Want more sports? Check out Patrick’s personal sports news website here!
The night started out with a brisk cold weather that was in the 40’s when kickoff began. With over 58,000 fans in Charlotte, with seemingly more State fans than Louisville, people seemed to feel that this could be a special night for the Wolfpack.
The game started out slow, with both teams feeling out each other, with the score being 7-7 State after one quarter because of a 6-yd pass to T.J. Graham and an early turnover by Mike Glennon that led to a touchdown for Louisville. Once Louisville took the lead, Mike Glennon was able to take advantage of mistakes by the Louisville defense. The Cardinals seemed to have some mishaps in the secondary with players slipping and over-playing on defense which allowed Glennon to throw a 35 yard and 68 yard touchdown pass in the 2nd quarter. NC State was able to increase their lead in the 3rd quarter with an interception by Amerson, who had two interceptions in the game and allowed him to pass D. Bly for the most interceptions in ACC history for a season. Louisville was able to pull close with 2 TD passes, one in the 3rd quarter and one late in the 4th quarter.
However, for some reason, the Cardinals decided to go for an onside kick with plenty of time on the clock. If I was him, I would have kicked off and allowed my defense to play and hopefully get some good field position. But those are the decisions of the head coach and Louisville was able to get a turnover on downs around mid-field. That is when Amerson was able to create a turnover with an interception that would seal the win for the Wolfpack. Mike Glennon was able to pull out the win for the Wolfpack by putting the ball in the air for 264 yards and 3 TD’s. That was huge because State was not able to move the ball on the ground, with a total of only 65 yards. The defense had some huge plays during the game with 3 turnovers and some huge stops on 4th down, when the momentum seemed to be heading in the Cardinals way.
It was the way Tom O’Brien wanted to go out for the season and is now 8-2 in bowl games for his career. The Wolfpack had a great year and even after a slow start, they were able to pull together and put a together a tremendous season. Headed into next year, hopefully they will be able to continue this great ride and move on to bigger and better things.
*Photo Credit: Timesonline.com