Featured stories, The skinny

Week 8 of the high school season brings cool football weather

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Week 8 of the high school football season is upon us and it’s perfect football weather. It will be cool and dry tonight in the Triangle area. Here are 10 football games being played tonight that are within driving distance in the Triangle area. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7. In bold below are the predicted winners. Last week my record was 9-1 for a 54-16 season mark.

Athens Drive at Fuquay-Varina

Broughton at Enloe

Green Hope at Middle Creek

Holly Springs at Apex

Millbrook at Heritage

Northern Durham at East Chapel Hill

Southeast Raleigh at Knightdale

Southern Durham at Riverside

Wakefield at Wake Forest-Rolesville

West Johnston at Garner

Check the scores at the top of the left navigation bar on this page.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

Duke’s Renfree no longer playing to avoid mistakes

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Two weeks ago, Duke QB Sean Renfree set the school record for completions and last week set a record for attempting 43 passes without an interception. He has completed 71 percent of his passes so far this season.

“Sean had played with a lot of weight on his shoulder,” said Duke coach David Cutcliffe. “He was playing to not make mistakes.”

Cutcliffe recently had a team meeting where he told the players that football has got to be fun. “You can’t have burdens. You can’t carry anyone’s burden,” he said. “The only person carrying a burden is me. I’m old enough and equipped to handle it. So cut it loose, just all of it, cut it loose. He obviously knew, and I addressed Sean on part of it, we don’t have any secrets from each other, because we are a family. I would say he’s not talking about play calls, he’s not being negative at all. He’s just saying let him relax and play. And I hope that Sean has taken that to heart.”

Cutcliffe said Renfree played his best game in a thrilling victory over Florida International last week. “It wasn’t statistically the best game, but it was his best game.”

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

Wolfpack needs to keep Central Michigan from making big plays

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At the first of the year, fans might have checked this week’s game with Central Michigan off as a win for N.C. State. But the Wolfpack has been victimized by big plays and Central Michigan has been explosive this season, including four touchdowns of more than 45 yards each last week. So, what does State coach Tom O’Brien think about the match up.

QUESTION: In scouting Central Michigan this week, are there areas of specific concern that you have going into this ballgame?

COACH O’BRIEN: Yeah, we talked about
our defense is in shreds right now. When you play
four senior offensive linemen that are all
300-something pounds, big guys. They run the
ball well. Got a quick little tailback that gets behind
them and takes off and runs. The tight end can
really stretch the defense.

We’re red shirting a kid here, Asa Watson,
that kind of reminds us of him. Got a deep threat
quarterback that did a great job throwing the ball
last week. If you look at them on defense, they’re
really strong up the middle. The two guys that play
on the center and guard middle linebacker, the
second team on tackle and the two safeties that
are 1 and 3 on the team in tackling.

So they’re built strong from the middle out
on defense. They’ve got a definite big play on the
offensive side of the ball.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Withers says UNC players understand accountability

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The UNC Tar Heels stand at 4-1 with Louisville coming to Chapel Hill on Saturday. First-year coach Everett Withers was asked several questions this week including this one.

QUESTION: What’s been the most critical element in how you’ve been able to keep everything together and have this team at 4-1 right now?

COACH WITHERS: I think the big issue is
me being myself and the staff understanding me,
and the players understanding me. I think it was a
smooth transition in that way. I think these kids
have been very comfortable around me.

They know what I expect. They know the
accountability that I expect and the staff expects.
That’s been the biggest thing to emphasize, and it
hadn’t been something we had to really do a lot of.

I think these kids understand that this staff
is a good coaching staff, very fundamentally sound
and coaching technique. They understand what I
believe in, playing good defense, running the
football, taking opportunities when you have
opportunities. To me, it was not that big or drastic
change in that aspect. I think the biggest thing
was those kids felt comfortable with me.

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

Media likes Russell Wilson story, so could Heisman be possible?

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It’s sad that it took Russell Wilson moving on from N.C. State to Wisconsin to get attention, and Heisman Trophy attention at that. I suppose it says something about the state of ACC football and even the state of N.C. State football but it probably says the most about the media that likes a story such as Wilson’s.

As J.P. Giglio of the Raleigh News & Observer wrote, “The national media, which had largely ignored him despite his production at N.C. State, has eagerly devoured his unique story (the public split with Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien, the dalliance in minor-league baseball, the Cam-Newton-like instant success at a major school, etc.). Both ESPN and Sports Illustrated have Wilson ranked second on their Heisman watch lists, behind Andrew Luck, the Stanford quarterback who entered the season as the favorite and has done nothing to erode that status.

“With the statistics (13 touchdowns, one interception, 1,391 passing yards and a 74.8 completion percentage) and the exposure covered, opportunity could be the key to Wilson’s Heisman chances.”

