In the process they finish the season 9-4, earn Tom O'Brien his 100th career coaching victory, and become the first team all season to score more than 21 points in a game against West Virginia. West Virginia was the last FBS school to have not allowed more than 21 points. Russell Wilson was 28-45 for 276 yards with 2 TDs and no picks. He also rushed for 41 more yards, in what could be his last game for the Pack. I'd be very surprised if it wasn't. He has his baseball contract with Colorado and also graduated in May.
West Virginia turned the ball over 5 times in the second half. State kept setting for red zone field goals and missed a field goal to allow the Mountaineers to hang around. But then West Virginia muffed a punt inside the 10 and State recovered. State finally scored a touchdown when Russell Wilson scrambled for about 10 seconds, avoided 3 arm tackles that about took him down, and finally found Jarvis Williams in the middle of the endzone wide open for the icing score. His previous TD was back in the first quarter to Mustafa Greene out of the backfield.
State never played poorly but couldn't run the ball at times in the fourth when they could have worked the clock. They also dropped a couple big drive extending passes in the second half while the game was still a single digit lead for the Pack.
State finishes 9-4, the second most wins in team history. If this is the end for Wilson he'll go down as the second greatest QB in NC State history, behind only Philip Rivers.
State fans can now feel that Tom O'Brien has achieved what he was brought here to do. But the question will be sustaining it if in fact they have to re-tool with Mike Glennon at QB, a guy with tons of talent but little testing. They'll also experience losses at tight end, wide receiver, and Nate Irving on defense, who will definitely be playing on Sundays next season.
No comments:
Post a Comment