Pitt provides pivot point for Pack program (Updated 10am)

'09 Football Editor's Picks51

Make no mistake about it…today’s Wolfpack win over the favorite to win the Big East Championship marked a legitimate turning point for Coach Tom O’Brien and the NC State football program. We posted this previous comment as the game ended, so we were very pleased to see that we were on the same page with Coach O’Brien who said the following in his post game news-conference:

“…I told them the only reason they won was because we now know how to play hard for 60 minutes. We’ve learned how to do that. You can’t underestimate what a huge step that is in the life of a program. Now if I can coach them any better, maybe we’ll win some football games.”

As we discussed earlier in the week on our message boards:

HUGE, HUGE game for TOB and staff. Other than ECU, State has lost to every D-1 team outside the ACC during the TOB era – losses to UCF, USF, Rutgers, South Carolina (twice) and Louisville. 2 wins against ECU, so 2-6 against D1 during TOB era. We need this game, badly.

While we are highlighting some of the pregame ‘accuracy’ we supplied building to the game, how about a fantastically accurate pregame post from our own BJD for review?

For some game highlights and coverage you can click here for ESPN’s post game wrap from Carter-Finley followed by the following highlights from WRAL.

As PackFootball tweeted:

NC State trailed 31-17 with 4:15 left in the third. The last time the Wolfpack won after trailing by 14 in the third was in 2004.

State ended up with an astounding 530 yards of total offense behind the direction of Russell Wilson who threw for over three hundred yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions for the third consecutive game. In the end, Wilson passed for 322 yards and rushed for another 91 yards on 10 carries; none bigger than a 21-yard dash on fourth-and-14 with 13:06 to play in the game. Wilson’s 12 touchdowns in the last three games broke Philip Rivers’ record of 11 touchdowns in 2003 against Duke, Virginia and Florida State; and his 91 rushing yards represent a career high.

Wilson’s leadership was complemented by a breakout performance from Toney Baker who had a fantastic game with 81 rushing yards on 18 carries; a team-high 71 receiving yards on three catches; and two touchdowns. Baker moved passed Rahshon Spikes (1996-99) into 16th place on NC State’s all-time rushing list and is now tied for 11th on the Wolfpack’s touchdown list [with Anthony Barbour (1989-92), Bobby Crumpler (1986-87), and Charlie Young (1971-73)].

While we are throwing out kudos…allow freshman safety, Brandon Bishop to take a bow after he made two huge defensive plays on 2nd and 3rd down of Pitt’s last possession.

Don’t look now…but NC State has won seven of its eight seven regular season games.

Mark Thomas has some good “final thoughts” in this entry that I will supplement with a couple of random items I haven’t seen anywhere in the for profit media:

  • Two defensive players that made some big plays on Saturday that need not to be forgotten are Alan Michael Cash and Terrell Manning. We know what AMC can do; but, it is very nice to see Manning evolving into the play maker we all expected when he committed to the Wolfpack.
  • As you look for more about this game, you should definitely check out this conversation about Tom O’Brien’s reaction to the win.
  • I never understood why EVERY media outlet couldn’t stop harping on ‘wondering’ if NC State could score against FBS opponents? Really? No doubt that things didn’t look good in the FIRST GAME OF THE YEAR against a strong South Carolina team (who just held #4 Ole Miss to 10 points). But, last year DOES MATTER when you return your quarterback, most of your skill players, and an offensive line that is projected to be better than the previous year. All of these questions and concerns were nothing more than media blather because they didn’t have anything else to discuss.
  • NC State is now two games above .500 in a single season for the first time in the Tom O’Brien era. Let’s keep extending that streak!
Photo courtesy of News & Observer/Ethan Hyman

Photo courtesy of News & Observer/Ethan Hyman

N&O Photo Gallery: http://www.newsobserver.com/galleries/gallery/116727.html

N&O First Look: http://www.newsobserver.com/galleries/gallery/116488.html

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'09 Football Editor's Picks

51 Responses to Pitt provides pivot point for Pack program (Updated 10am)

  1. coppertop 09/26/2009 at 7:01 PM #

    great to see the win, our team needed the confidence boost of beating a D1 team and a good start to this years program. We have the opportunity now to build on this success with what will be a close game next couple of weeks. After today, our guys have the confidence they need to make for some great start of the season.

