JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The question caught North Carolina State tight end Sean Berton off guard. Here he was in the middle of battle and the competition wanted to chitchat like they were old buddies sharing a latte at Starbucks.

Still, the query was understandable. The NC State offense had used multiple formations, disguises and trick plays to completely fluster the Notre Dame defense. And one of those defenders couldn't keep his curiosity to himself.

"He comes up to me after a wide receiver pass and says, 'Geez, how big is you playbook?'" Berton said. "And I'm like, 'Playbook? That's playbooks, buddy. It doesn't all fit in one.'"

It was no wonder the Notre Dame football team left Alltel Stadium Wednesday night puzzled at what had just transpired. They were wobbly. Confused. And on top of everything else, sore.

"They had no idea what we were throwing at them," Berton said. "It was total confusion. And then on top of that, we beat them up pretty good."

Did they ever.

As if trying to figure out who had the ball and where it was going wasn't a big enough challenge, the Wolfpack endlessly smacked Notre Dame in the mouth.

No play was bigger than a failed option attempt on second and goal from the one in which NC State linebacker Dantonio Burnette bodyslammed Notre Dame quarterback Carlyle Holiday into the ground. The play not only prevented a touchdown, but also injured the fragile signal caller's shoulder, sending him to the sideline for the rest of the game.

"I saw that hole open and just started licking my chops. My eyes got real big," Burnette said. "I knew I was going to knock him. I heard him groan and when I looked down, he wasn't getting up. I knew that was it."

Holiday wasn't alone. Tight end Gary Godsey's afternoon also ended early after a vicious Wolfpack hit. After the game, the scene outside the Notre Dame locker room looked like an infirmary. There was Holiday, his left arm in a sling. A few steps away, Godsey hobbled by on a set of crutches. Other lesser-known players limped and moaned their way down the concrete hallway.

It was NC State's game plan from the beginning.

"We knew they felt they could push us around and bully us," NC State free safety Terrence Holt said. "So we had to show them we weren't going to take that. That we were going to bring the game to them."

In its first-ever game against Notre Dame, NC State was unimpressed. The marched into Jacksonville, talked trash from kickoff to the final gun and backed it up. How else can you explain two testosterone-laced goal line stands, one in the first quarter and one in the fourth, which kept the Irish out of the endzone?

Even when Notre Dame gained yardage, whether it was Arnaz Battle on a wide receiver screen or Ryan Grant running off tackle, downfield progression was often halted in bone-jarring fashion.

Everyone swarmed to the football. Cornerbacks. Safeties. Linebackers. Everyone.

"That's what we pride ourselves on," Burnette said. "If you do manage to catch the ball, you're going to pay the price for it."

As if the physical pounding the Wolfpack offered wasn't enough, there was the mental thumping. NC State coach Chuck Amato is known for in-game trickery. Some Irish players chirped this week that the frenzied formations and endless motions are illegal. But the bag of doozies Amato pulled out in the first half would have made David Blaine proud.

Three wide receiver passes. A direct snap to the running back. A double reverse that resulted in quarterback Philip Rivers becoming the intended receiver for a downfield pass. And best of all, a play called "Rooster," in which nobody was quite sure who had the ball.

On the play, Rivers took the snap from center and standing behind T.A. McLendon, gave the running back the ball under his backside between his knees. Rivers then carried out the fake, rolling to his right as if the play was an option. McLendon, hiding the ball on his side, paused for a moment, then pinballed his way off two defenders into the endzone.

What essentially was a hand-off to the left side was camouflaged with the fanciest of smoke and mirrors.

The Notre Dame defense didn't now what hit it.

"They disguise the same play in different formations, different sets and it forces you to adjust," Irish coach Tyrone Willingham said. "We took awhile to get adjusted."

Amato's offense was controlled madness. Receivers threw passes. Quarterbacks caught them. Four receivers line up staggered to the left. Four receivers line up single file to the right. Everyone in motion. Nobody in motion. A hand-off to the tight end.

Nobody in the stadium -- except for the Wolfpack -- knew what was going on. And just when the Irish inched closer to figuring it out, somebody was there to steamroll them.

Imagine being on the Notre Dame sideline. You get pounded, pounded again, then tricked. Pounded, pounded, tricked.

This was supposed to be the day Notre Dame gargled away the bitter taste from a 44-13 whipping at the hands of USC. Instead, the Irish lost their sixth straight bowl game and an even raunchier stench will permeate the offseason.

Dominated physically. Dominated mentally.

"I can't think of a much better way to go out," said Holt, a senior. "Beating a school like Notre Dame, on national television and just dominating. I couldn't have written it any better."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn3.com.