North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Pack Avoids Kool-Aid of 4-0 Start
9/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 27, 2010
Wilson, Irving Named ACC Players of the Week
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – As defensive tackle Natanu Mageo and wided receiver Jarvis Williams walked to class Monday morning, a random student yelled in their direction: “4-0, baby! Go Pack!”
It was just one of the many congratulations the Wolfpack players have received since they beat defending ACC champion Georgia Tech 45-28 Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.
There have been other not-so-vocal but important pats on the back as well. Both junior quarterback Russell Wilson and senior linebacker Nate Irving were named ACC Players of the Week at their positions for their dominating play against the Yellow Jackets.
The Associated Press voters included the Wolfpack in the Top 25 for the first time since Philip Rivers was a senior in 2003.
Head coach Tom O’Brien, often beleaguered because of the many things that have gone wrong the last two years that are out of his control, even cracked a rare smile as he left the field at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Grant Field.
And just about every Facebook friend of every football player made some kind of comment about the Wolfpack’s big win and fast start.
“Obviously, there is an excitement around campus, because we haven’t been 4-0 in a long time,” said sophomore offensive lineman R.J. Mattes. “People are loving it and the team is loving it.”
O’Brien allowed his team (4-0, 1-0 ACC) to celebrate the win through Sunday afternoon’s film session, then turned their sights to this week’s home game against conference foe Virginia Tech, which O’Brien described as “by far the best team we have faced this season.” The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. at sold-out Carter-Finley Stadium and will be televised nationally by ABC.
The coaching staff is trying their best to keep the team grounded, with some success, it would seem.
“I just go with what [offensive coordinator] Bible has been preaching: ‘Don’t drink the Kool-Aid,’” Mattes said. “He told us that everyone is going to be coming over and telling us we are great.’ We are not a bad team, but we are not as great as people are telling us we are.”
O’Brien has never been one to over-praised his team. But he is proud of how the Wolfpack has played so far. Since coming to NC State in 2007, he’s never had a team to win its first game, to win its first road game or its first conference game. This year’s team has done all three.
The Pack hopes to break another streak by winning its first conference home game under O’Brien.
O’Brien, like most coaches, isn’t concerned with such statistics. He’s focused only on the opponent in his windshield, not the ones in his rear-view mirror or those lurking over the horizon.
“I look at each week as a season,” O’Brien said. “That is the only thing I have ever been able to control coaching, whether we are 4-0 or 0-4. The only thing I can control is the guys that I have this week and how I can best put them on the field to beat Virginia Tech. I have always approached every game of every season I have every coached as a head football coach.
“That’s the only chance I have in coaching to win a football game.”
But O’Brien does have something a little different this year: a roster filled with nearly healthy players. In recent years, the Wolfpack has suffered an unprecedented number of injuries that hampered the team’s development and resulted in some ugly losses. So far this season, the injury report has been short and sweet.
“The good news is that on the first of October, we still have basically the same team we had at the first of September, which we haven’t had in the past,” O’Brien said. “Knock on wood, if we stay healthy and keep going, we may win a few more football games.”
The Pack will also continue to rise in the polls, if that happens. That kind of national attention doesn’t bother O’Brien in the least.
“Hopefully, being ranked give [the team] a little confidence,” O’Brien said. “They have been doing things the right way, the way we wanted them to do them, so there is some validation there: ‘We have done things this way, and if you are going to have a chance to succeed, you are going to have to keep doing it this way.’
“The ranking is good. It is recognition of what they have done the last month. They should be happy that someone is taking notice of the hard work they have been doing the last month, but rankings don’t matter until we finish up at the end of the year. It has nothing to do with the game on Saturday.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
