With a 3-4 record and an away game at Florida State looming, N.C. State appeared all but eliminated from postseason play going into Tallahassee Nov. 5 against the No. 9-ranked Seminoles.
It was a game that pitted the Wolfpack, who had won two of the last four games between the two teams, against the Seminoles, who had won seven of eight games on the season — by an average margin of more than 20 points in their victories.
It was a game of high school friends.
It was a game of former Florida State coaching partners.
And a game that is quickly becoming a rivalry.
“We knew we could beat those guys, and it was really important to a lot of us being that me and others are from Florida,” junior rover Garland Heath said.
“It’s hard to explain, we had a real thought-out game plan, and we didn’t play uptight — it’s an important game to us.”
After an interception by junior cornerback A.J. Davis on the Seminoles’ second-to-last possession, Heath finished off the game on the Seminoles’ final possession with an interception with nine seconds remaining.
He returned the interception 40 yards and, following the game, he said he wanted to boost his stats.
“This time I just ran with it, tried to get a little YAC [yards after catch] before I [went] down,” Heath said. “I might get in trouble for that, though.”
On the second play of the game, freshman running back Andre Brown sprinted 65 yards for the game’s opening score. He finished the game with 179 rushing yards on 26 carries.
“The offensive line just opened up a hole that you could drive a tow truck through,” Brown said. “I saw that it was big, and I just hit it and got on my horse and ran to the end zone.”
Following the game, junior defensive end Mario Williams said runs like Brown’s gave the team confidence.
“The motivation just carries over when he breaks a run like that on a defense,” Williams said.
Brown wasn’t finished.
He took another carry 49 yards in the second quarter — setting up a 48-yard field goal by redshirt junior kicker John Deraney to tie the game at 10-10 going into halftime.
Another Deraney kick put the Pack up 13-10 early in the second half.
After going 1-for-7 passing in the first half, redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcus Stone found sophomore tight end Anthony Hill in the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown pass to give the Pack a 20-10 lead.
In victories over Southern Miss. and Florida State, coach Chuck Amato said Stone made important plays in the second half.
“In the second half of both games, he made plays that we need to have made at critical points,” Amato said.
Following a Florida State field goal and a safety in which Deraney intentionally ran out of the back of the end zone, the Seminoles closed the gap to 20-15.
However, the interceptions by Davis and Heath closed the door on the Seminoles and kept State in good standing for a bowl game.
“Looking back on that game, it was so important for us,” Heath said. “If we couldn’t beat Florida State, then the Maryland game would not have even mattered. There would have been no bowl game, and we would have finished the season with a losing record.”
