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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- After earning first-team All-ACC acclaim, N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson can probably be credited with a new, unofficial and entirely theoretical honor: MVP in Absentia, Papajohns.com Bowl.

Wilson staked his team to an 11-point halftime lead over Rutgers with a typically efficient performance, but his relevance may have been even more apparent in the second half, which he watched while sidelined with an unspecified knee injury. A promising beginning gave way to a 29-23 defeat after Wilson inevitably conceded to team doctors and dropped his bid to stay in the game. From the Pack's point of view, the only winner was medical sanity.

"There's no politicking when the doctor recommends you don't play," said coach Tom O'Brien, who declined to attribute the result to the injury. "(Wilson) might have tried it, but when the doctor says you're not playing, you're not playing."

Details about the ailment were not plentiful. O'Brien said he couldn't define it. Wilson wouldn't say which knee was affected. Such things are normally obvious, but Wilson jogged lightly on the sideline throughout the second half.

All they'd say was that Wilson was hurt on a 16-yard scramble to the Rutgers 5 that set up Andre Brown's touchdown run and a 17-6 lead at the break. State neared its apex and began its fall on one slippery slide.

"Just a freak accident," Wilson said. "I'm OK. I'm fine. Somebody landed on it kinda funny. It happens. It's football."

And it was costly.

Wilson went 11-of-23 for 186 yards, a 44-yard scoring pass to Owen Spencer and -- again -- no interceptions. Had he played the rest of the way and thrown 23 more passes without getting picked off, he would have established an NCAA single-season record for interception avoidance. He had to settle for 249 straight interception-free throws.

What followed was reminiscent of State's 41-10 home loss to South Florida on Sept. 27. Wilson was injured and Harrison Beck went 9-for-32 with three picks instead.

After two straight three-and-out possessions to start the second half, O'Brien sent Beck out there after the Pack, then up 17-16, got what looked like a momentum boost when State safety Clem Johnson snagged a tipped pass at the Rutgers 30.

"We were going to give (Beck) one more series and see how it went," O'Brien said. "When he threw the interception, that was it."

A great chance dissipated when Scarlet Knight linebacker Ryan D'Imperio picked off a pass for the first time in his 38-game career. Beck's line for the season included seven interceptions in 80 attempts.

In his astounding redshirt freshman season, Wilson threw one ball to the other team in 275 tries -- and it was a desperate heave at the end of the first half at Clemson on Sept. 13. At his rate, Wilson will author his seventh interception on the 1,925th pass of his career. And that 1,925th attempt isn't likely to take place. Only two quarterbacks in the history of NCAA football at any Division have tried that many passes: Hawaii's Timmy Chang and Josh Vogelbach of Guilford College.

"He's a tremendous player," Rutgers defensive back Courtney Greene said. "You could see the difference in the second half. Without him, their offense had to change a bit, but that's how football is. We played the defense we had to play. We gave them different looks."

And Knights quarterback Mike Teel was named the game's real MVP after directing the comeback with a big second half. Held in check most of the day, the Knights' big-play offense emerged when Teel found Kenny Britt for a 42-yard touchdown that put Rutgers up 26-23 midway through the fourth quarter.

Ultimately, the Knights won the turnover department 4-1. O'Brien's first two Wolfpack teams have been surprisingly competitive, but in the aftermath of player attrition that preceded the current coach's arrival, State doesn't have the depth necessary to overcome injuries and giveaways. Few teams do. Avoidance of penalties -- the Pack was flagged only twice for three yards -- could only go so far. Since it defeated Appalachian State to start the 2006 season, N.C. State is 0-16 when committing more turnovers than it forces.

"We thought we could win this game from the first quarter all the way to the last interception was thrown," tight end Anthony Hill said. "That's just the way this team is. We kept on fighting. We just didn't end up with the victory."

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

N.C. State 10 7 0 6 -- 23

Rutgers 6 0 10 13 -- 29

Rut--Cervini 6 run (kick blocked)

NCSt--Spencer 44 pass from R.Wilson (Czajkowski kick)

NCSt--FG Czajkowski 33

NCSt--Brown 5 run (Czajkowski kick).

Rut--FG Te 31

Rut--Underwood 11 pass from Teel (Te kick)

Rut--FG Te 28

NCSt--Hill 16 pass from D.Evans (pass failed)

Rut--Britt 42 pass from Teel (Te kick)

Rut--FG Te 24.

A--38,582.

N.C. State Rutgers

First downs 19 21

Rushes-yards 27-95 33-118

Passing 268 319

Comp-Att-Int 16-39-3 22-38-1

Return Yards 15 89

Punts-Avg. 4-22.0 3-37.3

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 2-3 2-15

Time of Possession 25:44 34:16

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--N.C. State, R.Wilson 8-46, Brown 11-39, Eugene 8-10. Rutgers, Martinek 9-58, Brooks 12-36, Britt 1-16, Cervini 1-6, Young 6-4, Teel 1-2, Corcoran 1-1, Team 1-(minus 2), Robinson 1-(minus 3).

PASSING--N.C. State, R.Wilson 11-23-0-186, D.Evans 5-12-2-82, Beck 0-4-1-0. Rutgers, Teel 22-37-1-319, Davis 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING--N.C. State, Ja.Williams 7-126, Hill 3-51, Spencer 2-65, Davis 2-20, Brown 1-4, Smith 1-2. Rutgers, Britt 6-119, Corcoran 6-62, Underwood 4-51, Campbell 3-39, Graves 2-24, Brock 1-24.