Pack can't get unstuck

RALEIGH -- There's no question Duke is heading in the right direction. North Carolina remains in the Coastal Division race, even without its starting quarterback. At two points of the Triangle, football season is shaping up nicely. And then there's the third.

If last week's upset of East Carolina looked like the potential high point of N.C. State's season even as it happened, Saturday was clearly the low point. The Wolfpack didn't just lose 41-10 to No. 13 South Florida. The Pack was hopelessly outclassed.

Eighty-nine of N.C. State's 63 total yards in the first half came on two plays. That's not a typo. The other 18 plays accounted for minus-26 yards. State's offense moved more slowly than the traffic on Trinity Road at halftime fleeing the rain.

Before the second quarter was half over, the Pack had taken two safeties and was down 22 points. By then, the rain was coming down in heavy sheets, only slightly less persistent than the South Florida offense.

South Florida scored on its first three possessions and racked up 514 yards of offense. State's biggest defensive play was a South Florida field goal that hit the right upright and bounced backward.

Coming off the heartfelt overtime win over the Pirates at Carter-Finley Stadium, the Pack had no chance Saturday, not with Russell Wilson and Nate Irving atop the lengthy list of the missing.

"We got beat by a pretty good football team tonight," N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien said. "Our kids were ready to play, and our kids played hard. We just couldn't make a play against them."

It wasn't supposed to be this way. While Duke and North Carolina appear to be on their way up, the Pack is still looking for forward momentum in its second year under O'Brien.

O'Brien has successfully instilled the discipline that was so lacking under the Chuck Amato regime. The weekly parade of personal fouls is a thing of the past. His achievement in that department is commendable.

But any attempt to do more in his second season, to impose his philosophy and personality, has been crippled by the relentless wave of injuries, exposing the lack of depth Amato left behind.

"I think we played hard," O'Brien said. "I think our inexperience hurt us."

With all the uncertainty surrounding the quarterback position before the season even started, the season-ending injuries to receiver Donald Bowens and running back Toney Baker deprived the Pack of two key weapons -- even before they were down to their third-string tight end.

The shotgun option offense built around Wilson is dangerous enough to upset the Pirates with Wilson healthy -- but Andre Brown can't carry the team by himself when Wilson is not, particularly when the other option is Harrison Beck throwing into triple coverage on fourth and goal.

And just when Irving emerged as an impact player on defense, possibly one of the best in the conference, an ankle injury knocked him out of action. O'Brien admitted South Florida victimized true freshman Dwayne Maddox, Irving's replacement.

No program can weather a wave of injuries like that, particularly one in rebuilding mode. And that, despite the win over ECU, is clearly where the Pack is right now.

"That's definitely frustrating," senior linebacker Robbie Leonard said. "We beat ECU, and I don't know what they were ranked, but they were a ranked team. We wanted to go 2-for-2 against ranked teams, and we felt we had some momentum coming into today. They're a good football team, and I don't think we were prepared."

As dismal as Saturday's loss was, it was only one game. There will be others. More worrisome is the way the Pack lost, particularly coming off a huge win.

Duke and North Carolina kept moving in the right direction Saturday. The Wolfpack just looks stuck in the mud.