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Mac & Bone Show - Cory Smith Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And our next guest is here to talk through what
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: happened and how much of an indication is that what's
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to come this year for NC State, or should we
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: not take it that way? He is Corey Smith from PacPower247,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and he joins us here on the Mac and Bone Show.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Corey, what's going on, man? How you doing?
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: Doing well, guys.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Doing well. How are y'all? What's up, Corey? Good to
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: talk to you again. We're doing all right, man.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: We're trying to talk through this with Pac fans. What
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: surprised you the most? What did you expect going in,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: and what surprised you the most about Saturday's ugly loss?
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: I think what surprised me the most was just the
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: lack of firepower from NC State's offense. The defense... Michael
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: and I, that works with us, we've talked about it
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: multiple times this offseason. We said NC State might have
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: to get into some shootouts. Like, you know, the defense
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: added a bunch of veteran players, but I just don't
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: know that that system is going to work at the
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: college level. D.J. Elliott hasn't proved that it will every
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: stop that he's made. But, you know, NC State said,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: all right, we're going to see if we can make
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: this work. We're going to see if we can get
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: after Beau Fabula on defense, and they didn't. They didn't
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: get him under pressure nearly at all. Harvey Dyson got
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: one sack, but outside of that, There was very little
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: pressure on him all afternoon. But the offense, to me,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: was what was surprising the most, where I thought, you know,
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: all these new offensive pieces you bring in, C.J. Bailey
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: coming back, the offensive line gave him good pass protection.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Run protection was terrible all afternoon, and that ended up
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: leading to your offense needing to be one-dimensional, and C.J.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Bailey couldn't make it that way.
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: Corey, your feed on Twitter, at rcoreysmith, is where I
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: saw the quote from Popo about how the defense wasn't
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: prepared for Bo Pribula to run as much as he did.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: How damning of that is a quote that you had
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: all summer to prepare for what Bo does well, and
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: they somehow didn't anticipate him doing what he did?
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if he just dug up two quotes.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: The football, we're like, this is what they're going to do.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean, the only other thing that
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: you could think of is, all right, well, maybe they're
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: not going to run him as much because he is
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: such a big piece and he's coming off of an
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: injury and maybe that was the thought process. Other than that,
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: if you've watched any film of Bo Krivula, like you
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: knew going in, what he does well is beat you
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: with his legs. Like the guy can make some passes downfield,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: but it needs to be to wide open receivers after
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: defenses are off balance, thinking that he's going to run
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: the football or thinking that they're going to have success
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: running the football. So, yeah, as far as how damning
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: that is, like that just– I don't know if that
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: tells me that Popo wasn't watching the proper film or
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: if it was DJ Elliot just telling the team like, hey,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: we don't think he's going to run as much because
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: they need him. They need him upright. They need him happy.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: And maybe you're like, all right, maybe they have Eli
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Holstein behind them and maybe they just feel like they're
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: worried that he's going to be injured. But that's the
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: only other thing I can think of here in this
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: scheme is like, Man, they just need him so much,
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: they're not going to run him as much. But that
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: has never been the case with Bofri Bulla.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: We've got to talk about C.J. Bailey.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: We're getting all kinds of texts from people, you know, oh,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: he's so overrated and all of this. It appeared to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: me that much of the time, and again, I'm not
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: watching the All-22, right?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: We're watching on TV.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: But the commentators made it a point to point out,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Max Brown made it a point over and over again, man,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: these receivers aren't getting separation. What did you think was
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the biggest problem with the passing game? And do you
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: think it was a case of Bailey being terrible? Do
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: you think it was, oh no, we've got, we lost
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: our top five pass catchers.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And it really showed? What did you think was the
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: biggest issue there?
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: I do think it was a combination of both, but
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: I still lean more on C.J. Bailey. It's funny because
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: he actually had written on his wristband that he had,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: on one side it said, take, and the other side
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: it said, risk. And I don't think he took any
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: of those on Saturday because every time he dropped back,
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: he was just looking to find a wide-open man instead
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: of trying to allow his receiver to beat somebody. And that,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: you know, as much as I still put it on
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: his receivers not getting separation, there's ways as a quarterback
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: to put it where only your guy can get it.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: And I think he was just nervous that he's going
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: to make the wrong pass and it's going to lead
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: to a game-changing interception because that unfortunately has been something
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: that he's done on the regular when he's been on
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: the road. So maybe that's something in the back of
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: his mind that, like, I can't let that happen again.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: And then, you know, the one-tip pass that leads to
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: an interception– I put some of that on him. I
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: also put some of that on the pass protection because
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: the tight end just looked like he thought it was
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: a run play and just passes off the defensive end
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: straight to Davion Goss, who gets blown up, and then
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: that pass ends up getting tipped and goes straight in
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: the air for an interception. The fumble, you know, C.J.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Bailey's got to hang on to the football there, but
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: there's a combination of multiple things there, but again... C.J.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Bailey's got to be the one to elevate the players
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: around him, and he just simply didn't on Saturday.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: We're talking to Corey Smith, Pack Power 24-7. He's on Twitter,
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: at R. Corey Smith, C-O-R-Y Smith. For as deflating as
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Saturday was for the Wolfpack faithful, Corey, how much can
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: the Pack now benefit from from the scheduling because there's
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: no game for them coming up week one. Then it's
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Richmond after that. They really don't have to be, you know,
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: fully the pack again until they play Vanderbilt September 19th.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: So that's at least a good thing here that there's
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: a lot of time to try to figure out what
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: went wrong, right?
