Canes get a W back at home and looking ahead to ACC football

Luke Tkach of The News and Observer. Maybe you'll be there tonight. I don't know, San Jose doesn't exactly bring out the stars, but how are you, sir? I'm good, Andrei Svechnikov and I will both be there tonight.

It's an exciting Friday night in West Raleigh. It is. Part of me wants them to go through the entire opening night rigamarole again so they can introduce Andrei to the crowd on the ice so they can go bananas. Yeah, I disagree. Let's just get this over with. Spoken like a member of the media that we hate two national anthems. I don't want any pre-game ceremonies. Come on, can we just play?

Get it done in regulation. Yeah, and they kept us there. I was dreading a shootout last night.

I've kind of joked, but I don't know that it's really a joke. Was that Martine Neches' Hurricane's Opus last night? No, there have been.

I feel like I'd have to go back and really look this up. I feel like there were games where he did so much carrying the puck and looping through the zone with the puck to create. He did some of that last night. I feel like we've seen more of that from him, which is why there's always that sense of expectation from him because you saw flashes of it those first couple of years that didn't really materialize. And then you saw it last year in the regular season. And now he knew it going into the last postseason. He knows that this year he's got to find a way to make that game, the game we saw last night, translate in the postseason.

But I joke on Twitter or whatever we're calling it these days. If there was three on three overtime in the playoffs, Martine Neches would be working out about his third con smite because that's just such a format and environment where he clearly at this point thrives. Sort of six on five, two to an extent. So it's really good to see a couple of guys like Neches sort of Kokie me is, has been consistent, but getting better. It was not a great start.

We all know it. The state fair road trip felt like the state fair road trip of old. And last night for most of two periods didn't look like there was a whole lot of improvement there, but they really did find their game. You know, I thought Kokie me was terrific. I thought Neches was terrific. I thought Freddie gave them what they needed.

Obviously still rounding into form. But the phrase I've used all along, Adam, and I know this because I've used it with you repeatedly is when you're 18, like the hurricanes, a road trip like that in October, like this is a motivational dead zone. It's really hard to get excited about playing the San Jose sharks. It's hard to get excited about playing the Kings.

It's hard to get excited about playing the Kraken. You've got to find ways to motivate yourself. And yes, we say, okay, well, they're professionals.

They should motivate themselves, but that is always easier said than done. And the reality is the hurricanes can squeak out enough points to make the playoffs. They should win the division. But you're going to go through what they just went through and hopefully for them last night's a turning point and they can, you know, put the wood to San Jose tonight and show them, you know, what a, what a contending team does at home in the second game of a back-to-back.

Yeah. And then Monday go up to Philadelphia, who is playing very well in the early stages of this season, maybe without any expectations at all, but it's Philadelphia. So it's almost hard to even say that Luke DeCock is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. All right, let me, let me throw ACC football at you. We didn't, nobody thought, maybe you did.

I didn't. I certainly didn't see a loss to Virginia coming. I thought the danger zone would be this week at Georgia Tech. I actually think that based on last week, I think this week will be fine for UNC because now in a way the pressure's off. And I don't know if there should have been pressure for beating Virginia, but there obviously was. Yeah, no, I mean, I think we, you know, everybody thought if there was a, a trip while you're here, it was at Georgia State and Atlanta because it has been so many times and I, you know, people you've asked me, how is this possible? How can a team like North Carolina lose to a team like Virginia team that had to commit two outrageous penalties just to lose the NC state at home?

It's, it's, it's incredible. It's at this point, it's happened under multiple coaches under an entire generation of players. At this point, it defies explanation. It's clearly not, there's clearly not one root cause there's something systemic in there that prevents North Carolina from properly motivating itself across years and years of coaches and assistant coaches and players and athletic directors from winning the games that they have to win that they're supposed to win. Obviously they can go down to Miami and Florida State and beat those teams and, you know, have highlights. We're still watching 20 years later. But it's the Virginias and Georgia Techs that kill them every time. And, and it's hard for me to say exactly why that is at this point, if I knew I would have written a column about it. But you know, the fact that they did this the week before the Georgia Tech game suggests an incredible inevitability about this.

And if I were Mac Brown or Bubba Cunningham, I'd really want to try to find some kind of innovative thinker to dig in on this and figure out why this keeps happening, because it's clearly a systemic thing. We need the head of a live rooster, I believe. And nobody knows what to get Jimmy and Millie for a wedding present.

Luke Tkach is joining us here on the Adam Gulcho. We're dealing with a lot of stuff here, said Crash Davis in the mound visit, right? I think they'll be okay. But that closing stretch of difficult games, Duke at home, Clemson and NC State on the road, even though Clemson is a shell of what Clemson was, still very good defensively. NC State's got one of the best defenses in the country as well.

I mean, just two dynamite defenses could just make it hard. And then North Carolina's got to overcome themselves. Duke without Riley Leonard, if he cannot play at Louisville is what?

Not a tremendous concern. I mean, I think they've shown they can beat NC State without Riley Leonard. They've shown they can compete with Florida State with a considerably less than full strength Riley Leonard. And I'm still, despite the win over Notre Dame, I'm still not a Louisville believer. I just don't think this team is very good. They've got a ton of injuries right now. I think it's a program that's getting better. But I think when you look at their early wins, it's kind of like Syracuse.

