It's another edition of Wrl Triangle Two. I'm Mark Bergen. He's Luis Fernandez and it is a loaded podcast today. We're gonna start with the news that the NC State wolfpack have a new starting quarterback, Mj Morris taking over for Brendan Armstrong Lewis. What do the fans need to know about this decision by Dave Dorn? Well, I mean, in his press conference today, the word that Dave Dorn kept using over and over again when describing the change at quarterback was spark, he kept saying the offense needed a spark and the hope is that Mj Morris can provide that. Um, you know, and, and Mark, I don't think it's like, I don't think it's fair to say the entire reason why NC State's offense has been bad to average at best so far this season is because Brendan Armstrong has played horribly. I, I don't think he is the only reason why, but he is the easiest, it's the easiest change you can make to the offense right now to hopefully spark a change. That's how I would put it. And I think it makes sense to do this move now going into the Marshall game because I look at NC State's schedule, Marshall, an opponent you're gonna be favored over this upcoming weekend and then you play at Duke the following week on October the 14th Duke with a bye week. We'll talk a bit more about Riley Leonard later in the show, Lewis, but Duke has played very, very good football and so you don't want to throw a young quarterback right from the frying pan right directly into the fire. Yes, although I will say as I pull up the line here, like Marshall is a 6.5 point underdog right now according to draft Kings against NC State, I Marshall is a very good football team. Like that's another thing that Dore mentioned in his press conference today. Marshall is they are four. No, they have a very good defense just like looking at the pure statistical numbers of what Marshall does. Um they have uh 17 sacks so far this season just compared to giving up two sacks. Uh they have 31 tackles for loss. Uh They are able to, they have five interceptions, they've got 12 pass breakups. Uh Their 41 quarterback, Curry is like they are top 30 I believe in havoc plays. And for, for those of you out there who do not necessarily know what havoc play is. It's considered a pass broken up, uh a tackle for loss, a sack. So Marshall's defense is, is good. Um So I don't think there was really a good time to make this adjustment. Uh I mean, right, because like Louisville is, was this high flying offense who you kind of expected NC State would need to score a lot of points to be able to compete against with. But the defense absolutely carried, um, the Virginia game maybe the week before, but you're not gonna not start Brendan Armstrong against Virginia in that situation. It's just that, that's what's so tough about this mark is I just, Mj Morris is not gonna be put in a good position to succeed immediately because there's so much that has to be adjusted for with this offense. It's, it's gonna be tough. I think it's the right move. It's, it's still a really tough position for both him and Nancy State. You were planning to red shirt MJ Morris this season Lewis. And the reason why I say it's the right timing if you are going to make this decision is you play at home at Carter Finley Stadium this upcoming weekend and then you've got Duke in Durham on the road on October the 14th. You have a Buy week. Oh, and then you get to host Clemson on October the 28th on Halloween weekend. So to me that Tim actually does make sense. We cut our teeth in Knoxville, Tennessee Lewis covering the University of Tennessee. It reminds me a little bit of back in the day when the University of Tennessee's offense needed a jolt and they turned to a young Josh Dobbs. However, MJ Morris is a little bit of a different style of quarterback Dobbs, a dual threat quarterback along with Brendan Armstrong, the guy he's replacing. Yeah, MJ can run the ball if he needs to, but just if you go back to the sample size of what we had last year, right in five games, um he played, he had one pass against, against Syracuse. So take that one, push it out there. Charleston Southern removed that one. So let's say three, right? The three that he started. Um, he had, uh, 13 carries against Virginia Tech, 19 against Blake Forests, 13 carries against BC never got over 50 yards was averaging about 1 to 2 yards per carry. So, I mean, he, he had a couple of longer runs in there 17 yards, 10 yards. Um, so some of that is like sacks and things like that, but, you know, MJ Morris is what he's gonna do well is pass from the pocket. Um, you know, you go back and watch some the highlights that he had and, and he, when he was playing really well, he looked very good last year where you were really excited for what he could bring to the table. Um, then he, he hurts his ankle, that kind of throws things off a little bit. So, um I don't know what, what are your initial thoughts mark on what MJ is gonna be able to do for NC State. Again, you look at the sample size of what we have Lewis