Top ACC Coaches Clash in Winston-Salem

Tom O'Brien and the NC State Wolfpack(3-1, 0-0) are traveling to Winston-Salem to take on Jim Grobe's Wake Forest(2-2, 0-1) team who has struggled lately against quality teams.



NC State are coming off a very impressive non-conference win at home against a tough Pittsburgh team, while Wake Forest is trying to bounce back after a very disappointing loss to Boston College.



Both teams are searching for their first conference wins of the season, along with Jim Grobe wanting to exact revenge for a loss in Raleigh last year.

Keys to Success for NC State Wolfpack

• Utilize Russell Wilson's Abilities

Russell Wilson is leading the ACC in touchdown passes(12) along with passing efficiency, also known as quarterback rating(169.6) and he has also rushed for 115 yards. Wake Forest's pass defense is one of the worst in ACC falling second to last, allowing 217.0 yards per game and eight touchdowns through the air.

• Pressure Riley Skinner

Wake Forest has an experienced senior quarterback in Riley Skinner under center, but he has looked nothing like an experienced quarterback making bad decisions in throwing five interceptions tied for most among ACC quarterbacks. The Wolfpack also have Willie Young who is third in sacks in the ACC with four. NC State as a team are only +1 in turnover margin while Wake is -4 in turnover margin.

• 3rd Down

Third downs are always ways important in any game but, in this game Wake Forest is one of the best in the ACC in converting third downs but also they the worst in allowing opponents to convert on third down. Wake converts 47.5% of their third downs(2nd in ACC) and they allow their opponents to convert 39.7% of their third downs(last in the ACC). NC State converts 50.o% of their third downs(1st in the ACC), while they are only allowing their opponent to convert only 20.0% of third downs.

Offical Game Prediction

Wake Forest has had to replace a lot of players on both side of the ball and they aren't looking so hot after that overtime loss to Boston College. I think NC State wins an important conference game 35-17.

The Atlanta Braves

This blog (article, that't what wer're calling theses posts) will give a little backgraound as to why I'm a Braves fan (I stole this from an old article I wrote on Bleacher Report).

There are many, many reasons as to why I love this organization.

From the tradition to the quality people it has produced, the Atlanta Braves have served as a great medium to build my fondness of baseball on.


The Base of my Beliefs

Where I live, near Winston-Salem, North Carolina, your options for baseball are limited; you have the Braves, Yankees, Red Sox, and no-baseball bandwagons to jump on. Those are pretty much your four choices if you want people around you who share your beliefs.

There was a time, not so long ago, that I chose the last of the four options.

I was a, uggh (I can't believe that I'm saying this outline), NASCAR fan in the heart of the sport's region and cared little about the game that I love so dearly now.

My grandfather had been an Atlanta Braves fan since the days of suckage back in the 70's and 80's, through the 14 consecutive division titles, and still is today because of the televised games on FSN South, SportSouth, and the sparatic games on ESPN and Fox.

So, from that, I had always had a mild interest in the organization.

But, that interest was never anything huge, and I would always watch the races on Sundays and only catch 20-30 games a season.

But, as time progressed, I began to look at NASCAR in Lehman's terms and had a posteriori. All NASCAR was was 40-some cars going in a circle over the course of three hours.

Yeah, real exciting when you look at it.

It was then that I fell into a love affair with the statistics and game of baseball in general. The home runs, the defense, the strategy, ahhh...the beautiful game.

(side note: I will watch NASCAR on Sunday off-days)


The Venues

In 2000, I went to my first Braves, and live baseball, game ever (I had never even been to any of the Minor League games in my area).

I was seven-years-old and was amazed by the sixe of the park and the gigantic ceramic All-Star balls (no sexual enuendo intended) outside of the Stadium.

We sat in our seats, about 15 or 20 rows up down the left field line. I was wearing my official Braves t-shirt with "C. Jones" on the back of it, sitting next to my dad. The Bravos were playing Sammy Sosa and the Cubs.

I can remember being captivated by the big metal pennants hanging in left and the big box score that used to be in center (where the massive HD screen is now).

That was an experience.


The Winning & the Organization

There has never been a time in my 16 years where the Braves, except for 2008, maybe, have truly sucked.

This has made it very easy to like them.

Even now, after three (soon to be four) post-seasonless seasons, I have an ever-growing passion for the team.

Make no mistake, I am not a fair-weather fan.

If I were a resident of Atlanta, I guarantee you that I would be saving my cash every year ti get season tickets (those $1 seats above third base aren't half-bad, you know).

Another reason for the Braves love is the way in which they carry out their business.

Development through the minors, pitching, and a few big signings.

It's very nice to root for a team that hasn't had to buy it's World Championship.

Every year, I look at the Minor League system and hope think about the brightness of the Braves' future.

The team consumes me. The system, the set-up, the, well... everything.

This is my team, and I love it.

Welcome!

Hey all.

This is Cameron, one of the founders of Carolina Co-Op.

As you've probably read at a variety of places on this site, we cover the Atlanta Braves and NC State.

That may seem like an odd combination, but both of us have a never-dying love for our teams (I'm the Atlanta Braves guy, Allen's the NC State guy).

Both of us have been writing over at Bleacher Report for about six months and decided to branch out into the blogosphere with a site of our own after receiving numerous opportunities from other sites to write about our respective teams (both of us were set to write for FanHuddle.com before contract issues; Allen has a Raycom blog on NC State now-he gets a lot of free stuff-lucky bastard, and I am a Featured Columnist for the Braves at Bleacher Report).

We hope to produce high-energy, informative, and insightful pieces on Carolina Co-Op for our readers.

We hope that you enjoy our posts and (in the future) videos that we put on this blog as we mature as writers.