The Pack and Pirates Have Opposite Feelings

On the morning of Sunday, Oct. 7, N.C. State's football team found itself at the foot of mountain with no place to go but up. And that mountain seemed as steep as Mount Mitchell. I thought at that time that this team might not win another game; they seemed that bad. State wasn't just 1-5; they were a bad 1-5.

Well, just a little over a month later, State's a very much improved 5-5 and a perfect 4-0 in what they have dubbed their second season. This is a team that now believes in what it's doing. I don't think that was the case at all way back in early September.

Remember when Tom O'Brien called his players out, saying they weren't nearly as good as they thought they were? O'Brien has a track record. He didn't win all those games at Boston College, and then go to and win all those bowl games because he didn't know how to coach. He had his team pegged, and he spoke his mind.

State had some talent, but it was a team that was going in all kinds of different directions. The players now admit that too many were trying to do it their way and that their way wasn't working.

Now they're doing it O'Brien's way and, despite some key injuries, have become a pretty decent football team. O'Brien's way is working. You look at this guy during a game, and you can't tell if he's winning or losing. But you do get the idea that he has a clue as to what he's doing.

A trademark of O'Brien's B.C. teams was good offensive line play. This is an area where the Wolfpack has really made strides. A team that couldn't run before now has the scrappy, determined Jamelle Eugene going for 159 yards against Carolina. Pass protection is so much better.

The defense is also better. It was the defense that set up the winning touchdown. Then they stopped Carolina four times from the seven-yard line in the game’s final seconds to preserve the 31-27 win. It wouldn't have happened in September. It happened Saturday as State snapped the three-game losing streak to its arch rival.

Yeah, everything seems to be better in Pack-land, including attitude. Two months ago, those two huge interceptions that Carolina ran back for touchdowns would have closed the coffin on this team. That was then. This is now.

So, State has climbed that mountain back to 500, with winnable games at Wake Forest and at home to Maryland. They now have a chance to have a season to be proud of. Who would have thought that when they were 1-5? I'll be honest, I didn't.

And I think with someone like O'Brien around, you can bet hat sizes will remain the same.

Now while State's fortunes are on the rise, East Carolinas' ran smack into a brick wall against one of the worst teams in Conference USA.

East Carolina was in the driver's seat to host the Conference USA championship game. But with so much to play for they go to Marshall and are just dominated 26-7 by what is now a 2-8 football team. They laid an egg big enough to feed an army.

I watched some of this game on CSTV with my good friend Drew Smith handling the play-by-play, and I couldn't believe what I saw. The Pirates had so much at stake, and what they got was a stake driven through their collective hearts.

Only 259 yards in offense and letting Marshall knock them around defensively for 477 yards. I mean, Marshall's quarterback Bernard Morris with 316 yards had more total offense by himself than the Pirates. ECU let this guy look like a Heisman candidate.

We heard coach Skip Holtz talk all week about how this would not be an easy game. He may have thought that. . . his team didn't.

I will say this, East Carolina has played 11 straight weeks, which have included some extensive travel, but exhausted or not, there's really no excuse to fall so flat. Not against one of the leagues' doormats when so much was on the line. Not when there's a chance to win a championship.

Now the Pirates can only hope that Central Florida, with whom they hold the East Division tiebreaker, will stumble. If Central Florida wins out against 1-9 SMU and 4-6 UTEP, ECU (which hosts struggling Tulane on the 24th) will watch the Conference USA championship game on television.