedit Minnesota's defense and time will tell on Minnesota's defense or the heels like now fully have to switch gears depending on the health of Max Johnson and I'm not sure regardless if Max Johnson's ready to go next week if he would even get the start just based on hey man you just tweaked your hip and to be honest it looked like he grabbed more of his knee than he tweaked his hip you I've been saying coming to the season when you look at this Carolina's when you look at North Carolina's offense I know they don't have Drake May that's the biggest thing you have to replace is a third overall pick in the draft that was your quarterback last season but yeah Drake May Sam how they were guys when even the offensive line would fall apart in front of them they would go out there and win games for you I don't know if Conor Herold can do that but then again it's the first game of the season but when you just look at their receiving core with two great tight ends and Kobe pesur or excuse me um Kobe pesur John copen John copenh JJ Jones Nate McCollum I'm forgetting one more guy in that group they have enough Playmakers on that offense where it doesn't have to be the morian Hampton show but for the time being as now you implement your true quarterback one and Connor Harold because you have no choice at this point going up against these teams UNC UNC Charlotte North Carolina Central uh James Madison we don't know about Duke I'm not trying to put down those teams but you have enough Talent where you should be able to go out there and handle those teams well R Hampton you're just going to feed him at this point until you find find other options it's four yards a carry against Minnesota and again we're trying I'm trying to give Minnesota's defense some credit stay on the bright side of things here they were able to clamp down on the Carolina receiving Corp and again credit to the defense right Jeff Collins mucked it up they mucked it up got some got some good solid play they didn't let any big plays get be Beyond them they held the the FCS guy Max brosmer the new F the new Power F power four conference quarterback again he didn't make any mistakes Max brosmer does not make mistakes but he also didn't make any plays for this team I was about to say you held him to uh 166 yards on 13 of 21 passing this game ended 12:30 last night on a wide right field goal ryson desb how could I forget him on the offense this is as close as you're going to see right the the Vegas line was this is as close as we were going to see from the Vegas line across the board like this thing ended up at one and a half right before kickoff that was the number and and they nailed it I don't know how they did I don't know how they Vegas knows I don't know how they did it but they did it and for North Carolina it won't really matter at this point because you get to move on but there are some questions that have to be answered for the heels as they move to next week and bring on Charlotte in Chapel Hill which will help home cooking as we always know always helps Graham Hill at three things you need to know right now from 999 the fan for three quarters last night the catamounts near five touchdown underdogs presented a much bigger problem for NC State however the wol packs scored 21 unanswered in the fourth quarter to earn the 38 to 21 victory at Carter Finley Stadium Noah berett made four field goals three of them after quarterback Max Johnson was carded off with a knee injury and hit the go ahead 45 y with 144 left to lift North Carolina pass Minnesota 19- 17 in season opener for both teams last night after having next surgery on August 6 Carolina Hurricanes Winger yesper fos is expected to miss the 2024-25 season general manager Eric toski announced yesterday F played in 73 games through the Hurricanes this season to in 19 points with six goals and 13 assists find these stories and more on wrl sportsman.com Paul iander with you on this Friday morning at scram Hill on the ones and twos just giving you Lowdown on what happened last night and yesterday you yeah lots to chop up today as we move on to State again we stay up late so you don't have to State started a half an hour late due to weather concerns that seemed to be a thing across college football last night look at the Lord allow me to get to Carter Stadium last night by kickoff Mother Nature helped out a little bit B there too just saying Mother Nature's a shiny shiny nice lady sometimes and then she creates gutter problems for some of us else but that's okay she doesn't have to claim the insurance I do thank you so much but hey Graham you got to the game on time so hey awesome for you dude uh Grayson McCall 318 yards third leading passer in the NCAA right now so that's where he sits um three touchdowns well done Grayson McCall Jordan Waters carries 123 yards 50 of those unfortunately came on a run late in that game that iced the game 38-21 State over Carolina but we're going to stay on the happy portion of things right he scored two touchdowns and he waved goodbye to Western Carolina who seemed to be a lot more ready to throw everything at this and the kitchen sink at North Carolina State and it sure felt like that way for the first three quarters of that game it was a hot afternoon out there 100° we were all antsy right we were