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COLUMBIA, S.C. — A night of color and pageantry was made somber Thursday evening, first by an injury to a football player and then by the game itself. South Carolina defeated N.C. State 34-0 in a game neither team will want to remember and State quarterback Russell Wilson might not remember anyway.

Wilson, a redshirt freshman who was named the Wolfpack starter last Friday, appeared to be knocked out cold when the knee of a South Carolina player hit Wilson in the back of the helmet at the end of a play in the second quarter. He was attended to by trainers and doctors from both teams before paramedics took him to Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital.

Team officials said he suffered a "grade-3 concussion," the most serious form, but was "doing well and undergoing further evaluation." A grade-3 concussion typically means the person lost consciousness and will not remember how the injury occurred.

The game halted for several minutes while Wilson lie prone on the field not moving. Until his face mask was removed and his head secured, not a sound was heard in the stadium. As he was carted away, he raised his left thumb to his teammates. The game resumed with the haunting sound of an ambulance driving away from the stadium.

The scoreboard read 0-0 at the time, and neither team had shown an inclination to do much about it. First games can be that way, especially between teams with stout defenses and questionable offenses.

State had given the job to Wilson over backups Daniel Evans, Harrison Beck and true freshman Mike Glennon, who watched from the sidelines in silence as Wilson was attended to. Evans came into the game and played into the fourth quarter when he was replaced by Beck.

South Carolina had given its quarterback job to junior Tommy Beecher, a longtime backup from Concord. He lasted until the third quarter when he, too, left with what was called "a head injury" after throwing four interceptions. He was replaced by Chris Smelley, who started several games last season.

State's turnovers basically set up everything South Carolina did on offense. The early turnovers by the Gamecocks led to nothing for the Wolfpack, which managed 138 yards in total offense.

Steve Spurrier, the South Carolina coach, threw his usual jabs at the opponent afterward and asked his fans to be understanding of his team's offense.

"I appreciate the fans being patient with our offense," Spurrier said. "State is a pretty good team. They probably won't be one of the best teams we'll play,"

That didn't seem to matter to the multitudes who streamed into Williams-Brice Stadium all afternoon. A wreck on I-77 delayed the arrival of some of the 80,616 fans who turned the stadium into the state's fourth-largest population center. N.C. State's traveling party was tucked into a corner and was silenced when the stadium's giant sound system cranked up the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey."

The tradition includes a blast and some fire and smoke and then 10 massive flags, the last eight spelling out CAROLINA. State chose to run its players onto the field at the same time, causing a wreck at the 20-yard-line that resulted in the guy carrying the big "L" flag being flattened and only CAROINA making it into the north end zone.

Thus another theme was established. Neither team could get out of its own or the other's way for the first half of the game. Ryan Succop's field goal with 20 seconds left in the half gave South Carolina a 3-0 lead that would be plenty to subdue State.

In the second half, as a procession of State players were helped off the field for injuries and cramping muscles, South Carolina gradually found its offense. Smelley led a couple of touchdown drives, and State kept turning over the ball.

This series dates to 1900, and as charter members of the ACC they played every year but one from 1956 to 1991. The last South Carolina-N.C. State game before Thursday was in 1999, the first game Lou Holtz coached at South Carolina. He'd been the coach at State from 1972 to 1975. State won that game in a driving rain, the remnants of Hurricane Dennis.

State's only hope might've been when the remnants of Hurricane Fay left South Carolina earlier in the week. And faint hopes coming into the game probably ended when Wilson fell to the ground in the second quarter.

A long afternoon of fans partying and getting ready for another football season was put into perspective when Wilson went down. Players took a knee and prayed. Fans stood in the aisles and hoped for the best. Behind the State bench, the Wolfpack coaches warmed up quarterbacks as another football season took a somber turn in the opening minutes of the opening game.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com