State-GT Recap [2:30pm Update]

'10 Football General34

Here’s a quick recap of Saturday’s win over Georgia Tech and some of the things being said about the 4-0 Wolfpack.

From GoPack.com
Russell Wilson had a career-high performance:

Russell Wilson passed for a career-high 368 yards and three touchdowns and North Carolina State answered Georgia Tech’s fourth-quarter rally to beat the Yellow Jackets 45-28 on Saturday and remain unbeaten.

Thanks to poster Old13 in the comments below, Nate Irving named Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week.

Redshirt senior linebacker Nate Irving was named Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week today, as announced by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. A native of Wallace, N.C., Irving totaled a career-best 16 tackles, including 4.5 for loss and two sacks for 11 total yards, as NC State downed Georgia Tech, 45-28, on Saturday in Atlanta.

From CBSSports.com
By the Numbers: Week 4’s Best Performances

368: Career passing yards by N.C. State’s Russell Wilson in the 45-28 victory over Georgia Tech. Wilson completed 28 of 41 passes with three touchdowns as the Wolfpack improved to 4-0, their best start since winning their first nine games in 2002.

Can the Wolfpack make a run at the ACC title?

The Wolfpack have positioned themselves well in the ACC winning their first conference game, and they are also the only team in the ACC to be unbeaten in their overall record.

Unfortunately, the ACC is down this year with Boston College, UNC, and GT already losing conference games and Virginia Tech and Clemson both losing pivotal non-conference games.

That sets the Wolfpack up for a run at the ACC title if they can continue to play at this high level they are now.

From ESPN.com
Ivan Maisel says Russell Wilson is the reason State is 4-0.

1. NC State redshirt junior Russell Wilson is too short to play quarterback in the NFL. Besides, the Colorado Rockies already have dibs on him. Wilson will have to settle for being the quarterback whom defensive coordinators least like to see when they sit down on Sunday to watch the next opposing offense. Wilson proved against Georgia Tech that he doesn’t rattle, he knows when and where to get rid of the ball and he knows how to make plays. The Wolfpack are 4-0, and Wilson is the reason.

On ESPNU’s College Gameday Finale show, Lou Holtz gave Russell Wilson a helmet sticker for his performance, while Heather Dinich is impressed by the Pack:

NC State is one of the best teams in the ACC. The Wolfpack proved it by knocking off defending ACC champ Georgia Tech on its home field. NC State is the only undefeated team remaining in the ACC and should be ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. There are only two other teams pushing the Pack for the top spot in the conference, and that’s Miami and Clemson. Florida State has also turned the corner since its loss at Oklahoma, but the other teams have played better on the road against better competition.

Video Highlights

Lots of coverage by the N&O
Tom Sorenson calls Russell Wilson the ACC’s best player while describing him as scary:

N.C. State had the ball third-and-3 late in the second quarter. The best football player in the ACC took the snap, and the Georgia Tech rush came hard. Russell Wilson avoided tacklers, again, and found a receiver, again, and hit him for a first down, again.

Ken Tysiac notes the difference State’s special teams are making:

N.C. State’s punt return team is becoming a threat to opponents even though T.J. Graham doesn’t have a return of more than 15 yards yet this season.

For the second time in two games, the Wolfpack blocked a punt Saturday in a 45-28 defeat of Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Jarvis Williams picked up sophomore Asa Watson’s blocked punt at the 1-yard line and fell into the end zone for the first score of the game in the opening quarter.

Gameday Photos

From FanHouse
More about Russell Wilson being awesome.

Russell Wilson, also a two-sport standout and Rockies draftee, is shining as bright as any quarterback in the ACC right now and North Carolina State is off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2002.

From The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Postgame quotes by a seemingly-pleased TOB:

“It certainly was a good day for us, and I’m very happy for our football team. Everybody contributed to what we wanted to get done. We couldn’t have done this without a lot of effort on a lot of people’s parts.

