Was this the best season for North Carolina college football ever?

He is an award-winning columnist for The News and Observer. He's our good friend Luke DeCock. and so somebody asked me to do it one time, man they wanted you they wanted them way too often and they wanted you to like be there like five minutes before your hit. I was like I barely watched the game. I was like I was just looking at the score on my phone and telling them updates. This is terrible. I never want to do that again. You still hear those you still hear those guys at Panthers games or NFL games once in a while. I think like Westwood One still does that. You know, let's go to Bob Smith in Green Bay.

You pulled me away from the riveting action. You're a man on the scene. Did you get your personalized mayo jars of Duke mayo? Didn't they give everyone a Maryland and an NC State Duke's mayo jar?

Yes, yes I have a commemorative mayo jar which you know I mean it's not the shelf life of that it's not like you're gonna be able to get give it to your grandkids or anything but I'm more interested I want to get the Duke's mayo mascot hubby for my wife's birthday party. Okay I have no doubt that you can make that happen and I have no doubt that the 99 on the fans Joe Ovius and Joe Gillio 25 years from now will be cracking a Duke's mayo bowl from like this year and spreading it for a video. I think it needs to be a little more epic game than we've had to be that memorable but yes I can totally see the Ovius and Gillio kids 50 years from now yes on the radio eating up 50 year old jar of mayo. Anyway, was this the best year of football for the state of North Carolina ever? It's up there for sure I mean I think there are years where you know I think you know some of Carolina's you know you go back to the old age peach bowl or state in a peach bowl and that was a huge deal you know I think some of that may have been bigger but yeah I mean collectively we never had four bowls or you know all four of the big four bowls we've never had you know the all four of those above 500 which you know kind of stands in for bowls 50 years ago. NC Central won a bowl game you know. East Carolina won a bowl game. I mean South Carolina lost Wednesday night. The state was you know three for three. So yeah I think it's up there. What's missing, Hayes, I think it's just the lack of national competitiveness you know there wasn't a top five team there wasn't a top eight team there wasn't that sort of standout team that you know won an ACC championship or any of that we've got to have that to really you know get it over the top because the triangle has won ACC championships before and it's not really in our lifetimes so that's that's kind of I think what has to happen at some point but yeah I mean for all the schools in the state and look you know I mean Campbell beat Central that's a huge win for Campbell and and you know there's other schools and that made the one double-a playoffs whatever we're calling it these days so yeah I mean I think it was a pretty good year for football if state can finish this out with a win and you know you go you win the Carolina's the only blemish and they lost by one to a good Oregon team that's pretty good that's pretty good yeah I said the same I figured I didn't feel like doing the research on this but I figured if you added up the wins it would literally you know if you went by that metric it's got if it's not the highest it's got to be very very close just by virtue of all the nine and eight win seasons among all those different teams and then app who didn't go to bowl still got six wins but that kind of feels like a disappointing season to them so it was a weird flavor because like I said I mean in a way that kind of matters in college football right because app state isn't expected to compete for the college football playoffs so they're supposed to like you know be interesting knock off big teams and then have crazy finishes they I feel like they played the role to a tee even fab state fan out there would obviously rather see them winning the the nine and ten win games and you know winning conference titles and things like that your most influential list came out Armando Baker on there I won't read the whole thing partly to encourage people to go check it out themselves Mike Elko the Duke football coach how many years you've been doing this and obviously it's not a it's almost a brand new list every year so it's not like if it was power rankings and you kept the list sustained you know coach K would be number one every year and then people would move very little you do kind of a new list every year how do you figure out who goes on the list each year you know it really is based on impact in that year so there are there are reasons people have been on the list multiple times and yeah there are some people you know like Scott Dupree who you had on your show yesterday I believe to be on there every year because you know he really does make things happen for Raleigh as a sports host city I do think when he won the first one so that would have been 2017 I believe he was number one I think they won he was number one on the first list in part because he played as much of a role in awakening people to the in the NCAA tournament posting implications of hb2 and and really led to the the the pressure that led to the repeal of hb2 after the 2016 election in the end of 2017 at the Final Four in Phoenix was really sort of the pivotal moment where Mark Everett basically laid it out for the North Carolina people who were there that you know this it was it was time to come to the table or they were gonna miss out on that whole big cycle so yeah no so I've been doing it since then and it really is like who had the biggest impact in that year who represents what triangle sports was in that year and that's why Armando was such a natural fit this year not just because he's the best basketball player in the triangle or the best basketball player in the ACC but because he's taken so much advantage of what it means to be a college athlete in 2022 you know a guy who in years past would have gone and played in the you know Turkish League or the Azerbaijanian League or whatever hoping to get an NBA shot someday and instead is making as much money at Carolina staying in Chapel Hill on a campus he loves on a campus that loves him and financially better shape than you would be playing overseas so I thought he really represented a lot of trends in college sports and in the triangle in a lot of ways but it's a fun list to do and it always is is fun trying to find people who have maybe been overlooked a little bit either in the course of the year or for what they've done and you know the five to watch for the next year a lot of those have ended up on the next year's list eventually I think you know Sean Jackson at Wakefield has a potential to be you know the best American sprinter as she ages and gets older and you know develops and could be in Paris in 2024 and wherever