A Big Road Test

The state of N.C. State football is improving. The consensus is that it's only a matter of time until Coach Tom O'Brien has the program back on track.

Coach Jim Grobe of Wake Forest, fully aware of the impressive job O'Brien did during his 10 seasons at Boston College, is inclined to agree. He only hopes that O'Brien's rebuilding job needs at least another week before N.C. State proves capable of knocking off an ACC contender.

The Deacons (6-3, 4-2) will play the Wolfpack (3-6, 1-4) at 3:30 today at Carter Finley Stadium.

"Now we've got to go back on the road," said Grobe, whose team needs a victory to remain in first place in the ACC's Atlantic Division. "We have not played real well on the road, and we've got to go to a really tough place and play."

N.C. State, in O'Brien's second season, wants a victory to give its fans a preview of better days ahead.

"Certainly we understand what a great football team Wake Forest is," O'Brien said. "Their chance to play their way to Tampa (and the ACC championship game) has to come through Raleigh, so hopefully we'll have something to do and then play a great game here."

The other two teams in the division also have two losses -- Florida State at 4-2, and Maryland at 3-2 (with a victory over Wake Forest in hand). Maryland will be at home against North Carolina at 3:30, and FSU will be at home against Boston College at 8 p.m.

It's hard to imagine that the standings won't come up when the Deacons are busing home tonight.

"You can't help look at other scores," Grobe said. "You do that all season long, whether it's teams that are in contention or not. You kind of keep an eye on what everybody is doing on the league.

"But the danger is you spend too much time worrying about what everybody else is doing, and you don't take care of yourself. So from our perspective, what we're challenging our kids with is to practice good every day, play hard every Saturday and hopefully find a way to win some games, and then everything will sort itself out. But we have no control over what everybody else is doing."

The Deacons have won two straight, defeating Duke and Virginia, since Grobe and his staff retooled the offense to blend the I-formation with the spread. Redshirt freshman Brandon Pendergrass had his best game against the Cavaliers, taking advantage of the absence of Josh Adams (sprained ankle) to gain 110 yards on 27 carries.

Adams, who was raised in Cary, has recovered and is expected to play today, but Pendergrass is the starter.

N.C. State won its first ACC game last week, beating Duke 27-17. The Wolfpack defeated the Blue Devils more easily than did the Deacons, who went into overtime two weeks ago before prevailing 33-30 on Alphonso Smith's game-saving interception.

The Wolfpack is on the mend after getting several key players back from injury. Anthony Hill, a senior tight end who missed four games with a strained pectoralis, caught three passes against Duke for 40 yards and a touchdown. Nate Irving, a sophomore linebacker who missed three games with an ankle injury, had 10 tackles against the Blue Devils.

"I think Tom's biggest problem is they have a pretty injured football team," Grobe said. "We've been banged up a lot, but I think they have maybe had more (injuries) than us.

"But I think with the open date (Nov. 1) they got pretty healthy for Duke, and I think we're going to see all their good guys out on the field."

The best might be Russell Wilson, a redshirt freshman quarterback who leads the ACC with a passing-efficiency rating of 130.9. Wilson, who was sidelined against South Florida on Sept. 27 with an undisclosed injury, has thrown 10 touchdown passes and only one interception on 168 attempts. He completed 13 of 25 for 218 yards and two touchdowns against Duke.

"Certainly we recognized his talent early and what his abilities were," O'Brien said. "He had never been in a collegiate game. His style is a little different from what we've been used to coaching in the past. As we've become comfortable with him, and certainly he has played very well his last five games, he's a completely different guy.

"He has gotten better each and every week, and hopefully he will continue to do that for us."

■ Dan Collins can be reached at dcollins@wsjournal.com.