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BOSTON — Tom O'Brien seems well aware he has his detractors among the N.C. State faithful, those who aren't willing to be patient with the job he's doing in Raleigh.

"I can't be concerned with that, I gotta be concerned with coaching the football team," O'Brien said Saturday after his Wolfpack was blown out 52-20 by his previous team, Boston College.

"I knew this was going to be a process, and it certainly is going to be a process," he said. "We're going to be a good football team, just &ellipses; sooner rather than later would be good, but we're not going to take any shortcuts, we're going to do it the right way and build a strong foundation so that when this thing turns that we're going to win for a long time and win a lot of games."

For now, the Pack has lost three straight games heading into the bye week. They're next game is at Florida State, which had a bye this week.

N.C. State has allowed 101 points in losses to Duke and BC, 162 in the last four games. Yesterday's 52 points by BC were the most by a State opponent since Florida State amassed 58 in 2000.

Sophomore running back Montel Harris, who ran for a BC freshmen-record 900 yards last year, had 264 yards and five touchdowns, both school marks, yesterday against a State defense that had allowed a total of 377 in six games coming in.

"Nobody tried to run the ball against us," O'Brien said. "We did a good job against Pitt, but Wake Forest and Duke didn't try to rush it at all. We just got out of whack tonight. We just didn't fit right and we didn't tackle."

That was a common theme in a game that saw O'Brien fall to 0-3 against his old team, a program he turned around after a gambling scandal preceded his arrival.

Things didn't start out too poorly for the Pack (3-4, 0-3 ACC).

Harris' 70-yard run and ensuing 2-yard TD made it 7-0, but quarterback Russell Wilson took N.C. State 73 yards, the big play a 30-yard pass to Darrell Davis. Wilson took it in from the 1 and the game was tied.

Not for long.

David Shinskie, the 25--year-old true freshman quarterback who had thrown for 4 yards in a loss at Virginia Tech last week, threw a ball down the right sideline to Colin Larmond Jr., locked in a duel with Rashard Smith.

The 6-foot-3 Larmond out-jumped the 5-11 Smith, caught the ball and, as Smith fell out of bounds, ran the rest of the way for a 59-yard score to put BC (5-2, 3-2) ahead to stay.

State had two chances to get even or go ahead but had to settle for field goals on both tries.

It was 24-13 at the half, and the Eagles came out and ran a long drive to start the second half — and the rout was on.

Wilson, given all kinds of time for most of the game, finished 23-for-40 for 243 yards, a touchdown and interception. But he also threw a few passes that could have been picked off. Mike Glennon relieved and was 8-for-15 for 72 yards and an interception.

"We certainly have a lot of work to do," said O'Brien. We're not a very good football team right now. Hopefully, we can put ourselves together in this open week and &ellipses; there are a lot of things we've got to look at. And hopefully we can make some progress.

"We've got a lot to play for. Nobody is giving up."

When the game ended, O'Brien wished his old pal, BC coach Frank Spaziani well and immediately started thinking about making his own team better.

N.C. State 7 6 0 7 — 20
Boston College 14 10 21 7 — 52

BC—Harris 2 run (Aponavicius kick)
NCSU—R.Wilson 1 run (Czajkowski kick)
BC—Larmond 59 pass from Shinskie (Aponavicius kick)
NCSU—FG Czajkowski 25
NCSU—FG Czajkowski 32
BC—Harris 12 run (Aponavicius kick)
BC—FG Aponavicius 37.
BC—Harris 10 run (Aponavicius kick)
BC—Harris 1 run (Aponavicius kick)
BC—Harris 29 run (Aponavicius kick)
NCSU—Ja.Williams 27 pass from R.Wilson (Czajkowski kick)
BC—Flutie 6 pass from Shinskie (Aponavicius kick)
A—35,261.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs — NCSU 22, BC 20
Rushes-yards — NCSU 27-79, BC 43-293
Passing — NCSU 315, BC 187
Comp-Att-Int — NCSU 31-55-2, BC 13-25-0
Return Yards — NCSU, BC 13 39
Punts-Avg. — NCSU 4-32.3, BC 4-40.0
Fumbles-Lost — NCSU 1-1, BC 0-0
Penalties-Yards — NCSU 3-30, BC 4-45
Time of Possession — NCSU 29:08, BC 30:52

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
N.C. State — Baker 9-36, R.Wilson 11-35, Eugene 6-6, Spencer 1-2.
Boston College — Harris 27-264, Finch 7-30, Haden 2-7, McCluskey 1-0, Smith 3-0, Team 1-(minus 4), Shinskie 2-(minus 4).

PASSING
N.C. State — R.Wilson 23-40-1-243, Glennon 8-15-1-72.
Boston College — Shinskie 13-25-0-187.

N.C. State — Ja.Williams 7-62, Baker 5-46, Bryan 4-25, Bowens 3-38, Spencer 2-52, Barnes 2-15, T.Gentry 2-14, J.Smith 2-14, Howard 2-11, Davis 1-30, Eugene 1-8.

Boston College — Gunnell 5-42, Pantale 3-21, Anderson 2-42, Larmond 1-59, Jarvis 1-17, Flutie 1-6.