Deflated by an anemic offense and a 7-3 deficit, N.C . State desperately needed a game-changing spark.
It was the perfect moment for T.J . Graham to turn on the afterburners.
Late in the second quarter, Graham got a second chance to return a Mike Larsson punt after Liberty coach Danny Rocco accepted a holding penalty on the previous play. Graham, who took the punt and raced 82 yards for the Wolfpack’s first touchdown of the season, made Rocco regret his decision.
“What went through my mind was ‘you shouldn’t have kicked it to me the first time,'” Graham said. “So the second time I got the ball, I saw it and figured they’ve got to be tired because they came down pretty hard the first time. I could kind of tell they were gassed and I took advantage of it.”
Despite an energized crowd at Carter-Finley, Mike Glennon and the offense couldn’t generate much of anything prior to the punt return. Before Graham sprinted past the Flames defense down the right sideline, Glennon had thrown seven incomplete passes and was already sacked twice on the evening.
Although the quarterback’s modest numbers were overshadowed by the seven turnovers State’s defense forced, Graham did not blame Glennon for the inconsistency.
“Mike [ Glennon ] did well from the beginning, we just had to get our feet under us and play with him,” Graham said. “He is great, it’s us that have to rally around him and make him look great.”
Graham’s electrifying return sparked a series of plays that finally put State on solid ground. On the second play of Liberty’s ensuing possession, quarterback Mike Brown was picked off by linebacker D.J . Green at the Wolfpack 43 yard-line. The offense drove down to set up a one-yard James Washington touchdown run before the half ended. State wouldn’t lead by less than eight points for the remainder of the game.
“Torry Holt [former NCSU wide receiver] has told me all the time, ‘Be the spark plug, be the guy that lifts up the team,'” Graham said. “I’m at wide receiver, I return kicks, and I return punts. There are so many times when I get the ball and I can make plays.”
Although the senior has experienced a multitude of different situations and pressures throughout his career, a handful of players made their highly-anticipated debuts. Front-and-center among the first-time collegiate starters, Glennon took four sacks and only registered five yards per completion.
“There’s definitely room to improve from Wake Forest on [throughout the rest of the season],” Glennon said. “We need to keep building week in and week out. We had to figure out what they were doing on defense, and then we finally got it going at the end.”
As a redshirt junior, Glennon’s experience appears abundant on paper. However, the last three years have featured precious few moments of pressure for the Centreville native, who said the anticipation of his first collegiate start lived up to the billing.
“It was the first time I had played a full game in three years,” Glennon said. “It was definitely exciting. I had a great time out there and now is the time to get ready for Wake Forest.”
With Liberty’s offense out-gaining State’s offensive unit for the contest, Coach Tom O’Brien looked toward his defense for some type of assurance. That assurance came in the form of seven turnovers, including a pair of interceptions from sophomore field corner David Amerson .
“They were trying to read me the whole time,” Amerson said. “If I was sitting, they were going deep, and if I was back, they were going short.
“I got chances to jump the route and was lucky enough to come up with a couple of picks.”
The Greensboro native, who started nine games for State last season, said forcing turnovers was a key focus of the coaching staff during the offseason. Amerson also added eight tackles on the day, just two behind leading-tackler Earl Wolff.
“Our main goal going into spring was to create more turnovers and get the offense the ball back,” Amerson said. ”We accomplished that tonight.”
In his fifth season at the helm of the football program, O’Brien echoed Amerson’s content with causing turnovers. After a stellar effort to be more opportunistic, the Pack currently share the lead for best turnover margin in the country.
“Getting seven turnovers is something we certainly preach on defense, and we are very happy to get that done,” O’Brien said.
Apart from the defense, O’Brien also commented on Graham’s performance and a running game, which improved over the course of the game.
“We were a little sluggish on offense in the first half,” O’Brien said. “T.J . [Graham] is certainly a dynamic player and he gave us a much-needed spark.
“We made a point to run the ball in the second half. I certainly don’t like the fact we put the ball on the ground, but we were happy with the running game in the second half.”
O’Brien also made mention of Dana Bible’s play calling early on in the game as well as getting the offense on the same page.
“I think we may have put too much on him early on [with too many passing plays],” O’Brien said. “We wanted to settle him down. He also threw two balls where guys weren’t ready to catch the ball and they are right there. So we need to get things going that way, and we certainly need to protect him.”
The Wolfpack will travel to Winston-Salem this Saturday to take on Wake Forest. The contest will be at 3:30 p.m . and can be seen on http:// ESPN3.com .
