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RALEIGH — With about three minutes to play Thursday night, the game between N.C. State and South Carolina was up for grabs. A few seconds later, it was over.

State, reduced to a desperate attempt to crack the Gamecocks’ stout defense, drew up a fourth-down prayer that landed in the hands of both the intended receiver and the unintended receiver, and as a huge crowd gasped, the ball fell to the ground.

South Carolina survived a dull 7-3 opener and began a rousing celebration in the stands, reminding State fans why they hated the Gamecocks all those years ago. The short-lived resumption of an old ACC rivalry ended Thursday night with South Carolina, now of the SEC, defeating the Pack for a second straight season. They aren’t scheduled to play again.

That’s probably a good thing.

A festive atmosphere that started well before kickoff ended with one small corner of Carter-Finley Stadium cheering and the rest of the huge crowd discussing what comes next. That would be Murray State and Gardner-Webb. State’s return to the national scene will have to come later.

Under a full moon and the watchful eye of ESPN and a capacity crowd of 57,583, N.C. State fell behind early and spent all evening trying to overcome one South Carolina touchdown. The Pack tried everything, including redshirt freshman Mike Glennon at quarterback, but that didn’t work. The only glimpse of an offense came with All-ACC sophomore Russell Wilson in the pocket.

State opened with former Ragsdale star Toney Baker at running back, and he fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. Most of the load was carried by senior Jamelle Eugene, and the Wolfpack even sent in true freshman James Washington to run late in the game. Nothing worked.

South Carolina wasn’t going anywhere. After the first touchdown, which came four plays after Baker’s fumble, the Gamecocks struggled to move the ball at all against State’s swarming defense. There were few mistakes and only two turnovers. The teams simply couldn’t move the ball. South Carolina used four running backs and threw to five different receivers without much success, gaining 256 yards without much creativity.

After winning 34-0 a year ago on the way to a decent 7-6 season, the Gamecocks figured to be decidedly favored in this game. The truth is, State went 6-7 last year and that’s about the only difference between the teams. South Carolina looked awful winning 34-0 a year ago and looked awful winning 7-3 Thursday night. And the Gamecocks don’t get to play Murray State and Gardner-Webb now. They play at Georgia.

South Carolina appeared to be outplaying State for much of the game, but nothing Steve Spurrier could draw up worked when it really needed to. Stephen Garcia, once one of the nation’s top recruits, proved again to be pretty good but not all that. All these years later, Spurrier still needs a quarterback.

Not that Wilson was all that impressive either. He completed 12 of 23 passes for 74 yards and ran for various gains and losses that ended up a net minus-17. But with the game on the line, and State somehow hanging around, Wilson engineered a sputtering drive that ground to a halt at the South Carolina 32.

On the verge of an upset but needing a touchdown, State ran three plays that resulted in heartache. On first down, Wilson lofted a pass into the end zone over two defenders and into the hands of Jay Smith, a sophomore who hadn’t caught a pass the entire game. He caught it, bobbled it, caught it again and dropped it.

They ran the same play again on second down, and again it landed incomplete. After a scramble sack, State called timeout. With 3:11 to play, Tom O’Brien didn’t hesitate. He called the same play.

“We ran four streaks. We were going deep,” O’Brien said.

Wilson rolled to his right and saw Jarvis Williams flash open near the 10-yard line. Wilson threw long, and for a brief moment everything stopped. The ball landed in the hands of Williams and South Carolina defender Stephon Gilmore, a freshman. They fought for it, each with both hands on the ball.

A game that resumed a long rivalry had failed to live up to its promise. In the end, it was a team coming off a 7-6 season trying to hold off a team coming off a 6-7 season. The ball fell to the ground.

“You look at those four downs, we got three balls of the four hit our hands, and we don’t catch one of them,” O’Brien said. “So we had opportunities to make the plays and didn’t make them.”

State let one slip away against an old rival Thursday night, and it’s not clear if we’ll ever see them play again. It’s doubtful either coach would have a problem with that. And probably no one else would either.

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