North Carolina State University Athletics
#PackTheBay: QB Success Has Led to Bowl Success
12/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. - Pack quarterback Jacoby Brissett will be following some tough company in this week's Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl against UCF.
Three of today's NFL signal callers and Pack Alums -- Philip Rivers (San Diego), Russell Wilson (Seattle) and Mike Glennon (Tampa Bay) -- guided NC State football teams to a combined eight bowl games during their illustrious collegiate careers.
Rivers, who donned a Pack uniform for 52 consecutive starts (an NCAA record when he departed), finished with a 3-1 post-season mark. His bowl performances are legendary and he was named the Most Valuable Player during each of the Wolfpack's three triumphs.
Super Bowl winning quarterback Wilson spent three seasons doing spectacular stunts for the Carter-Finley Stadium patrons and graduated in three years with a 1-1 bowl record on his resume.
And Glennon, not to be denied, finished his career with a two-year stint and a bowl record of 1-1 as a post-graduate student.
So that's a respectable 5-3 mark by the talented trio. The details are intriguing, to say the least.
Rivers successfully engineered a potent Pack offense in former coach Chuck Amato's first four years in Raleigh. The prolific gunslinger completed 68 percent of his bowl aerials - 110 completions in 161 attempts for 1202 yards and 10 touchdowns with only one interception.
His first bowl appearance versus Minnesota in Miami's Pro Player Stadium gave everyone a glimpse of things to come not only in collegiate circles but also in his NFL future.
Rivers displayed great leadership skills and his never-say-die attitude with the Pack behind 24-0 in the first quarter. Having guided the Pack in comeback regular-season victories over Arkansas State, Indiana, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, the 6-foot-5 seasoned freshman sparked 25 unanswered points with pin-point passing and excellent running by Ray Robinson.
The Wolfpack took a 25-24 lead only for Minnesota to kick a field goal to lead once again, 27-25. A 52-yard, four-play drive ended on a 23-yard touchdown strike off a fade pattern to Robinson for a 31-27 lead which never evaporated. State won the exciting game, 38-30.
Key injuries hit the Pack prior and into the 2001 Tangerine Bowl with Big East foe - and now ACC member - Pittsburgh putting the only blemish on Rivers' bowl record 34-19. The State quarterback threw for 189 yards on 26 of 40 aerials, a touchdown and one interception.
The next fall in 2002, Rivers led the Wolfpack to a 9-0 regular-season start before three late-season losses took the team out of the title chase.
However, Coach Amato's chargers gained national prominence with ACC Player of the Year Rivers leading the way in a 28-6 victory over Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.
A sellout crowd of 73,491 and a national television audience watched Amato's defense dominate - giving Rivers and company room to operate. Starting on the Pack four-yard line, running back T.A. McLendon scored from the two-yard line to initiate a 21-point second quarter and a 21-3 halftime advantage.
Rivers hurled two touchdown passes (23 of 37 for 228 yards) and McLendon set a State season record by rushing for his 17th and 18th scoring touchdowns on the season.
The Pack set a school record with its 11th win and finished ranked 11th in the Coaches Poll and 12th in the AP.
Rivers illustrious career came to a close the next December in the Mazda Tangerine Bowl in 2003 versus the Kansas Jayhawks who had on their coaching staff current Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren.
And he ended it in style with five touchdown strikes along with completing 37 of 45 passes for 475 yards. It was the Alabama native's fifth 400-plus yard endeavor. Favorite receiver Jerricho Cotchery snatched one scoring strike amid a 171-yard day. The Pack finished 8-5 overall.
Rivers finished his career as the all-time ACC passing leader with 13,484 yards and 95 touchdowns.
Wilson followed Rivers in two bowl games: The Papajohns.com Bowl in 2008 and the Champs Sports Bowl in 2010. His bowl statistics: completing 39 of 68 passes for 461 yards and three touchdowns.
His first bowl encounter may have been much different if he hadn't gotten hurt two plays before the end of the first half versus Rutgers with the Pack leading comfortably, 16-7.
The All-ACC redshirt freshman performer engineered the Pack's only first-half touchdown in the first quarter - an 81-yard drive, capped by a 44-yard touchdown pass to his favorite target - Owen Spencer.
With Wilson hurt on the sidelines in the second half, Harrison Beck and Daniel Evans couldn't muster any points in the third quarter and Rutgers got in gear to win 29-23.
Two years later in the Champs Sports Bowl and going against one of the best defenses in the country, Wilson's talent again surfaced as the Pack beat West Virginia, 23-7, in Orlando.
Named the Bowl's MVP, Wilson completed 25 of 45 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns. On the Pack's second series, he was 5 of 7 for 79 yards and hit Mustafa Greene for a 16-yard scoring strike for a 7-0 lead.
T.J. Graham's kickoff return to the West Virginia 48 led to a 45-yard field goal by Josh Czajkowski and a 10-7 halftime advantage. After another Pack field goal, Wilson hit Jarvis Williams for a seven-yard touchdown pass in front of the receiver's hometown fans.
Glennon's first bowl contest was in Charlotte at the Belk Bowl in 2011 where he would face another future NFL quarterback - Louisville freshman Teddy Bridgewater (now the Minnesota Vikings signal-caller).
Glennon led the Wolfpack offense in scoring 24 unanswered points in the second and third quarters en route to a 31-24 triumph.
The Virginia native completed 21 of 33 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns - the second most aerial strikes in a Pack bowl contest behind Rivers' five.
Glennon was 6 of 7 for 46 yards on State's first scoring drive capped by T.J. Graham's six-yard touchdown. He was 5 for 5 on an 80-yard drive culminated by Tobias Palmer's 35-yard touchdown pass. That was after Graham had hauled in a 68-yard touchdown pass from the lanky quarterback.
His counterpart Bridgewater, who was banged time and time again by the Pack pass rush, completed 24 of 43 passes for 274 yards and two touchdowns. However, the State defense intercepted three of his aerials.
State finished at 9-4 and the triumph was coach Tom O'Brien's 100th in then a 14-year head-coaching career.
The 2012 Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee versus Vanderbilt was next for Glennon and the Wolfpack (7-6).
Offensive coordinator Dana Bible acted as interim head coach with the firing of Tom O'Brien after the season finale.
Glennon hurled 53 passes - completing 35 for one touchdown and three interceptions as the Commodores, completed their first nine-win season since 1915 with a 38-24 victory.
Coach James Franklin's team used a 21-point second quarter - capitalizing on Pack turnovers - to lead 28-14 at halftime. The defeat broke a two-game bowl winning streak by State.
Consequently, Glennon finished his career with bowl statistics: 56 of 86 passes for 647 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
Therefore, with the statistics and exploits of Rivers, Wilson and Glennon in mind, Brissett will try and take his place among them as the Pack journeys to St. Petersburg on Dec. 26 vs. UCF.
By George Cox
