Pack out in Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With a towel draped over his head, linebacker Terrell Manning tried to explain the despair N.C. State’s players felt Saturday.

The Wolfpack’s performance at Florida State demonstrated that the team improved over its open date, even in the face of more crippling injuries. But after leading late in the fourth quarter, N.C. State couldn’t get a big play from its struggling defense.

Bert Reed scored the winning touchdown on a 3-yard end-around with 1 minute, 36 seconds remaining as Florida State won 45-42 on Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium. Quarterback Russell Wilson rushed the Wolfpack back into Florida State territory before a sack by Mister Alexander put N.C. State into desperation mode.

Wilson’s visions of a Doug Flute-style miracle were quashed when Jamie Robinson intercepted him in the end zone on the final play.

“We’re really desperate right now,” Manning said. “We’re searching for some kind of a victory.”

N.C. State (3-5, 0-4 ACC) remains winless in the ACC after Florida State (4-4, 2-3) at least temporarily took the heat off coach Bobby Bowden with its second straight comeback win.

Nine days earlier, Florida State had overcome an 18-point, second-half deficit to win at North Carolina. This time, Jermaine Thomas rushed for 186 yards and the Seminoles raced down the field for the winning score after a 5-yard Wilson touchdown pass to Jarvis Williams put N.C. State ahead 42-38 with 3:50 remaining.

“I know with our offense we have the ability to score every time and we should,” said Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder. “I knew we were going to punch that in, and everybody knew that.”

It hardly took a soothsayer to predict success against N.C. State’s defense. The Wolfpack had given up 49 and 52 points in their last two games before the Oct. 24 open date, and came into Saturday’s game battered and bruised.

Leading tackler Ray Michel was out with an ankle injury, and Dwayne Maddox moved from outside linebacker to the middle to replace him. Manning was elevated to a starting spot in Maddox’s place.

C.J. Wilson took the place of injured cornerback Rashard Smith. Brandan Bishop started at safety. Bobby Floyd moved from safety to a backup linebacker spot behind Audie Cole.

“We are just a team right now that is kind of duct-taped together,” coach Tom O’Brien said. “We have to go home and find a way to win.”

They almost did that against Florida State thanks to an offense whose injured list also is growing. Starting right guard R.J. Mattes suffered a torn knee ligament that O’Brien said will take 10 months to recover from.

Wide receiver and kick returner T.J. Graham also might be lost for the season with a leg injury, O’Brien said. Nonetheless, N.C. State gained 538 yards of total offense against a Florida State defense that also has been porous for most of the season.

Wilson posted career highs of 349 passing yards and five touchdown passes. Owen Spencer caught five passes for 165 yards, and Williams added three touchdown receptions.

Senior Toney Baker rushed for a season-high 112 yards on 19 carries.

“We played really hard together,” Wilson said. “We executed for the most part. We definitely got better. The off week definitely helped us. (But) Florida State played a good game. They made big plays at certain times, and we did, too. We just fell three points short.”

O’Brien usually doesn’t share much with the media about what he tells his team in the locker room after games. He kept most of his talk private Saturday, too, but wanted it known that he told his players he was proud of them.

They’d lost by 21 points to Duke and by 32 points at Boston College right before the open date. They got better Saturday, even though they lost.

Manning said nothing anybody could say would make him feel better. But at least this time, there was some pride mixed in with the despair.

“We came down here to win a football game,” O’Brien said. “We are like a wounded animal right now. We are banged up. We are beat up. But we fought our hearts out.”

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