  2. CaptainCraptacular 09/26/2009 at 7:03 PM #

    Kudos to the crowd today. You guys sounded L O U D loud when it counted on espnu today.

  3. packplantpath 09/26/2009 at 7:32 PM #

    I hope you are right, but I’ll hold off on declaring a pivot point for a few games. Definitely a good first step, but if those boys don’t figure out how to take a man down after the first hit, it could be a tough road with more shootouts on the way.

  4. BJD95 09/26/2009 at 7:53 PM #

    Know what makes me feel so good about this win? How angry Tom O’Brien was after the game. You see, I was angry too. We played the first 6 minutes of the game with our heads up our asses, spotting Pitt a 10-point lead. We get two penalties for not lining up right on a f-ing punt. In GAME FOUR.

    You don’t want to piss on what may have been (as noted above) our long-awaited “turn the corner” win that many people expected (but not me) against South Carolina.

    This game was different. We weren’t outgunned physically by Pitt, although they are a pretty good team. It was a game ripe for us to win, and we had to finish incredibly strong in order not to give it away because we weren’t mentally ready to play football. Plus, I can live with being outcoached by Steve Spurrier – but not Dave Wannstedt.

    But here is why I have so much faith in Tom O’Brien. It would have been easy to gloss over what was wrong with how we played, especially early. But he realized it, admitted it, and freaking owned the hell out of it. He gets what it means to coach at this level, and he gets what it will take to compete for championships here. That’s no guarantee we will reach the top of the mountain, but I think it gives us the best shot possible. Because being a good coach doesn’t mean that you never screw up. It’s owning your mistakes, and doing everything in your power to correct them.

    Thanks to Jeff for naming Brandon Bishop. The 3rd down play saved our bacon, and it was a FANTASTIC individual play. Not bad for a 2-star true freshman, eh? That’s why I don’t sweat TOB and staff’s recruiting rankings. They know how to find people. I asked all of Section 27 who the hell #30 was, and nobody knew.

    I have three game balls for non-obvious recipients. The first goes to Barnes, as noted above. The second goes to Jake Vermiglio, who blocked like a damned Sherman tank out there today. Go back and see what kind of success we had running traps to his side. The third goes to the vastly underrated Dana Bible, who is easily the best non-Norm Chow playcaller NC State has had in my lifetime. He took what Pitt gave him, and had the perfect gameplan to attack their edge rush. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prettier play than the George Bryan touchdown. Absolutely perfect.

    The only call I didn’t like all day was the end zone pass on 3rd and 10 at Pitt’s 20, down 24-17. I thought we needed to work the middle of the field and treat it as 4 down territory. And of course we end up with squat and Pitt almost immediately gets 6. Thank God we had the balls to go for it on 4th and 13 at Pitt’s 28 later. It was an absolute no-brainer mathematically, but how many coaches follow the book instead? We lose if we try a FG there, even if we make it. I would have gone absolutely postal.

  5. ADVENTUROO 09/26/2009 at 8:35 PM #

    I think the WRAL Headline and “teaser” got it right….in spite of ourselves, we rallied to beat a good team. There were times when our guys shot themselves in the foot (leg) more than Plaxico Burress….

    BUT, when it was all said and done, we, the WPN left CF HAPPY. The crowd should also get a game ball…especially in view of the weather.

    The first few minutes were, how shall we say, LESS than encouraging.

    But, it seemed like the D and O finally understood what their mission was.

