BY DAVID SHAW
SALISBURY POST

RALEIGH — N.C. State used its “Get Out of Jail” card Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.

The Wolfpack spent much of this classic fall afternoon caught in a Veteran’s daze, allowing winless Duke to march into, around and through its line of defense. Not until quarterback Philip Rivers stretched into the end zone on a last-minute scramble did State prevail, earning its all-important sixth win of the season.

“They came out and showed us something today,” linebacker Levar Fisher said after State (6-3, 3-3 ACC) escaped with a 35-31 victory and became bowl-eligible. “They got at us and really shocked us.”

A crowd of 51,680 watched in amazement as Duke (0-10, 0-7 ACC) racked up 474 yards total offense and built a 28-17 lead early in the third quarter.

“We weren’t hyped or anything,” said wideout Koren Robinson, who made seven receptions for 156 yards and scored two TDs. “That was the problem. We were supposed to beat Duke, supposed to blow them out. But we knew in the second half, if we wanted to do anything the rest of the year, we’d better go get this.”

Rivers, the freshman who keeps making the headlines, led them there. He passed for 413 yards and his 22nd, 23rd and 24th touchdowns of the season, including a 42-yard strike to Robinson that tied the score with 12 seconds remaining in the third period. “It was a little scary,” he said. “We didn’t expect to be in a hole like that.”

They ultimately climbed out, but not before Brent Garber kicked a 38-yard field to put Duke ahead, 31-28, with 8:42 to play.

“We should have taken more time off the clock on that drive,” said Devils’ quarterback D. Bryant, the uzi-armed sophomore who passed for 310 yards and three scores in a breakout performance. “And we really needed a touchdown right there. But we did what we could and left it on the defense.”

State’s game-winning drive began on its own 20 with 3:47 left. Rivers, who completed seven of his last nine passes, steered the Pack into Duke territory with an 8-yard sideliner to Bryan Peterson with 2:23 remaining. Three snaps later he hit Jerricho Cotchery for an 11-yard gain and a first down on the Duke 24.

From the State sideline, first-year coach Chuck Amato sensed he was witnessing something special. “I watched Philip move the team and I thought, ‘There’s a winner.’ He was going to find a way for us to win this football game.”

He did just that with 32 seconds on the clock. On a first-and-goal play from the Duke 7, Rivers dropped back to pass but couldn’t locate an open receiver. “They did a good job in coverage,” he said. “I thought about throwing it away. What did I see? Not much, except a little crack on the left side, and then I just went for it.”

He tucked the ball in and bulldozed a path behind left tackle Jarvis Borum. As he neared the end zone he extended his arms and crash-landed, placing the ball about a foot over the goal line.

“It was supposed to be a scat play to Ray (Robinson) out of the backfield,” said K-Rob, State’s other Robinson. “But it wasn’t there and Phil worked a little magic. He turned nothing into something good.”

Bryant worked some magic of his own in the first half, when he completed a school-record 16 consecutive spirals and fired a pair of TD passes to Kyle Moore and another to Chris Douglas. He also had a 67-yard hookup with tight end Mike Hart, the Devil’s longest play from scrimmage all season. Not bad for a team that hadn’t scored a first-half TD in its first nine games.

“Our offense came out and played real well,” Bryant said after throwing a career-best 23 completions. “That’s something we hadn’t done all year. We thought, in a way, we deserved to win. It came down to missed tackles and breaks. We haven’t gotten the breaks all year. We thought maybe tonight we’d get one.”

Duke coach Carl Franks, whose team stands one loss from running the table in reverse, had a mixed reaction. “We hit some big plays when they blitzed us,” he said. “But we left some out there, too. (State) has been in more close games than we have and they knew how to get the win. We need to figure out how to get over that hump.”

Amato, meanwhile, put up the “Caution Ahead” sign when asked about State’s postseason chances.

“Bowl-eligible means just that,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’ve been invited to a bowl game. We’ve got to keep playing to win. That way we control our own destiny.”