and you have to improve upon an offense that ranks 77th in the country in total offense. And Friday night's game against Louisville, when you can only muster 10 points, you had a 10 0 lead going in the halftime, you end up losing 13 to 10, 10 point blake period. That's not going to get it done. And the modern and how football's modern play take out the VM I game where the Wolf pack scored 45 points and you're capped off at 24 points scored how college football is played. Now, you, you can't just rely on a good running game and a stout defense and, oh, by the way, you're starting running back, Jordan Houston, he's no longer a member of the team either. Yeah, that's, I'm gonna be very interested to see what Robert and I and NC State do in terms of running, moving forward. Um, they struggled, uh, again in like short yardage situations, uh, last week against Louisville, but they've been pretty solid at that overall this year, but Brendan Armstrong's been their leading rusher. He's been running the ball a lot. So it's, is MJ Morris going to continue to do that? Are they going to mix up how they handle all that? That's, that's what I'll be curious to see, you know, kind of how all of that plays out and the rest of the offense too, I mean, there were a few times where they were in like third and long, uh because of penalties holding and things like that. Uh They struggled with the blitz pickup is one thing I noticed as well looking back at the tape. Um, and, and just in general, there were times where Brendan Armstrong was, you know, had pressure in his face immediately. But the, I just, I think that those are things that you can clean, clean up midseason is just gonna be about trying to get better and build around MJ Morris now. Um and I think two lots of go on like a little rant here, but I think one of the things that was really frustrating watching Brendan Armstrong play, obviously the the turnovers were bad like, I mean, the first interception that he throws in the end zone, the ball of sales on him on a on an open, an open round the ball of sales on him. Um the last interception, you know, he just kind of flings it up there trying to make something happen on first down, take the sack, throw it completely out of bounds live to see the next down. So Mj Morris just if he can be a better decision maker and if he can take some of those goal balls that have been falling out of bounds and keep them inbounds and allow the receivers to make a play on them. We saw some playmaking happening with receivers uh in the game against Louisville KC Concepcion has shown that he can do that. Obviously, uh Timmins had a couple of big plays downfield NC State can do it. There's just a lot of little things that have to be fixed. Yeah, I'm with you Lewis but I look at, ok, Marshall at home, you're gonna be favored. But then the following week, Duke on the road, Duke has its by week right now and we'll talk about Riley Leonard's injury here in just a second. But to me again, the timing actually makes sense because you've got a home game against an opponent, opponent that you should take care of business against. So we'll see how Mj Morris and the Wolf pack fare. Now that there's a changing of the guard at the quarterback position. I, I, yes, I agree that this is probably the best time in your current schedule to make this change, but still, it is gonna be very hard for the wolfpack moving forward like you're trying to work it all out against a very good Marshall team. Um You've got uh Duke on the road, uh who we saw, we've seen how good Duke is, even if Riley Leonard isn't playing, that defense is gonna be very good. Um Clemson, at least that one's at home, but still, uh Miami who's number 17 in the country right now at Wake Forest, who is a solid team, even though they did lose the Georgia tech who lost the bowling green, which don't even get me started on that and then, and then the end, and then it's a gauntlet, it's a gauntlet. It is, it's, it is a tough position for NC State to be in. Um, and if they don't get their offense fixed, their defense has been phenomenal, truly phenomenal, but if they don't get their offense fixed at, at least a little bit, I just don't see a whole lot of wins there at the end of the schedule. I don't. All right. Speaking of offense and quarterbacks, some good news in Durham coming out of the Duke, Notre Dame football game. Riley Leonard's injury, not as bad as initially expected Lewis and I don't even know where to start with this because I have a lot of thoughts following Saturday's game against Notre Dame. I thought Duke should have won the game if I'm just being very honest with you. I, I mean, they had plenty of opportunities too if, if their offense was able to capitalize a little bit. I mean, that's Notre Dame, that's like they are number 11 now, number 10, their defense, you know, really held tight against Ohio State like that's a very good Notre Dame defense. Um, but I mean, they were, they were right there. Uh Duke, was that, to me