Hokies hammer mistake-prone Pack

BLACKSBURG, Va. - With his senior season unraveling, N.C. State team captain Jeraill McCuller looked ahead to the upcoming season finale with rival North Carolina.

It will be the last time McCuller puts on a Wolfpack jersey. The second-to-last time had been a disaster Saturday, with four turnovers and third-down defensive failures resulting in a 38-10 defeat against 16th-ranked Virginia Tech.

"It turned out to be a tragedy today," McCuller said.

N.C. State (4-7, 1-6 ACC) entered the season with ACC championship hopes. After that goal was extinguished by midseason, the Wolfpack aimed to get bowl eligible.

With even a bowl game out of reach by Saturday, the Wolfpack came into Lane Stadium hoping to win two in a row and finish with a .500 record.

Now all that's left is the hope that N.C. State can defeat its rival on Saturday in a noon game at Carter-Finley Stadium.

"It's Carolina," McCuller said. "It's an ACC rivalry game. Enough has been said already. You know where our mind set is going to be when we take the field."

The Wolfpack fell behind early at Virginia Tech as linebacker Cody Grimm single-handedly disrupted a Wolfpack offense that was missing coordinator Dana Bible. On Friday, Bible told coach Tom O'Brien that his doctor had recommended he not make the trip.

Bible stayed behind to undergo medical tests of a nature that O'Brien and N.C. State officials did not disclose. O'Brien wouldn't discuss a timetable for Bible's return.

"I just pray for him, that's he's going to be OK," said quarterback Russell Wilson. "I know that he wishes he was here every second of it, more than anybody else."

Although Bible's absence was significant, it shouldn't have affected the fundamentals of securing the ball for N.C. State's players. Grimm caused fumbles on three of the Wolfpack's first four plays from scrimmage on offense.

Virginia Tech (8-3, 5-2) recovered two of the fumbles - by Wilson and Darrell Davis - and converted them into 10 points.

"Virginia Tech's a great team, but we've got to play better," Wilson said. "We can't turn the ball over that much."

N.C. State bounced back with a 20-yard Wilson touchdown pass to Owen Spencer and trailed just 17-10 after Josh Czajkowski's 45-yard field goal with 1:52 remaining in the second quarter.

But Virginia Tech converted a third-and-18 and a third-and-11 on its final drive of the first half. The Hokies took advantage of two pass interference penalties in the end zone on freshman safety Brandan Bishop.

Ryan Williams' 1-yard run - one of his four touchdown runs - put Virginia Tech ahead 24-10 at halftime.

For the game, the Hokies converted eight of 14 third downs. Another freshman, cornerback Jarvis Byrd, allowed third-down catches of 42 and 35 yards to wide receiver Jarrett Boykin.

"We've been struggling on third down to get off the field all season," Bishop said. "It killed us again today. . . .That's the difference between some of those drives turning into points and us getting the ball back for the offense."

After Williams dragged safety Earl Wolff 10 yards into the end zone to cap the opening drive of the second half for a 31-10 lead, the outcome was no longer in doubt.

Bishop said O'Brien told the players afterward that they fought Saturday like they haven't fought all season. But that still wasn't acceptable to Bishop.

"No matter how hard we fought, we still got the loss," Bishop said. "But next week we've got Carolina. It's our last game of the season. It's always a big game, so we're going to do everything we can to get a 'W.' "

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