NC State 28, UNC 27 (Updated at 9:45am)

'09 Football67

With 16 scholarship players out and two more defensive starters hurt during the game, the Wolfpack looked like longer shots than the oddsmakers’ mere touchdown. – WSJ.com

The Houston Texans' Mario Williams shows his Wolfpack pride in a 'Tweet' on Saturday afternoon

The Houston Texans' Mario Williams shows his Wolfpack pride in a 'Tweet' on Saturday afternoon

ESPN2’s Todd McShay and Robert Smith had nice things to say about the Wolfpack and the win in their post-game comments…and, I appreciate them focusing on the winners today as opposed to the losers.

 

Our Message Forums some great commentary and the post game comments started flowing on page 9 of this thread.

Heather Dinich called this a great win for us.

NC State coach Tom O’Brien threw both of his hands in the air in celebration. He even added a fist pump and a smile.

That’s more emotion than O’Brien typically shows in an entire season, and it was a longtime coming.

After a disasterous, injury-laden season that was made even worse this past week by the news that NC State offensive coordinator Dana Bible was diagnosed with leukemia, NC State finally had something to celebrate with its 28-27 win over rival North Carolina. For the third straight year, the Pack got the upper hand in this rivalry. UNC lost its chance at a better bowl game, but NC State gained pride, bragging rights, and a sense of accomplishment in their final game of the regular season.

 

This is a good article from Brett Friedlander in Wilmington.

That’s the way it usually goes for State against the dreaded Tar Heels these days. No matter how bad the situation might look at the start, everything always seems to work out at the end.

In this case, a disappointing season full of injuries, lopsided losses and unfilled expectations ended in the best way possible as the Wolfpack rallied from an early 10-point deficit to beat UNC for the third straight year.

“I don’t know who scheduled this game last,” State coach Tom O’Brien said, referring to his initial opposition to moving the traditional rivalry to the end of the season. “But I’m kind of happy about it now.”

Happiness isn’t something that has abounded around the Wolfpack program for the past six months.

The downward slide began last summer when star linebacker Nate Irving apparently fell asleep behind the wheel and nearly killed himself in a one-car accident on Interstate 40. It continued with a deflating opening- night loss to South Carolina and a string of injuries that left more than a dozen players on the sideline with season-ending injuries.

Then came the defensive meltdown that led to six losses in seven games and ended whatever hopes State (5-7) had of making its second straight bowl trip.

But all that was forgotten Saturday, at least until the party on Hillsborough Street finally begins to wind down Sunday morning.

Love the melt down amongst Carolina’s fans.

heelatious23 who has been around long enough to have 4264 posts:

Absolutely true. Butch can talk all this national program BS he wants, but if he can’t take care of those sorry bastards in Rawlee, then 8-4 is the best we will ever do. Thanks for nothing Butch.

Another poster said:

What a perfect ending to an absolultely miserable, pathetic and embarrasing performance by the Heels. I can’t wait to hear how BD explains this in his post game. He should just say we were terrible, I coached a terrible game, John Shoop is fired and I’m going to do everything in my power to fix the schedule so we never have to play State again because they own us and as long as I’m coaching I will never be able to beat TOB because he has the best program in the state and proves it every year. PS I’m sorry to all the Tar Heel fans for the embarrasment I have caused you and when we get back to Chapel Hill everybody is going to run wind sprints until they need to be hospitalized including our coaching staff!!

KingofTarHeels05:

I am going to love to hear what Butch Davis says about this game, as we were winning up until the 4th quarter. We had bad play on defense compared to how they were all season long. TJ was lights out in the first half but it is pretty fitting he throws a pick to end the game. I literally was saying, anything but throw a pick, anything but throw a pick. This loss hurts more than any of the others this year. TOB owns Butch Davis, and another year we have to hear about it.

Another poster with over 1,500 posts said:

UNC fans deserve 2+M worth of answers. This was embarrassing to watch. Don’t call Yates any direct names…on my other sign-on, the mod police banned me for calling Yates a name that began with an M, ending with an N and has five letters.

Others of interest…

If somebody comes after Butch, let his *** go! What a waste

Coach, you better figure out this freaking game! And if you can’t get a better QB than Yates, then you will never do anything at UNC. 8-4 sucks.

If things don’t change then you’ll be saying this same thing for the next five years. This team needs some changes to the staff plain and simple.

Holy crap! on Twitpic (Click for clearer image)

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

'09 Football

67 Responses to NC State 28, UNC 27 (Updated at 9:45am)

  1. gotohe11carolina 11/29/2009 at 9:29 AM #

    i bet butch feels like he’s in a day-tight compartment right about now…

    great win, feels good, go b-ball

  2. TheCOWDOG 11/29/2009 at 10:15 AM #

    I’m embarassed to admit it, but I spent the better part of the week offering my tix for sale. Just didn’t want to face the beatdown that I saw coming.

    I had plenty of UNX takers, but would not even consider them, well, there was one buddy that I nearly caved into with the comprimise that he and whomever he went with deck out in red. In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

    Somewhere around friday noon, I started to loathe my attitude. The Mrs. and I would go.

