2010 NC State Wolfpack Football: NC State @ North Carolina

Want to know what it’s like to be a frog in a high-school biology class?

Step inside the body of Tom O’Brien this Saturday when the North Carolina State head coach leads his Wolfpack against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill.

This is a game in which O’Brien will be under the gun to perform, a contest in which his every move will be dissected and hyper-analyzed. O’Brien reached eight straight bowl games in his previous coaching stop at Boston College and won six of them (he actually didn’t coach in one of those games because of his move to NC State). However, the former United States Marine has never won a division or conference title. You could technically say that O’Brien’s Boston College team shared the 2004 Big East title with three other teams, but the Eagles did not get the league’s premium (BCS) bowl bid that year. Moreover, they had a chance to win the league outright, but faltered late in the season to settle for the 25-percent title (and without a good postseason destination). O’Brien did not lead Boston College to an ACC Atlantic Division title in 2005 or 2006, and when he then came to Raleigh to coach NC State, O’Brien has failed to win the ACC Atlantic in three more attempts.

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There’s still more to this story of how O’Brien has a knack for turning in an “O’Fer” when it comes to winning divisions and conferences. Ironically enough, the first two years of the post-O’Brien era at Boston College – under the leadership of new coach Jeff Jagodzinski – were the years in which the Eagles claimed the Atlantic, with O’Brien looking on in defeat from his new perch in the Carolinas. Indeed, the boys from BC reached the ACC Championship Game in both 2007 and 2008, playing and losing to Virginia Tech each time. North Carolina State did not make the ACC title game before O’Brien came along, so it would love to make some history of its own. The Pack can pack up their bags for Charlotte, North Carolina, in a few weeks if they can win this game and then put away Maryland on Thanksgiving weekend. The Atlantic is within NC State’s grasp, but it’s a long way to Tipperary for the roster from Raleigh.

This year, Virginia Tech is on track to win the Coastal Division crown once more, so with Boston College out of the running in the Atlantic, it would be very sweet for O’Brien to put an end to his 0-for-forever history in the ACC. When his Wolfpack take on an undermanned but gritty North Carolina club this weekend, it’s a put-up-or-shut-up moment for Mr. O’Brien and his program. A lot of people will be skeptical of NC State until the Wolfpack breaks through. O’Brien’s reputation as a coach won’t be rehabilitated unless or until a division title can be placed under his name.

Real pressure – as many thoughtful people have said over the years – means being a homeless single mother of four and wondering where your next meal is going to come from. However, within the more trivial yet still compelling realm of athletic competition, there’s a lot of pressure on Tom O’Brien to win this game against an in-state rival whose own coach, Butch Davis, could very well be fired at the end of 2010. We’ll see what happens in this Atlantic Coast Conference crucible involving two Carolina-based ballclubs.

NC State Wolfpack @ North Carolina Tar Heels Football Preview