Enjoy the impressive win yesterday and the 4-0 start, because next Saturday we have a very tough, yet winnable, game versus Virginia Tech (3:30, ABC). We can’t sleep on the Hokies because they lost to James Madison, they’ll come into a very hostile Carter-Finley ready to play, no question.

About LRM

Charter member of the Lunatic Fringe and a fan, loyal to a fault.

'10 Football General

34 Responses to State-GT Recap [2:30pm Update]

  1. Texpack 09/26/2010 at 8:35 PM #

    This team is very good to great on offense and average to above average at times on defense. That is a combination that should keep us in all of the games left on our schedule. I keep waiting for the total defensive collapse to occur, but it only happens for a few plays at a time. In fairness to the announcing crew yesterday, they did mention that RW was the All-ACC QB his freshman year. I thought they were very complimentary of him.

  2. blpack 09/26/2010 at 9:48 PM #

    Enjoy the win, but it is back to work tomorrow. VT is big time and will come in to Raleigh poised to win. We need to bring our A game and we will go to the winner’s circle again.

  3. RegularExpression 09/26/2010 at 10:02 PM #

    If Ivan Maisel thinks Russell Wilson is the reason we are 4-0 I don’t think he’s been paying attention to the last 2 years. RW has been consistently excellent the last 2 years but we haven’t been close to being this good. RW is the reason we weren’t 2-10 last year and our defense is the reason we wern’t 10-2.

    It does amaze me when announcers seem so surprised at how good Wilson is. Have they watched ANY game film?

  4. Packstrength90 09/26/2010 at 11:01 PM #

    It’s getting better and better to be a pack fan. I work with two VT grads and a GT grad. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and hope to be looking forward to another Monday this time next week. It’s also a ton of fun at the golf course seeing the UNC Grads.

    Just read my school of engineering mag. and Chancellor Woodson is going to be the best thing to happen to State since the beloved Jimmy V. stepped on campus.

    But it seems that a few companies are buying the P. Blue koolaid. Nationwide Insurance and AT&T evidently are proud sponsors of UNC athletics and sponsor UNC adds all over ESPN and other athletic based sites. So if you’re considering their services, please let them know your not interested because of their nefarious association. And if you’re giving them business – well there are other providers that would love to do business with the non unc crowd.

    You may have also received a pamphlet introducing the judges running for the state court of appeals. Each has a website and I urge all state fans to support the judges who didn’t get their law degree from UNC unless there is a profound reason not to. The judges who aren’t unc grads are (Ann Marie Calabria, Jane Gray, Rick Elmore). This may be an opportunity to actually do something to slow down the UNC love fest culture and get Bowls and his cronies off the BOG. So please share with those who are sympathetic to the cause.

  5. wolfpackbacker 09/26/2010 at 11:58 PM #

    Bloggers in every direction are discounting the Wolfpack’s accomplishments this season, citing VT as the “real” test to prove legitimacy. I can’t argue that VT will be a noteworthy challenge for our team and know that a Beamer coached team will show up requiring respect from a wise opponent. However, I disagree with the popular stance and poorly substantiated argument that NCSU has only beaten “high school” or “cupcake” or “not real” football teams. Looking back, I grant Western Carolina was a warm up. Every team gets one or two these days. Looking back at UCF’s season, it appears they have only been beaten by two teams that are each now 4-0. Those two teams are NCSU and Kansas State, the latter of which seems to be getting off to a good start, as well, and might be showing up in the polls soon. Kansas State only beat UCF by 4 points. NCSU beat UCF by 7, point being similar margins. UCF is a good football team.

    Moving on to Cincinatti. There was a lot of press recap post mortem about how bad they are, etc. Some of this hype was ironically argued based upon the fact that NCSU beat them so badly, as if NCSU could not beat badly a good football team. I would like to inform those critics of Cincinatti that they probably are not such a bad football team afterall. Cupcake or bad teams don’t play the No. 8 team in the nation, in this case Oklahoma, and almost beat them… only to lose by 2 points (week 4). In fact, one could argue that Cincy were one fumble away from winning the game. They almost overcame that fumble with an onside kick and still would have had a chance to win regardless of the fumble. Now, I am not saying Cincy is a rock star football team. However, I am saying they are a real football team and are no cupcake. They are not a high school team. Cincy is a good football team, and with Pitt looking really bad and WV taking a hit this past weekend Cincy can still do some damage in the Big East. Rutgers probably won’t knock it out of the park this year.

