20 points in third quarter seals game for NC State

By The Associated Press     Sep 27, 2003

? Philip Rivers had the fourth 400-yard passing game of his career and added two rushing touchdowns as North Carolina State beat North Carolina 47-34 Saturday.

The Wolfpack (3-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) led just 24-21 at the half, but N.C. State put the game away with 20 points in the opening 11 minutes of the third quarter as Rivers passed for 182 of his 423 yards.

Rivers threw for a career-high 433 yards earlier this season in a loss at Wake Forest.

North Carolina (0-4, 0-2) has lost 13 of 16 games and wasted Darian Durant’s 389 yards of total offense in the highest scoring game in the 93-game series.

The Tar Heels came in with the 114th ranked defense, allowing 41.3 points per game. They didn’t help their average as Rivers picked apart North Carolina despite the absence of injured tailback T.A. McLendon, who sat out with a sore hamstring.

Josh Brown filled in for McLendon with 89 yards and two touchdowns as the N.C. State offense didn’t miss a beat.

It was a three-point game until Rivers hit Jerricho Cotchery with an 80-yard scoring play to open the third quarter. Cotchery, who rolled up a career-high 217 yards on nine catches, did most of the work, hauling in the ball near midfield and weaved his way through several UNC defenders.

After holding the Tar Heels on three plays. Rivers completed a 40-yard pass on N.C. State’s first play of a 78-yard drive, capped by Brown’s 6-yard scoring run.

Rivers put the game away a series later as his 14-yard keeper gave the Wolfpack a 23-point lead.

Rivers came in completing 77 percent of his passes and was 9-for-9 in the opening quarter as the Wolfpack built a 21-3 lead.

Rivers and Brown scored on short runs, while Manny Lawson recovered a blocked punt in the end zone as it appeared N.C. State would run away from its archrival.

But a pair of personal foul penalties helped the Tar Heels score 10 points, and a questionable no-call in the final two minutes of the half allowed North Carolina to close to 24-21 at the break.

The Wolfpack defense stacked up Durant short of a first down near midfield. The quarterback then appeared to throw the ball forward from the middle of the pile and it was ruled a fumble, not an incomplete pass.

The Tar Heels recovered for a first down that kept their driving going as N.C. State coach Chuck Amato berated referee Jim Knight over the fumble ruling.

Durant hit Jawarski Pollock with a 33-yard pass five plays later to set up a 1-yard scoring pass and a two-point conversion as the Tar Heels pulled within three.

There was a moment of silence before the game to honor the brother of North Carolina center Jason Brown, who was killed last week while serving in the U.S. military in Iraq.

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