Winter Break Football Recap

After finishing the season on a four-game winning streak, the football team entered its thirteenth contest, the Papajohns.com Bowl, with a 6-6 record, but lost to Rutgers 29-23 in Birmingham, Ala. on December 29th. The loss was the Wolfpack's first bowl defeat since a 34-19 loss to Pittsburgh in the 2001 Visit Florida Tangerine Bowl.

Leading 17-6 at halftime, State lost momentum when redshirt freshman quarterback Russell Wilson did not return after intermission with a knee sprain. Redshirt junior Harrison Beck came in to lead the offense but the Scarlet Knights scored 13 unanswered points to take the lead 19-17 early in the fourth quarter. Beck never really looked comfortable on the field.

"You can't blame it on injuries," coach Tom O'Brien said. "We had our opportunities in the third quarter, but we couldn't seem to make a play."

Graduate student Daniel Evans came in to lead the Pack's next drive, finding Anthony Hill for a 16-yard touchdown strike to give State a 23-19 lead. Evans was nostalgic in his final collegiate game, and happy to be competing again after playing on the scout team in practice for nearly the entire second half of the season.

"Even just to be here is an awesome experience," Evans said. "It was fun to be back out there competing for real. To be in there with your best friends when it matters, just competing, it was fun."

After giving up a late touchdown and field goal, State's injury-riddled season ended when the final pass of Evans' career was picked off and Rutgers celebrated its third straight bowl victory. While the injury to Wilson, a first team All-ACC performer and ACC player of the year, had a major impact on the game, O'Brien said the team just wasn't able to step up in his absence.

"Guys get hurt and we've played through it all year long," O'Brien said. "You have to be able to overcome it and we weren't quite able to do it."