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RALEIGH -- The Harrison Beck seen in spring practice and training camp was only good enough to be N.C. State's backup quarterback. The Harrison Beck who played the entire second half against Central Florida was something entirely different.

That's why Beck was named the starting quarterback for Saturday's game at Boston College, replacing Daniel Evans.

"There are some guys that play better in games, and you don't know about that until you put them in football games," said Wolfpack coach Tom O'Brien.

Clearly, Beck is one of those guys. He looked lost in State's spring game, completing seven of 26 passes. In training camp, he continued to be plagued by inconsistency, showing wonderful skills at times and poor judgment at others.

Yet something clicked in the second half of the 25-23 loss to Central Florida, when the third-year sophomore threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns.

"He was a much better decision-maker than we had seen previously," O'Brien said. "He distributed the ball to where it was supposed to go, controlled the offense a little better and made some nice throws. The ball was on the money, pretty accurate."

Evans, who started the game, completed seven of 10 passes for 65 yards, with one interception, and didn't produce a touchdown.

Beck, from Clearwater, Fla., transferred last fall from Nebraska. He's 6-feet-2 and 213 pounds.

After the game Saturday, Beck said he had listened to the instructions of offensive coordinator Dana Bible, who had admonished Beck to not "be a wild man back there," a reference to Beck's tendency to heed his impulses instead of his reads and to rely on his arm strength too much.

BACK IN BOSTON: O'Brien will need Beck to keep showing that second-half form for State to knock off its coach's former employer, Boston College. Predictably, O'Brien's Boston roots were a major topic during his Monday press conference. At first, O'Brien talked about keeping his focus on bringing State its first victory, but then he acknowledged the inevitable.

"Obviously, there has to be something there," he said.

That was clear when listening to O'Brien discuss the way the Eagles had improved. He delivered a lengthy analysis of BC's depth and skill on defense and frequently referred to players by their first name, such as "Jolonn" (linebacker Jolonn Dunbar) and "Matty" (quarterback Matt Ryan).

"Those kids are special kids up there, and they've got a heck of a football team," said O'Brien, who left BC last December.

O'Brien obviously played a big role in shaping the Eagles. That's why he expects his reception in Chestnut Hill to be mostly a warm one, despite his departure for another ACC school.

"You get an occasional shout here or there, it's probably 50 to 1," he said. "I think people recognize what went on in the 10 years at Boston College, from what I inherited to the scandal, and everything else, to restoring the integrity of the program and becoming a solid Top 25 program. Certainly you want to leave a program better than when you inherited it, and there is no question we did that."

Contact Jim Young at 373-7016 or jyoung @news-record.com