    The tailgating was, as usual, fabulous. The expectations for the game was low, but not morose. We were all prepared to just suck it up.

    At the break with the score 24-14, and the D looking like their seasonal selves, I said, ” Hey. We’re only down ten.” No takers. Just like the tickets.

    I wish to thank the boys for a great evening of celebration that this ol’ Wolfcracker probably did not deserve, but enjoyed tremendously.

  3. 4in12 11/29/2009 at 11:57 AM #

    It appeared to me that the game turned on the drive were UNC committed the unsportsmanlike and two pass interference penalties. UNC was trash talking like CTC was their coach. They were almost out of control. When we scored, our guys were smiling and laughing – they were lose. Carolina tightened up and started playing to not lose. We started having fun. I think that win is attributable to the discipline that TOB has instilled. Our guys didn’t respond in kind to the trash talk and the cheap shots. They got pissed-off and and won the game.

    It also appeared that we actually made halftime adjustments.

  4. packalum44 11/29/2009 at 12:16 PM #

    Nice win to ease the pain of a dissapointing season. Too early to bitch about the 4th game of the season with poor clock management???

  5. Dogbreath 11/29/2009 at 12:27 PM #

    Would appreciate any reports of Wal Mart cashiers talking trash prior to and/or after the game. I am in Florida and have to deal with the similarly obnoxious “Gator fan.”

  6. Dr. BadgerPack 11/29/2009 at 1:20 PM #

    Dogbreath- I feel ya…. I live in Gainesville. The only chance I ever had at talking trash here was up 10 at the half in basketball last year. Fortunately, I was smart enough to know better and kept quiet.

    I will admit I do occasionally pull for Florida, as 1, they sign a nice paycheck and 2, I get decent complimentary tickets from time to time. But NC State is always #1 and Wisconsin is 1b.

  7. inhoc... 11/29/2009 at 2:03 PM #

    does anyone know the injury report as of yet, jarvis byrd particularly?

  8. PackerInRussia 11/29/2009 at 4:30 PM #

    Thanks for the video.

  9. whitefang 11/29/2009 at 5:30 PM #

    Another thanks for the video. Was on a bird hunting trip yesterday and got back to the truck in time to hear the Woody Durham postgame on the radio. I love to listen to Woody Durham after we beat the Tar Babies.

  10. MrPlywood 11/29/2009 at 8:00 PM #

    Beating Carolina is the gift that keeps on giving. After losing on the field, the UNX fans continue wringing the hands, gnashing the teeth, rehashing and rationalizing on the message boards until they are baby-blue in the face. I love it. The usual suspects include the “that was State’s bowl game” (fair enough – and State won), “UNX has higher goals than beating State” (might want to beat your cross-town rival before you go for the NC), “we finished with 8 wins for the 2nd straight year” (and you could have had 9), “we’re in the top 25” (ummm, not anymore)… and on and on. It was like shooting rams in a barn…

  11. NCSU88 11/29/2009 at 8:57 PM #

    I just watched the condensed version of the game. (I watched the whole thing on TV, but admittedly was in head shaking fits of rage after UNC’s touchdowns. How fitting to end the game with an interception. Yates’ gestures after his TD passes were just plain obnoxious and made him out to be a real ass. Compare that to RW’s celebrations with his team. Humility and class go a long way.

  12. NCSU88 11/29/2009 at 8:58 PM #

    I just watched the condensed version of the game. (I watched the whole thing on TV, but admittedly was in head shaking fits of rage after UNC’s touchdowns.) How fitting to end the game with an interception. Yates’ gestures after his TD passes were just plain obnoxious and made him out to be a real ass. Compare that to RW’s celebrations with his team. Humility and class go a long way.

  13. Alpha Wolf 11/30/2009 at 9:01 AM #

    In fairness, didn’t PR#17 demonstrate a bit after he tossed a TD pass?

  14. StateofthePack 11/30/2009 at 10:25 AM #

    I had a different take on the whole Yates td demonstrations. To me anyway, it looked like he was motioning to the unc section down in the south endzone. I thought he was jestering to them to get up and get excited. I would be the last person to take up for obnoxious on the field shenanigans but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Little’s crap was a whole different story though… If I was in red it would have been difficult to see him do that to Byrd and not stick up for my teammate.

  15. choppack1 11/30/2009 at 10:33 AM #

    Alpha – philip rivers definitely did.

    Of course, Rivers was/is pretty special. I don’t really have a problem w/ what TJ did. Little and Brown – that’s an entirely different story.

  16. Pack Mentality 11/30/2009 at 10:37 AM #

    Alpha – I agree with the previous 2 posters. PR definitely did some stuff that would piss the Carolina crowd off. TJ Yates did some stuff that pisses us off. But I don’t believe that either one of them crossed any line of common decency. But to trash talk in right to someone’s face in such a thug manner like Little did is different than just possibly being a A-hole after throwing a TD pass.

  17. Sam92 11/30/2009 at 10:38 AM #

    ok, on the whole this season hurt pretty bad

    but beating carolina sure is a lot better then losing to them

    good job TOB, now just get us some improvement next year

1 2 3

Leave a Reply