My new preacher just moved to the area. When I told him I was sorry I hadn’t met him yet because I’d been at Redskins games the last two Sundays, he said, “Oh really? There aren’t many pro fans around here are there?” That’s understandable. After all, the Triangle area is a well-known hotbed for college sports. But also, there is little enthusiasm for the Panthers in our area – and it’s not only just because Charlotte’s team is struggling.

There are so many historic-minded Redskins fans still here plus fans are diluted because so many have moved here from other areas and have remained loyal to their teams. Pro fans are actually pretty rabid here – just not for the Panthers. Even when the Panthers were in the Super Bowl, the fan support was wide but not very deep. It was really just an excuse to party. I remember Panther fans leaving the bars laughing and having a good time. An area Redskins fan or Steelers fan or Packers fan or Cowboys fan or even a Bills fan (they have a big fan club here) would be down or ticked or otherwise unhappy.

I’m not saying that there aren’t die-hard Panthers fans but most were fans of other teams before becoming a Panthers fan. So, if the Panthers lose or aren’t doing well on the season, they have another team to follow. Plus, there is still that Raleigh vs. Charlotte thing.

The Carolina Hurricanes mesmerized the Triangle area in 2006 when they went on that miraculous Stanley Cup run. People in Charlotte seemed to care very little and only followed it in passing. It was nearly all-encompassing in the Triangle area yet hardly a blip on the radar in Charlotte.

People in our area take buses to Atlanta to see the Braves or Boston to see the Red Sox or New York to see the Yankees or even Baltimore to see the Orioles. When is the last time you heard of a busload of fans traveling from Charlotte to Raleigh to watch the Hurricanes or fans traveling from Raleigh to Charlotte to watch the Bobcats? I do remember a bus trip of fans traveling to Charlotte to watch the Panthers but a number of the fans going were rooting for the other team.

A friend of mine who went to a Steelers at Panthers game once said that by the fourth quarter, there were more Steelers fans there than Panthers fans. I saw the same thing at a Redskins at Panthers preseason game once.

There are a lot of strong fan clubs in the area who are very active. In fact, I’m a member of one of them – Triangle Red Sox Nation, which raised more money for the Jimmy Fund charity this year than any club outside of the Boston area. Because we aren’t all solidified behind one team, it might appear to an newcomer that the Triangle area doesn’t care about professional sports. But that’s just not true.

North Carolina drove 80 yards in 14 plays on its first drive of the second half and the defense came up with five sacks and a pair of interceptions as the Tar Heels won at Rutgers, 17-13.

Down 10-0 early and 10-7 at the half, UNC’s T.J. Yates led the Heels on the go-ahead drive, which included four third-down conversions.

On third-and-11 at his own 33, Yates threw a sharp, accurate 28-yard sideline pass to Jheranie Boyd to keep the drive alive. On third-and-5 from the Rutgers 35, Yates took a step back from center and hit a sprinting Dwight Jones on a play that went 18 yards.

On third-and-12 from the 18-yard-line, Carolina took advantage of an obvious pass interference for another first down – this time at the 11.

On third-and-4 from the five, Yates hit Ryan Taylor, who bulled into the end zone after slanting across the middle. (He lost the handle on the ball after crossing the goal.)

The Tar Heels took their first lead at 14-10 after the seven-minute drive and never trailed again as the defense held on.

With Rutgers within a point at 14-13 in the fourth quarter, UNC’s Bruce Carter blocked a punt and the Heels ended up at the Rutgers 35. The offense moved it down but settled for a Casey Barth 26-yard field goal to up the lead to 17-13.

UNC’s Quinton Coples picked up two of this three quarterback sacks on the ensuing Rutgers drive but the Scarlet Knights still managed to drive to the UNC 19 before Matt Merletti came up with a drive-ending interception.

Rutgers got one more chance with a couple of minutes left but Carolina’s defense stopped them on four downs. On third down, UNC’s Tydreke Powell came up with the Heels’ fifth sack. Carolina ran out the clock.

Random Thoughts: Yates, who went 22 of 30 for 204 yards, has quelled thoughts of Bryn Renner taking over the QB position. He is having an excellent season and would be more highly acclaimed if the Heels had managed to win against LSU or Georgia Tech.

Rutgers is not as good as LSU or Georgia Tech and the Tar Heels should probably have handled them a little easier. They very well might have had Rutgers not owned an 11-minute time of possession advantage. If not for that long Carolina drive at the beginning of the second half, Rutgers would have really had a large possession advantage. Two fumbles and an interception off the hands of a receiver ended drives early for Carolina.

The Tar Heels allowed only 244 yards of total offense, including just 98 yards in the second half.

There’s really no excuse that television misses the first half of the opening quarter. With technology, those of us in North Carolina and New Jersey should be able to be switched to the start of the game. The Maryland game, which had a long official review with two minutes left and the Terrapins owning a two-touchdown advantage, was virtually over yet viewers were stuck with that game. ESPN does not allow enough time between games when setting the schedule.

