Pittsburgh Panthers vs NC State Wolfpack Recap

North Carolina State 38, Pittsburgh 31

Everything was going oh-so-right for the Pittsburgh Panthers on a September afternoon in the Carolinas. Yet, precisely when it seemed that a good season would get even better for Dave Wannstedt's crew, the moment of an apparent ascendancy turned into an abrupt downfall.

It was all so exciting and electrifying: On back-to-back plays late in the third quarter of Saturday's game at North Carolina State, the Panthers silenced a massive throng in Raleigh, N.C., by blocking a Wolfpack field goal and then hitting paydirt on a 79-yard bomb from quarterback Bill Stull to receiver Jonathan Baldwin. The pair of plays wasn't just athletically spectacular; the two dynamic displays turned what would have been a 24-20 Pittsburgh lead into a far more substantial 31-17 bulge with 4:15 left in the third. Given the way both sides of the ball had been performing for Pitt, a 14-point lead with just under 20 minutes remaining seemed to represent a commanding position that would not be easily forfeited. A team's pre-Big East venture to Carter-Finley Stadium was likely to produce a scalp in this attractive intersectional encounter. The status and prestige of Pitt football were only about to grow.

Achingly, heartbreakingly, the Panthers couldn't subdue the Wolfpack, and instead had to pack their bags for a homebound flight with a loss in their luggage compartment.

When N.C. State's outlook acquired a markedly bleak hue, Russell Wilson--the man Wannstedt and his defensive staff feared the most--was able to lead the hometeam on a Wolfpack warpath. Wilson, the 2008 ACC Freshman of the Year, showed why coach Tom O'Brien's team is a threat to win the ACC Atlantic Division title. The sophomore standout promptly led three straight touchdown marches against a suddenly overwhelmed Panther defense. Not always accurate but able to avoid turnovers, Wilson delivered a succession of big-play darts that piled up 21 points in less than 15 minutes of clock time. When N.C. State running back Toney Baker scored from two yards out with 6:28 left in the fourth quarter, the 31-17 lead Pitt enjoyed near the end of the third stanza had suddenly become a 38-31 deficit.

Pitt got a huge break when a bad punt snap by the Wolfpack offered the Panthers a get-out-of-jail-free card, in the from of a drive start at the NCSU 8, with just 2:45 left in regulation, but Stull--so stellar and steady for most of this season--couldn't produce a touchdown pass on the following series of downs. When a final incompletion missed the mark on fourth down with 1:15 left, a springboard toward even greater Pittsburgh prominence had turned into a nagging and nauseating defeat.

Only time will tell if this loss will have a carryover effect. The Panthers have to hope that the lead they lost this past weekend won't produce more blown opportunities in the months ahead.

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By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer