North Carolina State University Athletics
Thursday Football Notebook
11/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Game 9: NC State (4-4, 1-3 ACC) vs. North Carolina (6-3, 2-3 ACC)
November 5, 2011 • 12:30 p.m. • ACC Network
Raleigh, N.C. • Carter-Finley Stadium (57,583)
STATE, CAROLINA BEGIN 2ND CENTURY OF PLAY: Saturday’s game will mark the 101st meeting in the series between the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels. The rivalry, which began in 1894, is the Wolfpack’s oldest among ACC teams and the fourth-most played series in the ACC.
When the series began, the two teams actually played twice a year for several years (1894, 1899 and 1901). The series moved to an annual basis for 1919 through 1943 and then after a three-year hiatus, the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels have played every year since 1947 with one exception. In 1952, the game between the two teams was cancelled because of a polio outbreak on UNC’s campus.
The Tar Heels hold a 63-31-6 overall mark over the Wolfpack, including a 27-13-4 advantage in Raleigh. However, NC State has won the last four meetings between the two teams and three of the last four at Carter-Finley.
ONE FOR THE THUMB: When the Pittsburgh Steelers were playing for their fifth NFL Championship, their catch phrase was “One for the Thumb” in reference to winning their fifth Super Bowl ring.
Tom O’Brien and company try for ‘one for the thumb’ on Saturday, when they attempt to win their fifth consecutive game against the rival from the next county over.
The Wolfpack won five in a row over the Heels from 1988-92 under head coach Dick Sheridan, with two wins at home and three on the road. Although the two teams have met 100 times on the gridiron, State has never won three in a row at home.
PACK LEADS HEELS SINCE TURN OF THE CENTURY: The 19th century was all UNC. The 20th century was more even. But in the 21st century, the Pack has definitely ruled.
The Tar Heels posted a 6-0-1 mark in the 1800s and posted a 53-24-5 mark in the 1900s. But since the year 2000, NC State has won seven of 11 games against UNC, including three at home and four on the road.
The last two contests have been nail-biters, with the Pack winning 28-27 in Raleigh in 2009 and 29-25 last year in Chapel HIll.
GLENNON-RENNER SQUARE OFF ... AGAIN: Although NC State quarterback Mike Glennon will be facing UNC for the first time as a starter and UNC quarterback Bryn Renner will be facing NC State for the first time as a starter, Saturday’s game will not be the first time the two have played for opposing teams on the football field.
Glennon attended Westfield High School in Centreville, Va., and Renner was two years behind him at West Springfield High. Those schools are just 18 miles apart according to Google maps.
In 2007, the two quarterbacks squared off in the Virginia high school playoffs, with Glennon’s Westfield squad coming out on top. The two also played against each other in Little League basketball and other youth sports.
AMERSON IS THORPE SEMIFINALIST: Sophomore cornerback David Amerson, the national leader in interceptions, has been named a semifinalist for the 2011 Jim Thorpe Award. Heading into the North Carolina game, he has two INTs than any other player in the FBS ranks. The Greensboro native now has eight for the season, including a pair in the season opener, another pair versus Central Michigan and another pair versus Virginia. He returned one pick for a touchdown in the win against the Cavaliers.
Amerson tied the single-season school record for interceptions at Virginia that had been set just a few years before he was born: Art Rooney held the record with eight in 1937 and again in 1938!
Amerson, who was one of just three true freshmen to start a game for the Pack in 2010, is the baby of the defensive secondary, even though midway through his sophomore campaign he already has 16 starts to his credit. Last season, he didn’t have a pick in 640 snaps played.
Amerson was named ACC Defensive Back of the Week following the Central Michigan and Virginia games.
With just one more pick, he will tie 2010 national leader Jayron Hosley of Virginia Tech as having the most in a single season for an ACC player since 1996, when UNC’s Dre Bly had 11 - the conference record.
GRAHAM GOES FOR RECORD: Raleigh native T.J. Graham will be looking to set the ACC career record for kickoff return yards this week against North Carolina. The senior has 2,908 yards for his career, just 76 yards shy of breaking the league record.
Graham, who ranks sixth nationally all-purpose yards, set a State single season record against Cincinnati earlier this season with 336 all-purpose yards, breaking a single-game mark that had stood for 36 years (Ted Brown had 297 in 1975). He had seven receptions for 176 yards in that contest, the 10th-best receiving yards game in school history. He also had 160 yards in kickoff returns in that contest, a mark that is tied for sixth in school history. He was named the ACC’s Specialist of the Week for that performance.
Graham now boasts 4,708 all-purpose yards for his career, the second-best mark in school history. He trails only Ted Brown, who amassed 5,565 yards in a career that ended 33 years ago.
Graham, who was recently named to the Biletnikoff watch list, boasted his first career 100-yard receiving game at Wake Forest, when he had six grabs for 117 yards and a 63-yard touchdown - the longest catch of his career at the time. He followed that with a 5-128 performance against South Alabama, and set a new career long with a 67-yard TD grab-and-run. Against Cincinnati, in addition to hitting the century mark for the third straight game, he pulled down an 87-yard reception for a touchdown - the fifth-longest in school history - to break his career-long reception mark again.
Those three contests marked the first time a Pack wideout had tallied three consecutive 100-yard receiving games since Jerricho Cotchery did so in five games to close out the 2003 campaign.
Entering the season, Graham had already made a name for himself as a kick returner. He entered the season as the school record holder in kickoff return yards for a single game (202), single season (1,028) and career. That career mark ranks second in ACC history and is just 151 yards shy of tying the league record (Torrey Smith of Maryland had 2,983 from 2008-10).
Graham has also picked up his pace as a punt returner and has posted two of the top six single-game punt return totals in school history. He had two returns for 88 yards and a touchdown in the 2010 win at UNC and had three for 88 yards and another score in the opener versus Liberty. His big return in the opener was an 82-yarder, the 11th-longest in school history.
Graham now boasts 582 career punt return yards, the sixth-best mark in school history.
PICK-Y PACK: The Wolfpack not only boasts the national leader in interceptions in cornerback David Amerson, but junior safety Brandan Bishop ranks second in the league and seventh in the nation with four for the season.
NC State ranks second nationally in picks with 16 in eight games this season (Oklahoma State, Rutgers and Vanderbilt also have 15). State has four more interceptions this season than any other ACC team.
State ranks second in the ACC and tied for 12th nationally in turnover margin with a +0.88 per game, +7 mark for the season.
NO PENALTY PACK: NC State leads the ACC and ranks 11th nationally in fewest yards penalized this season. The Wolfpack has drawn just 32 yellow flags in eight games this season and averaged just 33 yards lost in penalties per contest.
YOUNG SPECIALISTS: Tom O’Brien has been in coaching for a long time - 36 years to be exact. But this season, his team has something that he’s never come across in almost four decades in the profession: true freshman starters at placekicker, punter and long snapper.
NC State is one of only two schools starting true freshmen at both kicking spots and the only school that has a rookie at all three positions: Niklas Sade at placekicker, Wil Baumann at punter and Scott Thompson at long snapper. Each saw their first action in the season opener - making NC State the only FBS school in the country that started true freshmen at those three positions.