Featured stories, The skinny

Hurricanes begin season at home Friday, away on Saturday

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The Carolina Hurricanes begin their 82-game 2011-12 regular-season campaign on Friday at the RBC Center against the Tampa Bay Lightning (7 p.m., FOX Sports Carolinas HD, Hurricanes Radio Network). Following Friday’s game, Carolina will travel to Washington to wrap up its first of 16 back-to-back sets this season.

The Capitals host the Hurricanes on Saturday at the Verizon Center for Washington’s home and season opener. Carolina will play six of its first eight games on the road in 2011-12. The Hurricanes return to the RBC Center to host the 2011 Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Bruins, on Wednesday, Oct. 12.

FOX Sports Carolinas opens its coverage of the Hurricanes’ 2011-12 regular season with broadcasts of the team’s first two games – against Tampa Bay on Friday and at Washington on Saturday. As always, John Forslund will have the play-by-play call and former professional goaltender Tripp Tracy will provide color analysis. Bob Harwood join’s the team’s FOX Sports Carolinas broadcasts this season as host of the Hurricanes Live pregame show, and reporting from rinkside during the game.

Fans can tune into the Hurricanes Radio Network’s flagship station, 99.9 FM The Fan as Hall of Fame broadcaster Chuck Kaiton calls every Canes game. Capitol Broadcasting’s Mike Maniscalco hosts Stormfront and Aftermath surrounding all broadcasts.

Duke, Featured stories, The skinny

Duke knows that Florida International is more than just a new face

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QUESTION: How does a university that has only been playing football for just a few years manage to put together a really highly-competitive team in a short amount of time?

DUKE COACH DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well,
there’s — in Broward and Dade County, there’s
about 8 to 10 million people in those two counties
and out of that, whatever that number is there,
more big schools playing football in those two
counties than maybe in our entire county — excuse
me, our entire state. They have got a coach that
was a product of Dade County schools. As a head
coach they have got other coaches on their staff
that were products of Dade County schools.
So they are — you can go into
Dade and Broward County and dig in there hard,
you will find a lot of football players and they have
done that. That’s the fastest way to equip any
program is to be geographically strategically
located, and they are.

Featured stories, N.C. State, The skinny

O’Brien likes rule that allowed Wilson to play for Wisconsin this year

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QUESTION: The Russell Wilson saga has been dissected but on a general level, do you feel any thoughts on the rule whereby a player can essentially become a free agent without sitting out a year.

N.C. STATE COACH TOM O’BRIEN: It’s probably a
good rule. I think for situations that guys find
themselves in, especially if there’s changing
coaching staffs, there’s probably a lot of reasons, if
you sat down and thought of them, that guys might
have an opportunity to play. If they decide to go
play again somewhere else, you know, I don’t have
a problem with it at all. We were really happy for
Russell and wishing the best.

QUESTION: Last week playing against Cincinnati, did that think you may be would have been better off with Wilson as a senior quarterback this year?

COACH O’BRIEN: No, I haven’t
had that thought once all year.

Featured stories, The skinny, UNC

Can UNC match East Carolina’s emotion in Greenville tonight?

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QUESTION: Regarding emotion for the 8 p.m. UNC at ECU game tonight – a lot of teams consider themselves UNC’s rival. East Carolina is one that’s gotten on a good hate for the Tar Heels. Is it difficult to max the emotion that they will bring to the game?

UNC COACH EVERETT WITHERS: You know, I
don’t think it is. I think our kids want to win games
and winning on the road to me is what defines
good teams, teams that can go on the road in
hostile environments and win, and get on the bus
and get on the plane and come home. To me
that’s what defines a good football — and that’s
what we are trying to do. Doesn’t matter if they are
wearing a purple helmet or whoever it is. The
emotion part of it is, can you go into a hostile
environment and play well, and win a game. And
that’s what we are focusing on this week. It’s a
rival game. I’m sure there’s some emotions,
because kids know kids on each team; coaches
know coaches, that type deal.
But when you get out there on the grass
and that ball is kicked off, all of that stuff has really
got to go out the window. It’s about doing what
you do each Saturday.

Featured stories, The skinny

Undefeated teams face each other in Week 7 of high school football season

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Week 7 of the high school football season brings about several interesting match-ups including undefeated teams Leesville Road and Wakefield playing each others. It will be increasingly cool tonight with a chance of showers. Here are 10 football games being played tonight that are within driving distance in the Triangle area. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7. In bold below are the predicted winners. Last week my record was 9-1 for a 45-15 season mark.

Apex at Athens Drive

Cardinal Gibbons at Chapel Hill

Clayton at Southeast Raleigh

Fuquay-Varina at Green Hope

Harnett Central at East Wake

Heritage at Enloe

Jordan at Southern Durham

Lee County at Cary

Middle Creek at Panther Creek

Wake Forest-Rolesville at Broughton

Check the scores at the top of the left navigation bar.