that, that Riley Leonard injury was just so deflating because I mean, I don't think Duke's at a point where they want moral victories anymore. Right? And so like, were to consider moral victories, I would say that would be considered a moral victory. I, I don't even, I don't look at it like that, but that's just so deflating for the, I believe high ankle sprain is what it's uh kind of being reported as right now. Um Duke has a is off this week so they won't play um until the following week against NC State. Um So we don't hear from Mike Elko or any of the players this week, so uh we won't have an update from him, you know, directly, at least for a little bit. Uh But that's, it's just, that's tough, man. They, they were right there, they were right there and it, it doesn't get any easier. You got NC State um Florida State as well. Un C uh Duke's got a hard schedule and you, you need Riley Leonard back as soon as possible. I'm with you there, week to week and Lewis, I, everyone's gonna point to the 4th and 16, the Sam Hartman scramble and then Notre Dame rips off a touchdown with their running back the play after to take the lead for good on that final drive. Duke blitzed Notre Dame quite a bit and there's a lot to be made of. Should Duke have blitzed yet again on the 4th and 16 not to give Hartman more time a lot of people point to that play. It was the play before that, that I actually thought had a huge outcome on the game. The Duke defensive back tries to make a diving interception. It's not for a lack of effort. But if Duke gets that interception, they get the ball and win the game. And Riley Leonard's not hurt again. So it's not for a lack of effort. But the reason I bring this up is the week before the same thing happened to Notre Dame against Ohio State. Notre Dame had a defensive back who had a ball go right through his hands. Ohio State goes down and scores the game winning score and they end up losing. So if you want to be an elite program, you can't give a good team another opportunity to win the game when the ball goes through your hands again. It's not for a lack of effort. But if Duke turns the ball over there, they win and we're not talking about a Riley Leonard injury here on today's podcast. It is. Yeah, that um I it, it's funny that you mention like kind of because of X if this ends up happening because I feel that way just about a lot of times in football, we're like, oh man, if this turnover doesn't happen, then this player doesn't tear their AC L A couple of, you know, plays later that that's football is a very, it's a dangerous sport. It is high contact and so you want to like limit those possibilities of people getting hurt as much as possible. Um So, I it's interesting that you bring it up. I, I mean that it would have been a hard interception to make. Definitely, it, it definitely would have been. And to me, I, I've been trying to look for the all 22 of that 4th and 16 play. If someone has that somewhere out there, please send it to me because my, my assumption would be is that uh Duke was playing in, in man and just essentially uh when you're playing man, especially in that kind of situation, you will lose count of the quarterback because there's no one really spying him so Sam Hartman can run. Um but I for him to pick up, that was it 16 yards, 4th and 16, I, I just, it was ridiculous like that was such a good play. Um So, I don't know, it's, I I feel bad for Duke because it's, you know, you, you, when you're competing with like when you have the opportunity to make such a huge play for your program in general and to get such a big win, obviously, that would be amazing. But I, I just, I think at this point it's like, let's, let's hope that Riley Lennon feels ok because that offense is, is different without him. Um Although they do have some talented uh backups as well. Duke could have lived up to its name as the serial killers because he'd knock off the Clemson Tigers and Tony the Tiger. And then the lucky charms that are Notre Dame, if Notre Dame is a two off school, they are effectively eliminated from the college football playoff. And that very nearly happened this weekend in and you could point to the mis field goals, but again, people want to point to the 4th and 16 and the decision to only rush three defenders and drop eight into coverage, we could debate that and discuss that and question Mike Elko about that. But for me, the 3rd and 16 play when you have an opportunity to put the giant in the Goliath, that is Notre Dame away, you have to take advantage of those opportunities you feel for the kid though too because it's not for a lack of effort. Lewis Ee Exactly. And now, uh Henry uh Bellen, I believe is how you say his last name. I may not be saying that right. Um But uh he's, he would be next up for, for quarterback wise, uh for Duke Richard freshman um out of New York. What, what's, what's interesting is earlier this season? Uh Mike Elko had said it's important to do. They Duke has won. I believe it's every single game