NC State v Florida State: (FSU 45-42)

Mike Sturdivant: As expected, the N.C. State offense showed up in Tallahasse on Saturday. Playing more consistent and disciplined, they were almost unstoppable. Russell Wilson threw for 349 yards and 5 touchdowns, and Toney Baker and Jamelle Eugene combined for 153 on the ground. Also as expected, the NCSU defense was so horrific, that it wasn't enough to get its first ACC win.

In a game that featured 1093 yards of total offense and 87 points, the Pack can point to two specific times where the game slipped away:

1. With 33 second left in the first half, the Pack had just crossed midfield and was tackled in bounds with the clock running. Instead of using one of its 3 remaining timeouts, the Pack wasted 25 seconds trying to get lined up, and then committed a false start. All of the sudden they had 5 seconds remaining and one shot at a hail mary. Three timeouts and 33 seconds would have given the Pack plenty of time to move in for at least a field goal the way the offense was moving. Put this one on Dana Bible and TOB. Those three points were obviously the difference in the game.

2. Late in the 3rd quarter, Nate Mageo picked off Christian Ponder and returned the ball to the FSU 12 yardline. As he was falling down at the end of the return, Mageo fumbled and gave the ball back to FSU. FSU ended up getting a field goal out of that possession. The way the State offense was moving, the Pack could have cruised the 12 yards into the end zone. Thats a 10 point (or at worst 6 point) swing in the wrong direction.

Again, enough for the difference in the game. While the Noles don't bring the same swagger to the field as they did in the 90's, any trip to Tallahasse requires any ACC team to step up its play to come out with a win. The Wolfpack, who has beaten FSU more than any other league team in its ACC tenure, showed up with its A game, but only on one side of the ball. No matter how spectacular Russell Wilson and company look, the Pack isn't going to win any games until their defense stops playing like the Campbell Camels.

The ridiculousness of N.C. State's defense is hard to describe, but probably not as hard to describe as the overall state on the Pack's football and men's basketball programs as of November 1, 2009.