Snake-bitten N.C. State has lost another player to injury, and will field a revamped offensive line on Saturday while trying to snap a four-game losing streak in a home game against Maryland.
R.J. Mattes, a redshirt freshman guard, is out for the season after suffering a serious knee injury in last week's 45-42 loss to Florida State. He suffered a torn anterior-cruciate ligament and a torn medial-collateral ligament on the game's fifth offensive play.
Mattes will undergo surgery about Dec. 1 and is the 11th N.C. State player now out for the season. Not all of the players are starters or top reserves, but the high rate of attrition is alarming to Coach Tom O'Brien and has cut severely into the team's depth.
"He was our best first-year guy, and a guy that we were really excited about," O'Brien said. "He's a natural tackle, which is where I think he'll go back next year. We needed help at guard and he stepped in there and accepted the challenge, and kept getting better and better every game. It's another one of those tough losses for us."
Andy Barbee, a 6-3, 310-pound graduate student, will start at the right-guard position against Maryland. He replaced Mattes at Florida State. Zach Allen, a 6-3, 314-pound redshirt freshman, will be Barbee's backup.
Mattes played 413 snaps this season and was the youngest player, in term of eligibility, to start on N.C. State's offensive line since the 2003 season. The injuries are a significant factor in N.C. State's records of 3-5 overall and 0-4 in the ACC. Last season's team had four players out for the season after eight games.
Because of two NCAA Football Championship Subdivision teams on the schedule, N.C. State must win its last four games to be eligible to play in a bowl game.
"We all keep waiting for a break," O'Brien said. "Something good's got to happen sometime. We can't keep going south forever. We've got to hang in there and circle the wagons, believe in each other and come out firing in all directions.
"There isn't anything else to do. There's no sense feeling sorry about ourselves."
The run of injuries is one of the worst of O'Brien's 13-year career as a head coach, and it's frustrating him and his staff. Progress has been slowed by player movement in and out the lineups.
Mostly, though, O'Brien is upset for the players who had worked for so long and hard in preparing for the season and won't be back until next season.
"We thought it was bad last year; it's two times as bad this year," he said. "It's got to end sometime … before I die here. I hope I'm the next one hurt. I'll take a hit for the team if it keeps somebody else healthy."
The N.C. State defense is also a major concern. It has surrendered 146 points in its last three games and 176 in the losing streak. Opponents have scored at least 30 points in the last five games.
Clem Johnson, a safety, is shocked that the defense is struggling. He said that the defensive players know what to do, but are not making tackles and crucial stops to get back the ball.
"It's embarrassing because we're better than that," Johnson said. "Personally I've felt that we've been practicing pretty well, but it's not transferring to the games. It's pretty tough and it's definitely embarrassing because we're not only representing ourselves, we're representing the university."
Dwayne Maddox, a sophomore, was forced to play middle linebacker at Florida State in the absence of Ray Michel, a senior out with an ankle injury, and struggled in getting all the players lined up properly in the unfamiliar job, according to O'Brien.
Michel isn't out for the season, and O'Brien hopes he will be back soon. "I'm always hoping to get everybody back," O'Brien said. "I've been praying, but it hasn't been working."
bcole@wsjournal.com.
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