NC State Wolfpack

Prior to the 1999 football season, NC State fans had visions of Ray Robinson ripping off long runs, Chris Coleman catching big touchdown passes from Jamie Barnette and an opportunistic defense, led by a talented and deep corps of linebackers, making big plays.

But up until Saturday, it hadn't quite happened that way. Robinson, who was the ACC Rookie of the Year last season, has been hampered by a variety of injuries since the first week of pre-season camp.

After getting off to a slow start, Coleman suffered a dislocated left elbow at about the same time the offense was starting to get its confidence back.

For about a month, the Wolfpack defense seemed to lose a lot of the aggressiveness and tenacity it had demonstrated the first two or three weeks.

Now, all of sudden, everything is starting to look like it was supposed to look.

In the Pack's 30-17 victory over Maryland on Saturday, Robinson ran for 166 yards, Coleman caught a touchdown pass and the defense played its best game since early September.

Since he's been NC State's head football coach, Mike O'Cain has handled the criticism thrown is way with class and dignity. He usually gets a lot of blame for losses, but very little credit when the Wolfpack wins.

And while they would be the first to hand out all of the praise to their players, O'Cain and his staff deserve their fair share of plaudits for Saturday's terrific performance against Maryland.

Yes the game plan was impressive, but more than anything else, O'Cain had a sense that the time had come to pull back. Last week, some claimed O'Cain was making excuses when he spoke of how tired his football team was.

Undeterred, he stuck to his guns and shortened practice last week. The goal was to make sure the players, especially those on defense, had their legs back in time for Saturday's game. The results speak for themselves.

In putting together its most complete performance of the season, the Wolfpack was quicker and more energetic than it had been in over a month. That formula for success will be continued as NC State prepares for Thursday night's contest against North Carolina in Charlotte.

"The most important thing is getting them physically ready to play on Thursday night," O'Cain said. "We'll have light workouts and spend more time on the mental aspect of it this week. For us to be able to compete, we've got to be fresh."

With big season ending games coming up against North Carolina and East Carolina, it's nice to know that O'Cain might actually have a chance to field the team everyone was expecting to see before the season.