State Holds Off Terps, 38-31

'09 Football37

The Wolfpack finally broke back into the win column in Carter-Finley this afternoon holding off the Maryland Terrapins, 38-31, in an ‘epic’ shootout for last place in the ACC Atlantic Division.

It was another game decided by trying to outscore the opponent, as State’s depleted and hapless defense once again struggled to keep the opposition off of the field. But the defense was not helped by offensive turnovers and special teams miscures.

Russell Wilson was 25-for-38 for 343 yards and threw for three touchdowns while running for another. The Pack stalwart overcame a career-worst three interceptions with touchdown tosses of 17 yards to George Bryan, 35 yards to Donald Bowens and 18 yards to Darrell Davis. Wilson and Jamelle Eugene each had 2-yard scoring runs.

But, all was not perfect for the Wolfpack who could not seem to pull away from the Terps despite multiple opportunities. In the N&O’s entry discussing State finally having a reason to celebrate, they share the following:

The Wolfpack (4-5, 1-4 ACC) still made plenty of mistakes against Maryland. Wilson threw three interceptions, including one that Alex Wujciak returned 70 yards for a touchdown.

N.C. State’s wide receivers dropped three passes that should have been caught for touchdowns. Donald Bowens fumbled a punt, and the Wolfpack kickoff coverage team couldn’t stop Torrey Smith on an 82-yard return for a touchdown.

But winning, finally, was cause for celebration.

“We certainly don’t do anything easy,” O’Brien said. “That’s a heck of a win for our football team to hang in there.”

Next up for the Pack is a home date with the Clemson Tigers, followed by a road trip to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech, before concluding their season against UNC-CH back in Carter-Finley.

'09 Football

37 Responses to State Holds Off Terps, 38-31

  1. Alpha Wolf 11/08/2009 at 9:34 PM #

    I think that State will be a better team next year, and I hope it is good enough to meet our hopes and expectations.

    While I do not blame the coaches for everything that has gone wrong, I do believe that it is a fool’s errand to claim with a straight face that they have no culpability whatsoever for the year.

  2. DaWolfofGC 11/08/2009 at 10:57 PM #

    State lands a HUGE commit is S David Amerson. With the way our defensive backfield has performed this year, Amersom may see EARLY playing time.

  3. rtpack24 11/09/2009 at 2:22 PM #

    Special teams have been bad since the first game and have not improved. Numerous times they are lined up wrong and one game I attended they only had 10 people on the field to kick an extra point and the 11th came running out late but they did get the point without a penalty. It will be interesting to see if there are any staff changes after the end of the season

  4. hsram2000 11/09/2009 at 3:02 PM #

    Yes the win was good, all wins are good. The question I have is does anyone think Mike Archer should return next year?

  5. coach13 11/09/2009 at 3:09 PM #

    While I agree no bowl is warranted…the ONLY reason I would like to make a bowl (though I think the chances are slim and none) is for recruiting purposes. We did sign a 4 star Safety, debating between NCSU and Notre Dame. We beat Md, they lost to Navy. PLUS he probably noticed there was a good chance he could step in and start.

  6. Sam92 11/09/2009 at 5:13 PM #

    what the heck – a win feels great!

    and hope springs eternal. i guess everybody, except maryland, is better than us, but why not — i think clemson is beatable. they are a little better than us, but we’ve got them at home, and TOB’s teams seem to come on strong at the end of the season

    so, yea, pack over tigers in a squeaker!

  7. ncsufan13 11/09/2009 at 6:10 PM #

    Winning an ACC game was nice and all but that certainly doesn’t make me think that we won’t receive our yearly beating from Clemson next week.

  8. Wufpacker 11/10/2009 at 3:37 AM #

    You know, after having some time to digest Saturday’s game, and thinking back over the past several weeks, I am now of the conclusion that this team still controls its own destiny and can, if they really want it and want to put forth the necessary effort, win out and become eligible for the post season.

    The biggest problem of course, and the reason we are not only UNlikely to run the table, but way more likely to LOSE out, is our penchant for giving up points. In our 7 FBS games we’ve given up an average of 35 points per game, and that’s INCLUDING only giving up 7 to SC in the opening week, which I still look at that game, the score, and what the 2 teams have done since and say WTF? If we remove the SC game (for whatever reason – just because I can) the avg pts/game given up jumps to nearly 40. And, if we look at just the last 4 games (Duke, BC, FSU, MD) the avg given up jumps to more than 44 pts/game. You might again say this is an arbitrary period to look at, and perhaps it is. But what it shows me is that our defense is getting worse…and arguably against worse competition.

    And I know the defense didn’t give up all those points. Turnovers and special teams were responsible for some, but I’m too lazy to go thru and pick them out for each game and do the stats correctly. But even still, in all honesty it is this fact, especially considering the MD game (I believe only 17 points were on the defense against MD) that gives me a glimmer of hope, though only a glimmer. If the offense can dial down on turnovers, and in all honesty since the streak ended Russell Wilson has been anything but stingy in dishing out the picks, and still continue to produce yardage and points the way they have most of the season, and if the defense can put forth even a respectable effort and play smart (no giving up big plays, play smart on 3rd down – don’t line up 10 yards off receivers when its 3rd and 3, etc), and if the special teams can tighten up and not fumble punt returns (or let it hit them in the ass while running in the other direction) and not give up (too many) big kick returns for the next three weeks…then who knows?

    All 3 of our upcoming opponents are good teams. But they’ve all had WTF moments this season, and all 3 are beatable. We have 2 of them at home. It will call for exceptional effort and execution on both sides of the ball, but its not insurmountable. Nor would it be the first time a TOB coached NC State team has emerged from a miserable October only to shine in November.

    I know its a long shot and frankly I’m not expecting it to happen. But only a few short days ago I had abandoned all hope, not just for the rest of this year but for the foreseeable future as well. Now I at least have some hope, however slim it might be. And looking forward with hope, even if it is misguided, seems better somehow.

  9. 61Packer 11/10/2009 at 9:16 AM #

    “All 3 of our upcoming opponents are good teams. But they’ve all had WTF moments this season.”

    Well, we’ve had a WTF season. Do the math.

  10. GoldenChain 11/10/2009 at 10:55 AM #

    Talk about kicking the ball to Spiller, am I the only one who thinks we must have the worst kicker in D1 football?!
    The squib kicks all mean he can’t kick the ball past the 20ydl.
    Might as well kick it OB because Spiller ona short field will certainly go further.

  11. Alpha Wolf 11/10/2009 at 3:58 PM #

    ^ That is one glaring weakness this year: special teams.

  12. Wufpacker 11/12/2009 at 3:02 AM #

    “Well, we’ve had a WTF season. Do the math.”

    Certainly we have. And despite having a glimmer of hope I am also a realist and I have done “the math.” That’s why I stated that while I thought we COULD run the table and win out, I felt it much more likely that we would “lose out”.

    Frankly, I’ll be encouraged if we can eliminate (or at least improve upon) the shortcomings we’ve displayed so far this season and play good fundamental football. If we do that, win or lose, at least it will be a step in the right direction and creates a foundation upon which experience and hopefully improvement can be built for next year’s team.

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