NC State football countdown to kickoff: 38
The NC State football season opener for 2022 is at East Carolina on Sept. 3 — or 38 days away from Monday. The Wolfpacker continues its countdown for the season with a note about the number 38.
38: Significant moments involving the number 38 in NC State football history
• One of the best players to wear No. 38 for NC State football was former linebacker Frank Bush. From 1981-84, Bush was a three-year starter who had 15 career sacks, which is 13th most ever for the Wolfpack.
Bush had eight sacks in 1983, which at the time tied a NC State record for a single season and stood until 1990 when Mike Jones had 10.
Following NC State, Bush was talented enough to start 14 of 19 games he played in the NFL after being drafted in the fifth round by the then-Houston Oilers before a spinal condition was revealed that forced him to retire.
Bush went into coaching after that. He has coached every year in the NFL since 1993 and is currently the linebackers coach of the Atlanta Falcons, where he was hired in 2021. The Falcons became the ninth different franchise that Bush has coached.
In 2009-10, Bush was the defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans.
• During their legendary NC State football careers, the personal bests for completions in a game by both Philip Rivers and Russell Wilson was 38.
Rivers was 38-of-49 passing for 433 yards in a loss at Wake Forest in 2003. Meanwhile, Wilson completed 38 of 51 attempts for 328 yards in a home win over Boston College in 2010. Those two games are tied for the second most completions by a NC State quarterback in a single game, trailing only Ryan Finley’s 45 in a season-opening loss to South Carolina in Charlotte in 2017.
• Until David Amerson came along, the king of interceptions for NC State football was Art Rooney. In 1938, Rooney picked off three passes against Wake Forest, the second time that he had done that in his career. A year before, Rooney had three interceptions against Virginia Tech.
Rooney also had eight picks in 1938, the same he had the year before. Those two seasons stood as a NC State record until Amerson had 13 interceptions during his All-American 2011 season.
Rooney’s 16 career picks are still tied for second most in NC State history. He is also perhaps more famous for being the first cousin of the Pittsburgh Steelers founder and team owner by the same name.
That 1938 team led by Rooney had a stellar defense. In eight of NC State’s 11 games, the opponent had just seven points or less. The problem was the offense went through a six-game stretch where the Pack scored a grand total of seven points, hence why NC State finished that season with a 3-7-1 record.
