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. PapaJohn 09/26/2010 at 12:45 PM #

    Great aggregation of the game reporting.
    I’m surprised, but they are looking like we’ve expected all along from a TOB team.
    Go Pack! Win a couple more and we’ll go bowling!

  2. tractor57 09/26/2010 at 12:48 PM #

    Just as they weren’t as bad as forecast before the season they may not be as good as the current hype. They are MUCH improved over last year and yes there is potential for a special season.

    All that said there is another game next week. I like their chances but they (the players and the staff) must do the work. I feel a different attitude this year – maybe a year’s added experience for the key players, less injuries, maybe the addition to the staff, maybe players more in the mold for the O’Brien type team, maybe I’m just hoping that is true.

  3. old13 09/26/2010 at 12:55 PM #

    Nate named Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week

    http://www.gopack.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/092610aab.html

  4. Gowolves 09/26/2010 at 1:23 PM #

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/polls/ap/

    The Pack has cracked the top 25. Number 23 is about what I expected. Just hope TOB doesn’t let it go their heads

  5. Plz2BStateFan 09/26/2010 at 1:24 PM #

    This is the first true tob team in terms of starters i believe. Wonder how much that has to do with the attitude of he team.

  6. tuckerdorm1983 09/26/2010 at 1:25 PM #

    23rd in the AP,

    Can anybody tell me the last time we were in the top 25?

  7. gtspack 09/26/2010 at 1:29 PM #

    Up until yesterday Nate hasn’t been up to his old form. I hope he is back to his oldself for good, but if not can he get a double redshirt to help improve his stock for the NFL. I’ve never understood how that works. I think it has to be approved by the NCAA. How great would that be to have Nate the Great for another year.

  8. zahadum 09/26/2010 at 2:16 PM #

    Something I hope one of you can explain for me. In looking at the box score, I see that Russell Wilson was credited with completing a 23 yd. pass to himself. Now he was sure having a great day, but that seems a bit much even for him. So was that a typo or did I miss a really weird play?

  9. Wufpacker 09/26/2010 at 2:28 PM #

    ^ That can happen when a pass is batted at the line right back to the QB who then scrambles for a gain, but I don’t remember that happening yesterday.

    Anyone else?

  10. Mike 09/26/2010 at 2:29 PM #

    It was interesting to hear the announcers – they were heaping tons of praise on RW, yet acting like it was all new for him. Evidently they have not seen him the past 2 years, but we expect that from him. It is finally nice to see some positive comments and the fact that opposing defenses dont want to see him.

  11. Mike 09/26/2010 at 2:29 PM #

    zahad, that had to be a typo. No doubt that came from Annabelle.

  12. tjfoose1 09/26/2010 at 2:58 PM #

    “…but if not can he get a double redshirt to help improve his stock for the NFL.”

    I’m not positive, but I don’t think medical hardship redshirts are available to players who have already burned a voluntary redshirt. Nate redshirted his first year on campus.

  13. PackerInRussia 09/26/2010 at 3:09 PM #

    I remember TOB’s comments after the Pitt game last year after what seemed like a very good win early in the season. His comments after this win are very different. As it turned out last season, he was right that the team wasn’t that good (taken as a whole). Let’s hope that his praise this year is an indication of good things to come.

  14. PackerInRussia 09/26/2010 at 3:12 PM #

    ^^Chris Colmer??

  15. old13 09/26/2010 at 3:13 PM #

    “This is the first true tob team in terms of starters i believe. Wonder how much that has to do with the attitude of he team.”

    Not really. True seniors and RS juniors are from the transition class. RS seniors are CTCs. Juniors and younger are true TOB recruits.

  16. Gene 09/26/2010 at 3:19 PM #

    “It was interesting to hear the announcers – they were heaping tons of praise on RW, yet acting like it was all new for him. Evidently they have not seen him the past 2 years, but we expect that from him. ”

    Yeah, I think the announcers aren’t doing their homework. Wilson was first team All-ACC as a red-shirt sophomore. He’s been good, ever since he became a starter.

  17. LRM 09/26/2010 at 3:24 PM #

    Gene, I think you meant redshirt freshman.

    His numbers last year — minus the interceptions — were an improvement, and he was a better QB than Nesbitt, who got all the praise (understandable for guiding the ACC Champs).

  18. gtspack 09/26/2010 at 4:12 PM #

    [Chris Colmer] Thanks PackerInRussia. I knew we a player who had just recently gotten a double redshirt. I think Chris’s first year he sat out just to get bigger,stronger and learn the system. I don’t know but it’s encouraging to think that Nate could come back for another year.

  19. tjfoose1 09/26/2010 at 4:23 PM #

    Colmer redshirted his freshman year, true, but that was after an injury and shoulder surgery that fall.

  20. ADVENTUROO 09/26/2010 at 4:29 PM #

    NUMBER 23 in the AP Poll….First time since PR was throwing the ball….

    GREAT START.

    Agree with comments about TOB’s post game interview. I personally did NOT like the Pittsburgh comments last year and felt that he would have retracted them or at least apologized to the team. It almost seemed that he took away all their motivation and they lived up to his prophecy.

    He ACTUALLY had some emotion in his voice after the game. We turned off the TV and listened and he actually showed a little emotion and excitement….

    Let’s hope that he is justified in his comments and the team will respond against VT.

  21. wolf_at_my_door 09/26/2010 at 4:40 PM #

    Gowolves said: Just hope TOB doesn’t let it go their heads

    **********************************************************************

    I don’t think he will. Remember last year he threw the team under the bus after the hard fought VICTORY over Pitt.

    He’ll have them ready for Va Tech.

    GO PACK!!

  22. waxhaw 09/26/2010 at 5:48 PM #

    Things looked pretty good after Pitt last year.
    Things have looked good pre-season a couple of times the last few years.

    Don’t buy into the hype boys. The ACC is wide open but we have to take it one game at a time. Remember how it felt to sit home the last few year and stay hungry and focused. We can beat or lose to every team left on our schedule.

  23. tractor57 09/26/2010 at 6:01 PM #

    I’m positive this team is a better team that last year’s. The MOST important game of the season (other than beating the baby blues) is the next one, then the next one, etc.

    If the team keeps the Valvano thinking they can do special things.

  24. tuckerdorm1983 09/26/2010 at 6:35 PM #

    the most important game is the next one and when we play it the most important game is the next one. 4 down 8 to go then 1 for the acc champs and then 1 for the whole ball of wax

  25. rtpack24 09/26/2010 at 8:23 PM #

    Our running game is great however I think it is obivious that Green is the starter. He is the best all round back that we have had in years.

1 2

Leave a Reply