North Carolina State University Athletics
The 2010 Season: A Good Start
11/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 27, 2010
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Saturday's 38-31 loss at Maryland was a crushing blow to NC State's football team, which had the opportunity to advance to the ACC championship game in Charlotte next week if it had won the game.
But once the hurt of that missed opportunity subsides, Wolfpack head coach Tom O'Brien believes his players will realize what a great, stage-setting season they have had, winning eight regular-season games and folding an array of talented young players into the lineup.
"I'm proud of this team, to win eight football games overall and five conference games, is something that hasn't been done in a long time around our school," the coach said following the loss Saturday evening at Maryland's Byrd Stadium. "We look forward for an opportunity to play in a bowl game and get a chance to get back on the field.
"It is important for our program, especially the young kids, to get another chance to coach them. Where ever we go, we'll go to have a good time and to win our ninth football game."
Bowl selections are another week away, but the Wolfpack knows it will be playing in the postseason for the second time since O'Brien arrived four years ago. The Pack lost to Rutgers 29-23 in the 2008 All-America Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.
But that loss left the Pack with a 6-7 overall record for the '08 season. No matter what happens in the next game, O'Brien and his team will finish with a winning record, after finishing the school's most regular-season victories 2002. It's just the second time in the last 18 years the Pack has posted that many wins in the regular season.
"I don't know if our kids fully comprehend what a great year they've had," the coach said. "Where they've come from to get to this point, in comparison to how many times it's been done at our school, is a great start for us.
"Now we can do better."
Disappointment was palpable in the postgame press conference, as the players tried to explain what happened after taking a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Maryland scored 24 unanswered points in the second and third quarters, mostly on touchdown strikes between redshirt-freshman quarterback Danny O'Brien and wide receiver Torrey Smith. The pair connected on four scoring passes on the day, a school record.
But there was a glimmer of understanding about how far the team has come since August, when the media that cover the league picked NC State to finish fourth among the six teams in the ACC's Atlantic Division. Few people expected the Pack to be playing for a chance to go to Charlotte in the final week of the season.
"We were right on the brink of going to the ACC championship, something that hasn't been done in a long, long time in Raleigh," junior defensive lineman J.R. Sweezy said. "We were excited. We wanted it. It just didn't happen.
"We didn't step up to the plate the way we should have."
Not everyone thought this season would be another small step in building O'Brien's program. Quarterback Russell Wilson came back from his summer of playing professional baseball confident in his abilities and confident that his teammates were ready to a big step in the coach's fourth season.
"We had high expectations for ourselves," Wilson said. "A lot of people didn't think we could do as well as we've done, but we thought we could do a little bit better. That's not going to happen now.
"We just have to focus and get ready for a great bowl game."
The players will have some time off until the team begins bowl preparations and practice. But that game will serve as the jumping off point for next season.
"As I told the seniors, we'll find a way to win our ninth game," O'Brien said. "But they've set the bar. That's the goal for the kids coming back. That's what we are going to work for once we get to bowl practice, to get the young guys ready for the future and get the team ready for the bowl game."
Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
