NC State
East Carolina
East Carolina Claims 33-27 Overtime Win
10/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 16, 2010
BY TIM PEELER
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The setup for the storybook come-from-behind victory was perfect, but in the end the outcome of Saturday afternoon’s game against East Carolina was disappointing.
The Wolfpack, which trailed 21-0 after the first quarter in Saturday afternoon’s game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, came back to take a brief 27-24 lead with three minutes to play in regulation. But the Pirates, under first-year coach Ruffin McNeil, forced the game into overtime and claimed a 33-27 victory in front of a school-record crowd of 50,410.
The Pirates scored on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Dominique Davis after earning the first possession in overtime. But when placekicker Michael Barbour missed the extra point, the door was open for Wolfpack quarterback Russell Wilson and his teammates on offense to secure the comeback win.
But Wilson had a difficult afternoon, despite passing for more than 300 yards for the 10th time in his career. He had a fumble in the first half and three interceptions in the second, including one in overtime that ended the game and sent the purple-and-gold portion of the stands into a tizzy.
“It was a tough game that came down to the wire,” Wilson said. “We had every confidence that our team and our offense could score in overtime. But it didn’t work out that way.”
After freshman Mustafa Greene gained 10 yards on the Wolfpack’s first play in overtime, East Carolina’s defense stopped the Wolfpack behind the line of scrimmage on back-to-back plays. On third and 13, Wilson’s pass to the end zone to senior receiver Jarvis Williams was intercepted by Damon Magazu.
“I tried to take some shots there in the fourth quarter and they didn’t work,” Wilson said.
But Wilson was also responsible for bringing his team back after it fell behind quickly against the Pirates. His counterpart, Davis, opened the game on a hot streak, completing his first 14 passes and taking his team to the end zone on its first three possessions.
“We got so far behind and fought back, and just couldn’t get over the hump there at the end,” said Wolfpack head coach Tom O’Brien. ““We obviously just didn’t make plays at the end of the game and they did. So give them a lot of credit.”
“We have to regroup and get ready for our next game. We need some time off.”
The Wolfpack (5-2 overall, 2-1 ACC) will have 10 days to recuperate and prepare for its ACC Atlantic Division showdown with Florida State on Thursday, Oct. 28, at Carter-Finley Stadium. Kickoff for the game, which will be broadcast on ESPN, is slated for 7:45 p.m.
“It was really rough for the game to end that way,” said offensive tackle Jake Vermiglio. “You hate having a turnover in overtime. That’s not the way we wanted it to end.
“The game was filled with all kinds of twists and turns in the game. They were in the lead most of the game. We came back and tied it and took the lead. They came back and tied us at the end of regulation. It was just emotional.”
After trailing early, the Wolfpack came all the way back to take a 27-24 lead, thanks to a 37-yard field goal by Josh Czajkowski with 2:59 remaining in regulation. But Davis led ECU down the field in less than a minute to set up Barbour’s 31-yard game-tying field goal with 1:04 remaining in regulation.
The Wolfpack tried to answer its two-minute offense, but Wilson’s deep pass to Owen Spencer down the field was intercepted by ECU back Emanuel Davis with just a few seconds on the clock.
It was the Wolfpack’s first overtime since it beat 15 th-ranked ECU 30-24 at Carter-Finley Stadium on Sept. 20, 2008, Wilson’s freshman season.
The Wolfpack fell behind quickly in the contest, as the Pirates raced out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. But the Pack defense limited ECU to a pair of field goals the rest of regulation.
The game had its offensive moments in the first half, but the two teams combined to commit seven turnovers in regulation: three fumbles and a muffed punt by the Pirates and a fumble and two interceptions by Wilson.
And the overtime interception sealed the Wolfpack’s second loss of the season.
“We wish we were 7-0,” Vermiglio said. “We wanted to be perfect. We can still do what we wanted to accomplish this season and that is win the conference.
“We can definitely have a great season, as long as we keep getting better and working hard.”
At first, Wilson’s second miscue seemed to be the most costly. Just after he made an important fourth down conversion at his own 30-yard line, Wilson threw a pass to Owen Spencer deep down the field that was intercepted by ECU’s Emanuel Davis on his own 29.
The Pirates’ possession didn’t last long, ending when Terrell Manning and David Akinniyi sacked ECU quarterback Dominique Davis, the first sack of the game by either team.
The Wolfpack’s final possession of regulation ended on Wilson’s second interception of the game, with seven seconds remaining on the clock. Czajkowski had kicked a 22-yard field goal with 11:47 remaining in the game, breaking a scoreless second half for the two teams and tying the game at 24-24. The score ended a 17-play, 85-yard drive that chewed off more than six minutes from the game clock.
Neither team could find the end zone in the third quarter, though East Carolina came awfully close. As senior Giavanni Ruffin was headed in for the Pirates fourth touchdown of the day, he stretched the ball out in front of him and had it stripped out of his hands by NC State linebacker Audie Cole. The ball bounced out of the back of the end zone, giving the Wolfpack possession on the 20-yard line on the Pirates’ fourth turnover of the game.
East Carolina tried an end-around reverse early in the third quarter, but Jeff Rieskamp forced Dwayne Harris inside, grabbed his upper body and stripped the ball out of his hands. Cole recovered the fumble, giving the Wolfpack the ball at midfield.
But the offense couldn’t turn the miscue into points. In the first half, the Pirates bolted out of the gate, taking the opening kickoff down the field on a 61-yard drive that ended with Jonathan Williams’ 5-yard touchdown run, just three minutes into the game.
The Wolfpack stalled on its first offensive drive, but on the punt by Andy Leffler, East Carolina’s returner Dwayne Harris muffed the catch and Cole recovered the ball at the ECU 17-yard line. However, the offense stalled again and Josh Czajkowski missed a 27-yard field goal attempt to end the drive.
The Pirates took over and went straight down the field again, scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dominique Davis to receiver Lance Lewis to take a 14-0 lead with 3:49 remaining in the first quarter. Davis was hot in the early going, completing his first 14 passes in the game.
Harris began the Pirates’ third possession of the day by returning Leffler’s second punt of the day 38 yards to the NC State 19-yard line.
On the final play of the first quarter, Davis hit Jones in the middle of the end zone on a 3-yard touchdown pass to build a 21-0 advantage.
The Wolfpack eventually got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter when Wilson hit T.J. Graham on a 49-yard touchdown pass, cutting the Pirate lead to 21-7.
Wilson threw another 49-yard pass on the Pack’s next possession, this one to Spencer. The sideline catch and sprint advanced NC State down to the ECU 12-yard line. Three plays later, Wilson dived into the end zone for a 2-yard rushing touchdown, to cap an eight-play, 88-yard drive that ran just 2:22 off the clock.
For the second consecutive possession, State’s defense slowed the Pirate attack, limiting ECU to a 35-yard field goal by Barbour to pushed its lead back to 10 points.
The Wolfpack answered with a wild drive that included a big fourth-down conversion on a pass from Wilson to Spencer and a roughing-the-quarterback penalty on the Pirates that negated a goal-line interception. In the end, a bad handoff between Wilson and freshman running back Mustafa Greene left the ball on the ground and the Pirates recovered on their own 7-yard line.
Two plays later, ECU’s Williams had the ball stripped out of his hands by David Akinniyi and Jeff Rieskamp recovered the loose ball inside the 1-yard line. On the next play, Dean Haynes cut the Pirate lead to just three points, 24-21, with 1:44 remaining in the half.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
