NC State fans know all too well the feeling that set in roughly 13 seconds into Saturday night’s game against Mississippi State in Starkville.

The Wolfpack entered the game as a popular favorite against a seemingly equivalent SEC opponent.

But when Bulldogs skill player Lideatrick Griffin returned Trenton Gill’s opening kickoff 100-yards from endzone to endzone, the sideline appeared to share the same feeling of the Pack faithful.

Oh no, here we go again.

It’s not that NC State didn’t fight back. The Wolfpack had two great scoring opportunities in the first quarter to tie the game and settle down the deafening cowbells from the Mississippi State fan base.

But the Pack’s counter punches never landed. And now a team with high hopes exiting an impressive week one 45-0 route of USF is forced to go back to the drawing board following a 24-10 defeat at the hands of a team picked to finish last in the SEC West Division.

For the opening 15 minutes, NC State was undoubtedly the better team.

The Wolfpack outgained Mississippi State 114 yards to 5 in the first quarter, and 335-316 through the entire game.

In the first quarter alone, the Pack started two drives inside of Bulldogs territory due to two errant kicks by the MSU punter. On one of them, NC State got down to the Bulldogs' 2-yard line.

But neither resulted in points for the Wolfpack.

When the Pack knocked on the door of the end zone, it had a second and goal situation from the 2-yard line.

The next two plays: a screen pass to redshirt junior receiver Thayer Thomas that lost three yards, and a designed trick play for junior running back Ricky Person Jr. to throw a jump pass that was immediately recognized by the Bulldogs' defense and resulted in an interception.

The second first-quarter drive that NC State began inside of MSU territory resulted in a missed 48-yard field goal attempt from junior placekicker Christopher Dunn that sailed just left of the goal post.

The Wolfpack also lost the turnover battle 3-0.

The first was Person’s interception. The last was a last-second heave by redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary on a 4th-and-deep after the Pack recovered a late-game onside kick down 24-10.

The second was yet another missed opportunity by the Wolfpack and could be considered the nail in the coffin in this matchup.

NC State received possession to begin the second half down 14-3 and desperately needed points to get back in the game. An 11-yard run by sophomore running back Zonovan “Bam” Knight on the first drive of the second half would have put the Pack inside of Mississippi State territory, but Knight fumbled as he went down and the Bulldogs were able to recover.

Seven plays later, MSU quarterback Will Rogers threw his second touchdown pass of the evening to make it 21-3 Bulldogs.

From there, NC State abandoned the run and took to the air in an attempt to quickly shrink the three-possession gap. But Mississippi State’s pass rush proved to be too much for the Wolfpack offensive line, which allowed four sacks for a combined loss of 31 yards.

Coming off of a combined performance of 268 rushing yards on 32 attempts, the Pack running back duo of Person and Knight netted just 50 yards on the ground on 16 carries. And of course, an interception and a fumble.

NC State’s secondary wasn’t shy in claiming responsibility for how this game would go in the week leading up to the road trip to Starkville.

In a world where the Pack offense could have found the end zone prior to the final minute of the game, they may have been right.

And for the most part, the Wolfpack defense delivered a performance that more times than not would have been a winning one.

Throw out the opening kickoff return for a touchdown, and Mississippi State’s high-powered offense under head coach and air-raid guru Mike Leach was held to just 17 points.

More times than not, NC State was able to keep the Bulldogs offense off of the field. MSU converted just 3 of its 13 third-down attempts. Only one problem with that. Mississippi State’s defense did an even better job of keeping the Pack’s offense off of the field.

The Wolfpack converted 6 of its 20 third-down attempts and 1 of 3 attempts on fourth down. The Bulldogs were able to control the time of possession 31:06-28:54.

If there’s a side of the ball that should feel confident after Saturday night’s loss, it’s the defense.

But even that unit has reason for concern heading back to Raleigh from Starkville.

Mid-way through the second quarter, the Pack lost the heartbeat of its defense in redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson.

Wilson, who finished the night with three tackles including one for loss, came out of the game with an apparent shoulder injury when it was still a 7-3 contest in the second quarter and never returned.

It appeared to be the same shoulder he injured towards the end of last season and later had surgery on in the offseason.

Wilson’s status moving forward to the Wolfpack’s next contest against Furman on Saturday, Sept. 18 is still to be determined. After Furman, the Pack will open its ACC schedule by hosting Clemson on Sept. 25.

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