    That brings us to GT. Among UCF, Cincinnati, and GT, I would say GT is the weakest team, but a good one – at least. GT has a glaring weakness. It is one dimensional, and is so on the wrong side of the ball. Football games are won with defense, period. GT have an okay defense at best. Strikes one and two. Strike three is the offense becomes impotent when a defensive opponent strategizes and tactically executes to plan against their running attack. Good defenses can stop an option, which NCSU did. I say NCSU has played at least good defense in all of the games played this year. NCSU stopped the option and managed to score often on GT’s okay defense. That said, GT is a good football team.

    In summary, VT is an important game and winning momentum is important. However, let it be known that NCSU has beaten three good football teams that are not cupcakes, are real teams, and are not high school teams. None of those teams are any worse than expected simply because they were beaten by NCSU, perhaps quite the contrary (time will tell). NCSU won those games because of defensive execution to plan. They won the games based upon teamwork, not superstar talent in one or two positions. The effort has been very balanced, regardless of what the media says. We are bringing a TEAM to the field each week now, which is something that has not happened on our field in a while. Finally, Russell Wilson, Nate Irving, Audi Cole, and Terrell Manning are indeed stars, but each of them know that the receivers that caught the balls, the backs that blocked, the o linemen that blocked and pass protected, the d linemen that plugged holes allowing the backers to pursue, etc., are the reasons our TEAM has beaten three other good ones to date. There is no reason why VT can’t be beaten, as well. Respectfully, their weaknesses can be used against them. Our strengths can be leveraged against them. The Wolfpack can howl after victory. I graduated from NCSU and have been a fan my whole life. I am thankful that we now have a coach, including staff, that coaches teamwork… but most importantly holds himself, his staff, and his players accountable and responsible for their behaviors and contributions to the Wolfpack TEAM. No I in TEAM. Contributions to the TEAM are rewarded. Politically correct is weighted less than honesty. Honor and integrity are weighted more important than anything, and all manifests in sportsmanship that is outwardly visible. I am proud of my Wolfpack again and for that I am thankful to Tom O’Brien as our leader. WE LOVE OUR COACH! WE SUPPORT OUR COACH! HE HAS ALREADY EARNED IT! Let him know it, because we are very fortunate to have him and we need to keep him! I’ll stand behind these statements if we lose to VT and every other game subsequently this year.

  6. PackerInRussia 09/27/2010 at 1:31 AM #

    I knew that Colmer had been hurt before his freshman year, but was that considered a medical redshirt? Either way, it seems that the issue for getting the second redshirt was not what kind the first one was, but simply the fact that it would be his second. I could be wrong though. Is Nate not NFL-bound making this moot anyway?

  7. packalum44 09/27/2010 at 9:04 AM #

    Judge Ann Marie Calabria, a Cambell law school graduate, is a true Wolfpack fan – she had two children go to State. Not to mention she’s a hell of a person and talented judge.

  8. Sam92 09/27/2010 at 9:34 AM #

    yes – people are starting to notice the wolfpack. but i am not looking ahead, it’s all about beating virginia tech

    VT is a pretty good team, but i don’t think they are any better than GT. if we can minimize turnovers and hopefully avoid kicking situations, we can definitely beat them, and maybe should be favored.

  9. Classof89 09/27/2010 at 10:02 AM #

    ^
    We aren’t favored. We are a 3.5 point ‘dog. That’s exactly where I want them to be… we typically are not very good as a favored team.

    We have a lot of work left to do. VaTech is not nearly as bad as they looked against JMU, and were just about unanimously picked preseason as the best team in the ACC. And we have tough road games against Clemson and UNC to go also.

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