    It was ALMOST like the lads had been reading the clipping and stats on the past two games…

    What a GREAT Weekend…

    SC beat the Number 4 Team in the nation….a little bit of vindication

    UNX gets trounced by GT….all those “gifts” that UNX had received in the past two games….now had to be paid for. Butchy did NOT look like a happy camper. There was a LARGE contingent of UNX fans that trekked to Hot Lanta to cheer on the might Tarholes…guess they are less enthusiastic now.

    WE WON….in a come from behind victory….with stats that were really great…even when we were still behind.

    GO PACK

    I don’t consider WRAL an unbiased source. Their preferences are pretty obvious under the most objective of analyses. The hell with them and their always-wrong weather forecasts too. – Alpha.

  6. Alpha Wolf 09/26/2009 at 8:38 PM #

    They say you can’t learn anything when you win, but I think that BJD covers my thoughts on that. TOB was not pleased by numbskill mental errors that made me recall the CTC era. Neither was any thinking State fan and you better bet he has something to talk about in the film room tomorrow.

    D. Davis is turning into a helluva receiver.

    Good to see Donald Bowens on the field and I think his role will grow.

    Toney Baker, Toney Baker, Toney Baker. Wow. He’s the best back we have right now, no doubt about it. Let’s hope he gets a medical exemption and one more year. He deserves it and I would love to see him get to play healthy for the rest of this and next season.

    Defense: On one hand, we couldn’t tackle in the first half, but on the other, we also made an adjustment in the second I thought was key: the defense started cutting down Pitt players around their ankles, and it happened so often it was obvious that the players had been coached to do it. Credit the coaching staff for that adjustment, because Pitt scored ZERO fourth quarter points, including that point-blank possession at the end of the game. Shutting down their running game really helped because playing against a one-dimensional offense is infinitely easier.

    The soft zone needs to tighten up some, and you can bet Riley Skinner’s eyes are going to narrow when he sees some of the game film from today’s game tomorrow. Wake is not going to be an easy out and if you think you can tailgate in front of CFS waiting for the U2 concert to start without any worries, think again. It will once again take an all-hands effort for State to win…and let’s not forget that we have
    been absolutely cursed in Winston-Salem the last decade.

    I have great hope for this season, and I think that if the cards fall the right way, we may end up in Jacksonville this year. But calling it a turning point is a little early, let’s see how things play out over the next month, with all due respect.

  7. coppertop 09/26/2009 at 8:42 PM #

    I forgot to add, the title should be “Pitt provides pivot point for PACK program”
    🙂

    SFN: I LIKE IT!! Going to change it now!

  8. doomsday2008 09/26/2009 at 8:45 PM #

    BJD95! You said it all. A coach saying he didn’t do a good
    job over the airwaves is a coach that will bang his head against
    the wall again, just not on the same spot. I think the one thing
    we are going to see in improvement and better see is tackling.
    As I have stated over the years we have always had that problem
    from the first game I watched State play in 1968. Sure we have had
    great D’s over the years but it just seems that players today are
    not coached to wrap up but just throw a shoulder. When I say todays
    players I mean over the last 20 something yrs.
    I was on the Pitt message board and they are all talking about
    their defense and how bad they are. The number one thing again
    over there even is poor tackling. Must be airborne!

  9. BJD95 09/26/2009 at 8:46 PM #

    It virtually assures a winning season, and takes away the HUGE pressure we’d otherwise have to get to 5 ACC wins. Breaks our sad streak of losses against non-ACC BCS opponents.

    We also got a fantastic finish that lots of people probably watched (given how uncompetitive the other 3:30 games were).

  10. doomsday2008 09/26/2009 at 8:50 PM #

    I was thinking the same thing looking at the other scores. That
    will help us. Nothing like a win!

  11. McPete 09/26/2009 at 8:51 PM #

    I was out there and so it’s sometimes difficult to follow every detail, but what the heck happened on the o line tonight? I am guessing 5 or 6 penalties, plus the Larson snap 5 feet over Wilson’s head with the game on the line. What happened to him? I think he had 2 false starts. How can the center, who’s snapping the ball, false start? Did i have the numbers wrong or was it him?

