Wolfpack’s Rivers down-home good

Orlando, Fla. ? A country tale starring a country hero ended Monday night with a gang of red-clad admirers clapping hard enough to make their hands raw.

Philip Rivers, looking goofy yet regal, trotted off the field with his old high school rival at his side. A few steps before they reached the sideline, both players raised their arms up and down, inciting more rabid respect.

The good ol’ boy went out in a good ol’ way.

“I hate to imagine this was the last time walking through that tunnel,” Rivers said. “But I couldn’t think of a better way for it to end.”

Quietly, like a possum cavorting on an Alabama road, this thought now enters the mind as Rivers exits: He belongs among the greatest college quarterbacks of all-time, right there with a Detmer, a Testaverde, a Flutie and every other phenomenal talent to grace college football.

He won’t go down as the greatest winner. Surely, N.C. State had bigger dreams than an 8-5 season and Tangerine Bowl appearance this season. The Wolfpack, with the greatest quarterback they’ll ever have, did not get to compete for a national championship. But we shouldn’t blame Rivers for that.

He did everything a legend could do. And he exited memorably, with a 475-yard, five-touchdown game in a 56-26 victory over Kansas University. It was nothing special, really. Just one of many great performances.

“If he’s not the best quarterback in the nation, I really don’t know who is,” said wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, the old rival who came to N.C. State with Rivers and shared four amazing years.

To tell this story, you need an Alabama twang. You need to talk like you have a piece of ham hock crammed into your mouth.