The announcers seemingly couldn’t talk enough about UNC linebacker Bruce Carter. They loved calling him “The Freak” over and over. He did have a very good game with a blocked punt and an impressive interception return. He was portrayed almost as a one-man defense yet Coples had three sacks, nine tackles and QB hurry while Quan Sturdivant had a game-high 12 tackles.

And let’s stop all the talk about Carter, or anyone else for that matter, playing on Sundays in the NFL. College football fans and fans of Carolina, for the most part, couldn’t care less about who plays in the NFL next year or the year after. It’s all about this team, this season, this game, this down. That kind of talk minimizes college ball.

Game Photo Gallery

Here are 10 football games that are within driving distance in the Triangle area tonight. In bold is the predicted winner. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7.
My record last week was 8-2 for a season total of 36-15.

Broughton at Millbrook, 7 p.m.

Cary at Holly Springs

Charlotte Country Day at Ravenscroft

East Chapel Hill at Durham Jordan

Enloe at Leesville Road, 7 p.m.

Knightdale at Southeast Raleigh

Lee County at Green Hope

Middle Creek at Athens Drive

Panther Creek at Apex

Wakefield at Sanderson, 7 p.m.

Check the scores in our Sports Roundup on the left navigation bar.

It was 59 years ago that the first live sporting event was seen coast-to-coast. NBC televised the Duke at Pittsburgh football game on Sept. 29, 1951.

Oddly a big deal was not made of that fact in the 1952 Duke yearbook. However, viewers got to see a good one.

Duke, with Bill Murray in his first year as coach, took an early 7-0 lead but trailed 14-13 at the half. It was beginning to look as if it would end that way but with five minutes left George Grune raced 42 yards with a Pitt punt down to the enemy 26 yard line. Just four plays later, halfback Charlie Smith bulled his way into the end zone to give the Blue Devils the lead. The Duke defense stopped a Panther drive to ensure the Devils 19-14 victory.

The Pittsburgh yearbook claimed that the Panthers outplayed the Devils in “every department” and lost due to “a freak pass interception and a blocked punt.” There was no mention of the punt return or the fact that the game was televised across the country. It was Duke’s second game of the season and Pitt’s first. The Devils would finish the year at 5-4-1 while the Panthers would finish 3-7.

As a bit of trivia, the game was not seen in New Orleans because the coaxial cable wasn’t extended there until almost a year later.

Also, Wikipedia says the game was played on Sept. 22 but, as you can see from the football program, the game was actually played on Sept. 29. In addition, the Pitt sports information office says on its athletics website that the game was played at the Rose Bowl when it was really played at Pitt Stadium. Not sure why there is so much confusion.

The game was part of an experiment. The NCAA feared that live telecasts would reduce attendance at games. In January of 1952, after the 1951 season experiment, the NCAA adopted a plan where the NCAA would have total control over one national telecast each week.

Below are mid-week notes provided by the four ACC schools in the state of North Carolina.

Duke
Duke senior center Bryan Morgan has been named to the 2010 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® announced by the Allstate Insurance Company and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). “It is a huge honor and I am thankful to have been nominated,” said Morgan. “I love to work in the community and work with the kids and people of
Durham. It makes me very grateful for all of the opportunities I have been given.”

Morgan is the third Blue Devil to earn the honor, joining Zaid Abdul-Aleem (1994) and Re’quan Boyette (2008). A native of Hoover, Ala., Morgan has participated in community service projects involving Duke Children’s Hospital, Durham Rescue Mission, Read with the Blue Devils, Marbles Kids Museum, E.K. Powe Elementary School, Sandra E. Lerner Jewish Community Day School, Veterans Affairs Center, Forest at Duke Retirement Home, among others.

North Carolina
Quarterback T.J. Yates (Marietta, Ga.) has not thrown an interception in his last 89 attempts, dating back to last year’s bowl game vs. Pittsburgh. He has thrown 70 passes without an interception this year. That is the longest streak in his career. His previous best was 67 attempts in 2008 – last 12 vs. McNeese State, 22 vs. Rutgers, 18 vs. Virginia Tech, 3 vs. Georgia Tech and first 12 vs. NC State. The school record for attempts without an interception is 154 by Oscar Davenport in 1996-97. Yates’ 46 attempts without an interception vs. LSU was a school record for a single game. The previous record was 42 by Darian Durant vs. NC State in 2003.

NC State
NC State enters the Georgia Tech game tied for sixth nationally in turnover margin, with seven takeaways to just two giveaways for a +5 mark. The Wolfpack didn’t turn the ball over in its first two games, but fumbled twice in the win over Cincinnati.

Quarterback Russell Wilson (Richmond, Va.) has thrown 101 passes this season without an
interception and even though the Pack is playing two freshmen at halfback, there have only been two lost fumbles.

The Pack’s success in holding onto the ball is even more impressive considering that in 2009, NC State finished the season ranked 114th nationally in turnover margin, with 25 turnovers to just 14 takeaways.

