Welcome to another edition of Wral Triangle at two. I'm Mark Bergen. He's Luis Fernandez, recapping an absolutely loaded week of football, Lewis, we're gonna start right off the top Panthers losing to the Seattle Seahawks. Andy Dalton really isn't even the biggest problem with the Panthers team currently Lewis. I'm of the opinion though. Why is he throwing the ball nearly 60 times in a game? Not a recipe for success. I want to get your thoughts from the Panthers loss to the Seahawks on Sunday. Yeah, that's, that's what stood out to me too. Um There was only, there, only one player has thrown the ball more in a single game for the Panthers than Andy Dalton did and that was, uh Chris Wake. Uh, but he did it, he did it twice, I think, I think it was like 63 and 61. I want to say back in like 2001 and 2006. Um which is pretty wild, uh, like more than Cam Newton ever threw the ball in a single game. More than, uh, I think the most recent iterations of this are like Kyle Allen, um, not Sam Arnold. Um I think Taylor Heineke was up there in one time and the theme was in all these situations recently where it's been like, you know, a, a quarterback has thrown more the, the ball more than 50 times for the Panthers. It's all been a loss. Every single one, every single one was a bad performance. So Andy Don probably had the best performance of the bunch. Um, but I don't know, it's just, it was one of those games where the Panthers played well in some areas stopping the Seahawks in the red zone so often and forcing their first, I think it was 15 points to beat just field goals. Um Jason Myers leg got ice it up or something at this point. Um You know, that's, that is good from the defense, especially when they were hurt so often. Um You, you saw a lot of players leaving the game, CJ Henderson, uh Frankie Louisville on top of Shaq Thompson's injury. Um So that, that was definitely a tough position for the Panthers to be in. I I'm just a little confused offensively with what's going on. Like, you know, I, I think part of the reason they're not running it all the time is because they don't really have the run blocking to do it right now. Um And, and, you know, it's in, in some of those ways you saw the passing game serve as an extension of the running game, but it just, it just feels to me like, and the Panthers are still searching for an identity. Uh, and I just, I don't know what they are at this point. I don't think they know what they are. Uh, this is the first, oh, and three start. Even though the Panthers have been bad the past few years. This is the first oh, and three start for them since 2010. So, I don't know, it's just one of those games where you're like, all right. I, I don't know, I don't know what really to expect at this point and I, I don't think the Panthers know either. That's the thing, identity is the word that I'm going to hone in on Lewis of everything that you just said. And a lot of great information there too, by the way too, you bring in Miles Sanders to move the chains, the Super Bowl experience of being in the Super Bowl with the Eagles a year ago. I understand if the running game is not there, but you at least can shorten the game and not like time of possession is still a factor, particularly when your offense isn't a high flying, high powered, high scoring offense that's gonna light up a scoreboard. So it's not flashy, but when your team's not great, you have to be able to at least run the ball to shorten the game to help out your defense like it's not flashy at all. But when I see Ok. Andy Dalton, I thought actually looked serviceable in this game. Uh, it seemed they couldn't stop Kenneth Walker from getting into the end zone defensively. And the question we're gonna have to ask ourselves moving forward and looking at the Panthers schedule is like, when's the first win coming with Frank Reich and Company and Frank re supposed to be an offensive coach because Minnesota, uh, next weekend a pair of three teams, uh, maybe you get it there but then a stout Lions team, I don't even know how many points the Dolphins are going to score and then you got the Texans in and you look at the Texans too. Lewis CJ Stroud's doing his thing. Anthony Richardson was doing his thing before he got hurt. But when do you think the first victory comes? I don't know, like, I mean, I, the playing the Vikings this upcoming league, the Vikings playing really weird games. So, hey, there you go. Maybe that's part of it. Um I, I do think Andy Dalton has was, was like you said, serviceable. He was what you want a backup quarterback to be, you know, I'm an Andy Dalton Truther. Uh, but he, he was like, you know, that's exactly what you want out of a backup quarterback, someone who can come in and get, put you in for you to win a game. That's, that's what you want and, and that's what he did. Um, I, I do think the wide receivers are still a problem. Uh, in terms of there's, there were a lot more chunk plays in that game. I think part of that was because a and he had a little more time to throw the ball and DJ Shark had a much better game. A lot of credit needs to be given to DJ Shark. Um, Adam Thelan was able to get open off of second and Dairy action, meaning once Andy Dalton rolled out of the pocket or whatever, it might be after the initial place started to fall apart. Um, but the water still having