In what marked the greatest comeback in the history of N.C . State football, the Wolfpack (7-5, 4-4 ACC) beat Maryland 56-41 at Carter-Finley Stadium.

The victory also marked the Pack’s bowl eligibility after what has been an inspirational second half of the season which saw the team win four of the last six games, all against conference opponents.

Coach Tom O’Brien, who guided the team to a third bowl game in four years, felt his team’s lack of experience showed when they went down by as many as 27 points in the third quarter.

“I think our immaturity showed early. We tried too hard,” O’Brien said. “We played too tight and we tried to avoid that all week. We just got caught.”

O’Brien felt his team’s true character was revealed in the way the team came back after losing the first three of their five games to make it to the post-season.

“Coach Cowher [former Pittsburgh Steelers coach] came a couple of years ago and talked to the team. He says all the time, adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals character,” O’Brien said. “When this football team was 2-3, there wasn’t a lot of people who believed we could win five out of seven games.”

Despite the team falling down by three scores, O’Brien claimed he knew they could still comeback and had the players to do it.

“I never thought it was over,” O’Brien said. “As long as we’ve got time and a quarterback who can throw the ball and kids that can catch. We would have thrown it 55 more times if we had to.”

Redshirt junior linebacker Terrell Manning, who was arguably one of the better players for the Pack against the Terps , claimed it was hard to believe the team was trailing at halftime but was glad they came out after the halftime in a different way and won the game.

“First off, it was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it was happening to us, I kept replaying in my head, Maryland beating us again at the end of the year, blowing everything away for us,” O’Brien said. “I guess we had a small group of guys who didn’t believe the same thing as I didn’t and thank God they came out with a spark. I spoke to everybody at halftime, they just transformed and came out ready to play.”

Manning claimed he foresaw the meltdown in the first half, as he believed the players weren’t up for the task going into the game.

“When I first stepped on to the field for pre-game, I told them boys that I didn’t see it in them and they proved me right,” Manning said. “When I came in at half time, I said I was right about the way we came out and tried to give them a little motivation. I told them, look, let’s do the opposite of what we did when we came in and we just did that.”

Redshirt junior quarterback Mike Glennon who threw for a career high of five touchdowns and rushed for another, tying the school record set by former quarterback Philip Rivers for most touchdowns accounted by a quarterback in a game, felt despite the team’s ability to perform well in adversity, that was not what they strived for. However, he said the victory was sweeter in the circumstances in which it was achieved.

“It was tough, starting the game off like that with all the turnovers on offense. We are not trying to put ourselves in this situation,” Glennon said. “It’s a great win, to do that in a stage like that and to know that we had to win to make it to a bowl game was pretty special.”

Glennon chose to give special recognition to redshirt senior tight end George Bryan, who was playing in his last home gave ever and led the team with eight catches for 79 yards, one of which accounted for a touchdown.

“George played really well, there were some balls which I threw which were not perfect balls but he came up with it multiple times and that’s something we knew George could do all along,” Glennon said. “He has done a great job these past three games.”

Glennon , who has had to endure comparisons with former quarterback Russell Wilson all season, felt he was entirely focused on his performance alone and hoped the way he played on the day would have changed people’s mind in his favor.

“In the first half people were probably thinking differently,” Glennon said, when asked if he had ensured his legacy at N.C . State with his performance that included 306 yards of passing.

“Fans can do whatever they want, Russell’s doing a great job in Wisconsin,” Glennon said. “I feel good about myself.”