North Carolina State University Athletics
'Dog Days' are Catching Up with Pack
11/1/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
The month of November is to football what August is to baseball, and unfortunately for NC State, the dog days have arrived right on time.
"We're kind of a tired team right now," NC State head football coach Mike O'Cain said during his weekly press conference on Monday. "Every game of ours is emotional and you put a lot into it. We're going to take a different approach this week. We're going to have virtually no contact whatsoever. Hopefully, it will be refreshing mentally as well as physically.
The advantage that we have is that we do run well, but we don't run well when we're tired. When you're getting into the 10th game of the season it begins to wear on you, so we're going to back off a little bit and take a different approach this week."
One of those banged up players is senior offensive tackle Todd Boyle, who came away from Saturday's 48-21 loss to Georgia Tech with a turf toe injury.
"It's more of nagging injury than anything," Boyle said. "In my position, I don't have to cut as much as some of the wide receivers and running backs so you can play with something like this. It's going to be sore for awhile, but I don't think it will really affect me."
It's highly doubtful that a sore toe will prevent Boyle from taking the field for his final home game at Carter-Finley Stadium. Plus, playing hurt is just a part of football-especially in November.
"I think coach O'Cain has done a good job of cutting back practice the last couple of weeks," said Boyle. "They've reserved a lot of the hitting for the second string guys, who haven't been getting that much game experience. I think any year, especially this year, you just try to hold people together and try to get through the season. I think we've had enough injuries to last two seasons."
Everyone, except for those players who have already been declared out for the season, should be available for this Saturday's big home game against Maryland.
"Derek Roberts (fullback) suffered a hip pointer in the first half of the Georgia Tech game and didn't play in the second half," O'Cain said. "Right now, it's probable that he will play, although he will probably get very little practice work this week."
If Roberts is limited on Saturday, true Freshman Cotra Jackson, who hauled in a fourth quarter touchdown pass Saturday in Atlanta, will take over at fullback.
