Russell Wilson breaks NCAA record in another Wolfpack offensive explosion

'09 Football21
  • Russell Wilson has now attempted 329 consecutive passes without throwing an interception breating the record of 325 previously held by Kentucky’s Andre Woodson. I’d say it was a good move by Coach O’Brien to get ther record done this week so that the Wolfpack’s exclusive focus can be on Pitt this week.

 

  • Speaking of Coach O’Brien, NC State’s current 2-1 record marks the first time in Coach O’Brien’s tenure in Raleigh that the Wolfpack has a record greater than .500.

 

  • It’s nice to have Toney Baker given the opportunity to get some statistics and score some touchdowns.

 

  • One observation that I haven’t seen yet is the relative emergence of TJ Graham.  We have a tendancy to presume that TJ is going to be a good to great receiver withouth him having done much in the passing game to this point in his career.  The G-W game may have represented a stepping point for TJ as a wide receiver, particularly in the absence of Owen Spencer after his injury.

By far the biggest issue of the night was injuries! Last week, we discussed the most important items for Pack heading into the game. Unfortuately, we now have THREE MORE STARTERS (and another contributor) on the injured list than we had the monring after the Murray State game. This is discussed in detail by ACCNow.

Things in the training room don’t look quite as good for N.C. State, though, as its schedule is about to get more difficult.

At both cornerback and wide receiver, the Wolfpack returned a key player from injury and lost a player because of injury Saturday. Owen Spencer, who led N.C. State in receptions in 2008, suffered a concussion after coming down on his head trying to make an acrobatic catch at the goal line in the second quarter.

Freshman Rashard Smith, who’s started the last two games at cornerback, left with a sprained ankle in the first half and did not return. Their departures removed some of the luster from the returns in reserve roles of 2008 cornerback starter DeAndre Morgan and wideout Donald Bowens, who hasn’t played since leading N.C. State in receiving yards in 2007.

This post by WRAL highlights some key talking points from the game.

N&O Gallery is at this link.

N&O First Look is at this link.

Photo courtesy of News & Observer/Ethan Hyman

Photo courtesy of News & Observer/Ethan Hyman

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

21 Responses to Russell Wilson breaks NCAA record in another Wolfpack offensive explosion

  1. Sw0rdf1sh 09/20/2009 at 11:53 AM #

    Losing Smith for Pitt could hurt as he has played very well this year….talent level the last two games aside. More importantly in my eyes would be to get our starting OL back in place. Not that we have played horribly there with who has been in, I just feel we need to really try to have the best in their to run the ball against Pitt.

    Glennon did not play bad in my opinion and obviously the stats look similar. That snap really put his drive in the crapper and notched an easy sack for someone. Now that these last two games have been played, I can’t say I’m really thrilled with how much he got the ball….but agree last night having Wilson in to get the streak over helps on the focus.

  2. Alpha Wolf 09/20/2009 at 11:56 AM #

    From the accounts I read in the paper this morning, it didn’t sound like breaking the record was all that big a deal to #16.

    He was like, ‘On to the next play,’ ” N.C. State offensive tackle Jeraill McCuller said

    While I am sure he was justifiably proud of his achievement, and his friends and family even more so, this is exactly the sort of leadership that one expects from a quarterback and a man like Russell Wilson.

  3. BJD95 09/20/2009 at 12:30 PM #

    Listening to the post-game show on the way home, it struck me just how much Russell Wilson sounds like Tom O’Brien. The QB has become the perfect extension of his coach. With his level of intelligence, maturity, and judgment, I’m not at all surprised.

  4. StateFans 09/20/2009 at 1:42 PM #

    Like sword, I am most hopeful/concerned/interested in having the starting offensive line in place for Pitt. If we can get Williams and Vermiglio back then that would be the most positive hit. As good as Smith has been, getting DeAndre back helps a lot there. And, I have to expect that Clem Johnson will also be back. That would be about all we could ask for.

  5. McPete 09/20/2009 at 1:56 PM #

    TOB was quoted post-game as saying that he thinks the team is passed the flu bug. He implied many more players had it this past week, including George Bryan. My guess is that Williams and Smith got it last so that’s why they missed the game. I would expect them to play.

    Clem Johnson and Vermiglio are needed badly. Pitt’s D has gotten something like 14 sacks already and i don’t feel good about having a bunch of freshman starting on the line.

  6. GAWolf 09/20/2009 at 2:01 PM #

    Spencer should be back pretty quickly, correct? Any word on whether Smith’s ankle sprain was of the good (low) or bad (high) variety?

  7. McPete 09/20/2009 at 2:23 PM #

    GAwolf,
    i was behind the endzone where Spencer fell. It looked pretty bad. His legs were flailing and he was writhing in pain for several minutes. Has it been confirmed that the only injury was a concussion? He landed hard on that shoulder.

  8. bradleyb123 09/20/2009 at 2:40 PM #

    It makes me a little nervous that we gave up four sacks to this team. I hope that’s only because we had so many snaps on offense, that they had that many more opportunities, and got to us a few times. I don’t like that we gave up four sacks to a glorified high school team like G-W.

