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Game 4: NCSU 30, No. 15 ECU 24
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Game
Slants
Sunday, September 21, 2008
By Denny O'Brien |
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Finish adds to rivalry
By
Denny O'Brien
©2008 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
RALEIGH — It hardly matters that East
Carolina and N.C. State rarely meet on equal footing. The Wolfpack has
proven that with its last two upset victories over the Pirates.
The most recent —
Saturday’s 30-24 State overtime win
— will go down as one of the most memorable in the series annals. Outside of
the 1992 Peach Bowl, which ECU won 37-34, you’d be hard pressed to find
another game throughout the rivalry’s history that had a more exciting or
shocking finish.
For much of the fourth quarter it looked as
if the game would end for State much like it did against South Carolina and
Clemson. Had the Pack followed that same script, it would have withered
while the Pirates put the game away and sailed to Greenville with a perfect
4-0 record.
And for much of the fourth quarter, that
seemed the scenario that would eventually play out. East Carolina took
complete control of the line of scrimmage and twice marched so deep into
N.C. State territory that it could accurately count the members of its
marching band.
But the Wolfpack defense proved best the
closer its heels were to the goal line. That’s exactly where they were
positioned when the Pirates had a first and goal from the four-yard line.
The Pirates would travel most of that on
the first play, but faltered on three opportunities from the one yard line.
The final attempt went so awry that Wolfpack safety J.C. Neal almost took
the exchange from Pirates quarterback Patrick Pinkney.
“It was a base play,” East Carolina coach
Skip Holtz said. “It was a play that we run out of our goal line package
quite a bit.
“I know that the offensive coaches were
talking to those guys to find out what happened. I don’t know. The guy who
never turned around and asked the quarterback, was the guy who missed the
block.”
For the Pirates, that missed block, along
with their other failed attempt to reach paydirt late, was especially
deflating given the stakes. They entered the game the national media darling
with a Top 15 ranking and a solid favorite to handle a Wolfpack club that
had been completely inept on offense.
But against East Carolina the Pack hardly
looked an offensive mess. Not in the slightest. With quarterback Russell
Wilson playing only his second full game under center, he proved himself ten
times the problem that West Virginia quarterback Pat White presented two
weeks ago in Greenville.
Wilson was no less nimble in the backfield
and infinitely more accurate when slinging it from the pocket. When he
combined the two, the East Carolina secondary often found itself in a
guessing game, and it rarely guessed right.
“I was really impressed with Wilson,” Holtz
said. “I thought he did a great job running around back there. I thought he
did an excellent job as a quarterback.
“I think he’s going to be a good one for a
lot of years here. He’s a real talent and he really impressed me today.”
It’s not like it was the first time Holtz
has walked away impressed with a Wolfpack quarterback. Heck, it has almost
become a trend in recent years for a State QB to torch the favored Pirates.
Last year Daniel Evans singed the ECU
secondary for 335 yards and three touchdowns. Wilson was hardly a slouch
after completing 21-of-31 attempts for 210 yards and three scores. Each of
his 26 rushing yards seemed key in keeping drives alive.
But as good as Wilson was — and he was very
good — he doesn’t take the game ball home. That goes to a Wolfpack defense
that refused to concede victory when most believed it would.
That proved the difference in this BCS-busting
loss. ECU’s inability to execute with its rival firmly cornered made it
two-consecutive losses to the Red and White and strangled some of the big
picture dreams that arose after victories over Virginia Tech and West
Virginia.
Given that, ECU would like to forget the
latest installment of its rivalry with State. For impartial viewers, it was
a classic game with no shortage of big plays, drama, and an unlikely late
comeback.
It was everything you might expect in a
heated rivalry. Just imagine if the two ever meet when both have BCS bowl
stakes on the line.
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09/21/2008 02:51:40 AM |
