| 17th ranked USC entered a road trip to Raleigh at 7-1 but reeling from an article in Sports Illustrated alleging widespread steroid use within the football program and a blistering 34-0 loss at Georgia Tech. Carolina would take their frustrations out on the 6-1 N.C. State Wolfpack as a fired up defense held State to 27 yards rushing on 24 attempts and sophomore linebacker Patrick Hinton came up with four turnovers on his own (3 interceptions and a fumble recovery). Things got off to a shaky start as USC was forced to punt on their first possession and State drove into the USC red zone. Hinton then struck for the first time, picking off a Shane Montgomery pass at the Gamecock 17 and taking it 83 yards for a touchdown. The two teams traded punts and turnovers the rest of the half (including another Hinton interception). Midway through the third a 43-yard pass from Todd Ellis to Robert Brooks set up a 44-yard field goal from Collin Mackie to expand the lead to 10-0. Mackie would add a 24-yarder late in the third, but State hit on a 50-yard pass from Montgomery to Danny Peebles on the last play of the third and Montgomery would score on a one yard run to cut the lead to 13-7. Carolina then mounted their best offensive drive of the day as Harold Green and Mike Dingle picked up 29 yards on the ground and Ellis hit Trent Simpson for four and Green for 22, setting up a 20-yard touchdown strike from Ellis to Eddie Miller with just under nine minutes left. Hinton plucked a State fumble out of the air on the next possession, setting up another field goal from Mackie and a 23-7 lead. The last drive for the Wolfpack then ended as you would expect on this day, as Hinton picked off Montgomery one more time, returning it 24 yards into State territory. The win set up a matchup on national TV the next week against #6 Florida State. The win was Joe Morrison's 100th coaching win and after the game he summed it up saying 'They've been through a rough two weeks. And they responded beautifully. We played the whole ballgame with a great deal of heart.'
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