College Football Corner: Can That Kid Punt?/Loser Leaves Town Match When Duke Meets North Carolina

The College Corner is a hot stop on your Fall Football Tour and this week we look at that kid over in Raleigh who is making believers out of all of us. The only question left to be answered about Daniel Evans is can he punt? His dad Johnny “House” Evans could QB and was the NC State #1 punter. Johnny is probably my second all-time favorite Wolfpack QB right behind Dave Buckey and JE is without a doubt my all-time favorite punter. Roman Gabriel ranks very low on my Pack favorite QB’s list.

Can Daniel Evans Punt? The kid has won over the hearts of the Wulfs in and around Raleigh and even if he can’t punt like his dad did this kid is making the fans forget about Marcus Stone in a hurry. I believe that Daniel’s dad was called “House” because he could take it to the House and not because his family was inclined to use the bathroom outside.

Daniel has led NC State to victories over Boston College and Florida State and he has football fans listening to the Radio again hoping that the Wolfpack can keep on winning with the Evans Kid at QB. The Wolfpack will host Wake Forest this Saturday. The Demon Deacons had a solid 17-3 lead before they got pushed aside by Clemson. The Tigers take it 27-17(24 points in the 4th quarter) and now the question is can Wake rebound and save their stellar season or is Wake in early stages of a Forsyth County slide? If WF loses to NC State in Raleigh, I guess it would be a Wake County free-fall.

They should make this year’s Duke-North Carolina game a Loser Leaves Town Match. North Carolina didn’t look sharpe at Miami and Duke looked like a world-beater in the first half against Alabama. Duke led 14-10 over Alabama at halftime in Tuscaloosa but then the real Crimson Tide showed up and it was “Roll Tide” the rest of the way, with the final 30-14 ‘Bama. Duke is 0-5 and the Heels are 1-4 and I am hearing that South Florida is favored coming into Chapel Hill this weekend and Duke has the good fortune of hosting Bobby Bowden and Florida State, fresh off that Thursday night loss over in Raleigh.

Wake, State, North Carolina, and Duke all headed in different directions and all four aren’t exactly sure where this season is going to take them and the coaches don’t know a lot about their future either.

Our other colleges and universities have been playing football too and NC A&T has been wondering if the Aggies were supposed to be playing Football or if the athletic department might be considering a switch to Soccer. The Aggies fell to 0-5 after Saturday’s 32-0 loss to Morgan State. A&T has now lost 10 straight. Homecoming comes up in a couple of weeks and hopefully there will be enough fans left to still make the HC “the Greatest Show on Earth”. Greensboro College couldn’t find the end zone in a 28-0 loss to Christopher Newport up in Newport News, Virginia.

Outside Guilford County the teams fared a bit better with Elon, Appalachian, and East Carolina all picking up victories. ECU shocked ACC foe Virginia 31-21 and the game wasn’t that close as the Pirates led 24-7 at the half and then put STEVE LOGAN in at QB in the second half. Skip Holtz did not do that but Holtz is bringing back ECU Pirate Football and Greenville, NC is starting to feel the love again. QB James Pinkney and RB Brandon Fractious are leading the Pirates offensive resurgance.

Elon has a new spirit about them and the Phoenix were flying last week with their 37-19 win over Western Carolina. Elon is 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Southern Conference. This was the first time the Phoenix had beaten the Catamounts in 10 years. The key to Elon’s turnaround? Two words for you, Pete Lembo. The new coach has come in and worked wonders for this team and the single best move Lembo made? I got two words for you, Wes Pope. Lembo moved the kid from Ragsdale HS back to quarterback and the rest is history. Against Western Pope goes 24-33 for 296 yards and 3 TD’s. We’re talking career-highs here for Pope and I believe WP is only a Junior.

Appalachian State continues to impress and their only loss on the season was in the opener to NC State in Raleigh. If the game with NC State were played on ASU’s home field(Kidd Brewer Stadium) in Boone and if NC State still had Marcus Stone at QB, then Appalachian would have won that game. The way it stands ASU is 5-1, 2-0 SC and after Saturday’s big blowout at Chattanooga the Mountaineers look ready to roll. They rolled over the Mocs winning 56-21 after leading 35-0 at the half. Kevin Richardson the Apps top RB had 3 touchdowns on the ground and WR Dexter Jackson caught 2 TD passes and freshman QB Armanti Edwards threw for 3 TD’s and amassed 311 yards through the air. David and Randy Jackson’s ASU squad is looking tough and they will be hosting Wofford this Saturday at 3:30 at the ROCK up in BOONE.

Guilford College was off last week but they will be at home versus Bridgewater this Saturday at 1pm at the Armfield Athletic Center and on the Herb Appenzeller Field. The Quakers are 3-2 and we will have our reporter Bill Hollifield Jr. at that game. So we don’t leave anybody local out of the picture, the Winston Salem State Rams knocked off Howard 12-0 in front of a Homecoming crowd of 15,991 at Bowman Gray Stadium. QB Monte Purvis out of WS Parkland HS helped lead the Rams into the winners circle.

*****In Men’s Soccer we will find High Point University at UNCG this Saturday night at 7pm. In goal for HPU will be Adam Ross out of Ragsdale HS and the son of the “Voice of the Spartans”, Gary Ross. 7pm Saturday night at Spartan Stadium on the UNCG campus:HPU VS. UNCG with Adam Ross in goal for the Purple Panthers*****

*******Did you see Ric Flair on TV on the USA network on the WWE’s Monday Night Raw show? The “Nature Boy” wrestled one of the Spirit Squad members and he brought out Roddy Piper, Ted DiBiase, Mike Rotunda, and Arn Anderson. It was good to see Rowdy Roddy, the Million Dollar Man, Irwin R. Schyster, and the Enforcer all back at ringside with Ric Flair on the Reunion Program and I only wish that Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat could have been out there as well*******