As Wake Forest quarterback, Tanner Price, cut through State’s defense with effortless precision, Coach Tom O’Brien was focusing on another definition of effortless.
“They had more energy than we did,” O’Brien said. “And you can’t do that, especially on the road in a conference game. We have to look for leadership.
“And we certainly haven’t gotten any right now from anybody on this football team.”
The questions of concern are escalating quickly after N.C . State’s (1-1, 0-1 ACC) disappointing 34-27 loss to Wake Forest (1-1, 1-0 ACC) on Saturday.
Prior to Glennon and the offense rallying with 63- and 65-yard touchdown bombs to Tobais Palmer and T.J . Graham, last year’s Atlantic division cellar dweller had already shredded State’s pass defense for 313 yards and a humiliating 14.3 yards per completion. Seemingly devastated by the absences of key senior defensive linemen J.R . Sweezy and Jeff Reiskamp , the Pack defense had already built a mountain for the offense to climb by the time halftime arrived at BB&T Field.
“We haven’t played defense like this in God knows how long,” O’Brien said. “There were so many big plays. You come in knowing you’re going to get the reverses and the reverse passes, and it looked like we had never seen one of those things ever.”
Although O’Brien made a firm point that there are no positives associated with losing, he did vow to push his team hard in the coming days. While at N.C . State, O’Brien has a 0-3 record at Wake Forest and a 0-11 record in Atlantic division games on the road.
“We have a lot of work to do and I’m going to make sure we get it done,” O’Brien said. “There are a lot of games left to play and a lot of good football players on this team. Some of these guys need to wake up. This isn’t last year.
“We need to come out with a whole different mindset and energy that we haven’t been getting out of this football team.”
Shortly after his coach discussed the team’s loss, co-captain George Bryan also answered questions on the mental state of the Wolfpack . Having been a reliable and productive source of offense for the past three seasons, Bryan has perplexed many in the first two games – the senior has almost as many dropped passes as he does receptions (three).
“We have to forget about the team from last year,” Bryan said. “I don’t even know why guys would be thinking about that. That’s last year. We have to focus on what we’re doing.”
While Bryan is one of the official captains of the team, State’s anticipated leader, Mike Glennon calmly displayed confidence that the lethargic early season performance would be turned around.
“We can still accomplish what we want to,” Glennon said. “We can still win out and win the ACC. If we just work hard in the weeks to come we can still win the ACC.”
Glennon , whose impressive stat line of 315 passing yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, was overshadowed by the disappointing conference loss.
“Really what it comes down to is the win-loss record,” Glennon said. “I don’t think [showing people I can play] matters. Our job as quarterbacks is to put more points on the board than they have.”
State will have an opportunity to turn its fortunes around starting this Saturday at home versus South Alabama. The following week, the Pack travels to Cincinnati for a Thursday night game against the Bearcats .
Redshirt junior cornerback Gary Grant watches the 3rd quarter of the game against Wake Forest University on BB&T Field Sept. 10, 2011. The Wolfpack lost to the Demon Deacons 34-27. Photo by Alex Sanchez.
