North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack Rallies for 38-31 Win Over Pittsburgh
9/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – Don't ever let it be said that NC State football coach Tom O'Brien gets overly excited. The third-year coach, just minutes after watching his team score 21 unanswered points to beat Pittsburgh 38-31 at sold-out Carter-Finley Stadium, told his team it wasn't particularly good.
"We are certainly excited to come away with the victory and I know the kids are excited, but in the final analysis, we are not a very good football team right now," O'Brien said. "I've done a bad job coaching because there are just too many mistakes.
"We have to face up to some facts: We were lucky enough to win this game, but going into the ACC, I don't think that performance will get it done."
Fortunately for the Wolfpack, the opponent was from the Big East, not the ACC. The previously undefeated Panthers (3-1) jumped out to an early 10-0 lead in the first quarter and went ahead 31-17 with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter, taking advantage of missed tackles and mistakes by the Wolfpack defense.
"At that point, I just told the offense to stay focused and execute," said sophomore quarterback Russell Wilson. "Stick together, don't fight with each other and don't worry about anything else.
"I knew we could go up and down the field. We have the ability to attack and score quick when we need to."
The record-setting quarterback rallied his team immediately after Pitt scored its final touchdown of the game, a 79-yard scoring pass from quarterback Bill Stull to wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin that might have broken the confidence of some teams.
Less than 90 seconds later, with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter, Wilson threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jarvis Williams to cut Pitt's lead to a touchdown.
Two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter, Wilson tied the score on a 7-yard pass to tight end George Bryan. It was the quarterback from Richmond's fourth scoring pass of the game, giving him three straight games with four touchdown passes. His total of 12 in the last three games breaks Philip Rivers' record of 11 touchdown passes in three games, set against Duke, Virginia and Florida State in 2003.
Perhaps the most impressive play Wilson had on the day, however, came with his legs, not with his arms.
His 21-yard rush on fourth-and-14 with 13:06 to play in the game set up the tying pass to Bryan and seemingly decimated the Pitt defense, which could not stop the speedy quarterback, through the air or on the ground. In the game, Wilson carried the ball 10 times for a career-high 91 yards.
"I had the opportunity to run the ball and I just took off," Wilson said.
After tying the game, Wilson engineered a masterful 10-play, 71-yard drive that was twice extended by pass interference penalties on the Pitt defense. Senior Toney Baker gave the Pack its first lead of the contest with a 2-yard run behind the left side of the offensive line with 6:28 remaining in the game.
Disaster nearly struck as Wilson and the offense tried to run out the clock. With 2:45 remaining, the center snap went well over Wilson's head and the quarterback lost the scramble for the ball. Pitt recovered at the NC State 8-yard line and seemed to be on the verge of sending the game into overtime.
"We're still going to win the game, is what I was thinking," Wilson said of what was running through his head as he ran off the field.
The Panthers were stuffed at the line on a running play by defensive end Willie Young and linebacker Terrell Manning. On the next two plays, true freshman safety Brandan Bishop broke up passes in the end zone. On fourth-and-goal from the 8, Stull ran from pressure and could not find a receiver in the end zone, giving the ball back to the Wolfpack.
The State offense, which rolled up its most total yards (530) in 59 games, churned out a first down and ran out the clock. Wilson, who was 21-for-35 for 322 yards, extended his interception avoidance streak to 364, dating back to last year.
"The key for us was that we kept fighting," said Baker, who had 81 rushing yards on 18 carries and a team-high 71 receiving yards on three catches. "We showed we are a pretty resilient football team. We had a lot of mistakes that we have to get cleaned up. We never stopped believing that we could win the football game."
"We just came together and we kept fighting."
The Wolfpack (3-1), which trailed 17-10 at the half, tied the game on the opening possession of the second half, when Wilson threw a screen pass over the middle to Baker, who ran it in for a 38-yard touchdown.
But Pitt answered quickly to retake the lead, going 68 yards in six plays. Stull hit receiver Cameron Sadler on a 13-yard inside screen for his first touchdown pass of the game.
Baker and Jamelle Eugene both had big carries in the game, with Eugene making a 19-yard run that helped set up a score in the first half and Baker going for 30 yards in the third quarter that set up Czajkowski's third field goal attempt of the game. However, that 37-yard attempt was blocked by Pitt's Chas Alecxih.
The Wolfpack got off to a rugged start, offensively and defensively.
Pitt, after returning the opening kickoff to the Wolfpack 48, needed only four plays - and an NC State personal foul - to score the game's first touchdown, on a 6-yard run by freshman Dion Lewis, who scored twice in the first half, but finished the game with just 95 yards on 19 carries, well below his 137-yard average coming into the game.
State's offense, backed up inside its own 10, was three-and-out on its first possession, and Pitt got the ball back on its own 47.
Following a 24-yard run by Lewis, the Panthers put themselves in field goal position, and Dan Hutchins kicked a 35-yarder with 9:08 remaining in the first quarter to bump Pitt's lead to 10-0 before the Wolfpack had its initial first down.
Wilson threw his first touchdown pass of the game by hitting wide-open fullback Taylor Gentry on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 2:39 remaining in the first quarter, cutting Pitt's lead to 10-7. It was the first career touchdown for Gentry, a sophomore from Raleigh.
Czajkowski missed his first field goal of the season - and his first ever at Carter-Finley - when his 32-yard attempt in the second quarter bounced off the left upright.
He bounced back at the end of the half, hitting a 25-yarder as time expired, closing the gap to 17-10 at intermission.
After four home games to start the season, the Wolfpack plays its first road game next week, traveling to Wake Forest for a 3:30 p.m. contest at BB&T Field.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
