North Carolina State University Athletics
Clemson's Spiller Leads Tigers to 43-23 Victory
11/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – The C.J. Spiller Show rolled into Carter-Finley Stadium Saturday afternoon and left with a 43-17 victory over NC State.
Spiller, the Tigers' senior tailback, became the first player in school history to throw for a touchdown, rush for a touchdown and catch a touchdown pass in the same game.
He was responsible for Clemson's first touchdown pass of the game, a 17-yard throw to Xavier Dye in the second quarter that gave the Tigers a 17-0 lead. He later scored on a 16-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that pushed his team's lead to 30-14.
In the fourth quarter, the Heisman Trophy candidate caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kyle Parker to finish off his three-way scoring.
For the game, Spiller accounted for 158 yards: 97 on 18 carries, 17 on his lone pass and 13 on kickoff returns. He broke the Clemson school record for all-purpose yards in a single season.
"Give Clemson credit - they are a good football team," NC State coach Tom O'Brien said. "We didn't help ourselves today. We had too many mistakes.
"For a team like us to beat a team like that, we had to be perfect and we were far from that this afternoon."
The Wolfpack struggled to find a way to slow down Clemson's offense, which scored more than 40 points for the fourth consecutive week.
"I thought our offense kept answering every time NC State scored," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. "It was a good win on the road, and we'll look forward to playing for the division championship next week."
NC State sophomore quarterback Russell Wilson threw touchdown passes to George Bryan and Jarvis Williams, giving him 26 scoring passes this season, the second most single-season total in school history. Philip Rivers holds the record with 34 in 2003.
But Wilson, who missed his first eight passes of the game, also struggled at times, completing just 12 of 32 passes for 183 yards.
Senior tailback Toney Baker had 76 yards on 19 carries and Owen Spencer, Bryan and Williams had three catches apiece.
Redshirt freshman Mike Glennon took over the offense in the final moments of the game and threw his first career touchdown pass, a 2-yard strike to Williams with three seconds remaining in the game.
The Wolfpack, which cannot qualify for a bowl game this year, travels to Virginia Tech next Saturday for its final road game of the season.
"Our goal is to go in [to Virginia Tech] and win," O'Brien said. "We want to go to Virginia Tech, put together a game plan, and make a game of it. We need guys who want to go there and play. We told guys if anyone doesn't want to play or show up tomorrow, we don't need you."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
