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On The Field: Wolfpack Guts Cincinnati, Looking Like Favorite in ACC
September 17, 2010 | By Brian McCabe
The final tally showed North Carolina State 30, Cincinnati 19, but it wasn’t really that close.
Wolfpack quarterback Russell Wilson came to play. He had another great performance through the air and averaged more than four yards per carry on the ground.
Cincinnati’s defense had no answer for anything that Wilson threw at them.
It is becoming clearer that the Brian Kelly-to-Butch Jones transition is not going as smoothly the second time around. NC State had its way against a porous Cincy D while Zach Collaros is struggling to find the glimpses of greatness he showed while relieving Tony Pike in 2009.
Collaros’ numbers might seem gaudy at first glance; over 300 yards through the air and three touchdowns is impressive. But for all intents and purposes, the game was over for half of those stats.
The Bearcats were down 30-7 with less than eight minutes to play and their final touchdown came with less than 50 seconds remaining against a defense that wasn’t doing much more than standing on the field.
The game was the perfect depiction of two teams going in separate directions.
Cincinnati is trying to rebound from the strategic and emotional loss of its head coach to Notre Dame while Russell Wilson is quietly staking a claim for a mention during Heisman discourse.
The ACC is down this year as evidenced by last weekend’s metaphorical evisceration. Virginia Tech is currently a shadow of its former self and many of the other top competitors are heading for a down year.
With the way they are playing, North Carolina State has a chance to compete for the conference championship in the wide-open league and a berth in a BCS game.
After last night, Cincinnati hopes have been downgraded quite a bit… to earning an FBS win.
Posted September 17, 2010 4:30 PM