BY TONY HAYNES
Miami – It was on the hallowed football grounds of the Orange Bowl that Joe Namath backed up his bold prediction and stunned the mighty Colts in Super Bowl III. The Miami Dolphins called the Orange Bowl home when they became the first and only NFL team to go unbeaten in 1972. And it was in this venerable football shrine that Doug Flutie uncorked his famous last play miracle.
On Saturday, in the next to last game the University of Miami would play at the Orange Bowl, yet another chapter was added to an impressive list of football memories. No, NC State’s 19-16 stunning overtime triumph over the Hurricanes (5-4, 2-3) probably won’t rank alongside the greatest games in Orange Bowl history.
Unless, of course, you bleed Wolfpack red.
On this day, the Pack walked away with a cherished win that won’t soon be forgotten by coach Tom O’Brien, his team or the school’s passionate followers.
“It’s number one [on the list] at NC State today, that’s for sure,” O’Brien said. “These kids did a great job. It was a tough day with it being hot and humid. They hung in there, gave up a couple of bad plays in the first half, but nobody quit. We kept playing and playing. As a result, we got it to overtime with a chance to win the football game.”
Facing the first game-winning situation of his career, Steven Hauschka made it count, calmly splitting the uprights from 42-yards out to set off a wild celebration.
After dropping five of its first six games, NC State has now pulled an unexpected about-face, winning three straight games over fairly respected competition. Victories over East Carolina, Virginia and Miami have pushed the Pack to just one game below the .500 mark on the season. Now 4-5 overall and 2-3 in the ACC, NC State is starting to look like that proverbial team that no one wants to play at the end of the season.
As O’Brien noted, the Wolfpack appeared to be in the ‘refuse to lose’ mode most of the warm, summer-like afternoon in Miami. Down 10-0 in the second quarter, NC State came up with a clutch nine-play, 66-yard drive that was capped off by Daniel Evans’ quarterback sneak for a touchdown just 2:04 before halftime. Evans was 4-of-5 in the timely march, hitting freshman receiver Owen Spencer on a 12-yard crossing pattern that set up the only score Miami’s defense has allowed at home in the first half.
Prior to the Pack touchdown, the Hurricanes had outscored their opponents 81-0 in the first half of games at the Orange Bowl this season.
After halftime, NC State relied on defense, field position and the kicking game. Before his game-winner, Hauschka kicked field goals of 31, 35, and 47 yards in the fourth quarter to give the Wolfpack a 16-13 lead over the offensively-challenged Hurricanes. Hauschka’s leg was also a weapon on kick offs. Using a brisk easterly wind coming from the open end of the Orange, Bowl, the senior had four touchbacks that prevented Miami’s speedy return men from touching the football.
“It’s great when you know they’re going to start at the 20,” said O’Brien. “I would think that we won the field position all day. That was due to the offense changing field position, the defense getting off the field and our kicking game.”
The field position battle was indeed won by the Wolfpack. NC State’s average starting position was the 36 yard line, compared to the 23 for the ‘Canes.
Building on two huge passing games against ECU and Virginia, Evans was again in control and steady, completing 19-of-40 passes for 207 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. NC State won the turnover battle 3-0, picking off three Miami passes. After posting an ugly minus-17 turnover margin in the first half of the season, the Pack is now plus-four the last three games. In a tribute to his fast-improving offensive line, Evans was sacked only once by a Miami team that had 24 coming into the game.
These are not the Hurricanes of Kelly, Kosar and Testaverde. No, far from it. With regular quarterback Kyle Wright still ailing with an ankle injury, Miami was forced to turn its offense over to inexperienced Kirby Freeman, who completed just one pass in14 attempts. And that one completion, an 84-yard scoring strike to Darnell Jenkins in the first quarter, came against a busted coverage in the NC State secondary.
Using mostly two tight ends and running out of the I-formation, Miami committed itself to a power running game most of the day, including on its last drive of regulation. The Hurricanes ran the ball on 16 of 18 plays in a drive that led to Daren Daly’s tying field goal from 27 yards out with just 19 second left.
But after the Wolfpack won the toss and chose to defer for the overtime period, Freeman couldn’t do it again, hooking a 27-yard attempt wide left.
Four plays later, Hauschka cashed in on his opportunity to send the Pack home with a very special Orange Bowl victory.
“It’s the first time the game has come down to me like that in my entire career,” said Hauschka, who had made his first 10 field goal attempts this season before finally missing from 29 yards out in the second quarter on Saturday. “I’m really happy I could execute on it.”
Courtesy: Associated Press
