North Carolina State University Athletics
Football Wins 11th-Straight Over Duke, 27-17
11/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
DURHAM, N.C. Tom O’Brien and the NC State football team arrived at Duke Saturday afternoon on a mission: to show the rest of the ACC that the Wolfpack is capable of putting together a complete game and finishing off a victory.
And that’s what they did Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium, dismantling Duke 27-17 in front of 31,964 spectators in the first meeting between the intra-Triangle rivals since 2003. The victory extended NC State’s winning streak in the series to 11 straight games.
The Wolfpack started the game with a flurry, as redshirt freshman Russell Wilson threw two touchdowns, J.C. Neal returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and Josh Czajchowski kicked a short field goal all in the first half. The Pack scored on its first four possessions of a game for the first time since a 54-10 victory over Eastern Kentucky in 2005, which enabled O’Brien’s team to take a comfortable 24-10 advantage into halftime.
But, throughout the game, it was a re-energized Wolfpack defense which welcomed back junior linebacker Nate Irving that came up big, after letting fourth quarter opportunities slip away in its last three games. The Pack lost those games by a margin of 19 points and was leading or tied in the fourth quarter of each.
“He gives the defense a lot of confidence,” O’Brien said of Irving. “He was our best player on defense, we missed him and we haven’t played as well without him. He’s back. There is a sense of comfort for the rest of the defense.”
In the first half Saturday, the defense stopped Duke on the 10-yard line on fourth-and-1. The second stand came on Duke’s first possession of the second half, on fourth-and-goal at the 1, as Wolfpack junior defensive tackle Leroy Burgess pressured Blue Devil quarterback Thaddeus Lewis into hurrying a pass to wide-open tight end Brett Huffman, who was unable to make the catch.
“In the red zone, it is time to crank down and play football,” said Irving, who has missed most of the last four games with an ankle injury. “You want to try to hold them to a field goal and then block the field goal. Being able to stop them and win this game is big for us.”
In the game, the Pack defense stopped Duke four times on fourth-down plays.
“Certainly, defense was the key for us,” O’Brien said. “Maybe we just have to get them into fourth down situations, because we can stop those.”
The Wolfpack (3-6 overall, 1-4 ACC) scored the only three points in the second half, on a 32-yard field goal by sophomore placekicker Josh Cjazchowski in the third quarter that pushed the lead to 27-10. Duke scored the only touchdown of the second half on a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jay Hollingsworth with 1:26 remaining in the game.
Neither team had a turnover in the contest and there were only 11 penalties called between the two.
The Wolfpack offense played behind the direction of Wilson, who completed 13 of 25 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns. He has now thrown 10 touchdown passes and attempted 142 passes without being intercepted. That’s the second-longest streak in school history, behind the 179 passes without an interception by Jamie Barnette in 1998.
“He’s gotten better each and every week,” O’Brien said. “He doesn’t turn the football over, which is huge in a game like this. We are getting better at the little things.”
Wilson connected with six different receivers, throwing three passes each to Owen Spencer (57 yards), Anthony Hill (40 yards) and Jamelle Eugene (19 yards).
“Every week, he gets better,” Spencer said. “The receivers look at him like he is our leader. He’s doing a great job. When you have a quarterback like that who can scramble out of the pocket and make plays and make opportunities to get the balls to receivers, it’s great for the offense.”
Both teams traded field goals to open the game, with the Pack getting a 22-yarder from Cjazkowski with 9:17 remaining in the first quarter and Duke settling for a 29-yarder from Nick Maggio with 1:35 left in the opening period after a strong drive down the field.
Lewis completed his first eight passes on the drive, getting the Devils down to the Wolfpack’s 8-yard line. But sophomore cornerback DeAndre Morgan came up with a big defensive play, tacking receiver Tony Jackson eight yards behind the line of scrimmage on a pass play. Willie Young batted down a Lewis pass the only incompletion on the drive to force Maggio’s game-tying kick.
On the ensuing kickoff, freshman T.J. Graham fielded the kick and handed off to Neal, who raced to the right sideline, eluded all tacklers and raced 89 yards for the Wolfpack’s second kickoff return for a touchdown this season. Graham had a school-record 100-yard return against Boston College. Neal was sprung by a block from junior Clem Johnson and outraced all defenders to give his team a 10-3 advantage.
Duke (4-5, 1-4) tried to answer on its ensuing drive, reaching the NC State 10-yard line on fourth and one. But the Wolfpack defense stopped tailback Jay Hollingsworth at the line of scrimmage to take over on downs.
The Wolfpack offense kept moving the ball, with Wilson at the helm. He hit Spencer on a 23-yard pass on second-and-16 helped get the Wolfpack to the Duke 33-yard line. He followed, on third and 8, by scrambling behind the line of scrimmage, eluding two rushers and finding tight end Anthony Hill well-covered in the middle of the field. Hill fought off his defender and hauled in Wilson’s pass at the 5-yard line.
Two plays later, Wilson hit Hill again on a 2-yard touchdown pass to give the Wolfpack a 17-3 lead with 7:01 remaining before the half.
The Blue Devils answered quickly, with a three-play drive that ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis to reception by Brett Huffman with 5:41 left in the half.
Wilson capped off the Wolfpack’s biggest scoring first half since the Wofford game last season with a 34-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Jarvis Williams with 2:59 remaining in the first half.
O’Brien, in his second year as the head coach of the Wolfpack, is now 4-1 in his brief NC State career against in-state opponents. The Pack hosts Wake Forest next week at Carter-Finley Stadium, then travels to play against North Carolina, before ending the regular-season at home against Miami.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
