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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Ideally, most football teams would rather be known for scoring 50 points a game or shutting opponents out. As the 2008 N.C. State Wolfpack has proven, however, there's also something to be said for not screwing up.

The Pack (6-6) gets to play Rutgers in today's Papajohns.com Bowl, having sustained its momentum and its season while putting up pedestrian -- at best -- numbers in nearly every team statistical category the NCAA maintains. The pleasantly glaring exception has been in turnovers, of which the Wolfpack has committed only three in its past seven games.

It took a while for the results to match the stinginess. State lost the first three contests in that stretch but takes a four-game winning streak into ancient Legion Field at 3 p.m.

"I've definitely enjoyed it, but when it all comes down to it, we know we still have to keep working hard and keep doing what we've been doing to get here," senior tight end Anthony Hill said.

The ability to keep possession and the largesse of a 34-game bowl system explain how N.C. State is still playing. In the nine most cited stats governing offensive and defensive success, State's highest standing is in points allowed per game, and even that (65th) is in the bottom half of the 119-team Football Bowl Subdivision. Only three other teams in the land have that statistical profile: Colorado (5-7), Utah State (3-9) and Idaho (2-10). Even wretched Washington, which went 0-12, stands 64th or higher in something. (The Huskies are 64th in passing efficiency, if you must know.)

On the good side, the Pack's second in the ACC and 15th nationally in turnover margin, and there's little doubt that it has ridden avoidance of mistakes as far as that trait can feasibly take anybody.

Even State's ranking in turnover margin is deceiving. It is boosted by one game, a plus-six against North Carolina. The Pack doesn't really take the ball away that often; it just doesn't lose it. Only 17 teams have committed fewer than N.C. State's 16 giveaways.

The biggest part of that is quarterback Russell Wilson's judicious passing. If chased out of the pocket on third and eight from his own 22, for example, Wilson is far more likely to toss the ball into the luxury suites than into the middle of a ravenous defense. Human nature regards the punt as an intolerable admission of failure; Wilson realizes there are worse fates.

"He came to State that way," coach Tom O'Brien said Sunday. "It wasn't anything that any of us (coaches) did. He's always a half-full guy. Never half-empty. Always positive about everything. No one could have anticipated the type of year he had."

Wilson is now on a streak of 226 passes without an interception -- 45 short of the NCAA record within a single season. Another famous game-manager, Trent Dilfer of Fresno State, did that in 1993.

The Pack fumbles more often than the average team, but it has lost only five of the 25 balls it has put on the ground. Only Oklahoma, which has recovered 11 of its 13, has claimed a higher percentage of its own fumbles than the Pack has. (The national recovery rate is 50.4 percent.)

This is where good fortune plays a role. An oddly shaped ball takes unpredictable bounces, and over a 12-game season, those bounces should even out.

"When the ball has hit the ground, we've been right there next to it," O'Brien said. "Pretty amazing that it would happen that way."

State began improving as a team when injured players started returning. Wilson was among those.

Now the Wolfpack wants to keep the trend going for one more game against the Scarlet Knights, who averaged 46 points a game over their final five regular-season contests, all of them wins.

Rutgers has gone about this late-season surge thing with crazy offensive numbers. State's run has been more subtle.

"All I know is somebody in red is going to be happy" O'Brien said.

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