ATLANTA -- Assured of his first undefeated September as N.C. State's coach, Tom O'Brien stood in the locker room at Bobby Dodd Stadium and gave his players a profound compliment.
Linebacker Nate Irving and the Wolfpack defense outflanked Georgia Tech's powerful flexbone running game Saturday in a 45-28 win over the defending ACC champions.
Quarterback Russell Wilson passed for a career-high 368 yards with three touchdown passes and a 6-yard run for another score. Three times, N.C. State (4-0, 1-0 ACC) immediately answered a Georgia Tech touchdown with seven points of its own.
And O'Brien, who has endured three losing seasons as he attempts to turn around N.C. State's program, was proud of what his players accomplished.
"Bad things are going to happen to everybody," he said. "But you can't let it get you down. You get back out there. You get to work. You get your britches up. You buckle your chinstrap and be tough and physical. That's how I like to play football, and these guys are starting to play football the way I like to see it played."
N.C. State's defense took another step toward forgetting a horrible 2009 season, when opponents averaged 31.2 points per game. This season, the Wolfpack held its first three opponents to an average of 15.7 points, largely because of blitz packages that opponents' spread offenses couldn't handle.
Georgia Tech (2-2, 1-1) uses a triple-option attack that largely neutralizes the blitz. That didn't matter. The Yellow Jackets were held scoreless for the first 27 minutes and managed just seven first downs through the first three quarters.
Irving, a team captain who missed the 2009 season because of injuries suffered in a car wreck, had one of his best games Saturday. With his former linebackers coach, Andy McCollum, now working for the opponent, Irving was credited unofficially with a career-high 16 tackles.
He had 4.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including two sacks of quarterback Joshua Nesbitt, who didn't complete a pass until late in the third quarter. O'Brien said the defensive linemen's job against the triple-option was to serve as shock absorbers to allow the linebackers to pursue the ball and make tackles.
As the middle linebacker, Irving pursued with a vengeance, helping hold fullback Anthony Allen to 35 yards on 14 carries.
"They were the ACC champs, and we want to be champs," Irving said. "To be champs, you've got to beat the champs. I think we're on the right path right now."
Despite leading 17-7 at halftime and 31-14 early in the fourth quarter, N.C. State was in danger of losing after Wilson threw his first interception of the season. Jerrard Tarrant returned it 33 yards for a touchdown, and Georgia Tech trailed just 31-28 with 12:05 remaining.
But Wilson coolly shook off his mistake and lofted a 23-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Graham on third-and-11. Facing a 10-point deficit with 8:31 remaining, a Georgia Tech offense built around the run rather than the pass became a liability, and the Wolfpack cruised to a win.
Wilson finished the game 28-for-41 passing, helping N.C. State improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2002.
"We all kind of see it," Wolfpack defensive end Michael Lemon said. "We're starting to click a little bit. We just have to keep working hard in practice every day. Hopefully it will keep going the way it's going."
Sensing his team's growing confidence and maturity, O'Brien veered Saturday from his previous postgame strategy. Last season, after an emotional win over Pittsburgh improved the Wolfpack to 3-1, he told the players they were a bad football team, and he had done a bad job coaching them.
He proved prophetic rather than inspirational. N.C. State lost five of its last seven games and was ineligible for a bowl for the third time in four years.
After N.C. State defeated Cincinnati on Sept. 16, wide receiver Jarvis Williams said O'Brien also voiced concerns to the players, though he was proud of the way the team responded to a five-day turnaround.
But the win over Georgia Tech was special. O'Brien is beginning to like the way his players respond to every challenge with resilience, determination and toughness.
"As I told the team afterward, we're not very pretty doing things," O'Brien said. "But we're getting to be a tough football team that's very resilient and plays the way you should play the game. As long as we continue to do that, we're going to find a way to win some games this year, I think."