    Tackling was bad, kick coverage was awful, penalties killed drives, but at least we didn’t lose to Tom Selleck. Seriously dude, shave the mustache.

  12. Alpha Wolf 09/26/2009 at 8:57 PM #

    We also got a fantastic finish that lots of people probably watched

    It’s a shame that the game was in the slums of ESPN-U. This was one that would have been great for the main ABC slot.

  13. doomsday2008 09/26/2009 at 9:06 PM #

    It’s amazing how in all honesty the offensive line is not the
    talk of the game in a bad way except for that play and the first
    half at the beginning. I thought to myself during those last 4
    plays the defense had to face, this is how we have to win it. This
    will be the stand to look back at some years from now that began it
    all. Backs to the wall and the O’Brien era officially begins its
    climb to the ACC Championship. 41-6 doesn’t show me the growth
    it takes for me but, those 4 plays sure did.

  14. PoppaJohn 09/26/2009 at 9:09 PM #

    I was most encouraged by the improvement as the game progressed. The coaches were coaching the players on how to correct mistakes – and they did get better, and the strategists were fine tuning on both sides of the ball. I think that speaks to both the players and the coaches.
    But I was terribly discouraged by the poor tackling and the stupid penalties. As has been stated earlier, this was game 4. That crap should be behind us to a great extent. Still plenty of room for improvement.

    If we see a better team next week, one that learned from its first win against a good team this year, I’ll feel like there is real possibility for this season.

    I’m a Wolfpack fan, it’s hard to get too excited this early.

  15. RegularExpression 09/26/2009 at 9:22 PM #

    The bad for the O-Line is 6 penalties, including 4 false starts, a holding and an ineligible man downfield. The good news is that Pitt’s D-Line, which was said to have pro prospects, couldn’t generate much rush and was gashed for over 200 yards rushing. Only when being blitzed did RW feel much pressure.

    And really, the way this game played out is probably right in TOB’s motivational wheelhouse. We won the game so the players get some confidence but there will be plenty of things to review on film to keep the team from getting too confident. Even keel, just the way TOB likes it.

  16. McPete 09/26/2009 at 9:36 PM #

    Yeah there was some good news about the o line, but they had way too many penalties. i don’t think anyone was injured today so hopefully they will continue to start the same 5.

    Pitt came into the game leading the ncaa in sacks, but i don’t think they had one.

    Brandon Bishop played well; the great thing about him is that he picked us over Pitt. sweet.

  17. VaWolf82 09/26/2009 at 10:13 PM #

    Big win for the Pack. I’m really glad that the offense I was projecting for this year showed up today.

    WF, Duke, and BC are the next three games before the bye week. State needs to win all three to have any chance at a special season.

  18. one00_proof 09/26/2009 at 10:19 PM #

    Seems the game also lit a recruiting fire for State.

    Fre’Shad Hunter, 4-star DT, committed after the game and there is word that Tyler Brosius, 3-star QB out of Waynesville, was at the game and has committed to the Pack as well. If this is true, might be exactly why QB recruiting has been so quiet for the past few months. This kid is EXACTLY what TOB needs, a tall big arm QB with a huge ceiling that will be a great compliment with Proctor.

  19. choppack1 09/26/2009 at 10:45 PM #

    I was really proud of the Wolfpack nation tonight. GREAT CROWD in less than ideal conditions.

    Gritty win for the Pack. We really tried to give this one away, but we pulled it out.

    Russell Wilson was just incredible. (I still think there was some other type of injury vs. USC.) Great to see Baker have a great game after all he’s been through.

    Terrell Manning had some good plays as well.

    Finally, I’m not sure our second string DL isn’t better than our first.

