N.C. State deserved to win Saturday at North Carolina, and the reason was it made two critical plays that went largely overlooked in a game filled with emotional turns.

You can point to Owen Spencer’s crazy catch and T.J. Graham’s dramatic punt return as the two plays that sparked State to victory. Certainly, as Tony Haynes wisely pointed out on the Wolfpack Sports Network, those two plays energized a confident Wolfpack bench and deflated UNC.

But there were two vital plays before that which set up what happened in the end. And those plays were essentially where the game turned.

Carolina led 19-10 after a field goal with 4:38 left in the third quarter. State had done little in the game offensively and faced a third-and-1 at the Carolina 38-yard line. Russell Wilson faked a handoff and ran left, gaining four yards the Pack had to have.

An even bigger third-down conversion soon followed. UNC’s Dante Paige-Moss sacked Wilson on first down for an 8-yard loss. Wilson threw incomplete on second down, bringing up third and 18 from the UNC 42-yard line.

All Carolina needed was a stop to force a Wolfpack punt and maintain the momentum in the game. And if you’ve watched State football at all this year, you knew one of two plays was coming – Wilson would either put the ball up in the air and hope one of his receivers came down with it, or take off and run.

And take off and run he did. He rolled right, got pressured, cut left and ran 34 yards for a first down. Three Tar Heels had clean shots at him, and UNC compounded its mistakes with a late hit. That put State first-and-goal at the Carolina 8, and set up the crazy fourth-down play to Spencer.

There were so many big plays, and that touchdown to Spencer was so dramatic, that Wilson’s third-down was overlooked in the media. The Associated Press story on the game did not mention it, The News & Observer did not reference the play in its coverage at all, and must TV highlights overlooked it, although WTVD did have it in its coverage of the game.

But that play spun the momentum in this game, and put State position to win. There are, of course, two perspectives. One is that Wilson is a marvelous athlete who continues to make big plays, especially when the opponent is wearing light blue.

The other is that UNC’s defense, for all its talent, has to close out foes at critical times. Third and 18 in Chapel Hill? That just should not get converted against a defense of that caliber. All the groaning about Spencer’s catch and whether Wilson’s out of bounds throws should have been called intentional grounding overlook the harsh truth for UNC that it had a chance to impose its will on N.C. State – and did not.

Wilson’s plays did not win the game, but they put State in position to win – and as Jim Valvano pointed out, sometimes that’s all you need.

The playoffs for high school football started last week and my prediction record was 12-1 for Triangle-area teams. Games tonight are at 7:30 p.m. In bold below are the predicted winners. My record of predicting games in the regular season was 97-23, which is an 81 percent accuracy.

Douglas Byrd @ Cardinal Gibbons

Fuquay-Varina @ Panther Creek

Middle Creek @ Garner

Purnell Swett @ Hillside

Southern Durham @ Southeast Raleigh

Wakefield @ Wake Forest-Rolesville

Check the scores in our Sports Roundup on the left navigation bar. Good luck to Cardinal Gibbons – I hope I’m wrong.

North Carolina had 10 players who played 13 minutes or more in the game against Hofstra in Puerto Rico during the Tar Heels’ 107-63 victory. Even more impressive was that the most minutes anyone played was 25 – by Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zeller.

Barnes is getting all the attention nationally but this is shaping up to be a pretty deep Carolina team – even if the Heels were only playing Hofstra.

For instance, bench players contributed greatly. Kendall Marshall dished out a team-high nine assists while Leslie McDonald scored 16 and Justin Watts scored 13. In addition, transfer Justin Knox had eight points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes of play.

Barnes led the way with 19 points, all in the first half, while John Henson scored 12 and Zeller and Dexter Strickland tallied 11 each. Point guards Larry Drew II and Marshall combined for 15 assists and just three turnovers.

For a game story, please click here. For a photo gallery, please click here.