issues separating. Um, I don't know, it's, it's tricky. It, it could be a bit and I, I do think that part of this is about expectations, right? II, I know I've said this a lot and we've talked about this a lot on this podcast that the expectations for the Panthers this season should be leaving the season knowing Bryce Young is the guy that should be the expectations because I know there was a lot of talk about the Panthers could make the playoffs and the NFC South is bad and maybe there are opportunities not gonna happen this year. Just get, get, get that out of your head because part of it was you look at the second half of what the Panthers did last year, right? When they went on that, that huge, that nice little win streak, um, and showed some stuff what they beat this Seattle team last year. They weren't, they were playing a low ceiling football where, and what I mean by that is they were solid defense, run the ball control the clock. That's the kind of thing that will get you wins in the short term, but does not result in success in the long term. It puts a cap on what you're capable of doing. And I think that's why things change a little bit with Bryce Young because if I'm the Panthers with Bryce Young, I am not playing to try and win every single game just for the sake of getting wins. I am playing for the hope of developing this team and making Bryce Young better. That's what you're doing this season. So, I mean, you play to win the game of course. And, you know, I, I it's easy for me to say, well, my job wouldn't be on the line in that situation, but like you're, you're playing to develop this team, you want to see improvement. Um And so now they're just kind of in a tricky situation where you wait for Bryce Young to get healthy where you can't really, you know, like, all right, I guess we gotta focus on just trying to win every single situation based on what we got going on. I, I don't know that, that maybe that sounds a little silly to say, but I just, I, I really think the wins and losses do not matter this year with the Panthers, it's about figuring out if Bryce Young is the guy and then you can grow around him, then you can go get, you know, those top flight receivers to help him out, improve the offensive wine. You know, all of that kind of stuff young out with an injury and I don't know if I should put that in air quotes or not, but an ankle injury, uh I know there's some conspiracy theories. No, you're laughing but he didn't play. Ok. Uh, the crowd was a factor in Seattle 13 penalties, 82 yards. It's almost the full length of a football field. Nine of those penalties, false starts are an illegal shift. So a huge difference in that game playing in Seattle, which is why some of the conspiracy theorists thought Dalton was starting instead of Bryce Young. I, I, I'm curious to see his young back this week. Are they gonna wait another week? If you don't take care of business against the Vikings against the Lions are not going to be favored against the Dolphins, you're not gonna be favored at home against the Texans Halloween weekend. Lewis is potentially the next time that the Panthers could win a game. It's like we're so we're talking about a whole month if you don't take care of business this weekend against a fellow owed three team. I mean, I'm, I'm looking at the schedule now and I mean, right now because the Texans look like, you know, decent. They look, they look solid. I don't, I don't want to hear the, I don't want to hear the CJ. Strout Bryce Young, like, come on, we're three weeks into the season. I know, I know, I know Panthers fans don't wanna do this. I, I know, I know Panthers fans don't want to hear this, but the Texans have a better infrastructure around Bryce Young right now. Offensively CC, oh, that's a CJ S job. Yes. So the Texans have a better, have a better system set up around them. Um, at, at the moment offensively. So, no, but I mean, I look at that schedule and like, the only, the only time I'm at that game in those games where I'm like, oh, yeah, that's a win. Bears. November 9th. It's September 25th when we're recording this. That's not good. Uh, and remember the Bears have, yeah. Well, and, and here, here's the thing, Mark, we're only three weeks into the season, so a lot of things change. A lot of things grow, a lot of things develop. So, you know, there's frustration from Panthers Nation, I'm sure. But at this point, you just gotta take it week by week. I understand you're not playing for the playoffs. You're, you're playing to get better this season. That's, that's how I view it. It's a process and I know after years of Matt rules process, I'm sure it's quite frustrating. But I, that's just, that's just it, that's just what it is. It's just the reality of the situation. I'm sorry to tell you that. That's just what's going on. I have one final question for you, Lewis. Did it feel good to dust off the Andy Dalton Jersey from the wardrobe deep in the archives to be able to break that out this weekend. So I had, I actually had an Andy Dalton Jersey um to put that in perspective. Um The, it was, it's, it's the kind of thing where it's like um the, the like 14, the orange and white 14 is starting to like chip away and fade away. I had I I invested in the beginning of that Bengals Andy Doll and AJ Green era. I invested hard in AJ GREEN versus Andy