NCAA Football north carolina state Wolfpack

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

If He Can Get On The Field, Play Ball -- It's come to this: the 13-year-old brother of Tennessee safety Eric Berry has pledged to play football for the Vols. Nevermind that he's not even in high school, but the kid's set on Orange and who is Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin to say no? The saving grace in all of this is that verbals are non-binding and four years is a lot of time to fill where both parties could easily part ways.

The ACC championship game has seen diminishing attendance from the 70,000 plus in the first game in 2005 down to a dismal sub-28,000 in 2008. The problem, it seems, has not been the fact that the ACC has been a collective morass of mediocrity that makes it less attractive for fans to want to make last-minute travel plans to the game. It has nothing to do with teams with smaller alumni bases like Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Boston College making appearances.

How about the fact that they have been held in Florida and only once has Florida State or Miami appear? Good luck getting the ACC to admit that was the expectation when they set it up for the first four games to be in Florida.

Awesome news for the North Carolina State baseball team- infielder Russell Wilson will not require surgery after suffering a knee injury during the offseason. Wilson batted .296 in 32 games last season, with an 83 percent success rate on stolen bases. Obviously, a different prognosis may have resulted in a serious blow to the Wolfpack's depth.

Oh, right- he plays a bit of football too. And he's kinda good at it too, enough to be named 1st-team All-ACC despite being a freshman and suffering through concussion problems during the season (as well as a pretty pedestrian supporting cast). Despite a rather inauspicious beginning to the Tom "Tonz O Funz" O'Brien era in Raleigh, things are looking up, considering how the 'pack came on towards the end of the season and even if Wilson's a little gimpy come spring practice, hotshot recruit Mike Glennon is a possible option ... well, provided he isn't as whiny as his brother Sean.

FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

Russell Wilson got hurt. With all due respect to Rutgers players, coaches, fans and awesome Pulitzer Prize winning alumni, that's about all you need to re: the PapaJohns.com Bowl. Of course, it's also all you need to know about North Carolina State's season -- when Wilson was healthy and in the game, the Wolfpack were one of the most exciting teams in the NCAA, and when he wasn't, well, they were the type of team that could give up a first half lead to a suddenly struggling Rutgers team.

Again though: Rutgers = not bad. They came in having won six straight games, but, caveats aside, you couldn't tell by the time the clock struck zeroes on the first half. The Wolfpacka dominated, Mike Teel struggled mightily, and it looked like a runaway win for State. Then Wilson got hurt.

Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the PapaJohns.com Bowl (Birmingham, Alabama), which pits North Carolina State against Rutgers.

Overview / Matchup: Birmingham got lucky in their bowl draw this year, as both Rutgers and N.C. State come into the postseason on quite the tear. The Wolfpack features All-Universe freshman quarterback Russell Wilson, the first frosh to ever land first team All-Conference in the ACC. Meanwhile, a Cincinnati BCS berth and a six game winning streak to close out the season (highlighted by Mike Teel tossing a redonk seven touchdowns in the season finale against Louisville) lets the Scarlet Knights squeeze into a decent bowl.

Hotels: For luxury accommodation and entertainment, well-heeled travelers should stay at The Wynfrey Hotel. It's a 15-minute drive from town, but the trek is worth it if you want to do any shopping. The hotel is attached to the massive Riverchase Galleria. For good-quality accommodation closer to the stadium, try the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel. The hotel offers the best overall value for bowl travelers, combining reasonable rates with comfortable beds and a great location. For budget-minded travelers, try the Days Inn just across the highway from the stadium. They offer rooms for less than US$100 per night and the proximity can't be beat.

Restaurants/Nightlife: For fine dining in Birmingham, try Bottega Italian Restaurant. Bottega consistently receives great reviews and if the prices prove too steep, the sister restaurant, Bottega Café, next door is a more affordable alternative. Dreamland Bar-B-Que is a cheap, family-friendly alternative to high-end Italian. Dreamland is a local favorite featuring an on-site smoker and arguably the best ribs in Birmingham.

Last week, I told you that NC State is fighting an uphill battle to get themselves into a bowl game. The Wolfpack are in a pool of at-large teams that are fighting for just a few open spots.

NC State is relying on a Sun Belt Conference game to help determine their bowl fate. Yeah, that's how far the ACC has fallen.

If Troy beats Arkansas State this Saturday, then the PapaJohns.com Bowl will send an invite to NC State. State would play a Big East team (probably UConn or Pitt) in the Birmingham-based bowl.

