We’ll learn a lot in the next month. We’ll see what Ponder does against real defenses. We’ll see if the running game can keep going and we’ll see if the defense can tighten up.

Funny that they are halfway through the season and nobody, including themselves, know how good they are. But I can say with some assurance that they are not “truly back”. They might could get to the ACC championship game, and perhaps even win it, but it’s going to be a struggle every step of the way.

Good thing next weeks game is in Tallahassee instead of Blacksburg, they can use all the help they can get against VPI.

The rest of the schedule remains the same now as it did in the preseason. It’s going to be difficult and this will be the sign if FSU is truly back to where Bobby Bowden and the Seminole faithful wants it to be.

NC State came out fired up and went up by 10, after that the Seminoles put it to them. The defense didn’t play well, but the offense held the ball so much that it didn’t really matter. QB Chris Ponder continues to get better, and is turning out to be a real heady player. While most of his passes were screens and jump balls, he did make some decent throws. NC State was watching for his scrambles, but he did pick up several key first downs at crucial spots to keep the Wolfpack off the field.

Bert Reed had two pretty receptions, and scored the winning TD, but his biggest play of the night was that recovery of his own fumble at the 7 when the Noles were down 10-3. He looked like a lilliputian among the giants on that play, but his quick hands secured the ball. Whew!

Bobby Bowden gave the best interview of the year at halftime, chatting up the pretty girl reporter. She caught him right after he gave the officials the dickens for calling five holding calls on his o-line in the first half, and when the girl asked him what he intended to do about
those penalties, he said “Pray that they don’t do it no more”. Those prayers must have worked because they quit with the holding penalties. But whether the prayers worked on the players or the refs is debatable.

Another ACC game, another day of cursing ACC referees. The worst call went against NC State in the second half; some little bitty guy laid a lick on Ponder when he put his head down to run over him and got hit with an unnecessary roughness call. Pure crap.

Antone (A-Train) Smith hit double figures in touchdowns for the year and has a shot to beat Greg Allen’s 1982 season record of 20.