When East Carolina basketball coach Jeff Lebo was on the David Glenn radio show this week, he raved about two N.C. State freshmen, Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Leslie.

Well, there’s a third, and that one, Ryan Harrow, made an indelible impact in the 85-65 win over ECU Thursday in Charleston, S.C., that showed why he should soon be starting.

State has an experienced guard in senior Javy Gonzalez, who started again Thursday. Gonzalez had just four points in 10 minutes while Harrow ran the show. Harrow contributed 11 points, 10 assists and had only two turnovers in 28 minutes of action.

You don’t have to be a genius to see where this is headed.

Lowe raved about Gonzalez in preseason, and you can understand how a coach doesn’t want to bench a senior right away. But Gonzalez is not a lead guard on a great college team. He’s a scrappy player who won’t hurt you in limited time.

Harrow is completely different. He’s quick, creative and has an explosive element to his game. His squeaky voice makes him sound 13 years old but in reality he seems quite mature and ready for the college game.

Sure, Harrow is only 5 feet 11 and there remain uncertainties about him. Can he guard top players in the ACC? Can he hit from the outside? And, perhaps most importantly, can he manage a team that will be a blend of veterans and confident freshmen?

Harrow didn’t start Thursday, but he showed his time is now. He should play – and plenty. It’s only a matter of when before Harrow assumes command of this Wolfpack team.

One of the newest Carolina Hurricanes was involved in a bar fight recently, which may have been one reason his father, the general manager of the Calgary Flames, decided to trade him.

N.C. State players were exhuberant last season when the Wolfpack blocked North Carolina’s 38-yard field goal with 4:44 to play, but State coach Tom O’Brien showed no emotion on the sideline.

O’Brien knew this wild game at Carter-Finley Stadium still hung in the balance, and the coming minutes would prove decisive for State, and have an impact on the 2010 season.

The Wolfpack is now 7-3 and needs a win Saturday in Chapel Hill to keep alive its hopes for its first ACC title since 1979. The seeds of this season’s success date back to last season, when State calmly ground down Carolina in the final minutes with a critical drive after that blocked field goal.

Russell Wilson hit Toney Baker for a 16-yard pass and Baker ran 14 yards as State pushed out to the UNC 47-yard line with 3:31 to play.

The Heels called time, and O’Brien motioned Wilson to come to over to him. When Wilson didn’t come all the way, O’Brien demaned he come further. Relax, O’Brien said. Be smart. Finish it off. And Wlson did, hitting Owen Spencer on a perfect throw for a first down on thrd-and-11. State didn’t relinquish the ball until only 23 seconds remained and won, 28-27.

Asked Wednesday if that game “carried over,” O’Brien said, “I think certainly it did. You go back to even the year before – Russell going down at halftime of the bowl of game was a harbinger [of the 2009 season]. By the same token, the last game we had last year, I think that set the table for where we were headed and what we were going and the belief we could be a good football team.

“We’ve shown the ability. We’re 7-3 but the three losses are all in overtime, in the last minute, last three minutes.”

N.C. State finished last season only 5-7, its fourth straight losing season and third under O’Brien. But asked to assess his program overall, O’Brien said, “I think we’re definitely on the way. We had some situations the last two years that didn’t allow us to get into the position we are in today.”

Now, State has seven wins for the first time since 2005.

“It speaks volumes to where the program is headed,” O’Brien said. “We came in here, we had a plan, we stuck to our plan. We plan was set back by defections and injuries and not having a consistency on the field.”

That plan got a big lift last year in the final minutes of that win over UNC.

How did so many ACC schools miss on Russell Wilson? Who knows? Even the University of Virginia passed on him. Whatever you think of Chuck Amato, he sure left Tom O’Brien with a great quarterback for his program.

With Wilson headed toward what might be his last game against North Carolina, here is an interesting look from YouTube of Wilson’s days at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Va. If you were a college coach, would you have wanted this elusive runner with a strong, accurate arm? Absolutely.