before this Notre Dame game by 20 or more points. And that guy was, there was a lot of opportunities for some of the second string people to get in and get reps. And he said, hey, that's important because you never know, we may have to win games in the future without Riley. And that's exactly what happened essentially. Um, he came in against Lafayette, um, eight of eight for 100 and 18 yards and a touchdown and he also had a rushing touchdown as well. Um, so, you know, Riley Leonard is one of those players that is one of one. But this could be an opportunity for Duke to get a look at what the future is gonna be like once, uh Riley Leonard leaves. Um So he, he just, he, he needs to do enough to, uh, allow the defense to uh, do what it's been doing, allow the running game to do what it's been doing. Um And you keep Duke in a position where they can still compete for an AC C championship. Good insight there, Lewis and again, Duke on a buy week play NC State. Duke hasn't beaten NC State since the 2013 season. So really changing of the guard a little bit, maybe in the triangle. So that's, that's wild. I had no idea. It's been a long, long time and let's get to the final triangle team. So news out of North Carolina today, Lewis Matt Brown talks with reporters and mentions the possibility of Tez Walker playing in the postseason. So after finals are over, which the dates are December the eighth and December through the December 15th, Tez Walker could play at least according to Matt Brown talking today, the question I have would be depending on what bowl game UN C would get into. Uh, he wouldn't be eligible to play in the AC C championship game just because that happens before finals. But unless North Carolina is playing in like the college football playoff, we don't know if Drake May is gonna play in the bowl game too. It's like, what incentive would he have to play in a postseason game? But get into a college football playoff. Like, I'm watching it, it's just like for as much attention and notoriety that this got with the NCAA decision to say he is not eligible. Uh, it was an eye opening. Uh, it was something I was surprised to learn about and to hear Mac Brown discuss during his news conference today. Yeah. So I, I think the, it, it's, it was a recent NCAA change and I, I believe it happened. I want to see the end of last week when all this went down. Um, because there, there are a lot of these situations where players are ineligible because of that two time transfer rule, um, just around the, the country in general, right? Um I, I almost view this as like, this is cool, but there's in my mind at least listen, there, there's, I only got so much bandwidth going on. This is one of those things where I'm, like, UN C is gonna worry. UN C will worry about it when they get there because, yeah, I mean, if, if, like, there's this world where UN C is, you know, 13 and, oh, and is in the college football playoff because they just won the AC C championship and now you can add Walker to the mix for the playoffs. I mean, that'd be amazing, but like, UN C is four and, oh, and there are a lot of games against a lot of good teams remaining. So I, you know, I, I, the one point that you bring up there about like, hey, we don't even know if Drake May is gonna be playing in the bowl game. Yeah, I mean, you don't know what that situation is gonna be like, um, you know, I it's, would it be really cool, would it be the cherry on top of what's been a very bad story? Uh, what's been very, uh, frustrating and disappointing for Te Walker, his family? Un C college football? Sure. It, it would be awesome. But like, I, I'm just not even gonna let that cross my mind until you get to at least December. That's, that's where I'm at when it comes to this. Even Matt Brown said he's like, listen, I, I believe that we still have a lot of people who can, like, who are in MG, who, who are in MJ who are in Tez's corner who are working with Tez to try and see what the next steps are. All of that stuff. He's like, but in some ways he's like, I've, I've had to turn the page and focus on being a football coach right now. Um, because that's just what the season is like. So, um, yeah, and I'll worry about it when we get to December. Yeah. If I had to put, like, a percentage chance that he plays in the postseason for UN C this season, I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'd say the chances are slim. But then the question I have too would be like, ok, I asked, what's the incentive if Walker were to play in a postseason game to where he could potentially get hurt? I mean, you can get hurt at any point. But then the next question I have is like, will it really influence how scouts view him as a player? And yes, your tape is your resume as a player and he has that from his Kent State playing days. But again, I go, goes back to where it's like, what's the upside for him? Decided to suit up if it gets to that point, which again, we don't know if it will, if, if Drake May is playing and Tez