I used to think I was the curse for certain road game issues, but as it happens, no, Tom O'Brien, it's you, not me. Well, it's nobody's fault, really, strange though it is.

Several of these games could have gone either way--Maryland kicked a late FG in the '08 game, if I remember correctly, and NC State had a late lead in that wild game against FSU during the season of horrifying defense. A last-minute touchdown could have rescued us against Wake in 2009, and then there was the infamous punt game at Clemson. To some extent it was all a string of improbably poor luck. (This being NC State, though, I don't know that "improbable" is the right way to put it.)

Six of those 13 losses came by double-digits, though four of them came near the start of the TOB era, when he was still trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together with a walk-on QB. The '08 loss at Clemson came early in the year and was only Russell Wilson's second-career college game.

So I guess...it's gotten better? But that's not of much value without actual, you know, wins. We are overdue for a breakthrough at this point, but then I think about that Boston College game last year and the task seems far more difficult than it has any right to be. Getting to 2-1 in the ACC and staying sharp ahead of the UNC game would be big for the Pack; let's just hope they realize that.