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Gamecocks outduel Wolfpack in a hard-fought, ugly battle, 7-3;

Raleigh needs to reconfigure weekday night football traffic

Raleigh, NC -  With the ACC's top QB, Russell Wilson,  playing the entire game Thursday night, the NC State Wolfpack could only muster three points while the Gamecocks with their new sophomore QB, Stephen Garcia,  could only muster an early seven to give South Carolina an ugly, hard-fought 7-3 battle in the opener for both teams.  The Gamecocks scored early while their defense dominated, and the Wolfpack had a chance in the end but came up empty-handed, literally.  For us, it was a hard-fought game to beat traffic as the 20-minute ride to Carter-Finley which should have taken twenty minutes ended up taking an hour and a half.  We showed up a couple of minutes late into the ball game just in time to see USC's first and only score.

     NC State RB Tony Baker, returning for the first time since 2007, fumbled the ball at his own 14 on State's first play from scrimmage as Devin Taylor supplied the stripping and Darian Stewart recovered.  Brian Maddox broke the plane on the left side from the one, and SC had a quick 7-0 lead.  Taylor blocked the Pack's next punt to put SC in business again at NC State's 38, but a low snap from center killed the subsequent FG attempt.  Neither team came close to threaten to score in the first half.  The "improved" State offense had just 41 yards and 3 first downs by intermission. 

    In the third, SC's Spencer Lanning missed wide left.  State DE Michael Lemon made a tremendous diving interception of a  pass at State's 40.  The Pack finally got on the board with 2:36 left in the period on a Josh Czajkowski 43-yard FG to close it down, 7-3.  In the final period, Wilson lofted a pass to WR Jay Smith in the end zone.  Two South Carolina defenders criss-crossed in front of him totally missing the ball.  He seemed to mistime the throw and the ball slipped right through his hands for what could have been a 32-yard TD pass!  State attempted one last drive late in the game, and evidently wasn't getting any help from the SEC officials.  On a defensive play before NC State got the ball back,  Gamecock TE Weslye Saunders, a Durham native,  caught a pass, got knocked out of bounds, and then stood up and kicked a downed State defender who was coming up off the ground - definite unsportsmanlike in a critical part of the game - no flag!  On the ensuing punt return by State, a Gamecock grabbed the ball carrier by nothing but ear hole and flung him to the ground.  It should have been an additional 15 yards for the Pack, but flags remained in the SEC officials' pockets.  The Wolfpack drove, but their last offensive play was knocked down in the end zone by CB Stephen Gilmore on Wilson's attempt to Jarvis Williams. 

   In the defensively-dominated game. SC outgained State 256-133.  Both QBs completed 13 passes. Garcia averaged 6.7 yards per completion to Wilson's 3.0.  The pressure was on Wilson all night as he was sacked six times.   Both squads have  lot of work to do on the offensive side of the ball.  SC gears up to play SEC foe Georgia on the 12th.   State tries to recharge its offense hosting FCS Murray State on the same day. 

Extra points:  The 10 total points in this game tied our record for third place in lowest scoring game we've ever attended.  In 2004, we watched Iowa beat Penn State, 6-4 (that's correct!).  It's funny also that the second lowest scoring game we ever saw was in 1987 when Rutgers defeated Duke, 7-0.  Funny thing about it - Steve Spurrier was the HC of Duke back then.  Records indicate that the Old Ball Coach was shut out only twice during his entire collegiate career, and we saw one.  For all the high-powered offenses he's coached, we saw his teams compete twice in two of the four lowest scoring games we've attended.  Of course, he made up for it when we saw his Gators whip FSU, 52-20, in the 1997 Sugar Bowl for the National Championship.

Traffic was horrendous as we left Joe's Massimilla's house for what should have been a 20-minute ride that took eventually 90!  Game time and rush hour don't mix well in Raleigh, NC.  I left Jersey at 7 am, I should have left at 5.  Dan Collins didn't expect it and we crawled along for 90-minutes missing prime tailgate time.  When we finally reached the gate, we thought we were there with about 20 minutes to spare before kickoff.  Our parking pass for the Faculty/Staff lot got us beyond traffic directors, but no one could direct us where to park, so we grabbed one of only two empty spaces we found.  We thought we had it made.  Beers out, we were both making cell calls when Dan says. " We gotta move.  We're in somebody's space!"  I wondered if the "8699" painted on the pavement had any significance to game parking.  The guy was friendly enough, and I showed him my pass to ask where our spot might be.  He gave some general directions, but suggested going across the road where we saw no spots.  We asked an attendant who said something about the Southeast lot on the other side of the stadium  Our game clock was winding down to kickoff.  We headed back out against pedestrian traffic coming at us as the announcer on the Carter-Finley PA System called for fans to come into the stadium to cheer on the Wolfpack.  We crawled along and stopped often to get out on to the main highway waiting for the cops to direct us somewhere.  I drove forward into a neighborhood where traffic was backed up coming against us.  I flashed the pass off to an attendant across the street to my left.  He said go down the street, turn around, and he'd tell us how to get there.  "Yea, right."  I wanted to get to the game today.  I continued down until I came to Merritt and took a right.  Lawns were full of parked cars for the game.  At an intersection, a guy hollered from his porch.  "Only parking left is down the street."  We went down a block, and the lady homeowner who had just got home from work stood on the street with her dog collecting money for this week's groceries and a bag of new grass seed.  Dan and I walked over to Carter-Finley listening to the sounds of the game starting up.  Dan still had to hook up with his friend Mike who had been tailgating elsewhere while holding Dan's ticket.  We split and I sat down just in time to see SC's TD.  After the game, I had to call Joe to get in touch with Dan whose phone battery died after leaving me a voice mail.  Dan waited a block from where we parked when I caught up with him.  I figured the lady who owned the home we parked at would expect people to be hanging out there until traffic cleared out, but when we got there, we were the last car left.  With GPS (it's a wonderful thing), we found a quick way back to Joe's that avoided all the traffic.  Like we've seen at Rutgers, it takes a couple of weekday night games for the school to figure out how best to set up traffic patterns in the area.  Sorry we missed a tailgate party.  I've always had good ones there in the past.  I'm sure this would have been no different.

I sat with Kent, a member of the Staff of NC State's School of Textiles.  I had no idea any school still offered the course for the industry that has basically moved offshore.  Kent says NC State has the last in the country.  I mentioned to him that I was disappointed that I missed the chance to tailgate down there this time since I've had great experiences there in the past.  However, I told him, I really enjoy the spirit in Carter-Finley each time there.  I explained that the shock to me was coming down with a perception of focus on ACC basketball and finding the spirit so great at the football games.  Kent responded with a grin that since the basketball program has been down a while now, that NC State is "trying" to become a football school.  I'm hoping they can be successful at both.