State beats Wake 38-3 (updated 12:30pm with Video)

'10 Football24

12:30pm Sunday update:
The following video is from WRAL.com. Check out Nate’s monster “tackle” around 0:25 (thanks to SFN member mikeD for linking to it on this thread in the SFN Forums).

State responded to its disheartening loss to Clemson with a hearty Homecoming/Senior Day 38-3 thumping of Wake Forest today. With the win, State still remains in control of its own destiny, with two games remaining, at Carolina and then at Maryland. It’s simple: win two and we’ll get a rematch against a Virginia Tech team that most of us feel we should’ve beaten back in October; win three and we’ll play in Miami January 3rd.

Russell Wilson completed 24-of-35 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns, with only a single interception (which in the situation, 4th-and-9 on Wake’s 35, was intercepted at the Wake 15 and turned out as good as a pooch punt); he also ran for two more touchdowns.

It was a record-breaking day for the Pack. With the four touchdowns, Wilson moves into second place all-time in the ACC for combined rushing and passing touchdowns, behind some guy you may remember that wore 17 for the Pack. Also, Nate Irving had eight tackles for loss, which gives him the single-game NC State record over former NFL #1 pick, Mario Williams.

What folks are saying:

GoPack.com
Box Score
Postgame Notes
Photo Gallery

Tim Peeler:

Fans who attended Saturday’s NC State-Wake Forest football game donated approximately 5,000 toys and a total of $23,500 in cash to the U.S. Marine Reserves Toys for Tots program. Added to the $500 Coca-Cola donated for every touchdown the Wolfpack scored this season in its first 10 games, and the program raised an all-time record of $47,500 in cash donations, which will be used in the annual shopping spree in December to purchase toys for the holidays of Triangle-area children

[Snip]

NC State head football coach Tom O’Brien talked all week about the rare opportunity his team had Saturday against Wake Forest: a second chance to shape its fate in the ACC football race….

Saturday, in front of a Homecoming crowd of 57,161, O’Brien and his charges dominated Wake Forest, scoring four second-half touchdowns to breeze by the Demon Deacons, 38-3, at Carter-Finley Stadium.

The offense was productive and efficient, getting points on its first drives of both halves, and pouring on the points on short-field, lighting-fast drives in the second half.

WRAL.com

Joedy McCreary writes “If this was goodbye for Russell Wilson at home, it was an impressive way to go.”

“Every day, I try to push myself to be the best that I can be, no matter if I’m running the ball, throwing the ball, whatever. I try to do the same thing for the rest of the guys … because we’ve got a lot of talent on this team,” Wilson said. “We can be special, but we have to work at it every single day.

News & Observer

Ken Tysiac agrees, saying that Wilson “left Carter-Finley Stadium in style.”

If Wilson doesn’t return next season, he will leave with extraordinary numbers. On Saturday he moved into second place in ACC history in touchdown responsibility with 85 touchdowns. He moved past Joe Hamilton, Shawn Moore and Chris Weinke and trails only former N.C. State standout Philip Rivers, who holds the ACC record with 112.

He also exhibited a touch of class that few people noticed before the game. During the senior day festivities, he handed bracelets to his mother, brother and sister that he’d had inscribed with his father’s name and “1954-2010.”

His father, Harrison Wilson III, died in June after a long illness. Wilson said he thinks about his father every day, and plans to continue honoring his memory no matter what he does next.

What that will be is anyone’s guess. Asked about the future, Wilson talked about the next game, against North Carolina. Beyond that, though, Wilson isn’t tipping his hand.

Luke Decock talks a little about Nate Irving’s performance in his final home game:

In his last home game, Irving produced the kind of performance that could bring football purists and opposing coaches to tears, albeit for different reasons.

It was one of the finest games of his career, breaking a school record with eight tackles for loss among his 13 tackles in a 38-3 win over Wake Forest on Saturday, the apex of his comeback from the car accident that nearly killed him on his way back to campus from Wallace 18 months ago.

More to come…

In the meantime, you can discuss any number of topics of interest in the SFN Forums.

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'10 Football

24 Responses to State beats Wake 38-3 (updated 12:30pm with Video)

  1. blpack 11/13/2010 at 9:48 PM #

    So nice to beat Wake and get a good Big 4 win. Every game counts. Now we can to go Cheater Hill and beat Butchy again and then on to College Park to face our tradional heart breakers and beat them for a change. Go Pack!

  2. Alpha Wolf 11/13/2010 at 10:31 PM #

    Don’t get me wrong, I love RW as a person and I think he is a solid college* football player…

    …BUT…

    If I were Tom O’Brien I would tell Russell he is welcome to come back to compete for the Wolfpack QB job but that he needs to be present for spring practice. I think it’s time that Coach O’Brien put his program ahead of indulging any player who wants to be part time or even no time in the offseason.