Dalton. Ok. First off the one of the greatest wide receivers that no one talks about um in my opinion, at least that's AJ GREEN. But yeah, that's the, the Andy Don Jersey is uh it's, it's chilling somewhere. I love it. Moving on college game base, coming to Durham Duke, hosting Notre Dame. I really wish Notre Dame was also undefeated. The uh the Irish didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Nonetheless, game day will be in Durham for the very first time in the history of the show for football. Mike Elco is building in Durham and he got a two-year contract extension on the eve of the season coming off a nine win season. Riley Leonard's looking like a promising pick. I hope we can get a sellout in Durham for this game. The Irish fans travel well as we saw a few weeks ago against NC State, so I hope, I think that we will, but it was like a few weeks back. Dukes playing in Northwestern, the stadium's half full or half empty, whichever perspective you want to look at it, but there's some excitement in the triangle and Riley Leonard, like, I wouldn't go as far to say Heisman campaign, but they knocked off Clemson if they beat Notre Dame too. No, you're not even gonna entertain it. No, no, I so, ok. Ok. Ok. I this is what I will say first off, like so much credit has to be given to Mike Elko for what has happened. Truly. Like, what, what Duke has been able to do is incredible. Um You know, for, for them to have the kind of success that they have had to garner the, the national attention that they have garnered. I mean, there are what, 17 in the country right now. Um And, and some people would argue there are teams ahead of them that probably shouldn't be ahead of them. Like it feels sacrilegious to say, but like, you know, Alabama or something like that, like, hey, you know, Duke's undefeated. Um You know, so there's, there's a lot of credit that needs to be given out. I don't think there's gonna be an issue with them selling this out because it's just that crowd was just, you know, electric and I think that's gonna be a pretty similar environment to what you're gonna see. I do, you, you hit the nail on the head there though. I was like, man, I wish no would have finished that. Not just because I picked them to win, but like, what are you doing? Um uh regardless. Uh No, I it's very exciting. Um I don't know what, I, I don't know how Duke is gonna perform in this game. I think the two teams are similar in a lot of ways right now, just, you know, strong defense, uh wants to run the ball. Um You know, really, I think it's just gonna come down to Can Duke get stops against Notre Dame and then Riley Leonard versus Sam Hartman. That's, that's gonna be fun. Notre Dame deserved to lose Saturday night against Ohio State and I'll walk you through. Why? Uh wasn't the last, I'm serious? I'm being dead serious right now. Not only on the touchdown that Notre Dame gives up late in that game, 10 players on the field, the play before you have 10 players on the field, you have coaching staff, that's massive. You have guys up in the box, you have the players on the field like Lewis, you played football. If your teammates not lined up next to you. Hey, where's the, where's the edge rusher? Where's the defensive end? And I didn't notice it. At first I saw an overhead shot and it's like, uh, Jeff Schwartz who's a great football analyst is like, I guarantee they're missing an end here because you had three down defensive linemen all to the right of the, the center for Ohio state on back to back play. That happens. So that's one thing DJ, Burns trying to make a play breaks on a ball, ball goes through his hands. Uh Excuse me, DJ. Burns DJ Brown, the defensive back for uh for Notre Dame, DJ Brown, DJ Brown for Notre Dame, you got to make a good team is going to take advantage of your mistakes. That's what Ohio State did. I don't think either. If Notre Dame had won the game, I don't think Ohio State is going to win the national title this year, but you have to be accountable for your own actions. Having 10 players on the field for not one but two plays like for that final fourth down play. I am sending a lineman sprinting on the field. Lewis sprinting not 12 plays. You lose the game. Well, call the, you know, it, it's one of those, it's kind of like a recognition type thing, right? Like I, I'm watching it live. They line up getting ready to go and I go, oh, run to the left side because there was nobody there. You had two lamb linebackers standing up. Um, and I think part of it too was, uh, like it's, you got, what, two seconds left? I think it is what it was at that point. Um, so I run kind of made sense to me in that situation because you're gonna get one play regardless. Um, and like if you're in Notre Dame, just jump off side in that situation where they're gonna move the ball. What a foot closer? Is that gonna make the difference versus having 10 guys on the field? I don't know, it's easy to be, it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but just something to think about. I, I just wish this game were undefeated going in credit Duke though. So Duke enters as a 5.5 point underdog. We'll see what they need to do. I'm nervous that Notre Dame is gonna come out for blood in this game and be mad that they lost the Ohio State game versus if they had beaten the Buckeyes and says, oh, we'll roll on to