.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Mike Glennon threw a touchdown pass to help North Carolina State beat North Carolina 13-0 on Saturday, earning its fifth straight win against its nearby rival.
James Washington ran for 110 yards for N.C. State (5-4, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), which again saved its best for the Tar Heels in a surprisingly one-sided - and often ugly - contest. The Wolfpack ranked in the bottom half of the league's defensive statistics, but overwhelmed the Tar Heels (6-4, 2-4) and shut down freshman runner Giovani Bernard. N.C. State also knocked starting quarterback Bryn Renner from the game by the end of the third quarter.
It was N.C. State's first shutout in the series in more than five decades.
With that type of defense, Glennon and the offense didn't need a big day. Glennon threw an interception on the first drive, but N.C. State protected the ball the rest of the day.
The win marked the first time the Wolfpack had taken five straight meetings with the Tar Heels since 1988-92. And it once again proved that coach Tom O'Brien - still unbeaten against UNC - knows how to win the most important game to the Wolfpack's fan base.
The rivalry got a little extra spice late in the week when O'Brien and North Carolina interim coach Everett Withers traded verbal jabs about graduation rates and the lingering NCAA investigation of the UNC program. But O'Brien got the last word with this one, as N.C. State celebrated its first shutout of UNC since 1960, its first shutout of an ACC opponent in a decade and the first in five seasons under O'Brien.
Glennon completed 16 of 33 passes for 164 yards, including the 12-yard scoring strike to T.J. Graham in the back of the end zone to cap N.C. State's second drive. Niklas Sade added two short field goals that helped the Wolfpack play with a lead all day in front of its red-clad home crowd.
The Wolfpack didn't manage many big plays against a North Carolina defense that played solidly enough to keep the Tar Heels in it, holding N.C. State to 290 total yards. The problem was that defense got absolutely no help from an offense that came in averaging 31 points per game, sending the Tar Heels to their first shutout loss since 2006.
N.C. State had allowed three of four ACC opponents to rack up at least 400 yards, but the Tar Heels managed minus-7 yards through the first quarter, 32 through the first half and didn't even crack the 100-yard mark until the final period. While Bernard did become the first Tar Heel in 14 years to run for more than 1,000 yards in a season, he managed just 47 yards on 18 carries. Meanwhile, Renner threw for 76 yards on 9-for-17 passing with two interceptions before leaving the game with concussion-like symptoms late in the third.
North Carolina's offense finished with 165 total yards in a woeful showing. The closest thing the Tar Heels had to a highlight came when Renner found Dwight Jones with a midrange pass that Jones turned into a 75-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, but a holding call wiped out the score. In addition, Renner took a hard hit on the throw and got up gingerly. He never looked right the rest of the game, even leaving briefly late in the first half and going to the locker room while Braden Hanson stepped under center.
Hanson took over late in the third and threw for 86 yards with an interception, but he didn't get the Tar Heels any closer to a score than Renner did.
N.C. State held the Tar Heels to 3 yards rushing and finished with four sacks.
