That hardly qualifies as breaking news, but it's worth repeating in the wake of a couple of issues -- fans leaving early and the coach's frank comments -- that arose during and immediately after the Wolfpack's 42-20 football loss to Clemson last Saturday in Carter-Finley Stadium.

With their team helplessly behind and enduring heat every bit as unremitting as Clemson's rushing attack, many State fans left at halftime or during the second half.

The exodus irked some of those who stayed around until the final series or two. There were shouts of "sit back down" and "real fans don't quit." Some departing fans were booed by their stadium neighbors.

Most of what happened obviously was the upshot of frustration, but the fans were being entirely too tough on each other in this case. That was particularly true of those seated on the east side of the stadium, where there was no shade from the afternoon sun and 90-degree temperature. A relatively high percentage of those in the east stands were students, who had been forced to wait in line until after the game started just to get through the gates.

Loyalty and devotion to the program, by necessity, became secondary to common sense and sound health for many of the evacuees.

The more important fact was that the stadium was sold out and most seats filled for a noon game on a sweltering day. The same fans who left early had also made their way through the usual pregame traffic jams. Many were in those same seats throughout a 3-9 record last season and will be back next season even if 2007 ends with a similar record.

And if it was an uncomfortable afternoon in the stands, it was even more so for first-year coach Tom O'Brien on the sideline. A team he thought could be 2-2, perhaps 3-1 at this point in the season, fell to 1-3 overall, 0-2 in the ACC.

In his postgame news conference, O'Brien touched some fans' nerves by stating the obvious. He certainly didn't duck his responsibility, but he did point out that State is not a very good football team and that the only way to improve over the long haul is to recruit better players.

While such honesty is to be applauded and continued, it's also a little more direct than State fans have come to expect from their football and basketball coaches over the past several years.

O'Brien just as easily could have said that State, right now, is just not a very good football program. That doesn't mean the team will lose the rest of its games while making no improvement.

But certain facts about the program O'Brien took over -- of his own accord -- are inescapable:

* Four years after Philip Rivers' final game, the program's top two quarterbacks are transfer Harrison Beck and Daniel Evans, who was considered a long shot to be a starter coming out of Broughton High. The player targeted as Rivers' successor, Marcus Stone, is now a tight end.

* State's roster of active scholarship players is in the low 70s at a time when the NCAA allows 85. An uncanny rash of knee injuries has left the team without several key players.

* Amid steady staff turnover during the previous seven seasons, the offensive line has slipped into such disrepair that O'Brien and his staff may be two or three seasons away from getting a workable personnel progression in place.

Only the most powerful programs can recruit readymade offensive linemen. All other teams, including all 12 from the ACC, basically have to groom them. It's a long, tedious, high-risk developmental venture that requires constant, consistent supervision.

O'Brien has neither complained nor cursed his fate. He's been honest with himself, his players and now, his team's fans. It's not what some of those fans want to hear, but he wasn't hired to sugarcoat the situation. He was hired to fix it. There's good reason to believe that over time, he will.