Walker plays in a big enough profile bowl game, I think it could definitely help his stock. But what I mean, there, there are way too many ifs that have to be answered too many roads that have to be crossed. Um, you know, too many Rubicon that have to be ventured over until you, you get to that moment. Um So at this point, I was like, um, ok, we'll see what happens. Uh Un CS gotta worry about facing a Syracuse team that just lost to Clemson. Um, this weekend first before any of that happens. I like, I like this Lewis, I like this Lewis, uh, George Pettaway for the Tar Heels is gonna a red shirt as well. Plans to unless there's major injuries at the running back position too. So it's news coming out of the Buy week for North Carolina and now he could also play in the bowl game too and not have that impact his red shirt status. So we'll see how UN C looks coming out of the Buy going up against Deno Babers in the Syracuse team that, like you said, Lewis coming off, uh, a loss to Clemson. So, uh, final topic though Carolina Panthers have now lost four straight games and Bryce Young to me, Lewis, the play that really swung the outcome of the game. Panthers have the ball with the lead strip sack, fumble recovery touchdown for the Minnesota Vikings. And like other than the pick six, the interception that set up a field goal, it's like, how is this offense moving with Bryce Young, uh, Frank writing and company? It's really not. I honestly would, you almost have milked the quote unquote ankle injury for a little bit longer to see. Hey, Bryce, learn a little bit, a little bit longer under Andy Dalton. I know Andy Dalton threw for almost 60 times when he was filling in in the Seattle game in week three. But it's, it's a tough spot for the Panthers to be in. And Bryce Young has just really struggled when he's been on the field in regular season action for the Panthers. But it's almost like with NC State, it's like, is it all Bryce Young's fault? The answer is probably not. It's not. Um, and no, I, yeah, I, I'm trying to approach this gently. Um, like wins and losses do not matter for the Carolina Panthers this year. They don't. Right. I mean, they, they don't have a first round pick so it doesn't really matter what, what's going on there. The whole point of this season is to find out. Hey, do we feel good about Bryce Young being the guy? And, you know, can, can the Panthers continue to grow before, you know, they kind of start to make some moves, uh, whether that be getting more weapons, whatever it might be, right. I mean, offensively I'm just there, I just have a lot of concerns with what they're doing. Like, if I pull up, um, if I pull up, Bryce Young's just, uh, next gen, uh, passing chart from, uh, this week four game. And so essentially it's got all the completions and completions like mapped out there where he's distributing the football. Yeah, he's throwing over the middle, which that is good because when you have a short quarterback, my biggest concern is they're just not gonna throw over the middle. And so he was able to throw over the middle and he had some good passes over the middle, he hitting people in stride on some third and Longs, there were some good passes over the middle. There are, um and there's this big old cluster of passes behind the line of scrimmage, 123456788 passes all completed behind the line of scrimmage all in like this cluster in this exact same spot. So screens uh check downs little things like that and there are so many of his passes that are at the line of scrimmage behind it. There is not a single pass pass, 20 yards downfield. I think, I think the longest pass he threw in the entire game was 19 yards, but he's got to protect the football too and understand the down distance and situation of the game too. Lewis and I hear what you're saying too because you have to take the training wheels off in the sense that not all interceptions and turnovers are created equally if you throw it down the field trying to connect with Adam Thelan or Mingo, whatever receiver it may be if it's a turnover, an interception ok. If it's 40 or 50 yards down the field, it's an arm punt. I would, yeah, I would like to. And this is, this is one of those things where it's like, it's hard to tell because you're not in the room. You don't have the playbook in front of you. Um, but they also were struggling a lot with blitz pickup. Um, the, the, the play that you mentioned, right, that strip sack covered for a fumble. Um It's, it's a late rotation down um at the line of scrimmage and if you just look at the numbers of people that are going, you could see there's gonna be a free rusher and so Bryce has to be able to recognize that and either call out some kind of hot route or adjust the protection or whatever he needs to do. Um Because part of the reason why that strip even happens is he gets the ball and starts to go to his right try and make a play around the guy. It's like you almost have to like, look and think I need to go to the left immediately in