For the fourth time in six years, State will not be playing in a bowl game. From a casual fan’s perspective, there will be seemingly little to gain when the Pack, 1-5 in the ACC, travels to Blacksburg, Va. for Saturday’s game against the No. 16 Virginia Tech Hokies. But according to redshirt senior defensive end Willie Young, the players on the team, especially the seniors, do not see it that way. ”As long as we’re breathing, we have something to play for,” Young said. “We have one another, first and foremost, more than anything else. Anything outside of us, outside the team, it doesn’t matter right now.”Last week, State’s offense struggled for the first time in weeks, with redshirt sophomore quarterback Russell Wilson completing just 12 of 32 passes. Meanwhile, the defense had a hard time stopping the Clemson Tigers’ running back C.J. Spiller, allowing the Heisman candidate to score touchdowns running, throwing and catching the football.  This week might present some of those very same problems. State will see a defense as good as or better than the Clemson defense that forced incompletions on each of Wilson’s first eight pass attempts. The Tech defense comes into Saturday’s game ranked first in the conference in pass defense, third in total defense and second in scoring. Though State has not played Virginia Tech since 2005, coach Tom O’Brien and his team know what to expect from the Hokies, especially from their defense.”Certainly it’s a great program,” O’Brien said. “Frank [Beamer] has been there 22 years. They’ve been in BCS bowl games three of the last five years. They are a school that just reloads. They have a system, especially on defense. Bud Foster has been there a long time. They recruit to the system. [Foster] knows what he wants to do against anything you try to do.” On the other side of the ball, VT redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams leads the ACC in rushing yardage and slowing him down will be another test for a Wolfpack defense that is giving up 30.9 points per game this season. Williams and Spiller are both successful runners, but their styles are very different. ”We’re going to see the same thing out of [Ryan] Williams this week; a really tough back to handle,” O’Brien said. “They’re two different kinds of runners. Williams can come out of piles and he is going to bang it up in there. He’s a more physical-style runner. C.J. [Spiller] is going to fake you out and he’s going to make you miss. Very seldom will he take you on and try to run you over, which is what you see out of Williams — he will run right through you.” Partly due to a slew injuries, many young players had to be thrown into the fire this season. This inexperience has lead the team to struggle in conference play, losing five of six conference games, after a 3-1 start to the season. But junior wide receiver Owen Spencer said the struggles the young players have endured this season will be beneficial for the long term future of those players and also for the future of the team.”[The future of this program] is very bright,” Spencer said. “It’s experience. When you play as a freshman, you learn a lot and you get exposed to the game quicker. Having them playing this year is really good for them and good for our program and it will benefit next year. It will make the older guys work harder because you know your spot can be taken at any time.”