Wake Forest
A number of Wake Forest and Florida State players were high school teammates before heading to college. FSU freshman T Garrett Faircloth (Brunswick, Ga.) is a graduate of the Bolles School where he teamed with Wake Forest freshman P Alex Wulfeck,(Orange Park, Fla.) redshirt sophomore LB Scott Betros (Jacksonville, Fla.), junior C Chance Raines (Jacksonville, Fla.), freshman S Desmond Cooper (Jacksonville, Fla.) and freshman FB Jordan Garside (Jacksonville, Fla.).

The Deacons have five players from the Bolles School on their roster, while Faircloth is the only Bolles graduate on the Noles’ roster. Deacon senior WR Jordan Williams was a teammate of two Seminoles at First Coast HS in Jacksonville: junior CB Avis Commack and junior RB Jermaine Thomas. Wake Forest redshirt sophomore WR Lovell Jackson and FSU sophomore T Rhonne Sanderson were teammates at Plant High School in Tampa, Fla. Wake Forest junior G Ryan Britt and FSU senior QB Christian Ponder were teammates at Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas. As a junior at CHHS, Britt protected the senior QB Ponder as the Panthers’ starting left tackle.

Wake Forest redshirt sophomore DE Derricus Ellis is a graduate of Darlington Prep in Rome, Ga., where he played with FSU P Shawn Powell and C Ryan McMahon.

The Florida Panthers scored three goals in the first five minutes of the Carolina Hurricanes’ exhibition opener and went on to win 4-1. For more information, please click here.

NEWS RELEASE – Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has signed center Jeff Skinner to a three-year, entry-level contract.

Beginning with his first full professional season, the contract will pay Skinner $810,000 per season at the NHL level or $67,500 per season at the minor-league level. Skinner receives a $270,000 signing bonus as a part of the contract.

“Jeff was one of the OHL’s top forwards last season and really stood out at the prospects tournament in Michigan,” said Rutherford. “He’s an exciting, young player and an important part of the future for the Hurricanes.”

Skinner, 18, finished the 2009-10 season ranked second in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with 50 goals, and ranked seventh in the OHL with 40 assists while playing in 64 games with the Kitchener Rangers. The Markham, Ont., native ranked tied for first in OHL playoff goals (20), and second in OHL playoff points (33), as Kitchener won two postseason series before falling to the Windsor Spitfires in the Western Conference Finals.

The Hurricanes selected Skinner (5’10”, 193 lbs.) in the first round, seventh overall, of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. He played for Team Orr in the 2010 Canadian Hockey League Top Prospects Game, and was named Most Valuable Player after picking up a goal and an assist in the contest. Skinner also played for the gold medal-winning Team Ontario at the 2009 World Under-17 Challenge, scoring the game-winning goal against Russia in the championship final.

Under the guidelines of the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, Skinner may still be reassigned to his junior hockey team, Kitchener, but may not be assigned to the Hurricanes’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers.

– Ken Preston

The Carolina Hurricanes had trouble scoring goals and creating scoring chances last season. Jeff Skinner, the team’s first-round draft pick, scored 70 goals in 84 games last year for the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers.

Sure, there will be growing pains if the Hurricanes give the 18-year-old Skinner a roster spot. But the Canes are looking for a third-line center behind Eric Staal and Brandon Sutter, and the Canes have decided to go young. So, why not give the youngster a chance?

By all accounts, he is mature for his age. He comes from a good family. He can handle the fame and limelight. He’s a competitor. He plays intelligently. He works hard as evidenced, in part, by his commitment to conditioning and strength training that he’s done with Gary Roberts. He’s quick and a natural goal scorer.

While he’s relatively small at 5-foot-10, 195 pounds and he’s not known for his skating ability, those aren’t things that are going to change after another year in the Ontario Hockey League.

Hopefully the Canes will find a roster spot for Skinner. If they have someone else they want on the squad as the third center, they can try Skinner at wing. But the Hurricanes need scoring and Skinner can score.

Canes Notes: The Carolina Hurricanes open their 2010 exhibition schedule against the Florida Panthers Tuesday at the RBC Center.

The Hurricanes signed former Edmonton Oiler Patrick O’Sullivan, who was raised in Winston-Salem. He had an undistinguished season a year ago but he’s only 25 and will be playing for his home state. Maybe his career can get back on track. O’Sullivan was the American Hockey League’s Outstanding Rookie and was named to the 2006 AHL All-Star game.

Carolina begins the regular-season with two games against the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki, Finland on Oct. 7-8. For the record, I’m not fond of playing regular season games overseas – for any sport.

NEWS RELEASE – The Carolina Hurricanes will hold a player-signing news conference tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 21, at noon in the RBC Center Arena Club Restaurant.

President/General Manager Jim Rutherford will speak at the news conference, and Rutherford and other members of the team’s management, as well as the signing player, will be available for comment.

Live streaming of the press conference will be available on CarolinaHurricanes.com.