Durham. We took care of the big ten's best little Duke and, and they were looking past Duke and it's just the mentality going into this game and look, I saw Notre Dame play against NC State in Raleigh. They have some big boys up front and if you're looking at two players to watch Joe Alt at the left tackle position is a massive human. He completes his assignment and moves bodies at the line of scrimmage and then Morrison the cornerback, he'll be an NFL player coming off a freshman season where he had six picks. He's in the right position, right place. It seems like on every single play in coverage. Those are the two players with Duke that you have to game plan for in advance of Saturday's matchup. A agreed and I listen two things if we want to look at the transitive property of football, right. Clemson almost beat, you know, top five Florida State this weekend. I understand different times of the season at Clemson, all that stuff, but you know, that's something to keep in mind showing that Duke is not a fluke. Um But, but also I think you, you look at just what Duke is going to have to do to win this game and I think it is going to come down to that offense is gonna have to score points and that's tough to do. We, we saw this weekend and how good the Notre Dame defense is, you know, between that, that defense, the slug fest, that was Ohio State and Notre Dame. But I think the offense is gonna have to score points. It's gonna have to make chunk plays. It's gonna have to continue to execute in the red zone. That's, that is what that offense is gonna have to do in order to have success. I think it's gonna come down to them Um, and I, I think it's gonna be a fun game. I really do. I think it's gonna be a tight fun game. Um, and I'm just, I'm excited. It, it's one of, if not the biggest, uh, football games in modern Duke history. Yeah, obviously the AC C championship game against Texas A and MA few years back. And Johnny Manziel, that's all up there as well. But it's definitely one of the biggest games. Uh Duke football has played in quite some time. If Elko and the Blue Devils pull off the upset Duke then has to go back to Elco and say we need to figure out your contract. I know they just gave him a two year extension. But Lewis, you're, you're, I'm being completely serious about this program would poach him. I agree. Yeah. No people are like, and things like that if Duke wins this game, take care of Mike Alco because coming off a A, he wins nine games after Duke Kent won 13 consecutive AC C games. And you've got game day and it's, we'll see if this game can live up to the hype. Keeping it in the triangle though Lewis NC State against Virginia escaping on Friday nights. Uh I understand the wolfpack have injuries at the safety position. I understand Jordan Houston is no longer on the team. The team's leading rusher going into this game. You're playing in a nationally televised game on ESPN against a winless Virginia team take advantage of that opportunity. Like it's a recruiting opportunity where someone gets to see you in the national limelight that otherwise wouldn't be exposed to NC State athletics. And it's, oh, just be happy we won against a winless Virginia team. If I were a wolfpack fan, I would be very frustrated right now because you're expecting Brendan Armstrong to go up against his former team and to light it up on the scoreboard. And that didn't happen on Friday night. Certainly you're happy your team won. But it's just like, what, what are we trying to aspire for here on a bigger picture? If I was a Wolfpack fan, I would be upset. I would be. And I can't repeat what Dave Doran said because he curses. So it's like I can't repeat verbatim what he said after the game, Lewis. But it's like you have an opportunity on a national stage, make the most of that, make the best of it. And NC State plays again on Friday night against Louisville here in Raleigh. That's another opportunity where you're gonna have a nationally televised game. Everyone knows what ESPN is, Lewis. They might not know what the CBS Sports network is, which is what you played on during the opening week of the season. It's a little bit harder to find making the most of the opportunity that you have in front of you instead of say, oh, well, we have players who have had injuries or we had a player who had a baby and all of these other things, you know, Lewis, we have to do this podcast and people don't care what the final result is, they want to see the end product. And it's just like the reason why I get so passionate about this is Dave Dorn is one of the highest paid public employees in the state and he's got a great opportunity, make the most of that. And it's just like I'm not seeing that and in year 11, that's the frustration. I'm speaking for the Wolfpack fans in my impassioned plea here, Lewis. That's, that's where this stems from. This is where this comes from. Yeah. II I understand like, you know, things happen and like, you know, there are reasons why certain games are harder than others. I get that. Um But it's, it's just, you don't want to hear the excuses. You don't want to hear those type of things. Um I don't know, they're three and one and they're gonna be hosting four and, oh, Louisville on Friday, uh a Louisville team that, you know, has looked very impressive. Absolutely just crushed uh Boston College