  9. bradleyb123 09/20/2009 at 2:42 PM #

    McPete, all I’ve read anywhere is that it is a concussion. Hopefully not TOO nasty of a concussion. We don’t need to lose a potential big playmaker like Spencer for the rest of the season.

  10. StateofthePack 09/20/2009 at 3:05 PM #

    Hopefully two years from now our depth will be much better than it is at the current time. It already is much better this year than O’brien’s first two seasons. It sure would be nice to be rid of that whole snake bit mentality in regards to injuries. State’s injury wave the past few years does make one shake the head, even from yesterday: Get a receiver back in the fold, lose one to concussion/shoulder; gain one experienced cb back into the depth chart, lose the freshman to injury who took his place to begin with. Somebody needs to bust out the live chickens and tell Jobu to get lost.

  11. b 09/20/2009 at 3:52 PM #

    Bowens looked better than I thought he would in his limited action, great to have him back. Hopefully he can regain most of his form by the heart of the conference schedule. I get the sense that a lot of the OFG injuries for the G-W game were of the nicked up variety and I expect the O-line starters and Rieskamp, Eugene and Johnson to play this week. Anybody heard anything new about Walker?

    I also agree with the sentiment that Russell dropped back so much in these two games not only to get his rhythm back but to get the record out of the way. I would have preferred getting the runnning game going a little stronger, but can’t argue too much with the results. No need to give Pitt anymore incentive.

  12. john of sparta 09/20/2009 at 10:33 PM #

    ok.
    here it is.
    bottom line: everyone else sucks, too.
    the BCS fails so bad, that we look good.
    yes…i will take that.
    oh, will take that.

  13. GAWolf 09/21/2009 at 8:14 AM #

    Last night I was thinking… dangerous… about Wilson’s record. It’s even more impressive if you consider the stint during which it occurred: redshirt freshman and sophomore years. It’s even MORE impressive if you consider the stint it followed… perhaps the longest most disastrous period of quarterback play in NC State history. During that time we would have killed for a quarterback who simply took care of the ball and did not single-handedly sink the ship game in and game out. NC State fans are always left with cans of ifs and buts and almost Merry Christmases, but we sure could have used a Russell Wilson type QB with some of those truly great D’s.

  14. choppack1 09/21/2009 at 9:45 AM #

    GAWolf – I don’t even like to think about that.

    As for Wilson – there’s a reason we’ve been in all but one game in the last 3 or 4 minutes that he’s completed…He simply doesn’t give games away. A QB who makes great decision AND moves his team is worth his weight in gold.

    I wasn’t at the game Saturday, how did Wilson look more explosive than he did vs. USC?

  15. packplantpath 09/21/2009 at 10:11 AM #

    Explosive….No, but then again, he was really able to just sit back and wait most of the time, since the GW defense was largely over matched. I do remember one play where it seemed like he was caught relatively easy from behind by a pretty big/slow guy, but that was all. There is still a noticeable cringe throughout the crowd every time he takes a hit.

  16. choppack1 09/21/2009 at 10:38 AM #

    Thanks packplant – I’m really wondering what’s driving this.

    When I was watching him run vs. USC it really looked like a hamstring injury – not a bad knee.

    Last year, he wasn’t really tracked down by DLs…

  17. GAWolf 09/21/2009 at 10:56 AM #

    There’s a difference between running forward with the ball tucked and head down and drifting out of the pocket scanning the field with the ball cocked. I hope that has something to do with it.

  18. GAWolf 09/21/2009 at 11:08 AM #

    I talked to someone who was at the game today and he said G-W blitzed what seemed like every play. Hopefully that has something to do with the sacks as well. If that is true, and what PackPlant said is true… he was staying in the pocket a lot… it would make sense that some sacks would occur and if he broke late he might get tracked down.

  19. rtpack24 09/21/2009 at 2:25 PM #

    G-W blitzes almost every down. Their defense has 10 starters from last year and they lost to Ga.Tech 10-7. Hopefully we get alot more healthy before next Sat. We have had numerous players miss practice because of the flu. The Pitt game is a golden opportunity for a solid ooc win for us.

  20. McPete 09/21/2009 at 2:26 PM #

    I was at the game and GW blitzed constantly. The O line picked them up 90% of the time. RW didn’t look to run more than 2-3 times all game. He stayed in the pocket and found WIDE open receivers because of the blitzes. The last two overmatched opponents have tried to blitz alot and both failed miserably. But if they didn’t then State would have run all over them. Pick your poison.

    I am nervously anxious for the Pitt game. They have dominated both lines of scrimmage against opponents so far. Might not be able to run on them much.

  21. Greywolf 09/23/2009 at 12:40 AM #

    “There’s a difference between running forward with the ball tucked and head down and drifting out of the pocket scanning the field with the ball cocked.”

    Bible is working with Wilson reading his progressions as GAWolf indicates above. That could also be the source of multiple sacks.

    G-W in essence scored on the scout squad. TOB also is not the kind to run up the score on someone or try to embarrass them.

    We’ll see a faster RW running against Pitt I beleive.

Leave a Reply