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RALEIGH -- Just as it did when East Carolina played North Carolina this season, the question of whether this is a "rivalry" game has come up. While the positions could be staked out again for both sides, Wolfpack guard Kalani Heppe probably put it best.

"When you're 1-5, everything kind of winds up being a bad-blood game," he said.

Hard to argue with that logic.

MORE BAD BLOOD: Tom O'Brien is relatively new to the N.C. State-ECU relationship, but he knows exactly what it's like to have an opponent who is giddy at the prospect of rubbing his team's face in the dirt. That's what it was like in the Big East after Boston College had announced its plans to leave for the ACC.

"It didn't make any difference who we were playing," O'Brien said. "I mean, they collaborated, they did everything they could, shared information. The goal was to get BC."

QB UNCERTAINTY: Quarterback Harrison Beck is still listed as "questionable" on N.C. State's injury report as he attempts to come back from the separated shoulder he suffered against Louisville. Beck's status for the ECU game is dependent on whether he can practice this week, O'Brien said.

"The medical people think he should be able to," O'Brien said. "I haven't seen him on a practice field yet, hence he's questionable."

RB UNCERTAINTY: Toney Baker has long since been lost for the season. Andre Brown is lost for the near future, and probably well beyond, after suffering a broken foot Oct. 6 against Florida State. That leaves sophomore Jamelle Eugene and true freshman Curtis Underwood as the only healthy running backs left on the Pack roster.

"That's why we started playing Underwood a couple of weeks ago as the third tailback," O'Brien said. "To get him ready for this situation, if he had to go in the game."

O'Brien said wideout Darrell Blackman, a former running back, was not a consideration for carries as long as Eugene and Underwood stay healthy.

Of course, the way things are going for State ...

EUGENE'S BREAKTHROUGH: O'Brien would probably feel a lot worse about the situation at tailback if Eugene hadn't performed as well as he did against Florida State. In his first extended time as the feature back, Eugene ran for 101 yards on 14 carries. His abilities running the ball were never the question, O'Brien said.

"The thing that he had to prove to us was that ... his problem all the way through the preseason was fumbling the football," O'Brien said. "If he can hold on to it against Florida State, then we have no qualms that he can hold onto it for good."

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