It was a little bit of a mirage. And we saw that last night with the Orange in horrific, tragic fashion, football wise, I should say, because you're dealing with all kinds of crap in real life. But yeah, no, I feel like this is a game that Duke's defense should be able to win for them, especially if to our Jordan doesn't play or his half strength.

I think he's a terrific player, his explosiveness, his ability to make big plays. That's that's something that that Louisville has really thrived on this year. If he's not at full strength, that then then that obviously is harder for Louisville. But I look at Duke's defense, I look at the physicality of Duke's defense, I look at Duke's ability to run the ball, whether or not, you know, Riley under Henry Billings at quarterback, I think the Blue Devils are going to be okay.

I think this is going to keep them alive. You know, the Florida State losses are breaking. Because you know, not only did they lose that game big in the end, but they had a chance to win it if Riley Leonard had stayed in the game had a real chance to win that game.

Tallahassee was shook that night. There's no question that the Seminoles were in a battle they weren't expecting. I'm still not sold on the Seminoles as a CFP team. But they're good.

There's no question about that. So I think Duke's got not a lot of margin for error. But I still feel like this is a game you should win.

Well should win that's that's that's bold. I mean, I think it's a game that they can win without Riley Leonard, I don't think they will. And for whatever reason, even though Riley Leonard really was a shell of himself, and we could see that he was not really going to be part of the run game. Florida State still, I guess kind of assumed that he would be. And Duke's running game was, I mean, very effective against the Seminoles, even though Riley couldn't run.

He did. I mean, he did have the 113 yard run where he got into some open space and scrambled. I think they had to honor him. I mean, I think they knew he wasn't at his best.

But I think Florida State knew they had to honor that and did. The place where Riley Leonard being less than full strength really hurt them was against the pass rush. And he just didn't have that elusiveness in the pocket. I mean, the thing that distinguishes Riley Leonard is that sort of Mr. Clean magic eraser for the Duke offense where he can kind of get them out of any error and he just didn't have that. And then there were a couple overthrows.

Clearly, he was having a hard time, you know, pushing off that right foot. And, you know, he overthrew a couple balls that weren't that, you know, were not typical for him. All right, real quick about Florida State. At Wake, at Pitt, home against Miami, forget about North Alabama, at Florida.

Where's the slip up? Because I think if they finish this off undefeated, there's no question they're in the college football playoff. Oh, I didn't say that they want to see if they could get relaxed when they get there. Yeah, I just when I look at is Florida State based on what I've seen, one of the top four teams in the country, you know, the answer is no. But you go undefeated in the ACC and you beat North Carolina or Duke in Charlotte, you know, you get to go. Those are the rules, which is why it's so dumb that Notre Dame's not in the ACC, but that is a completely different conversation. All right, final thing. We have the textile bowl at Carter-Finley Stadium and I know that the ACC and everybody else had just assumed this game would have a lot more riding on it than it does.

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That's DEATakeBack.com. I think the question is, will it be the least interesting textile bowl in 35 years? I mean, it's just you have to go back a long way where both of these teams were just not just, you know, mediocre in Clemson's case and not good in State's case, but uninteresting. You know, there's no there there with either of these teams. There's no excitement.

There's no there's no sizzle. Clemson doesn't have anyone. You say, I want to go see that kid play.

State certainly doesn't. You know, maybe Peyton Wilson. It's just it's a it's a very difficult time to get excited about either of these programs. You know, I guess the one thing I would say, Adam, is, you know, is it another Will Shipley game?

Does he stick it to the Wolfpack again? Maybe that's maybe that's the most exciting thing. But I have a hard time looking at this game and saying that, you know, this is any more compelling than like a Virginia Tech Pittsburgh game or, you know, Louisville, Syracuse. It just this is a game that traditionally has had a ton riding on it. You know, Nancy State's seasons have died against Clemson. And it's just it just doesn't feel like there's any there there this year for either team.

I totally agree. Both both offenses are I'm not even going to use the term vanilla because that's an insult to vanilla. Both offenses are more pistachio than anything else. Sorry to the pistachio lobby, but no, I'm definitely allergic to pistachios.

I'll take I believe that. Gosh, I don't even stand. I have to stay away or it'll kill me. But I mean, yeah, the two offenses in this game are just dreadful. But we are going to see two pretty good defenses.

And here to me is the fascination. Can Clemson avoid can they avoid a six and six finish? They still have Notre Dame and North Carolina to play. If they lose this we're staring at six and six and they're at South Carolina. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a game that Clemson can can win. But yeah, no, I mean, you're you're talking about things we haven't talked about with regard to Clemson in decades. You know, it's just this is not what we're used to under Dabo. And I think, you know, you and I talked about this after the Duke game earlier in the year.

You walk around on the field before the game. That does not look like Clemson. Duke was the bigger, more imposing, more athletic looking team that doesn't always play out on the field. But that hasn't been the case with Clemson. You look at them and they got a Sammy Watkins or a Dexter Lawrence or an Isaiah Simmons, you know, that's an NFL player and you know, he's going to be trouble. And you know, Clemson is going to have a bunch of them.

I look at Clemson now and they look like Elon, you know, there's just, there's nothing there. Holy cow. That's an, that's an extreme. But I appreciate this, Luke. I'll see you tonight at the, at the arena for the return of the Svetchnikov. Appreciate you. I appreciate you, my friend. All right.

We'll talk to Luke Tkachik again next week. All right. Wow. They look like Elon. Elon, come on.