North Carolina State University Athletics
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No.11 NC STATE RUNS OVER NORTH CAROLINA, 34-17
10/12/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct 12, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Chapel Hill, N.C.--The all-out air show that many expected to materialize between longtime ACC rivals NC State and North Carolina never really surfaced on Saturday. Instead, the Wolfpack turned to a smash mouth offensive strategy in the second half that would have made the likes of Vince Lombardi and George Halas proud.
The end result was a 34-17 victory at Kenan Stadium that improved NC State's record to 7-0 for the first time since 1967. Throwing only five passes in the second half, the Pack turned to a power running attack that churned out 258 yards against a UNC defense that seemed helpless to stop what it knew was coming. NC State's relentless ground offensive was led by freshman T.A. McLendon, who recorded his third straight 100-yard rushing game with 164 yards and two touchdowns. And when McLendon needed a breather, Josh Brown was there to pick up the slack with 88 yards on 18 carries.
So astounding was NC State's second half dominance, it's hard to believe the Pack actually trailed 17-7 after North Carolina took the second half kick off and drove 78 yards in 10 plays to grab a 10-point advantage. Twenty-seven unanswered points later, the Wolfpack had what turned out to be a fairly convincing victory.
"I don't care if we do it throwing it or running it," said coach Chuck Amato, who played on the last NC State team to win its first seven games. "We sure did a great job in the second half. We weren't making plays in the first half. We dropped a touchdown pass and we hurt ourselves with penalties. And after the first five minutes of the game we did nothing offensively."
Indeed, NC State breezed down the field on its first drive of the game. Employing a few funky formations and trick plays, the Pack marched 80 yards in 11 plays. The drive ended with McLendon going in from five yards out to make it 7-0. It looked so easy that many in the crowd of 60, 250 probably figured NC State would be able to score at will for the remainder of the afternoon.
It didn't happen that way.
North Carolina got a 29-yard field goal from Dan Orner and a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Darian Durant to tight end Bobby Blizzard to move in front 10-7. With that, the crowd came to life and so did the much-maligned Tar Heel defense. UNC was helped out by a couple of penalties that wiped out two big plays by NC State. The half ended with the Heels leading and Amato fuming over the lack of execution.
"We were fairly frustrated," said Pack tight end Sean Berton, who played despite severely spraining his ankle in practice last Monday. "We knew that this wasn't a great North Carolina defense and we knew that we were one of the top offenses in the conference, if not the nation. I think a lot of guys got tight over this game because it was our rival and just didn't go out and make plays. We came in at halftime and regrouped and told ourselves that if we kept pounding and pounding them, good things were going to happen."
And pound they did. After the Heels made it 17-7 on Durant's five-yard scoring pass to fullback James Faison, the Pack's brutish running game took control. It started with McLendon's 13-yard run around the left end on NC State's first play of the second half. Five plays later, Rivers' one-yard quarterback sneak made it 17-13, North Carolina. And though the extra point was blocked, the tone had been set with six straight running plays that led to a score.
Then North Carolina, which had turned the ball over 16 times in five games, coughed it up when a scrambling Durant lost the handle deep in his own territory. Linebacker Dantonio Burnette's recovery gave NC State first and goal from the UNC four. It took "Touchdown" T.A. McLendon exactly one carry to find the end zone again. Just like that--within a period of 22 seconds--the Pack had turned a 10-point deficit into a 20-17 lead.
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"This kid is really, really good. He rushed for 160 yards with one hand. What's he going to be like when he's 100 percent?"
NC State coach Chuck Amato (on T.A. McLendon)
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But North Carolina's problems were only just beginning after McLendon's 12th touchdown of the year. NC State ran the football 13 consecutive plays before Rivers threw his first pass of the second half--an eight-yard completion to receiver Jerricho Cotchery on the final play of the third period. Rivers, who completed all five of his pass attempts in the second half, found Bryan Peterson on a fade from 13 yards out to push the Pack out in front 27-17 with 13:28 remaining in the game. Brown then added the finishing touches with a 12-yard scoring run to make it 34-17.
Twenty-nine of the Wolfpack's 34 plays from scrimmage in the second half were running plays. And with NC State's offensive line, tight ends and wide receivers blocking superbly, McLendon and Brown were left with plenty of room to operate.
"This was an offensive lineman's day," said Berton, who was given a game ball after performing so well with the ankle injury. "We like to think of ourselves as blue collar. We pack our lunch, go to work on the defense and let Josh and T.A. go to work. If our offensive line plays well, we win."
Said Amato: "You looked at the stats at halftime and the guy who was making plays was T.A.; he had 13 carries for 89 yards. I can't say enough about our offensive line. They're big and they're good. Sean [Berton] is an inspiration. We gave him a game ball and we normally don't give game balls. Last night he stood up in front of the offense and told them that he would play every snap if they needed him to. He stepped up and did it."
 NC State coach Chuck Amato celebrates as he leaves the field after the Wolfpack defeated UNC, 34-17  |
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Through the air, Rivers was 16-of-25 for 170 yards and one touchdown. Durant hit on 18-of-36 passes for 266 yards, two scored and one interception. NC State outgained North Carolina 428 yards to 351.
On the way to the stadium, the State Patrol car in which Amato and wrestling coach Bob Guzzo were riding was forced off I-40 with a flat tire. The two coaches simply stopped one of the team buses and jumped in.
"The whole day started off bad," Amato said. "Joe the driver said, `we've got a flat tire coach.' We left there and went on the bus. I had my sidekick--coach Guzzo--with me because he knows how to beat North Carolina over here. I got on the bus and said this is the only loss we're going to have today."
He was right.
