Wolfpack Stuns No. 15 ECU 30-24 in OT

A pressbox-overturned replay gave NC State a game-tying touchdown with 72 seconds remaining in regulation and a senior Andre Brown scored on a 10-yard run in overtime to give the Wolfpack a 30-24 victory over No. 15 East Carolina.

On East Carolina’s third play in overtime, NC State defensive end Shea McKeen sacked East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney and stripped the ball out of his hands. Teammate Willie Young recovered the fumble, giving the ball to the Wolfpack for its chance to score.

“I couldn’t see the ball when I was chasing him, but I wanted to try to strip it out of his hands,” McKeen said. “I didn’t even know that it came out until I saw Willie going after it. That made it that much better.”

Brown set up his score with a 16-yard high-hurdling run, and followed with a 10-yard run for the winning touchdown in front of a sell-out crowd of 57,583 at Carter-Finley Stadium.

“When the defense goes out there and play like they played, getting that turnover in overtime and making those two stands inside the 5, I didn’t want to rely on the kicker, to be honest with you,” Brown said. “I wanted to go out there, put that boy in the end zone and get out of here.”

Freshman quarterback Russell Wilson threw three touchdown passes for the Wolfpack (2-2 overall) and the defense held ECU to just three points on a pair of fourth-quarter goal-line stands. East Carolina (3-1) took a 24-17 lead with 4:27 remaining in the game on a Ben Hartman field goal.

But the Wolfpack, with four pin-point passes from Wilson, answered quickly.

Freshman speedster T.J. Graham gave State’s offense great field position with a 45-yard kickoff return. “I was really just trying to change the game,” said Graham, who averaged nearly 30 yards on his four kickoff returns.

Wilson threw a down-field pass for 26 yards to sophomore Jarvis Williams, a flare pass to Brown for 17 yards and a third-down pass to redshirt tight end George Bryan in the middle of the field get the Wolfpack to the East Carolina 1-yard line as the final two minutes of regulation ticked off the clock.

An illegal procedure penalty moved the ball back to the 5-yard line. On second down, Wilson hit Bryan in the end zone, a pass that was initially ruled incomplete. But game officials reviewed the play in the press box and over-turned that ruling, pulling the Wolfpack within one point with 1:12 remaining.

Sophomore placekicker Josh Czajkowski’s extra point tied the game at 24-24.

That set the stage for overtime, and again the defense came up with the big play, creating its second turnover of the game. Then Brown, who played for Greenville’s Rose High School for three years and knows three-quarters of the Pirate roster, finished off the Pack’s second straight win over its eastern rival.

“For the first time since I have been here, we finally played 60 minutes of tough, hard-nosed football,” said Wolfpack second-year coach Tom O’Brien. “It paid off in the end.”

After NC State scored on its opening drive of the second half to tie the game at 14-14, East Carolina sophomore tailback Norman Whitley broke free for a 42-yard touchdown run with 9:40 remaining in the third quarter to give the Pirates a 21-14 lead in the back-and-forth affair.

State answered with a 41-yard field goal by Czajkowski field goal with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 21-17.

Wilson moved the offense all afternoon, out-gaining the Pirates 384-383. He received help from dual-threat running attack of Brown and junior Jamelle Eugene, who made his 2008 debut after missing the first three games because of an ankle injury. Brown rushed for 73 yards on 12 carries, Eugene had 25 on nine carries and Wilson had 26 on 12 carries.

“I think one I am learning about Russell is that he plays a lot better sometimes than he looks in practice,” O’Brien said. “There are things we have to learn about him. Certainly today, he made plays and extended plays with his feet.”

Wilson completed 21 of his 31 passes for 210 yards. He threw seven passes to Eugene, five to Bryan and four to Brown, maximizing his weapons with some short passes and then opening up the offense with a handful of downfield throws to Graham and Williams.

Curtis Underwood’s 23-yard return of the second half kickoff allowed Wilson to start from the his own 40-yard line. He quickly moved the offense across midfield. Rolling out with an offensive lineman for protection, Wilson found Bryan open in the middle of the field for a 30-yard pass to the ECU 13-yard line. After two plays of negative yardage, Wilson rifled a pass to sophomore wide receiver Jarvis Williams for a 20-yard touchdown pass to tie the game with 10:56 remaining in the third quarter.

The Wolfpack’s defense again played well, even though it lost its top performer, sophomore linebacker Nate Irving, to a lower-leg injury in the first half. He attempted to come back in the second half, but played only a few downs before the medical staff held him out for the rest of the game.

Early in the fourth quarter, East Carolina drove deep into NC State territory, reaching the 1-yard line on second-and-goal. But, even without Irving, the Wolfpack defense held strong for three consecutive plays. On fourth and goal, Wolfpack senior safety J.C. Neal blitzed and hit ECU’s Jonathan Williams in the backfield for a four-yard loss.

On its next possession, ECU drove inside the Wolfpack 5-yard line again, but could not get into the end zone. With 4:27 remaining in the game, Hartman kicked the field goal that gave the Pirates a seven-point lead.

“It looked like we were a little tired and a little confused during that second series on the goal line,” O’Brien said. “That’s why I called timeout down there. To keep them out of the end zone on four plays was huge. To force them to kick a field goal after four more plays down there, that was doubly huge.”

In the first half, East Carolina free safety Van Eskridge intercepted a tipped pass from NC State reserve quarterback Harrison Beck. Eskridge cut through the Wolfpack offense and returned the pick 23 yards to give the Pirates a 7-0 advantage.

Beck, for the second consecutive possession, came in on third-and-long to replace Wilson under center after the Wolfpack was backed deep into its own territory by East Carolina punts.

A short punt gave the Wolfpack its best field position of the game, on the East Carolina 46. Wilson marched the team down the field with big passes to Graham and Eugene. On fourth and 1 inside the 5, Wilson scrambled for a first down at the 1-yard line.

But a bad handoff between Wilson and Brown lost 12 yards. Wilson scrambled to get the offense back inside the 5 just before the first quarter ended, and on third down Wilson avoided a blitz and found an open Brown in the back of the end zone for a game-tying touchdown.

The Pirates regained the lead with nine minutes remaining before the half, when quarterback Patrick Pinkney found wide receiver Davon Drew in the middle of the field and he fought through the secondary for a 39-yard touchdown reception.

The Wolfpack looked to tie the game late in the first half, when freshman safety Justin Byers intercepted a Pinkney pass deep in NC State territory. Officials initially ruled that Byers fumbled the ball when he was tackled by receiver Dwayne Harris, but that call was overturned by instant replay.

Beck came off the bench and drove the Wolfpack down the field, reaching the East Carolina 18-yard line with 40 seconds remaining in the half. On fourth and one, however, Beck pushed over the right side of the line for a first down, but had the ball stripped out of his hands before he was tackled. Replay confirmed the call.

“The thing I like about us right now is that we are playing hard,” O’Brien said. “We are learning how to do that. Right now, with all the injuries we have had, that’s the only way we can win football games.”

The Wolfpack returns to Carter-Finley Stadium next Saturday for second of four consecutive home games to play South Florida in a 7:30 p.m. contest that will be shown on ESPNU.