It seems like it has been more than a year since redshirt senior Daniel Evans blew up for 335 yards in a 34-20 win over East Carolina. In the games leading up to this weekend’s matchup against No. 15 ECU, State’s offense looks nothing like the one that scored three touchdowns and posted 384 yards of total offense against the Pirates last October.
The Wolfpack enters this weekend after going its last three games against bowl-subdivision teams without an offensive touchdown. And injuries haven’t helped. Donald Bowens and Anthony Hill, the leading receivers from 2007 and 2006 respectively, have been sidelined by injury.
In addition, tailbacks Toney Baker and Jamelle Eugene have also missed action, leaving just senior Andre Brown and sophomore Curtis Underwood Jr. as the ball-carriers for the offense. Coach Tom O’Brien said he has been impressed with how Brown has responded to his role this season.
“He’s worked extremely hard,” O’Brien said. “He’s a much more powerful runner, a much more decisive runner heading toward the goal line. Not as much bouncing and running to the outside and trying to outrun everybody.”
Although the Pack is leading the series against ECU 15-10, this is the second year the team has entered the matchup as the underdog. O’Brien said
“They’ve grown as a football program in the four years of Coach Holtz’s leadership,” O’Brien said. “This is their year. They got a fifth year quarterback that’s doing a great job and you got tremendous amount of experience on defense that’s playing very well.”
The key to the Pirates’ success this season has been the play of senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney. In three games this season, he has gone 63-83 passing for four touchdowns and just one interception. O’Brien said Pinkney is someone you have to build a defensive game plan around.
“He’s the most improved player from a year ago. When we played them a year ago, he may have played one series and didn’t play much at all,” O’Brien said. “He’s the guy that their whole offense centers around and he’s the guy that you have to certainly account for every play on defense”
Pirates coach Skip Holtz left no doubt that his team is treating Saturday’s matchup as a rivalry.
“This is a rivalry game for us,” Holtz said. “For our players, they’ve played with a lot of these players, and they’ve played against them. I know this is a very talented N.C. State team. I know that because we recruited the majority of their players.”
O’Brien came to N.C. State knowing that he was expected to be successful against teams with “Carolina” in their name. He said he expects the atmosphere at Carter-Finley to be fitting for an in-state rivalry.
“It will be a packed stadium with a lot of noise and a lot of enthusiasm, and that’s the way the college game is supposed to be played — in front of fans like these fans we’re going to see Saturday,” O’Brien said.
Redshirt freshman Russell Wilson will start at quarterback for the Pack. O’Brien said although Evans played for a quarter against South Carolina, they are treating the East Carolina game as if it is just his second. Wilson went 10-21 against Clemson for 92 yards and an interception. O’Brien says he expects better play from him in the future.
“He certainly got better as the game went on,” O’Brien said. “We expect to see some improvement out of him.”
