Okay, so the season for the N.C. State football team did not go as planned. The team struggled to a 5-7 record, far from the expectations the team had coming to the year, when many people in the media predicted the Pack to be in contention for the Atlantic Division crown. But it didn’t happen that way and State fans have to go through another disappointing season.
State had everything it needed — an easy schedule, where we did not have to play the top two ACC teams in Georgia Tech and Miami, a returning all-ACC quarterback and a defense that returned seven of its top ten tacklers from a season ago. But karma did not see it that way, and the Pack literally limped to a losing record.
But even with the struggles of the team, Wolfpack nation keeps to its favorite phrase, ‘wait till next year.’ And the win against Carolina will only fuel their fires. The team finished on a positive note and just like the two previous years, in which the team finished strong, there is hope for next year.
Another excuse at the Pack’s disposal is the fact that the team was marred by injuries throughout the season, even more so than the previous two years. But these two examples are only two of the dozens of excuses State fans have made to make a subpar season seem okay.
Allow me to slip into the perspective of a fan, as I was for the first 18 years of my life. Why do we accept only using the ‘wait till next year’ excuse? Why do we seem to be satisfied with mediocre play throughout the year always banking that the next year is going to be the one that puts us into the nation spotlight? Why not instead of looking towards the future and hoping for ‘next year’ focus on the present and understand what is wrong?
As fans we need to demand more out of our football team than just a ‘hope for next season.’ We need to demand results. We need wins, not words of comfort about future seasons. It seems as though we build up expectations every year before the season starts, only to come out and underperform. I know injuries are a big reason for this, but it is not an excuse; football is a very rough contact sport. People are going to get injured and injuries are going to happen to every team — even though State took more than its share this year.
As a whole after so many years of mediocrity we as fans of the Pack have become complacent and almost excepting of subpar years in football. We have found excuse after excuse to use for every season, whether it be the team had a ton of injuries or a new quarterback, or it’s a young squad or a new coach. Finding excuses for why the team is bad has become second nature to fans and we have become enthralled with the concept of waiting until next year.
With the ‘wait till next year’ excuse, a problem eventually arises. That problem is eventually, it has to be that next year, and in my opinion that year was this year.
So look, we can keep hoping and waiting for next year and maybe next year is that year. As a whole the recruiting class looks above average, players will return from injuries and if Wilson stays and continues to play football, next year could be that year. But until then, let’s forget about thinking about next year and focus on understand and fixing the problems State had this year.