  20. inhoc... 09/26/2009 at 11:50 PM #

    does anyone have a link to some highlights? i was at the game and i wanna see some stuff over again. did the TD pass in the 2nd quarter really hit the ground? looked like he got his hands under it. the only thing i saw was the video on ESPN in the recap…

  21. SouthernWolf 09/27/2009 at 12:13 AM #

    Nobody is saying it but everybody is alluding to it, look we “tried” to give the game away tonight (well not literally tired but sure as hell made every mistake in the book including snapping the ball away to the other team up a touchdown and running all over them…) but one player got in the way RUSSELL WILSON. Russell Wilson walked on water tonight (and all over Pitt’s poor pathetic excuse of a defensive secondary) Russell easily could have had three to four more completions and at least 1 more TD if wide receivers make plays. But look the long and the short of it is that we have made progress. Progress that is evidenced in the pregame warm ups no less. I am a Junior now and have vigilantly watched nearly every game (and nearly every home game in person) of NC State football for the last three years. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the bottom line is that one can see plain as day that we are a bigger, faster, stronger, more athletic team just from watching the pregame warm ups over the last three years. And that fact is why my vote of confidence lies with TOB

  22. Zen Wolf 09/27/2009 at 12:28 AM #

    I too loved OB after the game. If you take away all the penalties we really were the better football team. Nobody has mentioned the special teams. What the crap was going off with our kick offs. I hope that our kicker had a pulled hammy or a groin problem because the puch kick offs were killing me. I was nervous because I thought this would be a field position game like the SC game. When we started getting killed on kick off returns and then the puch kick offs I though ohhh noooo. To be an elite team all three teams need to be elite. When we kick off I want to be thinking tackle him deep or get a turn over but tonight it was please dont run one back. Also I think TJ needs to set up his blockers a little better he was running up their backs too much except for the one he reversed fields. Also he was taken down once because their player took one of our blockers into TJ. Teams like VT, Wake and even FS will make us pay for that. I really think our defense is coming into their own. With the field position that Pitt had they should have scored more points..
    All in all we did well on offense and defense. We are getting better at both of those phases but to be an elite team which I know we can be we need to have top notch special teams as well.
    I think this was a pivitol game because we were able to come back and show heart. I was worried with the rain and how it started that it would be like the South Florida game last year..
    Good Job Wolf Pack.
    I live in LA and only make it back for one game a year but I was very proud of our crowd because the stadium looked full at the end of the game. At the begining of the second half I was scared that the Lunatic Frindge had gone home. Thanks for staying and yellin hard for the D at the end of the game. Even the announcers commented on how knowledgeable our crowd was. I was screaming from LA and I think they heard me.

  23. Zen Wolf 09/27/2009 at 12:41 AM #

    I would like to add that Baker might get a red shirt but more than likely he will play himself into the NFL this year. Eugene is a beast and should go pro easily but I cant wait to see Washington be the man. I think our linebackers and secondary will be one of the best in the next couple of years with Wolf, CJ, Bishop and Smith with linebackers Maddux, Manning and Cole. Cole needs to work on Speed but otherwise we look good. I think with Lemon and a few other boys we will be alright on the D line.

    . Also they showed Nate’s SUV during the game and all I can say is I am glad you are still alive Nate. I hope to see you on the field next year but more so I am thankful to still see him alive.

    Good Job Pack. Beat the Crap out of Wake.

  24. ncsufan13 09/27/2009 at 12:41 AM #

    “the bottom line is that one can see plain as day that we are a bigger, faster, stronger, more athletic team”

    The talent level definitely looks like it has risen, and TOB has done a very good job of making average rated recruits look great (along with picking up some stars). Execution is still plaguing us however. Slow starts might make for good TV when we win in a comeback, but taking the USC game for example it sealed a loss. Hopefully TOB can fix these issues and have both our offense and defense warmed up and ready for kickoff. The Special Teams though looked really bad, from the kicking to the cover teams. Considering that we were pretty much at rock bottom though before TOB came in, he has done an excellent job of providing a good structure to develop talented teams every year.

  25. SouthernWolf 09/27/2009 at 12:56 AM #

    special teams problem i think is long snapper…

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