this weekend. Um So, I mean, you want, you want to have opportunities. This is a prime opportunity for Francy State. Um You know, for everyone to say, hey, you know, you are all the attentions on Duke football with college game day. Oh, Un CS four and zero for the first time since 1997. Hey, don't forget about us. You know, it's, it's a prime opportunity for Francy State. I, I wish we knew more about the circumstances of Jordan Houston's transfer as well. We can report the information that we're given Lewis as people who cover the team and write about it on WRL sports fan dot com. Uh, and look, they do get the win but it, it's against a winless Virginia team. You escape by a three point game and it's like, ok, look at NC State schedule the rest of the way and you got Louisville this weekend in your backyard and undefeated team Marshall, potentially you go into that Duke game on October the 14th with two more wins on your resume. You should, if you take care of business back to back home games, you should be playing Clemson on Clen on Halloween weekend where I'm looking at it and it's like Clemson may very well be down this year Lewis. But like, let's be honest here, there's a reason why Dave Thorn's beaten Clemson once during his tenure. Like let's be on, let's be real here, let's be real here. Um We'll, we'll wrap upbeat news. UN C has got a buy, they go into the Buy week. Uh, Drake may throwing a left-handed touchdown, uh, going into the year. The question was, you know, could Drake may adjust the adjustments and I think this is a special, special player if he goes to the right fit and right franchise in the NFL, uh, I don't want to look past this two this season too soon because UN C is rolling right now. But this to me right now, like, this might be the most exciting time we've seen in Triangle Football history since, since when, I mean, it's been a long, long time and UN C takes care of Pittsburgh this past weekend. Yeah, I was gonna say, even if, even if you just want to talk about, like, I'd love to, I need to honestly go back and, and see if I can find this info out. But like, I don't know, the last time Duke and UN C would have started the season four. No. Um, you know, and, and NC State there is, I don't think there's as much excitement about NC State as the other two like we've talked about recently, but, you know, they're still three and one for these three teams to be gosh, 11 and one after four weeks. That feels pretty historic in some ways. Um, would love to find out more about that. I mean, yeah, UN C like, I think they're gonna be people who kind of box score watch a little bit with this UN C game against Pitt and say, oh wow, you know, look, uh Pit jumped out to an early lead and look at Xy and Z and oh, wow, that fourth quarter was really weird and all the stuff that game was over after the first score in the third quarter and it was more about just like Un C got Uber conservative and just Cock man game managed the rest of the way. Um, so, I don't know, I, I think this UN C team is legit. I think their defense is the best. It's been under Matt Brown, I think Dave mccollum, uh, JJ Jones, he was someone who was really taking a next step in this game. I had over 100 yards receiving. Uh, they've shown that they can score in multiple ways with a Aaron Hampton, uh, British Brooks and that, that run game in general. Uh, my, my one concern is continues to be pass blocking. I think it's, it's solid but can be exploited. So that's something I'm watching for. And some of that is a combination of Drake may making sure he gets rid of the ball quickly. Um, and, you know, not just on the offensive line, tight ends, running backs. Um, so I, I think it's a bit of a, a synergy type thing, but they're in good position. I mean, they have this buy, you go into a bi week undefeated, that's always great. And then you've got Syracuse who could very well be, uh, undefeated as well and going into, into Keenan next week. Uh, it's, it's really exciting. It, it, it's a, I think you hit the nail on the head there when you said, you know, it's really exciting time in triangle football when Mack Brown is comparing Nate mccollum to Josh Downs in the same sentence that tells me everything. I need to know a guy who had the most targets, by the way for the Colts in their ups against Baltimore. I love that, you know, that just off the top of your head, Lewis is a UN C guy through and through and so look like we'll see if the Triangle teams can keep it rolling game day in Durham is gonna be fantastic. Can't wait to see Lee Corso and the boys there. Uh Lewis, anything you need to plug here before we wrap up, this has been another edition of Triangle In Two. No, just, just stay tuned to uh WRL this week. We're gonna have plenty of coverage on that uh College game day, Duke versus Notre Dame uh situation. We're gonna dive into the history a bit of it just in terms in terms of big picture with Duke football. Um plenty of coverage uh for that NC State Louisville game on Friday. So make sure you stay tuned for that. Um Yeah, it, it's a good, it's a good football season so far. I'm excited. I can't wait to see uh what comes next as we are almost halfway through the year for Luis Fernandez. I'm Mark Bergen. Thanks for watching Wrl Triangle in two. We'll see you next week until then take care so long. Everybody.