all like let's go see this team play some football and I said in the pregame before uh the game Tim donelly and I sat out on the quad Graham was trying to make things happen back here with duck tape and wires and he managed to do so and I said State fans need something in this football game State fans need a stand up moment and I was like please let it be one of the new guys right let it be one of the new guys who's just going to create something magical and amazing and what happens the magical moment came in the fourth quarter with a name you're all very familiar with State fans in Casey concepion who had an amazing 35 yard touchdown run in which he had to put his hand down to the ground after making a catch bounced off two tacklers and then went wide and went full Jets and made things happen another guy who got just enough touches to make things happen but makes you realize that state while it did gear up in the off season with a number of names we'll just call them names at this Point who did play some pretty good football in that game nobody could get jump started until that fourth quarter so what did you do you went to Old Faithful and I'm not sure that's fair to Casey concepion but he delivered he delivered for the State team when they needed him the most when the defense couldn't get any stops until that fourth quarter he helped them stay in that football game in which nobody thought this was supposed to be a close football game by any means I managed to Peg the score by the way total points good on you 59 almost got the margin to Victory very very close Western Carolina came out clawing and scratching and already and I've already seen it the uh the teams and the media that cover Tennessee said what will Tennessee do they're playing Chattanooga this weekend they have a non-conference against Chattanooga Tennessee the team that State's going to play in nine days from now or eight days from now they're saying what does Tennessee have to do against Chattanooga to uh to go into next Saturday's game against NC State and they said just be better than NC State was last night ouch but I mean there's a lot of Truth to that I would encourage a lot of NC State fans to make some time tomorrow I don't know what time the game is played but I I was speaking to my dad about this last night who I attended the game with and I said it it'll be interesting to actually watch Tennessee versus Chattanooga Chattanooga another FCS opponent and look for the difference amongst these two games from NC State playing Western Carolina tomorrow last night and then Tennessee playing Chad tomorrow I mean it it's going to be good film and good scout for fans but I can tell you one thing Paul I don't know if this NC State team's gonna be able to run the ball against Tennessee last or next week they can't they can't wait till the fourth quarter to put it on well that's true there's no doubt about it and we talk about weather delays and whatnot I'm not sure if it was weather delays that it didn't get State going Dave Dorne was not happy with about how his team played we're going to shove that one though Graham I want to talk about what Casey concepion said about what coach told the team after the football game one second there we go I would say the coach's message is that we have a whole bunch of work to do I mean I mean obviously obviously we were expecting a a blowout but every single game is not going to be a blowout we we saw things that we had to work on we we saw things that we can fix we also saw some things that were going good so going so going into next week we can work on those things that didn't go well and we can and we can continue to work on those things that went well today you ever heard a car that backfires Graham yeah you know you know the cylinders just aren't quite pumping the way they should be they like like that uh that's how it felt with State last night like they had the car ready to go it was waxed it was primed it was clean you had the right drivers passengers everybody was along for the ride and then there were just a handful of misfires that just kept happening over and over and over again that I hope by next Saturday will'll get fixed the slight little timing things the misses you saw Grayson McCall slap himself in the helmet a few times because there were throws that he made he's like damn I would hit that 99 out of 100 times Dave Doran last night after the game said he's not going to apologize for winning that and that's fair I mean one and0 is one and0 it's a dub it's a dub just like we talked about Carolina Minnesota but as a sports radio host I need to apologize to our listeners here on next up because I've done you a disservice going to this game last night by calling last night's game a tuneup game for NC State well uh instead of getting the C just tuned up the check engine lights on for NC State right now in this offense because as you mentioned Grace McCall has some work to do even though he threw for 318 yards three touchdowns I feel like that stat line doesn't really reflect his performance as far as as you mentioned misses some open receivers the costly first quarter interception the Run game struggle for a majority of the night and one thing that I was kind of baffled by with Grace McCall last night is how many times he under