Rest easy, Wolfpack Nation. It’s finally over.
On Saturday afternoon, Maryland senior quarterback C.J. Brown and the Terrapins shoveled dirt on N.C. State’s football season, blowing out the Wolfpack 41-21 at Carter-Finley Stadium and mercifully putting an end to a 3-9 campaign that saw the Wolfpack lose every conference game and end the season on an eight-game losing streak.
The Pack, picked to finish third in the ACC Atlantic division this preseason, struggled all season with inconsistent quarterback play, flip-flopping between junior Pete Thomas and graduate student Brandon Mitchell.
Once Mitchell became healthy, first-year head coach Dave Doeren went back and forth more than a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and neither Mitchell nor Thomas performed at high enough levels to make the Pack relevant in 2013. They combined for 15 interceptions, nine by Thomas, while throwing for just 11 touchdowns.
The Pack’s game against Duke on Nov. 9 epitomized its season. State, fighting for its bowl eligibility, held a 20-17 lead late in the fourth quarter, but allowed the Blue Devils to score with fewer than four minutes to play. On the ensuing drive, Mitchell was intercepted by Duke’s DeVon Edwards, who ran into the end zone to all but seal the game.
But that wasn’t all; Thomas entered and Edwards promptly intercepted him for a touchdown as well. What was a three-point lead turned into an 18-point deficit in fewer than 30 seconds of game time.
From that point forward, the Wolfpack was hardly competitive, losing its final three games by a combined 51 points. Of the season’s nine losses, only a 27-19 home defeat to rival UNC-Chapel Hill was by single digits.
In addition to Mitchell’s injury, several other contributors on both sides of the ball missed significant time as well. Junior receiver Bryan Underwood was lost for the season against Florida State. Senior safety Jarvis Byrd’s season ended on Oct. 5 at Wake Forest. Other players who missed time included senior receiver Rashard Smith, senior defensive end Daryl Cato-Bishop and junior tackles Rob Crisp and Tyson Chandler.
Despite the dismal overall record, the Pack did feature some bright spots this season. Sophomore running back Shadrach Thornton rushed for 768 yards on 165 carries, an average of 4.7 yards per carry, and four touchdowns. Considering the Wolfpack had to play from behind in nearly every game this season and as a result couldn’t capitalize on the run game, that’s not a bad stat line.
Senior linebacker Robert Caldwell came out of nowhere to register 97 tackles on the season, good for third in the ACC.
Junior placekicker Niklas Sade converted 19-of-23 field goals and was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, which honors the nation’s top kicker. He joined Caldwell as an honorable mention on the All-ACC Team, which was released on Monday.
But that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. What does matter is that the Wolfpack will be home for the holidays for the first time since 2009, and no one should be happy about that.
