Pack Wins 56-41; bowl game awaits (updated Sun AM)

'11 Football61

Question: What’s the opposite of NC State Sh**?

Follow up question: Can NC State Sh** happen to other teams? Because if so, that’s what happened to Maryland today at Carter-Finley. Perhaps things really are going to change around here.

For those who missed it, we saw the second HUGE comeback of the week today. State was completely dead early in the third quarter, down 41-14 after a barrage of turnovers led to easy points. At the end of the third quarter Maryland led 41-21 and I was wondering why I was staying in my seat. It was ugly and it was all but over…Except the Pack rallied for six straight unanswered TDs — 42 unanswered points — with 35 in the fourth quarter to finish 7-5, become bowl eligible, and probably secure another season for TOB.

Think about this: It was 41-21 when the 4th quarter began, and when State took the lead 42-41 there was still 7:08 remaining.
Biggest comeback in State history; second bigest comeback in an ACC game in ACC history (not sure about non-conference if someone wants to fact check for us).

Box Score (ESPN)

Recap (WRAL)

Recap (GoPack)

Paced by Mike Glennon’s school-record tying six touchdowns, NC State stormed back from a 41-14 to deficit to shock Maryland 56-41, completing the largest comeback in school history and claiming bowl eligibility for the third time in the last four years.

The Wolfpack improved on the school-record 24-point comeback set in the 2000 season finale against Minnesota in the Micronpc.com Bowl. The turnaround also marked the second-largest comeback all-time in an ACC game, trailing only Clemson’s 28-point comeback victory over Virginia in 1992.

Glennon claimed responsibility for six touchdowns, five through the air, both tying school records. He becomes the sixth Wolfpack quarterback to throw five touchdowns in a game, and equals Philip Rivers’s six-touchdown outing against Navy in 2002.

Photos (N&O)

This game was a microcosm of not just this season, but the TOB era. Caulton Tudor calls the win the punctuation of our “madcap regular season” (N&O).

We’ll find out in the next couple weeks which bowl game awaits, but it looks like the Belk Bowl is a sure bet (vs. Big East), or potentially Nashville (vs. SEC)?

Enjoy this for now. More to come.

Feel free to share your thoughts below, or head on over to the SFN Forums.

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61 Responses to Pack Wins 56-41; bowl game awaits (updated Sun AM)

  1. wolfpack4ever 11/27/2011 at 5:48 PM #

    MISTA WOLF Says:
    November 27th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
    Is it me or does the 56-41 score resemble a Sendek coached basketball squad score?

    Sounds about right.

  2. Sw0rdf1sh 11/27/2011 at 9:22 PM #

    Hmm, we just beat a top 10 team and then pulled off the second greatest comeback in ACC history, scoring 56 points in a game.

    TOB didn’t fumble the ball or throw a pick 6. The talk of him not being our head coach is so crazy. He runs a clean program and has our team doing good things on the field AND off the field.

    I’m happy as hell I get to go to another game this year.

  3. JohnGalt78 11/27/2011 at 10:30 PM #

    Adventuroo…I was there in ’79 as well. That one still hurts! Seemed like he kicked it 80 yards!

  4. Prowling Woofie 11/28/2011 at 10:45 AM #

    Giving the Terps “the business” – I love it !!!

    Go Pack !

  5. runwiththepack 11/28/2011 at 12:35 PM #

    I predicted about 8 wins this season, give or take 1, but the wins and losses i predicted were flip-flopped for several of the games. A season of surprises, with at least a couple wins I will never forget. PLEASE spare NCSU football from the injury bug next year!

    I really hope TOB will have a big year next year. It’s difficult for me to be optimistic about coaching searches just yet. We need to polish up our image first, which presently doesn’t reflect what a good university we really have. Unusual numbers of injuries is mostly what has have stood between .500 ball and memorable seasons since TOB arrived. Maybe our luck will be better starting next year.