    Tough call, especially on such a good person and good player, but it really isn’t fair to the whole team and it’s especially unfair to the other guys who compete for time under center. Quite honestly, we were VERY lucky that Wilson’s early season rust didn’t translate into losses (UCF comes to mind) and I do firmly believe that some of that rust did come back to haunt us in some of the games we did lose.

    * Wilson is a solid college player, but it is almost delusional to think he will make it as a QB in the NFL.

  3. triadwolf 11/13/2010 at 10:37 PM #

    Can’t decide if I want Clemson or Fla. St. to win. Not sure it matters as either way we need to win out since Clemson has the tie breaker against us.

    Good game today once we took control. Good coaching move by Grobe taking the air out of the ball in first half. If they tried to air it out against us,we probably score 50+; it was their best chance to keep the game close.

    That being said, we were a bit sluggish to start and we need to make sure we come out ready to play next week. The next two weeks make me nervous – Holes are playing with a chip on their shoulder (plus they’re talented); and we have a long history of laying eggs in College Park. I’m pretty confident we win one, but two will be tough. I find it difficult to find a scenerio where we win the division without winning both games. Nice to be in control though.

    Enjoy this one tonight boys then turn your sights to the scum down the road and take care of business. Go Pack!

  4. LRM 11/13/2010 at 11:23 PM #

    We need FSU to win tonight, because we own the tiebreaker over them. If Clemson wins tonight, then they would own the tiebreaker over both Maryland and State should each of us lose again, while Florida State would be eliminated altogether.

    If Clemson wins tonight, then an FSU victory over Maryland next week would eliminate the Terps, and we’d then have zero margin for error in our last two games.

  5. Alpha Wolf 11/13/2010 at 11:25 PM #

    ^ We have to play like there’s no margin for error from here in. Period.

  6. LRM 11/13/2010 at 11:28 PM #

    No argument here!

  7. wvillepack 11/13/2010 at 11:31 PM #

    We must win next two games. I would prefer we earn it instead of backing our way in to acc title game. It’s on the offense to continue scoring 35+ ppg…then hope for a few stops on D. A couple of 100+ rushing games would sure help. I am ready for moose to go off.

  8. MrPlywood 11/14/2010 at 12:29 AM #

    “If I were Tom O’Brien I would tell Russell he is welcome to come back to compete for the Wolfpack QB job but that he needs to be present for spring practice.”

    Agreed Alpha. The situation reminds of Favre. As a Packers fan, his yearly drama-filled retirement routine grew tired. I was happy to see him go. I’d be happy to have RW back, but like you said, he needs to put in the time…

  9. bigwolfpacker 11/14/2010 at 12:51 AM #

    no way. If RW wants to play baseball in the spring and summer and report to fall practice at NCSU then he is welcome. Id repeat this season. The OL and the entire D should be better.

  10. Tau837 11/14/2010 at 1:29 AM #

    I could not disagree more with the notion that O’Brien should require Wilson to practice in the spring if he wants to play next year.

    He’s been in the program and in the offensive system for 4 years. He has a great work ethic. IMO the rust factor is overstated and to suggest that rust was a factor in our losses is off base.

    And I seriously doubt his teammates would have a problem with it. He is by all accounts a well-liked teammate and a strong leader.

    More importantly, who knows when we’ll ever have a QB as good as him again? I hope Glennon is a great QB, but we really don’t know that… and even if he plays well there is no guarantee he will be as good as Wilson, rust or no rust.

    It is clear the team is better with him than without him. Why should O’Brien make a decision that results in a weaker roster for next year? How does that make sense?

  11. wolfonthehill 11/14/2010 at 8:11 AM #

    I’m torn on the RW thing. It’s clear to me that, if we hand the keys to Glennon next year, we’re going to be absolutely fine at the QB position… and he won’t need half a season to be sharp. I just can’t imagine TOB doing anything except welcoming RW back if he wants to come back.

  12. Sw0rdf1sh 11/14/2010 at 8:21 AM #

    That “Supaflex” tackle that Irving laid on the RB made my day.

    I can’t wait to see that on Youtube soon.

  13. BJD95 11/14/2010 at 8:49 AM #

    I wish we didn’t need to win next week (and had we played decently against Clemson, we wouldn’t), but it is what it is. We HAVE to beat the Holes. So, no matter how pumped up they are to ruin our season, we have to be up to the challenge and play our best game of the season.

    Period.