If Arkansas State upsets Troy, then they are contractually obligated to go to the PapaJohns.com Bowl and NC State would be left out. Then the Wolfpack's options are the Motor City Bowl or Hawaii Bowl. A spot in the Hawaii Bowl opens up if Arizona State loses to Arizona tomorrow.

Dewey Corn is my new hero. Previously, I had aspirations toward Ernest Hemingway, or even just Shane Bacon, but finding out about Corn, a North Carolina State fan and High Point, N.C. native, has changed all that.

You see, Dewey has been an N.C. State fan for a very long time. This is awesome, because he's seen the good times. But man, oh, man has he seen some bad times. But, hey, that's just what happens when you're 85 years old and closing in on 400 consecutive football games attended.

In November of 1975, he went to an N.C. State football contest and just happened to attend the next 60 consecutive games. He then decided to see how long he could keep it up.

Thirty-three years later, Corn has attended 389 consecutive games of his alma mater -- a statistic that includes away contests and bowls.

"It just worked out that I was able to attend the games," Corn said.

And it's even crazier than just a Cal Ripken-like Iron Man style; Corn has had some pretty "fortunate" timing even with respect to family deaths. Both his late brother and mother-in-law, upon their unfortunate passing, had funerals that were scheduled on bye weeks or open dates for the Wolfpack.

Add in the fact that he makes a weekly drive from High Point to Raleigh (it may be close on a map, but trust me, it's a pretty trying hour and a half) and his age, and I think it's pretty obvious that Sports Illustrated has dropped the ball two years in a row with their Sportsman of the Year Award.

So, in lieu of official recognition, I salute you, Dewey, with a hearty (albeit unnecessary at work) two-handed wolf motion thingie for making High Point and the Wolfpack proud all these years.

North Carolina State University athletics have not been a strong source of pride for fans, alumni, and, um, people like me (all of the above in a weird way) recently. After all, the team struggled mi-high-tily to start the season in football and wasn't nearly as good as advertised in basketball last year.

But recently, a young man named Russell Wilson has changed the outlook of many a Wolfpack fan with his senior-like play as a freshman under center. The team went on a resurgent tear, "sweeping the state" and beating Miami to become bowl eligible. And everyone involved (or watching) will attribute most of it to Wilson's stellar play. And for that, he has been rewarded with First Team All-ACC recognition.

North Carolina State's Russell Wilson became the first freshman quarterback picked to the all-ACC first team, while Yellow Jackets running back Jonathan Dwyer and Demon Deacons cornerback Alphonso Smith were the only unanimous selections.

Wilson received 106 of 134 possible votes and anyone with any rational sense of what's gone on in the ACC over the past few weeks will tell you it's well deserved.

And yes, in fairness, it is an equal testament to a down year in the ACC -- it's entirely likely that if there were a few legitimate powerhouses in the conference, Wilson wouldn't have won this award. But that aside, it's absolutely imperative to recognize that the all purpose freshman is in fact the truth, and should he decide to not continue a career in baseball, will be making waves in the ACC over the next few years.

That's not to say that we should all get as enthusiastic as the fine gentlemen at State Fans Nation, but if you want to hop on a rising star's bandwagon before it gets all Boston-style annoying, Wilson is your guy.

As it stands right now, NC State won't be going to a bowl game. They are one of ten ACC teams who are bowl eligible (6-6) and beat Wake Forest, North Carolina, Miami-FL and East Carolina this year.

The problem is that the ACC has only nine bowl tie-ins and the Wolfpack would have to get one of the few at-large berths. However NCAA rules state that seven-win teams must be given at-large berths before six-win teams.

NC State hopes a loophole can let them into a bowl. The bowls aren't legislated by the NCAA and can make whatever deals with whomever they want ... as long as they are bowl-eligible. The EagleBank Bowl in Washington, DC and the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte would rather bring in NC State than some Sun Belt or MAC school. The Meineke Bowl would like to have NC State over Maryland or Wake Forest.

There is also a loophole involving Maryland's exam schedule which I'll touch on later.

The ACC is a flat, jumbled mess. The only certainty is that, with Georgia Tech's conference slate finished, any team in the ACC Coastal division that wants to play in the ACC Championship game needs five wins.

Before today, that qualifier had everyone but Duke in contention. Surely a ranked UNC team could handle NC State at home.

Not even close.