NC State
SMU
Wolfpack Rallies Past SMU, 26-17
9/22/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept 22, 2001
By Tony Haynes
Dallas, Texas--Perhaps NC State gave its fans a false sense of security when it routed Indiana in its opening game two weeks ago. On Saturday, the old `Cardiac Pack' reappeared at SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
Just like last season when the Wolfpack never seemed to be at its best until it was trailing in the fourth quarter, NC State found a way to overcome its own mistakes--and a strong Mustangs effort--to get out of Dallas with a 26-17 victory.
On a day when Florida State and Clemson were major upset victims, NC State dodged the bullet to up its record to 2-0.
"The object of the game is to win," said Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato. "Look at what happened to Clemson and Florida State. The way football is anymore with parity and the 85 scholarships, anything can happen. We'll take it. It wasn't pretty by any means, but when they had to come through, they did."
Especially the NC State defense, which forced two crucial fourth quarter turnovers with the game still very much in doubt. After the Wolfpack regained a 19-17 advantage on a 24-yard field by Austin Herbert with 7:21 left to play, cornerback Brian Williams snuffed out a potential Mustangs drive by intercepting a Kelan Luker pass near midfield.
Then on SMU's next possession, defensive end Corey Smith's blindside hit on Luker led to a fumble that would put the Pack firmly in control. As he was going down, Luker tried to get rid of the ball to avoid a sack, but the ball went backwards, bouncing off referee Jack Childress and into the end zone. End George Anderson pounced on the lateral to give NC State a 26-17 lead with just 3:32 left.
"Actually, that's my first career touchdown in football," Anderson said. "I saw a chance when Corey Smith made a great play on the quarterback. I just wanted to get to the ball as quickly as possible. Fortunately, it was in the end zone."
Not only did the turnover take SMU out of the game, it also marked the fifth time in just three games that the Mustangs (0-3) had seen an opponent's defense score a touchdown.
"The mistakes lost the football game for us, but I think you've got to give NC State credit for that," said SMU coach Mike Cavan. "I'm proud of our football team, I told them that as long as they kept giving me that kind of effort, they'd still have a chance to be a good football team."
The SMU team that opened Saturday night's game was certainly different than the club that was so anemic on offense in blowout losses to Louisiana Tech and TCU. Early on, the Mustangs surprised the Wolfpack with a power running game that controlled the clock most of the first half. Running dives and counters, the Mustangs succeeded in keeping the football for nearly 12 of the first 15 minutes.
"Their running backs were running the ball real hard," Anderson said. "We'd been off for such a long time, I don't know if the guys were ready to go. We came together in the end and fought through adversity to come up with the win."
After averaging just 55 yards on the ground in its first two games, SMU rushed for 165 yards on Saturday. Most of the yardage, however, was gained in the first half when the Mustangs managed to grind out 116 yards. Between them, tailbacks Keylon Kincade (93 yards) and Kris Briggs (80 yards) combined for 173 yards rushing.
After SMU opened the scoring on a 36-yard field goal by Jacob Crowley with 9:01 left in the second period, NC State finally got something going offensively. The Pack, which didn't get a first down until the midway point of the second quarter, went on a 62-yard march in 11 plays to grab its first lead. Ray Robinson's two-yard dive put the Pack out in front 7-3.
But SMU responded with a long drive of its own, going 74 yards in seven plays. On third and goal from the 14, Luker beat a blitz and hit John Hampton with a 14-yard scoring strike to make it 10-7, Mustangs.
The two teams continued to trade punches in the third quarter. On its initial drive of the second half, the Wolfpack took advantage of three SMU penalties to go 65 yards in just four plays. Twenty-six of those yards came as the result of penalties. But the key play was a 37-yard Philip Rivers to Brian Peterson pass that started with a little trickery when Robinson took a hand off and pitched the ball back to his sophomore quarterback.
Robinson eventually scored from one-yard out, but the extra point was blocked leaving NC State with a 13-10 lead.
With 2:42 remaining in the third, Herbert added a 28-yard field goal to push the Pack ahead by six. But SMU wouldn't go down without a fight.
Starting from their own 20-yard line, the Mustangs put together perhaps their best drive of the year. The 80-yard, nine play march ended when Chris Cunningham got behind cornerback Brian Williams and safety Julius Patterson to haul down a 32-yard scoring pass from Luker, who hit 13-of-23 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns. Suddenly, with 14:10 left in the game, the Pack found itself on the short end of a 17-16 score.
But as it had done so many times last season, NC State responded to the challenge. Quarterback Philip Rivers, who was 21-of-31 for 215 yards, got his team into field goal range with a 75-yard drive that ended with Herbert's 24-yard kick that would give the Wolfpack a lead it would not relinquish. From there, the defense took over and clinched it by forcing those two big turnovers.
"We've got to get better every week," Amato said. "We can't continue to do this, we really can't. But the kids believe in themselves and they believe they can get things done when they have to."
NC State finished with 288 total yards while SMU accumulated 316 yards on the night. There were five lead changes in a game that saw both teams hurt by penalties. The Pack, which was penalized just three times in its victory over Indiana, was called for nine penalties for 80 yards. SMU was penalized 12 times for 97 yards.
Murray Could Come Back:Prior to Saturday night's game, Amato said that there was a possibility that freshman receiver Chris Murray could rejoin the Wolfpack this season. Murray left Raleigh earlier in the week to attend to some personal problems back home in Florida.