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it helps you to prepare, but then again, if
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: you say that two weeks to prepare for Vanderbilt and
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: an entire offseason to prepare, like two weeks of game
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: prep and an entire offseason to prepare, then that's what
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: you got on Saturday. But look, it's a Vanderbilt team.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: The next real competition they'll face will be no shot
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: at Richmond, but I don't think anybody really thinks that
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Richmond's is the team that it's like, all right, that's
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: going to change everybody's mind about NC State when they
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: beat Richmond by 25, 30 points, something like that. So
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: the next real game is going to be, you know, Vanderbilt.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: You do have somewhat of three weeks to prepare. You
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: have some time to get ready. But that's going to be, again,
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: another tough test where you've got to go on the road.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: You've got to prove yourself. It's on Dave Doran. It's
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: on C.J. Bailey. And it's on the rest of that
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: offense to really get things going. Because, again, the defense
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: is going to kind of live and die by the offense.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: If the offense doesn't get going and the defense has
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: to be out there constantly like it was on Saturday,
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: it's going to be a really tough day in the
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: office for them. I just get the feeling that the
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: biggest thing that NC State fans are going to be
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: looking forward to is can this offense truly get itself
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: back together? Because that's going to be a major tell
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: on how this season is going to go. If the
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: offense is not up to snuff by the time you
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: get to Vanderbilt, then that's a major concern because it
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: doesn't get any easier after that when you have... A
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: little bit of a bye, not a bye week because
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: App State is going to be tough coming in, but
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: then you have Louisville and the ACC schedule starts after that.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: It's a little bit easier compared to the rest of
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: the ACC, but they are still ACC-level teams. There's still
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: a bunch of dudes on scholarships over there that want
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: to beat you and have been hearing all offseason about
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: how you have the easiest schedule because of them. So
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: they want to prove themselves, too.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of state fans that are texting in, Corey,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you can relate to this, saying, Mac, I
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: told you during the summer, when NC State gets hyped
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: like this during the summer, you know something ugly is coming.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: And I kept hyping them, and I said, yeah, I know,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: it feels different to me. And we saw something ugly.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: They have a trend... Corey, of like of some ugly
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: losses early in the season. I think the number is
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: like if you go back to 2019, I think they
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: have six losses in the non-conference in the first three
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: weeks of the season that are by two touchdowns or more.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you probably recite these ugly games early. Why
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: does that happen? You know, Doran often does a good
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: job of by the end of the season, maybe figuring
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: out how to get them going.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Usually Carolina helps, but.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: The Carolina game plays a role, but like what is
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: with some of these losses where they just, they just
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: play terribly early.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: In the season.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Again, the concern I have is just the lack of
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: preparation or lack of getting guys ready for these moments.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: I think Dave Dorn has kind of changed him in
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: his offseason, the way that he does things, and I
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: don't know if it's just the lack of hitting or
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: the lack of form tackling, because that was the biggest
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: issue to me. Yes, Popo Aguirre finished with 18 tackles
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: on Saturday, but it was because other guys were missing
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: tackles in front of him, and he shouldn't have been
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: the one having to make the tackle at the second level.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: For whatever reason, the defense over the years has slowly
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: gotten worse when it comes to tackling. On the offensive
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: side of the football, it's just I think back to
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: that 2022 season, Devin Leary coming out, and you're like,
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: all right, man, he's going to be the guy. He's
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: going to be one of the best to ever play
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: at NC State. He just broke the passing touchdown record
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: for NC State the previous season, and then he goes
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: out and the entire offense is flat against ECU. That's
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: a much different team than what you expected against UVA,
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: because UVA at least, you're like, all right, man, this
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: team is loaded with talent coming off of a 10-win season.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: but they just consistently have done this at the beginning
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: of season. Once they figure out who their team is,
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: then they put those pieces in the right place and
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: they have success, but just a lack of figuring out
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: things early enough in the offseason that they're finding success.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: I thought, all right, man, this is going to be
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: the season. I did the exact same thing. I was like,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: this is going to be the season where they haven't
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: figured it out because you have C.J. Bailey back. How
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: could you not know what you have at this point?
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: But I think some of the offensive weapons around him,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: there was some unsure feelings for him and for the
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: offense as a whole on Saturday.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, big-time disappointment. You're reminding me. Devin Leary, Bone, I
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: also hyped up in the offseason. Pretty sure Armstrong, Grayson McCall.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: He did Mike Glennon in at one point.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I feel like I should learn my lesson. How have
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I not learned my lesson, Corey?
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: All right, brother. Hey, we appreciate you.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: Stay here, man. Stay here.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Everybody check out the great PAC coverage, PAC Power 24-7.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: He is Corey Smith. Thank you, Corey. We appreciate you.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir. Appreciate you guys having me on.