The football team took on the Central Michigan Chippewas in their quest to end their losing skid and a win over a FBS team on Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium. The Wolfpack debuted black jerseys with pink lettering for breast cancer awareness, black pants, and wore red helmets for the first time since the 1999 season.
Several key players unexpectedly returned for the Wolfpack : defensive tackle Brian Slay and outside linebacker Terrell Manning. Slay had been out since the Cincinnati game with an ankle injury. Slay felt he didn’t have any physical problems on the field today.
“During practice it took a few plays for me to get all warmed up and get the leg warmed up,” Slay said. “Other than that, after the first couple of plays, I didn’t even feel it.”
Manning injured his knee during the South Alabama game and was itching to return to the field.
“The doctors said I would be out three to six weeks,” Manning said. “I wasn’t having it, I said two.”
Sophomore cornerback David Amerson thought having Manning and Slay back strengthened the defense.
“Terrell [Manning] and Slay are very physical and are vocal leaders out on the field,” Amerson said. “We were definitely missing them and we are glad to have them back.”
Both the Chippewas and the Wolfpack traded touchdowns on their opening drives. The Wolfpack again scored on their next drive, from a 12 yard pass from quarterback Mike Glennon to wide receiver Jay Smith to go ahead 14-7. The N.C . State defense forced a three and out, but the punt returner, T.J . Graham, muffed the punt and Central Michigan recovered and proceeded to score a touchdown on a 23-yard reception by wide receiver Courtney Williams.
Central Michigan briefly took a 17-14 lead off a field goal. State answered back with a 13 play, 80-yard drive ending with a 2-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Steven Howard, putting the score at 21-17. The Chippewas looked like they were destined to score again late in the half when wide receiver Titus Davis, after a reception, ran down into the red zone, until it was stripped by safety Brandon Bishop and recovered by safety Earl Wolff at the N.C . State 12 yard line, ending the Chippewas momentum.
Central Michigan quarterback Ryan Radcliff threw two interceptions during Central Michigan’s first two drives of the second half. On his first interception, he faced pressure from defensive end Art Norman and threw the football into the hands of Manning, who returned it two yards to the CMU 37-yard line. N.C . State capitalized on the turnover and turned it into a touchdown to make the score 28-17.
On the next drive, Radcliff missed the target and Amerson intercepted it and returned the ball 28 yards into Central Michigan territory. Central Michigan’s attempt to fool Amerson failed.
“The first one they tried to hit me with a double move, “Amerson said. “But I didn’t fall for it and it fell right into my hands.”
Besides a 77-yard run by Central Michigan running back Paris Cotton for a touchdown, all of the Chippewas drives ended in either punts or interceptions in the second half. Amerson had one more interception at the end of the third quarter, giving him six for the season. Bishop had an interception on Central Michigan’s final drive. The defense had five turnovers in the game.
According to Slay, the team was able to get turnovers by getting pressure on the quarterback.
“The pressure was important,” Slay said. “It gave our secondary a chance to cover, they picked off quite a few balls tonight, so it was huge to get some pressure on the quarterback. “
After their spark from the fumble at the end of the first half, the defense wanted to keep the momentum up.
“In the second half, we were like alright, we can do this,” Slay said. “We put all our emphasis for those 30 minutes and left it all out on the field.”
Coach Tom O’Brien thought Manning left his mark, with nine tackles, one sack, and an interception.
“Terrell [Manning] helped us a lot by just being out there,” O’Brien said. “He understands the defense, he does it right. That’s the best thing I can say about him. He does it right whether it’s blitz, whether it’s not blitz. That was big for the defense to get him back.”
Across the board, the offense looked in sync. Glennon went 20 for 36 passing for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Running back James Washington led the rushing attack with 109 yards and caught five passes for 55 yards. Washington is the first Pack running back to run for two consecutive 100-yard games since Andre Brown in 2005.
Washington thinks the offense’s success comes from the unit working together.
“It helps a lot to have a lot of people contributing, making plays, our offense is really growing,” Washington said.
He embraced carrying the load, getting a career high 25 carries, and thought it got easier for him as the game went by.
“As the game wears on, the defense gets tired after chasing me so long,” Washington said. “I’m able to push through, I’m in great shape, and in the backfield I’ll be one-on-one with a linebacker and any time you get that it should be a win.”
The Wolfpack doesn’t play until Oct. 22 at Virginia and O’Brien hopes during the off week the team can get more players practicing and get to the ideal playing level.
“It’s going to be a lot closer than we’ve been the last five weeks,” O’Brien said. “If guys can get healthy it will help a lot. A bunch of guys didn’t get a lot of practice time this week; of those guys up front Art [Norman] was the only one that had a full practice week. We had guys that were missing here and there, to get them back and get everybody a full week of practice and prepare, will be better for us as we go into the last six games.”
