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CLEMSON, S.C. -- On Saturday morning, the marquee at the Taco Bell on Tiger Boulevard encouraged Clemson to beat The Citadel.

The sign, while officially one week out of date, didn't require much amendment. N.C. State was not particularly memorable.

The Wolfpack hung with the Tigers with the help of linebacker Nate Irving's interception and 33-yard return for a touchdown on the game's first play, but for the second time in three games, it failed to produce an offensive TD and fell 27-9. Its big-play resources thinned by various injuries and its task complicated by two failed kicks, State fell short in its ACC opener.

"There's no real accomplishment when you lose a game," Irving said. "And the way we played today, we could have done better by putting together four quarters and by finishing."

That may be a bit harsh. The Wolfpack (1-2) kept it close by achieving two elements of every undermanned team's game plan. It scored a touchdown without its offense when, after a fair catch on the opening kickoff, Irving stepped in front of Cullen Harper's pass and took it all the way back. The scoreboard showed 14:53 left in the first quarter when Irving scored. You'll have to scour a lot of play-by-play accounts to find a faster score in the history of football at any level.

The second prong was a general proficiency at playing keep-away. In the third quarter, the Pack ran 25 plays to Clemson's seven -- precisely the ball-control it required against a team with clearly superior talent at quarterback and wide receiver.

State played without tight end Anthony Hill and tailbacks Jamelle Eugene and Toney Baker, all of whom are expected back eventually, and wide receiver Donald Bowens, whose season has been eliminated by a back injury. So it couldn't afford losing one point to a blocked extra point and three more to Josh Czajkowski's miss from 25 yards.

"When you have skill the way they have skill -- and we saw how mismatched it was at times -- you gotta make the first field goal," N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien said. "Then it's a one-touchdown game going into the fourth quarter. Exactly how we wanted to play the game at that point."

So the Tigers lead was 20-9 instead of 20-13 when the Wolfpack was finally able to seek the deep ball early in the fourth quarter. To that point, quarterback Russell Wilson had completed only one pass to a wide receiver and been chased like Harrison Ford in "The Fugitive." (That was better than his fate in the opener, when the Pack's QB sustained a concussion at South Carolina and spent most of the night in the hospital.)

"It's Russell's first real game, and they can bring pressure against a lot of people," O'Brien said. "Was it a question of them doing a good job or us doing a bad job? It's probably 50-50, I would say."

In this instance, Wilson's pass into double coverage was intercepted by Crezdon Butler at the Tigers 4. That instigated the eight-minute, 96-yard touchdown drive that sealed it.

Only one State play gained more than 18 yards all day long, and it was followed by the missed field goal.

"We just have to put a complete game together because we were right in there," Wolfpack tailback Andre Brown said. "We had a pretty good game going, and we didn't finish it."

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com

N.C. State 6 0 3 0 -- 9

Clemson 7 10 0 10 -- 27

NCSU--Irving 33 interception return (kick blocked)

Clemson--J.Ford 16 pass from C.Harper (Buchholz kick)

Clemson--FG Buchholz 22

Clemson--Spiller 28 pass from C.Harper (Buchholz kick)

NCSU--FG Czajkowski 22

Clemson--FG Buchholz 31

Clemson--Spiller 12 run (Buchholz kick)

A--76,500

N.C. State Clemson

First downs 20 22

Rushes-yards 39-136 29-166

Passing 152 262

Comp-Att-Int 15-29-2 20-28-1

Return Yards 46 78

Punts-Avg. 5-33.4 3-47.7

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1

Penalties-Yards 7-40 7-75

Time of Possession 32:57 27:03

NDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--N.C. State, Brown 14-64, Underwood 11-46, R.Wilson 13-26, Beck 1-0. Clemson, Spiller 10-61, J.Ford 2-48, Davis 14-34, C.Harper 2-19, Jones 1-4.

PASSING--N.C. State, R. Wilson 10-21-1-92, Beck 5-8-1-60. Clemson, C.Harper 20-28-1-262.

RECEIVING--N.C. State, Brown 4-51, Bryan 3-32, Underwood 3-18, Spencer 2-7, Weaver 1-18, Graham 1-16, Ja.Williams 1-10. Clemson, Kelly 7-94, J.Ford 6-106, Spiller 4-35, Grisham 2-26, Davis 1-1.