WINSTON-SALEM -- There were more than 100 players on the field Saturday in Wake Forest's 30-24 win over N.C. State, but two stood atop them all.
Quarterbacks Russell Wilson of N.C. State and Riley Skinner of Wake Forest dominated the game, slinging the football up and down the field all afternoon under a blue sky that made everything seem possible.
If you didn't care who won, it was hugely entertaining. If you did, you were struck alternately by great fear and great hope, depending on which quarterback had the ball.
Skinner and Wilson threw the ball 88 times altogether, kept countless plays alive against all odds and accounted for six total touchdowns.
Finally, on first-and-10 from the Wake 29, Wilson lobbed an end-zone interception with 2:02 to go on what could have been the go-ahead touchdown pass. That ended the duel between two of the ACC's best quarterbacks. Fifth-year senior Skinner edged redshirt sophomore Wilson after Wake secured the win with one last first down.
It was wonderful stuff, as compelling in its own way as Federer-Nadal or Woods-Mickelson.
"It makes you want to play that much better when you're playing against a great quarterback," Skinner said later of Wilson. "It's really fun competing against him. I'm sorry it's my last year and I won't get to do it again."
"He played well. They won. He won," Wilson said of Skinner. "I'm always impressed with the guy who wins."
N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien said Wilson was supposed to throw the last of his 43 passes slightly more toward the middle of the field, as if aiming at the goalpost while the Wolfpack's Donald Bowens tried to run under it.
"He threw it outside instead of inside the receiver," O'Brien said. "He throws it inside, it might be a whole different ending. Might be more exciting -- for us."
Entering Saturday's game it had been more than a year since Wilson had thrown an interception. But after an NCAA-record 379 straight passes without an interception, Wilson threw one pickoff in the second quarter (a deep ball into double coverage) and then the one that really cost him late in the fourth.
"I just saw an opportunity," Wilson said of his last interception. "I went for it and they won.
"It's a tough play. They made the play. I believe in my wide receivers, and I'll keep throwing it."
Wilson also had two TD passes, a 14-yard scramble for a touchdown and another handful of "ohmigosh-how-did-he-do-that" plays.
Unlike Wilson, who is a threat to run on any play, Skinner mostly stayed in a crumbling pocket. Skinner was sacked six times Saturday -- more than any other game in his Wake career -- and got battered on numerous other plays just after throwing.
Yet Skinner still managed to set a personal high in single-game passing yardage (361) and break the Deacons' record for career passing TDs (45) by throwing three Saturday.
"It was really a tough day for him. We didn't run the ball very well at times and we had to hang it on him to some extent," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said of Skinner "... He got knocked around pretty good today. But he was able to hang in there for four quarters and give us a chance to win. It was a pretty special performance."
Both quarterbacks were remarkable on third down. Skinner threw one of his TD passes on third-and-23 from the Wolfpack 25. Wilson converted a third-and-10, a third-and-7 and two third-and-9s - and that was on N.C. State's first two drives.
"Obviously, whatever quarterback you're playing against, you want to play and you want to be the best one out there," Skinner said. "Anyone who competes in college football will tell you the same thing."
The quarterback contest was so close that there was only one real way to judge it: The scoreboard.