  14. tractor57 11/14/2010 at 8:51 AM #

    Some things I was pleased to see –
    First of course the win
    Second the “foot on throat” of the second half
    Third RW and Nate having great days
    Fourth Glennon getting some reps and looking sharp
    Fifth TOB using the opportunity to allow the seniors who rarely (if ever) see the field get a chance at a play or two

    Now take care of business and complete the task.

  15. Clarksa 11/14/2010 at 8:58 AM #

    From PP: NCSU needs FSU to lose to UMD. If FSU loses at UMD, the NCSU/UMD winner, regardless of the UNC game, will go to Charlotte.

  16. ChemE79a 11/14/2010 at 9:05 AM #

    Speaking of Russell’s options come the spring time, he can’t play baseball for NCSU again so the only option would be pro-baseball. What are the requirements that Russell is even enrolled this Spring if he wants to play football next fall?

    Also I assume that his grad program in in communications (as that was his undergrad major). If he were to take 12 research hours he would not have to be on campus at all (as I suspect he could do his research either on the internet or with a test group he found anywhere). Right?

  17. TheCOWDOG 11/14/2010 at 11:30 AM #

    One thing is certain. The closest to Raleigh RW is going to be this spring is Asheville. If RW comes out of spring training with a ticket to that town, we won’t ever see him with a football lid on again. That is unless we see him in someone’s NFL rookie camp down the line.

    The transition to Glennon happened right under our nose, with little notice. There is a reason that this offense became more pocket oriented.
    The transition to an offense without Wilson happened last spring, and you can bet your bottom dollar that a full and complete TOB/Bible scheme will be installed after our bowl game.

    Keep your eyes open to what level of A ball Wilson is assigned. The higher, the lower the odds of a return to Raleigh.

  18. Packfan28 11/14/2010 at 12:58 PM #

    I’m pretty certain RW and TOB know what is happening next year, and it does not include the return of Russell. They will wait until after the final regualr season game or championship game, but before the bowl game to make the announcement.

  19. NCSU@UNCG 11/14/2010 at 1:30 PM #

    I have to agree with 28. I would welcome Russell back if he so chooses to come back, but I don’t see that happening. Even if Russell doesn’t come back we will be in good hands with Glennon, Brosius (Who I think has a bright future ahead of him), and the incoming freshman Brian Taylor who is somewhat of a dual-threat QB. However, Taylor will most likely redshirt barring an injury. The QB next year is the least of my worries. There are question marks at several other positions we need to address ahead of QB.

  20. ncsu_kappa 11/14/2010 at 3:25 PM #

    I got fixated on the comments about R. Wilson not being able to come back if he wants. Any coach on the college level who had a dual sport athlete with the ambitions and talent levels of Russell Wilson would be a fool not to allow him to “compete” if you want to call it that for the job.

    How is that really a competition? We have the second coming of Philip Rivers (TD responsibility wise) going against highly ranked yet unproven qb’s. If he didn’t get the majority of the reps with the first team from day 1 TOB should be deemed unfit to coach and immediately removed from responsibilities coaching this team.

    Wilson played on some bad teams but skills, offensive accomplishments wise, he is one of the most productive qb’s to suit up for us ever. A coach checking his ego, or athletic ambitions, would only demonstrate that the coach had far bigger ego issues than Wilson did.

  21. mak4dpak 11/14/2010 at 9:25 PM #

    Russell Wilson back or not? Who cares? We need to concentrate on the business at hand. Beat them holes in their own back yard, then beat the Terps. Then scenarios won’t matter. We can take care of business. So let’s do it. Go Wolfpack!

  22. Tiew 11/15/2010 at 9:06 AM #

    We have to win or what BJD?

    Alpha Wolf, I doubt TOB is putting Wilson in front of his program. He wouldn’t start Wilson if he didn’t believe he was the best QB we have, rust or no.

    Wilson is putting his dream of a baseball career at risk to honor his commitment and represent State this season. It almost sounds like you resent him for not sacrificing his other dreams more. I think we should be grateful to him for the sacrifices he has made and the things he has accomplished.

    It bothers me that people seem less happy now that we’re actually a good team. It’s like being good but not great is harder to handle than being bad.

  23. VaWolf82 11/15/2010 at 9:59 AM #

    “Good but not great” is an excellent description of this year’s team.

  24. Wolfpackof1 11/15/2010 at 2:48 PM #

    I was still disappointed by the decision making at the end of the 1st half. There was over 2 minutes left in the half and we stopped them on third down. So instead of doing the “semi-aggresive” thing and calling a timeout to try and to get some more points on the board with a two minute drill, he lets the clock run and takes a 10-3 lead to house. I was very upset with this call and if we want to beat the next tow teams, it is going to take some aggresive play calls from time to time.

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