It’s only the first ACC game, but N.C. State’s efforts Tuesday night in a 75-66 loss at Boston College continued what has been a recurring theme with the program in recent seasons.


“We just didn’t defend,” Lowe told the Associated Press after the game. “We had a three-point lead and I just think we relaxed a little bit. Going in, we talked about limiting their threes, but I think we just suffered from a lack of concentration on the defensive end.”


When you break this quote down, you start to see some problems. First, Lowe said, “We talked about limiting their threes,” which translates into, “The coaches told them what to do.”


However, he concluded, “We just suffered from a lack of concentration on the defensive end.” In other words, the players did not do what they were told. So the blame is subtly shifted from coaches to players.


Another way of looking at this would be to shift the blame from the players to the coaches. For example, why didn’t the coaching staff have them better prepared? Why didn’t the coaches have players on the floor who could play the necessary defense?


Ultimately, N.C. State has to play better defense to win in the ACC. And the responsibilty for that rests with Lowe and his staff.

N.C. State sophomore Scott Wood and freshman Lorenzo Brown made late-game ballhandling errors that led to turnovers and stopped any chance of the Wolfpack coming back in a 65-59 loss at Syracuse.

But actually the game was lost midway through the second half. With State up 56-53, Syracuse employed full court pressure and the Pack got discombobulated. Three turnovers and a shot-clock violation later, Syracuse ended a 10-3 run to take a 57-56 lead.

State led once more on a basket by freshman C.J. Leslie to make it 58-57 but the Pack never scored another bucket the rest of the way – in other words, they went nine minutes with only one basket.

After Syracuse went up 59-58, the Wolfpack had a chance to take lead, but Leslie, who had penetrated the defense, threw a weak pass back out that was picked off. Later, Wood had a chance with an open three with 45 seconds left that would have put the Pack up but missed. Then he missed a harder three from further out 20 seconds later that would have tied it.

The Wolfpack committed 17 turnovers that resulted in 26 points for Syracuse whereas the Orange turned it over only five times leading to just four points for State.

T.J. Graham, the junior N.C. State wide receiver, has been honored as the Atlantic Coast Conference Football Specialist of the week.

Graham had a milestone afternoon for the Wolfpack. He gave State its first lead of the game with an 87-yard punt return a minute into the fourth quarter. That return tied for the third-longest punt return in school history.

Graham also returned five kickoffs for 100 yards, giving him a new school record for career kickoff-return yards with 2,073. He finished the game with 188 yards in total return yardage.

After losing in overtime at rival East Carolina, and with no game this weekend, NC State coach Tom O’Brien figured his players needed a little time off.

“We will get on the football field for the tomorrow for the first time since saturday,” O’Brien said Wednesday. “I gave the fellas a few days off. They’re tired and we need to try to get back both mentally and physically.”

The Wolfpack hosts Florida State Thursday, Oct. 28 in a primetime ESPN game that could put the season back on track or continue to bring the Pack down to earth.

State, 5-2, got off to a 4-0 start before losing heartbreakers to Virginia Tech at home and ECU on the road.

“I think we are a much more competitive football team than we’ve been the past three years,” O’Brien said. “That’s due a lot to the young kids growing up and getting much more experience. But the biggest thing is we haven’t suffered the devastating injuries we have the last two years.”

He said not only is the team healthier overall but deeper since the players who had to step in over the last couple of years now have more experience.

Florida State is 6-1 and atop the Atlantic Division with a 4-0 mark. The winner of this game would be the favorite to take the division.

“We have a huge challenge but thank God we have some time to rest,” O’Brien said. “Hopefully we can regroup and have a great night next Thursday night.”

NC State redshirt-junior quarterback Russell Wilson, Florida State senior offensive guard Rodney Hudson and Georgia Tech sophomore defensive end Izaan Cross headline a list of six players recognized as the Atlantic Coast Conference Football Players of the Week, announced Monday by the ACC. Wilson threw for 333 yards and three touchdowns, his sixth career 300-yard game, as the Wolfpack topped Cincinnati, 30-19.

Hudson helped the Seminoles accumulate 427 yards of total offense and tallied 10 knockdown blocks as FSU defeated BYU, 34-10. Cross recorded five tackles, forced a fumble and was part of a defensive line that held North Carolina scoreless in the fourth quarter, earning the Yellow Jackets their first conference victory of the season, 30-24.

Joining Russell as an honoree was teammate Mustafa Greene, who was named rookie of the week. Cross and Scott Blair, this week’s specialist of the week, represented Georgia Tech, while Virginia Tech’s Rashad Carmichael was tabbed defensive back of the week.

Looking like a team that is for real, N.C. State handled Cincinnati 30-19 on national television tonight. Russell Wilson passed for 333 yards and three touchdowns, and when he wasn’t passing, he was running away from trouble and picking up first downs.

Meanwhile, for the second week in a row, the Wolfpack defense proved to be a big-play squad. The blitzing Pack got to the Bearcat quarterback five times and hurried him four more times. When the Bearcats still had a pulse, the Wolfpack defense stopped them on a fourth-and-one play early in the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to blitz to help keep their quarterback (Zach Collaros) from running the ball,” State coach Tom O’Brien said. “He’s a real good quarterback, and fast. So our focus was to stop him. We thought if we could stop him then we could stop their offense.”

State wrapped up the game with a special team’s play when the Pack blocked a punt which led to a touchdown to make the score 30-7.

Cincinnati made the final score respectable with a pair of late touchdowns. N.C. State moves to 3-0 for the first time since 2002 when Phillip Rivers was at quarterback. Cincinnati, winners of the Big East last year, falls to 1-2.

Some are already comparing this team to the State team that started 9-0 in 2002 but O’Brien isn’t thinking about that just yet. “I think we can be a better football team,” he said, “but more importantly, I think our football team knows they can be better. The good thing is we didn’t get shook up when we made mistakes. If we can do a better job of coaching and making them (the players) smarter, then we can be a much better football team.”

Random Thoughts: The most important point of the game came after the Bearcats scored on a long pass play right up the middle with just over three minutes to play in the first half to pull within a touchdown at 14-7. Wilson led the Pack right down the field in about two minutes for a score to up the halftime margin to 20-7.

Kicker Josh Czajkowski missed the extra point after making a school record 83 straight.

State’s Mustafa Greene, a freshman, ran for 84 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for more than 50 yards. Jarvis Williams, a senior, caught four passes for 111 yards.

It was military appreciation night and State athletics went all out, using halftime and each timeout to honor the troops. There was also a fly over at the beginning of the game and an impressive parachute drop-in at halftime.

N.C. State picked up 28 first downs, compared to 18 for Cincinnati. The only negative about that is having to put up with many State fans arm pointing and yelling “first down” in unison. Not only does that get old, but I’m old enough to remember that ECU fans and their stadium announcer started that years before Wolfpack fans were doing it. Kind of reminds me of UNC fans yelling “airball” at basketball games when that chant was started by Duke students.

Speaking of the fans, I’m not really down with guys making that cute little wolf sign with their fingers. Young women look ok doing that but come on guys.

To end on a good note, if Wilson stays healthy and the defense continues its overpowering play, this could be a special year for Wolfpack football.

Check out this Game Photo Gallery.