thre receivers I mean I've never seen concep concepion Go full speed and then have to stop right in his tracks just to catch the ball he was he was pointing at routes on that first ball and and maybe that's just the chemistry right that's just the live game stuff but also and I'm not trying to give a discredit to Coastal Carolina or the Sun Belt but you know this is ACC football and I know they were playing an FCS opponent last night but I'm just trying to think long term the future of the season for the woolpack I mean you got to step it up if you want to be a legit quarterback in this conference like a lot of fans were saying grace McCall could be going to the game last night it was 19 carries for 73 yards up until Waters broke that 50 yard at the end of the game which sealed it for state which was good you want to see him get those numbers and I think Robert anai did a very good job of rotating in the talent right we got to see the flashes of the expectation of Justin Jolie who I know Tim dony is very high on we got to see a couple of solid catches about Noah Rogers there is a difference with this team when it comes to being able to run like talent and threat out onto the field but when it came all the way back to it when they needed the spark and when they needed something to go to and this is much like the Omari and Hampton conversation we just had 10 minutes ago with Carolina Casey concepion will be well known within the ACC ranks but outside he will probably not get the credit for what he does for this NC State offense he provides a constant threat on the field for them and the more he can be out there the more open you're going to see a Jolie a Noah Rogers and a Wesley Grimes a Collins too yeah MCC darari Collins who who got run out there too and we got to see some of the others you know get some time out there Hollywood Smothers got some carries rapael got some carries so there was enough time for him to get out there for for for Robert and to get the this because this was the this was the the part of the game for state that had to be addressed was the offense I I will say credit to rafhael for stepping up when his number was called last night because Jordan Waters when he was kind of trying to Juke Defenders rather than just running it right up the middle rafhael came in I think provided a much needed spark to NC State's Run game and uh you know Waters I think maybe you know I don't want to say figured out he got too cute but he once he was able to hit the middle maybe he heard the NC State fan behind me say send his blank back to Durham after a couple of his uh after he got he got jump yeah exact after how he got jumped up a couple of times he was able to hit his stride with that 50- yard touchdown run but Jordan Waters is a good enough running back in this conference where he doesn't need to be too cute he can hit the hole up the middle and as long as NC State's offensive line can you know provide the space face and provide the open gaps for him he can take advantage by the way how about Jordan Waters who during his time at Duke never fumbled the ball once and of course his second carry of the game last night he bobbles it it was hot it was hot I want to be honest though I mean again we trying to stay positive stay positive stay positive there is a concern for NY State defensively they clearly weren't able to handle a mobile quarterback no Cole Gonzalez by the way probably played himself into a transfer deal next year he's a junior by the way at Western Carolina he might he he could go somewhere else made no mistakes whatsoever never didn't look like a FCS quarterback who comes into a larger situation and looks flustered right you're throwing ground balls you're throwing kind of weird stuff he can run the ball and he can throw the ball with accuracy I mean Paul give yourself credit yesterday when we had Matt chazel on play-by-play commentator for NC State you brought up a great Point as far as how does NC State not Overlook Western Carolina and Matt even agreeed with you he said that he was glad you brought up that question the camous were playing with house money last night I mean they're they're right 19th in the FCS and they knew they were they they were just out there trying to just have fun and they had fun for the first three quarters and then it was the fourth quarter finally where I think NC State at the beginning of the game who looked tired then then their depth just slowly took over and then it was the catamounts who just looked Gass towards the end of the game you can shut out a team in the fourth quarter and that's part of the narrative right hey we we geared up we gassed up we put our foot down right finish strong right tough together but it took you 45 minutes to get to that point you don't get to make that mistake again you don't get to make that mistake twice against Tennessee or against any other freaking team that or tech for the rest of the season they do not get that anymore like tuneup game check engine light whatever it happened to be there are some things that these coordinators will have to address to get these guys in the right positions to make plays last night not a lot of plays were made but they went to Old Faithful Casey concepion he helped them get over the hump if it ain't broke don't fix it right