    Give Yow a few more years to enhance the overall attractiveness of our entire athletics program, and then let’s see NCSU’s athletics experience a return to some glory days. Someday, we may not have to talk so much about what happened in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

    Not only do i see talent steadily (albeit slowly – ugh) improving in football, (despite recruiting ratings, stars, etc…), i also LIKE our players a lot, which TOB and staff can take a lot of credit for. I would rather see TOB right our ship than to start all over again… and again… I still think TOB can build the program to the point that we are mentioned in the ACC championship game discussion, yet i readily admit that it’s just a hunch based on 8-4 and 7-5 seasons.

  6. TruthBKnown Returns 11/28/2011 at 5:09 PM #

    I think if we fire a guy that won 9 games, and then 8 games (assuming we win our bowl game), it will look like we’re not patient enough with the guy that rebuilt our program. We’re not a program that can name their coach. I think we HAVE to keep TOB another year because of our strong finish.

    But I do hope something can be done about Archer, and maybe Bible, too. But I’m not holding my breath on that.

  7. TruthBKnown Returns 11/28/2011 at 5:15 PM #

    And maybe for now, we should be happy with 8-9 wins with the hope of an occasional better season than that. Just for now I mean. Maybe we shouldn’t expect to make the jump from 3-5 wins/year straight to perennial football power with 10+ wins every year. If TOB can get us 8-9 wins/year, go to bowls regularly, beat the Holes, I think I could live with that for a while. Over time, we build respect and get into the minds of fans and recruits.

    Think Boise State. When they first had some good seasons, did they immediately get respect? I don’t think so. I mean, in those seasons they probably did. But did people expect them to keep it up over the long haul? Well, they’re now doing it regularly. They made a splash, and showed they have staying power. It wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan. Maybe we also need to show we have staying power before we can expect to get better and better recruits.

    I believe it would take a Bill Cowher, or an Urban Meyer, to immediately pull in top recruits. We’re not going to get a guy like that. I’m not sure a coaching change is in order just yet, unless we’re willing to do what it takes to get a Bill Cowher or someone comparable. Anyone less than that is a gamble that he would do the same or better than TOB (recruiting-wise).

    The more I think about it, the more I’m OK with TOB for a little longer. We could do a lot worse.

  8. hball57 11/28/2011 at 9:37 PM #

    “But I do hope something can be done about Archer, and maybe Bible, too. But I’m not holding my breath on that.”

    Somebody help me here. The defense played great the back half of the schedule when we had our DL players healthy. The offense scored 37 and 49 in the last two games. Who is smart enough and knows enough football to identify who on our coaching staff is responsible for all the bad ond not responsible for any of the good? I know that I can’t.

  9. TruthBKnown Returns 11/29/2011 at 8:02 AM #

    Somebody help me here. The defense played great the back half of the schedule when we had our DL players healthy. The offense scored 37 and 49 in the last two games. Who is smart enough and knows enough football to identify who on our coaching staff is responsible for all the bad ond not responsible for any of the good? I know that I can’t.

    I believe Tenuta is largely responsible for this. Archer has always had bad defenses, including his time here at State. Our defense did not improve until Tenuta arrived. Before that, we were horrible on defense. We need to give credit where credit is due — Tenuta.

    Early this year, we had a slew of injuries on the D-line/linebackers, and that is what caused their poor performance. When the D-line is healthy, they put pressure on QBs and take the pressure off the weaker secondary. Tenuta = D-line, Archer = Secondary.

  10. KFR 11/29/2011 at 1:16 PM #

    “TruthBKnown Returns Says:
    November 29th, 2011 at 8:02 am “Early this year, we had a slew of injuries on the D-line/linebackers, and that is what caused their poor performance. When the D-line is healthy, they put pressure on QBs and take the pressure off the weaker secondary. Tenuta = D-line, Archer = Secondary.”

    Keith Willis is the defensive line coach and Tenuta is the linebackers coach.

  11. TruthBKnown Returns 11/29/2011 at 3:56 PM #

    ^I was kinda grouping D-line/linbackers as the “strong” part of our defense and giving credit to Tenuta for it (as opposed to Archer). So I owe Willis an apology.

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