RALEIGH -- Above and beyond the four touchdown passes Russell Wilson threw Saturday, his most heartfelt heave came at the end, when victory was assured and he launched the ball into the stands in celebration.
And this is the kind of season it has been for N.C. State: Even in celebrating a its dramatic win over North Carolina, nothing was easy for the Wolfpack.
That game ball from the 28-27 victory, N.C. State's third straight over the Tar Heels, was meant for offensive coordinator Dana Bible, who watched the game from a hospital bed as he undergoes treatment for leukemia.
The ball was successfully retrieved, but playing without Bible for the second straight week was the final and perhaps greatest challenge of what N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien called the "hardest year I've ever been through in coaching."
It ended with a coach fighting cancer. It started with State's best defensive player, linebacker Nate Irving, lost for the season in a car accident before practice ever started. Between, the Wolfpack lost more than a dozen players for the season and gave up 288 points in a seven-game span, losing six of those.
"Thank God it's over," O'Brien said. "I don't think we could go play in a bowl if we had to. I'm happy to get the opportunity to get these guys going. We're going to be a heck of a football team here, and it's all because of the seniors. As disappointing as this year is, I think someday we'll look back and say things turned. Maybe today."
At the least, the 3-0 record against North Carolina should help placate the fans unhappy with O'Brien's 13-21 record against everyone else, but of his three years with the Wolfpack, this season began with the highest expectations.
In June, the Wolfpack entertained thoughts of winning what figured to be a weak Atlantic Division. Coming off a 4-1 finish, with a dynamic offensive player at quarterback in Wilson, State was in a position to improve on last year's 6-7 record.
Instead, N.C. State took only four wins - two of those coming against overmatched FCS teams - into Saturday against a North Carolina team that had won four straight and had a legitimate shot at a 10-win season. Down 10 points at the half, the Pack rallied to take something tangible from its season.
"There were a lot of expectations on us this year because of everything that went on last year," Wilson said. "We fell short of what we expected to do. You have to understand the good things and take the positive things from it, but also move on and get ready for the next season and keep fighting. It shows we can be a good team. We can be a great team."
Whether Wilson comes back next fall or is lured away by baseball will have a lot to say about that. That might be one loss too many for O'Brien. He took pains to point out that only nine players from the previous regime were honored on senior day, and only nine may be next year.
"Basically, we've been hanging on, to be quite frank," O'Brien said. "We needed everybody healthy this year coming back to be good. And we had a chance to be good."
Instead, Saturday's win put an exclamation point on a season as difficult for the coach as it was disappointing for fans, a moment of celebration in a 5-7 season gone otherwise awry.
