As the Seminoles stormed onto the field amidst fireworks and Chief Osceola’s flaming spear, a late-arriving Doak Campbell Stadium crowd barely had time to acknowledge the Pack as they quietly ran out of a small, narrow tunnel in the corner of the east end zone.
It wouldn’t be the last time State went virtually unnoticed.
Failing to score during a conference road game for the first time since a 31-0 defeat at Virginia in Oct. of 1990, N.C . State (4-4, 1-3) was obliterated by Florida State (5-3, 3-2 ACC), 34-0, on Saturday afternoon. Out of the Wolfpack’s 13 offensive possessions, seven did not include a single first down.
FSU led 24-0 at half time on the strength of two rushing touchdowns, an E.J . Manuel touchdown pass to Kenny Shaw and a Dustin Hopkins field goal. Manuel tacked on a second half touchdown pass shortly after Hopkins hit his second field goal of the day.
Due mostly to a combined 65 rushing attempts and a lop-sided score for the majority of play, the contest was one of the first games to finish up during a hectic afternoon of college football.
For coach Tom O’Brien, the shutout loss comes one week before State hosts UNC for a 12:30 p.m . rivalry game at Carter-Finley Stadium. NCSU must win three out of the remaining four games to reach a postseason bowl.
“We didn’t play very well today,” O’Brien said. “And when you don’t play well against a team of this caliber, it ends up the way it ended up today. Certainly we have to learn from this and get back on the practice field and get ready to play the month of November.”
Following what the coaching staff described as a key victory at Virginia last week, O’Brien said the demoralizing loss to Florida State can not affect the future if State wants to be successful.
“As I said in the locker room, ‘you had a heck of a win last week, you’re all excited, and as good as that win was is as bad as this loss is,'” O’Brien said. “You have to be able to forget about it. If we could have tackled better, we could have gotten off the field.
“You have to protect the quarterback, and you have to catch the ball and make plays when you have the chance.”
Well-documented over the course of O’Brien’s tenure, the fifth year coach has an 0-12 record against Atlantic Division opponents in cities not named Raleigh. Although the Pack plays three of its next four games at home, O’Brien said starting to churn out a productive running game for quarterback Mike Glennon will go a long way towards winning, regardless of the venue.
“We have to try to rush the ball a little bit better,” O’Brien said. “If you can’t run the ball against [Florida State] and you let them pass rush against you, you’re in trouble.”
Glennon, who accounted for three turnovers and a season-low 130 passing yards, averaged just 3.8 yards per completion.
“I think that is the best defense we have played all year,” Glennon said. “They’re fast, athletic, and they really did a good job. You really just have to give them credit, they were doing a good job executing in their defense even though sometimes I probably could’ve gotten the ball off quicker.”
Next week’s opponent, North Carolina (6-3, 2-3 ACC), will be looking to defeat State for the first time since November of 2006. The remaining three games for Glennon and company will be at Boston College (2-6, 1-4 ACC), as well as home bouts versus No. 11 Clemson (8-1, 5-1 ACC) and Maryland (2-6, 1-4 ACC).
“I think it will be big to get going against Carolina,” Glennon said. “We still have four games left on our season and we need to get going to make a bowl, so we are really looking forward to next week.”
Although State’s offense failed to score, its defense surrendered 444 yards of total offense and could only come up with one turnover. Terrell Manning’s interception – one of the precious few bright spots on the afternoon – came off of a deflection early in the third quarter.
However, the pick was little consolation for Manning after watching his team post its worst shutout loss since dropping a 34-0 game against South Carolina in 2008.
“We need to forget about it as fast as possible,” Manning said. “We practiced well and we did everything well but it just didn’t carry over to the game. The faster we can forget about this game the better off we will be.”
Echoing the sentiments of his teammates, Manning said the only thing on State’s mind once the wheels of the plane meet RDU’s tarmac is preparing for Carolina.
“All we are concerned with is getting back on this plane, getting home safe and getting ready for Carolina.”
