North Carolina State University Athletics
HAYNES: Unbeaten Mark On Line Vs. Hokies
10/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 1, 2010
BY TONY HAYNES
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Thursday's updated injury report partially explains why the NC State football team is off to a solid 4-0 start: Two players -- running back James Washington and defensive tackle Markus Kuhn -- are listed as probable to return for Saturday's home game against Virginia Tech. Perhaps more importantly, there were no new additions to the injury list.
The 23rd ranked Wolfpack (4-0, 1-0) will host the Hokies (2-2, 1-0) at 3:30 in an ACC tilt at sold-out Carter-Finley Stadium. Wolfpack Sports Network airtime is 2:30.
"The good news is on the first of October we still have the same team on the field we had on the first of September, which we haven't had in the past," NC State head coach Tom O'Brien said. "Knock on wood, if we stay healthy and keep going, we might win a few more football games."
In recent weeks, the Pack has added more players than it has lost, a far cry from the situation it faced the last time it met Virginia Tech back in November. Already mired in an injury-plagued 2009 season, NC State found out the very day it was busing up to Blacksburg that offensive coordinator Dana Bible would miss the game after being diagnosed with leukemia.
The end result was a fairly one-sided 38-10 Virginia Tech victory at Lane Stadium.
Not only has the Wolfpack remained healthy through the first four games, it has kept its two best players on the field. The playmaking impact of quarterback Russell Wilson and linebacker Nate Irving was in full view during last week's impressive 45-28 ACC win at Georgia Tech. Wilson passed for a career-high 368 yards and three touchdowns while Irving personally wrecked Tech's vaunted option attack, amassing 16 tackles including 4.5 for loss.
The Wolfpack, of course, played the entire 2009 season without Irving, who sustained serious injuries in a preseason car accident.
"Our best players have to play well and our best players are Russell on offense and Nate on defense," said O'Brien. "When you have a team with a good amount of youth still on it, your good players have to lead the way."
Beyond their ability to make plays, Wilson and Irving have an undeniable presence that breeds confidence throughout the entire football team.
"Obviously we embrace Russell," offensive tackle R.J. Mattes said. "He's a great leader. He's always leading us in drills and always being the first in everything. Russell is one of those guys you love to be a captain because he does the right thing at all times."
And when Irving's name came up earlier in the week, a smile opened up across defensive tackle Natanu Mageo's face.
"That's `Iron Nate,'" Mageo said.
Wilson and Irving have led NC State to a 4-0 record and a new national ranking in the Associated Press poll of national media, now it's up to the Wolfpack to continue the steady improvement that has been obvious through the first four games of the season. Anything less will prove to be costly against a Virginia Tech team that was a popular pick in the preseason to win a fourth ACC title under veteran coach Frank Beamer. The Hokies may indeed be 2-2 following season-opening losses to Boise State and James Madison, but they're also 1-0 in the ACC after blanking Boston College last week, 19-0.
"This is a heck of a football team coming in," O'Brien said. "They look the same way. They have tremendous speed all over the field on defense. [Defensive Coordinator] Bud Foster doesn't change very much one way or another and being there the 20-plus years they have, they just keep plugging guys in. They get better guys every year because of their success. They're by far the best team we've played this year. It's not even close."
Since Virginia Tech was forced to replaced seven starters from last year's stout defensive unit, there were some new `guys' starting out this season. But after some trying times early, it appears Foster's forces kicked it into gear last week in Chestnut Hill, recording six sacks and holding B.C. to just 39 total yards after halftime.
"They're probably the best defensive team we've played this year," said Mattes, who was among those coming off the injury list when he got 30 snaps at right tackle two weeks ago against Cincinnati. "They're athletic, physical and come down hill. Their linebackers blitz a lot and they come hard. Coach Bible told us they have 30 tackles for loss."
Linebacker Bruce Taylor, he of 9.5 tackles for loss through four games, is Virginia Tech's version of Nate Irving. Just as Pack defensive coordinator Mike Archer puts Irving in a position to come free and make plays, so does Foster with Taylor.
The match-up of Russell Wilson against Taylor and the rest of the Tech defense will certainly be one to watch on Saturday. Ironically, Wilson, a Richmond native, was on Virginia Tech's recruiting radar four years ago before Beamer and his staff settled on Hampton's Tyrod Taylor, who will be Wilson's counterpart at quarterback in Saturday's game.
"I think we had Tyrod committed to us," Beamer recalled. "We understood how good a player Wilson was. I was at the Richmond banquet when he got player of the year in Richmond. The thing you didn't know about him was how much baseball was going to be involved and to what extent. He's turned out great. He's very poised and doing a great job for those guys."
All Wilson has done the last two weeks is throw for 701 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception, his first of the year last week at Georgia Tech. He's also completed passes to 11 different players in each of his last two games and leads an offense that's averaging 434 yards and 37 points per game.
Virginia Tech senior rover Davon Morgan is familiar with Wilson after playing against his fellow Richmond native in high school.
"I knew Russell in high school and always thought he was a pretty good quarterback," Morgan said. "I played quarterback in high school so I had the opportunity to battle with him in a few camps to try to show that I was a better quarterback and everything like that. I knew he would be pretty good. I didn't think that he would go to college to play quarterback because of his baseball stats, but he's a pretty good quarterback."
Some would say Wilson, who played baseball in the Colorado Rockies organization over the summer, is better than just "pretty good." The redshirt junior has thrown 42 touchdown passes over his last 16 games dating back to last year.
Despite his team's convincing win at Boston College last weekend, the theme of Beamer's press conference on Tuesday was a Virginia Tech offense that struggled in the red zone, settling for four field goals against the Eagles. Beamer was justifiably defensive when a reporter noted that the Hokies had thrown just two passes in 74 first down plays from the red zone dating back to last year.
"Did you count the number of wins we had?" Beamer shot back.
Perhaps it's actually the ultimate compliment to the Virginia Tech program that merely winning is never enough. Some followers and even a few media members who cover the Hokies have perhaps been spoiled by the fact that Virginia Tech has won 10 or more games in six straight seasons. There have been 17 straight bowl appearances and 148 wins since 1995, a figure that is only surpassed nationally by Florida and Ohio State.
A loss at Carter-Finley on Saturday would certainly put the streak of 10-win seasons in serious jeopardy.
"We're playing a team that's really hot and very confident as they should be," Beamer said. "It's a big challenge for our football team this week."
