In his postgame press conference, coach Tom O’Brien only had a few words to say, showing his team’s disappointment in its 29-10 loss to Louisville on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.

“[It was a] discouraging loss for our football team,” O’Brien said. “We came out at the start of the third quarter to win the third quarter, and we thought we could do that. We could get ourselves back in the football game; we did that, but couldn’t sustain anything in the fourth quarter, and they took over the game. That was the story of the game.”

And a story it was.

Louisville (3-2) scored its first touchdown with a seven-yard run by running back Anthony Allen within the first five minutes of the game. Allen’s score was followed in the second quarter with two field goals from Louisville kicker Art Carmody, giving Louisville a 13-0 lead.

At the start of the third quarter, with the score 16-3, N.C. State (1-4) began to show signs of life. With seven minutes to go in the third, redshirt sophomore quarterback Harrison Beck was called for intentional grounding.

Beck remained on the ground for a few moments, squirming around, but eventually got up, holding his left arm closely to his chest. Beck then threw a 53-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Donald Bowens, but left the game after the play with a shoulder injury. Wolfpack officials said X-rays were negative.

Redshirt junior quarterback Daniel Evans continued the drive, eventually finding freshman fullback Ced Hickman for a two-yard score — the Pack’s first and only touchdown.

Asked after the game about Beck’s condition, O’Brien said he didn’t know much.

“He has a shoulder [injury], that’s all I know.” O’Brien said.

Turnovers have been the Pack’s Achilles heel all season. The Wolfpack’s offense committed three fumbles and two interceptions, and the Cardinals scored on two of State’s turnovers.

O’Brien said there is no excuse for the team’s turnovers, especially fumbles, and the team just needs to work on it.

“You can’t fumble the football,” O’Brien said. “There’s no excuse for fumbling the football. Go back in the practice field and work hard at it and make sure we cover it up and hold on to the ball.”

For all the negatives in the game, the defense was able to keep State close for most of the game.

State’s defense held Louisville’s Heisman-hopeful quarterback Brian Brohm to less than 300 yards passing, ending Brohm’s streak of seven-straight games with 300 yards or more passing.

Despite breaking the streak, the Cardinals offense was able to hold the ball for more than 22 minutes in the first half; the Pack had the ball for less than eight minutes of the half.

Freshman defensive back DeAndre Morgan, who made his first career start at cornerback, said the offense can’t be blamed for the team’s performance and both offense and defense have to make plays.

“Well, it’s just an adjustment that we have to make on both sides of the ball,” Morgan said. “You can’t blame the offense for not moving the ball. But the defense did stay on the field a lot. We just had to make plays while we were out there. And sometimes, when the offense turns over the ball, they were in our red zone, so unfortunately, they came out with either six or three points.”

Senior linebacker Ernest Jones said the turnovers made on offense gave the defense opportunities to go back onto the field to make plays.

“It motivates us even more to go out there and get another turnover,” Jones said. “When we see the opposing team’s defense out there getting turnovers and interceptions and causing fumbles and what not, [we have] to do the same thing to their offense.”

The Pack’s next game is on Saturday at Florida State. With the week ahead, players said the team will be able to work on many of the problems that hurt them on Saturday.

Evans said the team needs to hold each other accountable for what they do on the field, and it just can’t be on the coaches.

“[We have to make] sure that we don’t make the same mistakes that — over the past two, three years since I’ve been here — have been the ones that have kept us from winning games and keep us out of bowls,” Evans said. “So, it’s going to have to come from within.”