Vonwolf: Enough with the “NC State Disrespect”, Unless You’re Talking about Leary

Look, I’m just going to get this out there now, before I go any further…Devin Leary is not the best QB in college football. But…the man is being wronged by at least not being in the conversation.

Enough of the Overall “NC State Disrespect” Narrative

There is a big difference between being an underdog and being disrespected.

I love when State is the underdog. It gets me going knowing that this scrappy school from Raleigh, over the last two to three years, has accepted that mentality but then made huge strides forward across multiple sports. We winnin’ more than we losin’, folks. I love that we have to claw for every inch because there is nothing that brings State fans together, quite like being on the underdog bandwagon.

But enough of this damn disrespect talk. Why the hell do we care so much about AP polls when they mean NOTHING. It’s purely a way for dozens of writers across the country to feel like they matter. Some throw out some crazy shit, just so that they can get eyeballs on them. It’s not about teams and football, it’s about getting their opinion some clicky clicks. Enough of feeling that we weren’t ranked high enough or we weren’t the favorites for games. I’m actually very happy with how CFP has gone. We need to understand we have two loses in a down year for the ACC. We beat Wake Forest, UNC and Pitt? Then we can talk about where we really need to be. Middle of the preverbal contenders pack is exactly were we deserve to be.

I understand it’s fun to play the underdog card…but I’m nauseated by the “disrespect” card. You know who has disrespected this football team the most? Our own offensive play calling.

Leary is the Dude

All that to say, Leary deserves better. Gill is doing his thing, we’ve had multiple guys gaining weekly honors, but Leary has been an after thought all damn year. The most recent and biggest snub, was the release of the semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Award (Nation’s best QB);

I’ll save you the time to tell you, there were four ACC QBs: Armstrong (UVA), Hartman (WF), Howell (UNC) and Pickett (Pitt). Not on the list is the nation’s 7th most and top ACC touchdown thrower. Not on the list is the dude with three INTs, where two of them were end of half Hail Mary’s (Just think about that…if we just didn’t go for those throws, Leary would have a ratio of 25-1…Good Lawd). Or the fact that State is a top-20 team that has had primetime games to watch.

• “Well it’s because NC State doesn’t have a strong strength of schedule!” – Nope, State actually has the hardest SOS out of those QB semifinalist and ranked 33rd hardest in the country.
• “Well, it’s because he’s putting up numbers against sub-division schools!” – Nope, Leary’s three best games, where he had four TD’s a piece, were against Clemson, Louisville and FSU. 
• “Well, State has a WR core that bail him out constantly!” – Nope, and you wanna know something crazy. Look directly at these last two games; Eight touchdowns thrown to six different receivers. Booya
• “Well when you don’t have a defense, you have to chuck the ball!” – Nope and you could argue we’re so conservative on offense because we know 28 points will get it done with this defense we have. I don’t want to imagine it, but let’s say we had any number of defenses that just love to give up an average of 34 points a game (looking at you, you bum a*s UNC crew)…can you imagine the numbers Leary would have?!
• “Well you have a backfield duo of Knight and Person that do all the work!” – Nope and if you’ve watched any of the last month of games, it’s been more than sad. Leary has single-handedly gotten State wins. Leary has been a part of the last 13 offensive touchdowns by the Wolfpack. The touchdown streak technically ends going back to the BC game when the defense scooped and scored. 

Part of the Davey O’Brien Award is stats…in fact like 99% of it is. Because if you would have looked for one second at the pocket presence, the calming effect he has and the team’s offensive MVP by a mile, Leary would be on that semifinalist list.

I’m tired of hearing that State, as a team is disrespected, when we’ve been more than accurately judged. But in Leary’s case, the anger is legit.