Rivers Is Rolling in Second Half

North Carolina State owned the fourth quarter all season. The Wolfpack extended that to the entire second half to win the Micronpc.com Bowl.

North Carolina State, which rallied for five fourth-quarter victories during the regular season, spotted Minnesota a 24-point lead, then roared back behind Philip Rivers and Koren Robinson to defeat the Golden Gophers, 38-30, on Thursday night.

“They learned if we could get to the fourth period we would have a chance,” Wolfpack Coach Chuck Amato said. “But when you’re down 24-0, you don’t have a lot of confidence left in you.”

“It’s amazing what you preach to your players,” Minnesota Coach Glen Mason said. “I tell them all the time that a game is a full 60 minutes.”

Robinson scored on a 19-yard reverse in a 17-point third quarter, then scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 23-yard pass play from Rivers with 11:01 left.

“If I need to take over I will take over,” Robinson said. “We’ve seen this all year the way we’ve come back. Minnesota was testing our manhood, but once we get rolling I don’t think anybody can stop us.”

Minnesota (6-6) led 24-8 at the half, but wasted a Micron Bowl-record 246-yard rushing performance from Tellis Redmon as the Gophers fell victim to yet another Wolfpack comeback.

Rivers, North Carolina State’s 18-year-old freshman quarterback, was selected the most valuable player, going 24 of 39 for 310 yards. Robinson added a Micron-record 157 receiving yards.

North Carolina State (8-4) clinched it with 3:16 left on an eight-yard touchdown run by Ray Robinson just five seconds after Minnesota quarterback Travis Cole fumbled deep in his own territory.

Redmon’s 42 carries and rushing yardage broke the marks of North Carolina’s Leon Johnson in 1995 when Johnson carried 29 times for 195 yards against Arkansas.

Rivers threw for an Atlantic Coast Conference freshman record 3,054 yards and 25 touchdowns, but was off his game early. He was limited to 45 yards in the first quarter as the Golden Gophers bolted to a 24-0 lead.

“The biggest change is that we had a nice talk at halftime--a real nice talk,” Amato said.