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PACK'S BOWL: O'Brien 3-0 against Heels
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Published: November 29, 2009
RALEIGH -- In a mind-numbing development yesterday, the college bowl season started weeks ahead of schedule.
N.C. State knocked off North Carolina 28-27 in the Local Bowl.
As Wolfpack coaches from Burt Gatling to Tom O'Brien might attest -- if they could still talk -- all football is local.
Gatling learned the hard way. He was the second Wolfpack coach and the first to confront Carolina, losing three games in the 1890s by a combined score of 96-0. O'Brien evened the match, if not the score, by winning his third State-Carolina game in three tries. That single magic trick erased two miserable months riddled with questions and injuries and six defeats in seven games.
The Wolfpack buried the doubts and muffled the doubters in the final act of a 5-7 season, drawing inspiration from offensive coordinator Dana Bible's fight against leukemia and motivation from the baby-blue helmets across the scrimmage line.
State's Owen Spencer caught two touchdown passes, including the decisive 38-yarder. Long before that, he caught the wave of rivalry emotion flowing across the fading green grass of home.
"We could play this team in the McDonald's parking lot and it would be a big game," Spencer said.
Meaty roars filled Carter-Finley Stadium all afternoon, the cheers rising as the Wolfpack blocked Casey Barth's worm-burner of a punched field-goal attempt and quarterback Russell Wilson devoured priceless time and safety Clem Johnson intercepted the final Carolina pass.
A few seconds later, the clock reached zero and a canon boom signaled the celebration.
N.C. State plagued by injuries
Wolfpack players gathered in front of the student section, the fully uniformed competitors joined by a fellow on crutches wearing the red No. 41 jersey, without pads. That would be Dwayne Maddox, a linebacker who sprained an ankle in the first half and joined the outrageously long list of injured defensive starters.
With 16 scholarship players out and two more defensive starters hurt during the game, the Wolfpack looked like longer shots than the oddsmakers' mere touchdown.
Somehow, State fought back from 10-point deficits for three quarters. Somehow, State tapped into a river of resolve and resilience. Carolina gained more yards (481) than it had in five years, yet State withstood the early assaults and limited the Tar Heels to a measly field goal in the second half.
Linebacker Alan-Michael Cash identified another energy source. "We did this for the seniors," he said. "We'll always remember this."
Cash, by the way, is a senior.
The Tar Heels showed up with seniors and all classes of players, buoyed by consecutive wins over Virginia Tech, Duke, Miami and Boston College.
The Tar Heels had already qualified for a holiday trip -- Atlanta's high-profile chicken bowl sent a scout -- and had designs on the first nine-win season since Coach Mack Brown left Chapel Hill.
Rosy scenarios blew up in a series of monumental mishaps: a fumble into the end zone, mindlessly macho personal fouls, fragmented concentration, perhaps a modicum of arrogance.
The Tar Heels arrived with the No. 23 ranking, and by 3:30 the Wolfpack fans had pronounced them overrated.
Carolina safety Deunta Williams didn't necessarily disagree.
"It was just one of them days," he said. "You would love to go out and play great every single game. It's obvious we haven't been able to do that. We're not to that level yet. There is a new level for us to get to."
State beat Carolina to that level, which is generally called a rivalry game and sometimes called a bowl game, on special occasions.
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