CHAPEL HILL — Going into its bye week nearly one month ago, the football team was 2-6 overall and had yet to win an ACC game.
The outlook for the rest of the season was not good. Even defensive coordinator Mike Archer spoke up about the team, and more specifically the defense, calling the unit the “laughing stock of the ACC.”
At that point, I half agreed with Archer and thought the Pack could win a couple of games and play the spoiler role in the second half of the season, at best.
I must say, four weeks later, it feels pretty damn good to say I was absolutely wrong.
In the last three weeks, State has ripped off wins against three Big Four opponents and has looked increasingly impressive each week.
That improvement, which became more obvious each game, came to a culmination Saturday when the Wolfpack completely dominated the Tar Heels in Kenan Stadium.
To say the team has improved would be an understatement. Perhaps the understatement.
The healthier than ever defense, which gave up 30 points a game through the first eight contests, has given up only 14 points a game in the three wins over Duke, Wake Forest and UNC.
Saturday in Chapel Hill, the defense held Carolina to only 10 points, 203 total yards and forced six, yes six, turnovers. Surely the ‘laughingstock’ label is no more.
On top of the defensive improvement, the offense, led by Russell Wilson, looks more and more like a well-oiled machine.
The team finished Saturday’s game with season highs in total yards (466), passing (279) and rushing (187).
And don’t get me started on Russell Wilson. I don’t have enough space to talk about what he’s been able to accomplish this season. His scrambling, play-making performance against the Tar Heels Saturday was a thing of beauty.
If there is a better quarterback in the ACC, I’d like to see him. Please, show me where I can watch him. If Wilson does not get serious consideration for or win first team all-conference honors, the award is a joke.
With one game left in Tom O’Brien’s second season with the Pack, the team is right where it was with one game left in his first. A win and the team is bowl eligible. A loss, and the team will have to wait until at least year three of O’Brien’s tenure to go bowling.
I’m nervously optimistic for this Saturday’s contest with Miami. The Hurricanes are coming off an embarrassing 41-23 loss of their own at the hands of Georgia Tech last Thursday night. They will most definitely be ready to play when they come to Carter-Finley.
But so will the Pack. This Wolfpack team, maybe more than any Wolfpack team I can remember watching recently, is just different.