this kind of situation. Um So you have situations like that where I put that on Bryce Young's lack of just reps. Um And then it was, I think second in goal when the Panthers were trying to score a touchdown to take the lead or take the, or tie the game, I forget what it was um, that, oh, they were down eight, I believe is what it was. Um, so they're either way they're in that situation and Juba Hubbard just goes to the wrong side in his past pro and allows a free rusher to hit Bryce Young almost immediately. So there, there are, I think a lot of parts, um, you know, I, on the last play, I mean, just absolutely gets beat at left tackle and it's fourth and goal from like the 25 yard line and Bryce Young has barely got time to throw. So there's Bryce Young, he's just, he's not in a good position. The Panthers are not in a position to succeed offensively at the very least. And it's tough because you look at CJ S proud and how good CJ stroud looks. You're in my brain. Richardson at times two. Richardson at times two. And like, that's where I planted my flag and behind and look, it's different because each team's infrastructure is different, but it really doesn't have to do with Bryce Young. I still think he could have success. We're talking about a four game sample size here, three game really because he's injured. But like, like the size concerns are real though and then you're seeing why and, and you don't put up numbers, like, in terms of like throwing a lot of footballs and everything against the Seahawks. But like, let's not act like he was like the second coming of cam Newton's MVP season or something like that. Like I'm with you. It's also I go back to and I understand you have deficit and the clocks is then your enemy. He's not your friend. Why is Andy Dalton throwing the ball almost 60 times? So it goes back to offensive strategy is like, what, what's your i offensive identity of what you're trying to establish and accomplish to have success? Does that all fall on Bryce Young if the answer is no, but we look at the schedule too. It's not getting any easier Lions, Dolphins, Texans. I do like to see the two rookies matched up Colts. Another rookie quarterback matchup Bears on November 9th is potentially when we're talking about the Panthers first win, maybe they can squeak one out against those other teams, but they're gonna be, they're gonna be underdogs in all of those games. Yeah. Well, and, and like Miles Sanders was beat up and we know that wide receiver core is not great already. And I once again, I don't think Panthers fans want to hear right now, but when you look at the rookie quarterbacks, like the infrastructure around Bryce Young is the worst of all of them. The Texans are in a better position and were in a better position. The, uh, Bears and not the Bears. That's Justin Fields is in his third year. No, never mind. Um, the Colts were in that kind of situation. So I just long way to go. You want to see him his continued growth and improvement. But you also, like you said, you want to see the wheels come off a little bit and find that identity on offense that's big. And let's look at Stroud too, at the infrastructure injuries all along the Texans offensive line. Stroud hasn't thrown interception through four games not to give up a sack against the Pittsburgh Steelers and TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith again, that goes back to coaching game planning personnel, what your strategy is offensively. Yes, you credit CJ Stroud and what he's been able to accomplish. He's looked very good through four games, but I don't know, through the next four games through the next eight games throughout the season, it could seesaw a bit and especially with young quarterbacks, rookie quarterbacks particularly, it's not always linear growth of always better from week to week. So you certainly hope it looks better in the coming weeks, but the schedule is not getting any easier. Lewis agreed, agreed. All right, this has been another edition of WRL Triangle Two. Hopefully the listeners and the viewers enjoyed, uh, give us a five star review on Apple, Spotify. Also on the 99 9 fan youtube page, go tap that subscribe button as well. Lewis, anything you need to plug with WRL sports fan coverage this upcoming week, uh, just keep watching. We'll have, we'll have plenty of great stuff. I, you know, um, plenty of great stuff coming up. Uh, UN C and Syracuse on Saturday, uh NC State and Marshall on Saturday, uh football Friday on, on Friday extra F Awards, all that stuff. So just keep, keep doing the thing. Um And hopefully, uh some of these teams are playing bad, uh, start figuring it out a little bit in the Triangle area. Hey, we got UN C Sam Hall, Thursday night, football Commander party. So got a lot. Uh, keep it tuned to WRL sports fan dot com as well for all the best coverage. A big, big day here in the Triangle, for sports, for Luis Fernandez. I'm Mark Bergen. Thanks for watching WRL Triangle at two. Thanks so much. We'll see you next time.