the 2028 Olympics are I can't think that far ahead but you know there's always interesting people like that we don't talk about much but you know someday could be household names not just here but everywhere coaches athletes the president of US soccer all on the list go check it out and news an observer I like how you have Mike Foreman on there that's a great one because I think collectively as fans we often say oh the the canes do a great job of this this and this the canes as if the canes is like some supercomputer spitting these things out that's a great reminder that there are people behind these creative ideas and initiatives that making them happen and Mike Foreman obviously one of those people so great to see him on there all right speaking of Scott Dupree one of the questions I asked him yesterday was if anybody in rally had ever looked into having a bowl game and he said actually yes and he mentioned the marketing company behind a couple of the other bowl games that we would know that aren't you know long tradition super famous but that you would know them they've been around for a while there was some discussion but you know it ultimately closed for a number of reasons my question to you do you think there's anywhere else in North Carolina that you think could would or should explore a bowl game I know we can we can be funny and throw North Carolina brands out there and silly names but like would you would you get behind the idea of like Wilmington or I don't know Asheville I don't know some some cool location or even rally being a capital city trying to host a bowl game yeah I think it would be cool I think you know it's just difficult when you when you look at hotels and facilities the places that we might want to go aren't necessarily equipped for it you know we we've done a little bit like this doesn't get a lot of attention either but it's not a huge game but Durham County Stadium hosts the NAIA championship game for the really really really small share and that turned out to be a decent event for Durham the last two years I mean I think it would be kind of cool to have a game in the triangle that rotates among the three stadiums I mean I this is kind of obvious to me if Duke's Mayo is a sponsor the other brand that screams North Carolina and college football to me is Bojangles it feels like there should be a Bojangles bowl and maybe that's you know becomes an FCS game or something like that but if I were in Bojangles I think I'd want to be in the bowl business and do it here yeah I'm surprised that I'm sure there's been discussions about them as many times as the Charlotte sponsorship has changed hands but that'd be cool since you're in Charlotte who is I didn't know how to phrase this question and maybe this is the worst way to phrase it who's closer to contending let's not even say a title who's closer to contending for a conference championship the Hornets or the Panthers I feel like coming into this season you would have said there's more optimism about the Hornets but the way the Panthers kind of ended they look like they maybe are just finding a quarterback away from starting to be a playoff team who's who's closer to actually turning this thing around I think the answers are only because they've benefited from a couple years of high draft I I think Sam Donald can be that quarterback I mean if the Panthers are gonna get good under Steve Wilkes with the players they have now it's gonna be a defense focus team it's gonna be a team that runs the ball you know it's a team that develops an identity under him and it's an identity dictated in part by personnel but he will it's unlike Matt rule was smart enough to recognize that this was a you know this is a peanut butter and jelly team not a filet mignon team and he's not trying to turn it into something it's not and I think that's one of the reasons why they've been let's not say successful they've been moderately successful but you know for as someone who wrote in September that they were completely unwatchable I said there was going to be a point at some point in the future where the Panthers were watchable again I did not expect this to be the end of December but I think they are they try hard they compete they know who they are and what they're trying to go out and do which wasn't true under Matt rules and I think he will skip a lot of credit for that now are they honestly close to contending for the NFC title no I mean they're not a playoff team in any other division they're not a playoff team in any other year they just happen to have you know sort of trips backwards into a potential playoff slot based on how awful their rivals happen to be and they picked you know they've won a couple games along the way to put themselves in this position they have a chance to win out the host the playoff game that's not because they're one of the best teams in the league it's like circumstances but that said that can be a springboard to better things and and I was I was out here last summer and people said I was crazy saying look if you look at the first three games of Sam Darnold when he was healthy and had a functioning offensive line I think he can be a decent not a world be there a decent NFL quarterback and right now the Panthers are winning because they're playing a brand of football that only demands a decent NFL quarterback and I feel like Sam Darnold can do that he's just been hurt or you know overshadowed by you know the David Tepper shiny objects whether it's the Sean Watson or Baker Mayfield or whoever I think Sam Darnold shown that he can do the job and he's kind of been able to watch the Jets off himself yeah his I can't remember stat line I don't have in front of me now but it's that lunch Sunday I came Earth's last Saturday I came in saying that's what they need like that is completely average NFL quarterbacking it was like 15 to 22 for 250 yards one touchdown and no interceptions like that's it that's what the team needs from their quarterback you know harm yeah be Trent Dilfer don't screw things up and be that be that guy in the ball off the foreman and Hubbard and you know throw short passes and make first downs and don't do stupid things and then let your defense win the game for you I mean that's only within the realm of possibilities for the Panthers now look you're not gonna beat everybody playing that way you know they lost to the Steelers because they're not gonna go 17 to know they're a they're a below average football team that's been able to win some games but that's good enough in this one year to potentially make the playoffs and you know that's an opportunity that you still have a chance to see Luke to cock of the news and observer check out his work I regret to inform you you missed nothing nothing the ball has stayed between the 30-yard line the entire time that you've been in here you can go back and catch the final series of the pack appreciate the time and have a great new year man you got it happened to you you do it