North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Seeks Fifth Straight Win Over Terps
11/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Tony Haynes
Last season, NC State needed to win one of its last two games to get a victory that would have qualified the Pack for a bowl game. It didn't happen. This year, the Wolfpack (5-2, 2-2) has four chances to get that one win that was so elusive in 1999.Maryland (4-4, 2-3), a team that also has designs on post-season play, is next up on the schedule. Not only would a win at College Park make NC State bowl eligible, it could also set the stage for a strong finish, which could lead to bigger and better things for coach Chuck Amato's Wolfpack.
"If we just do business every week for four more weeks, we can have a season we sure didn't anticipate having," Amato said.
And in fact, no one would have anticipated the type of season Amato is talking about. With home games against winless Duke and Wake Forest remaining on the schedule, the Pack would have a realistic chance of going either 8-3 or even 9-2 if--and that's a big if-- it were to win this week.
"It's a critical game," said NC State quarterback Philip Rivers. "We've just won five games so we have a long way to go as far as bowl hopes and all that goes. We've got four big ACC games coming up. It's definitely important and we'll find out how we're going to bounce back from that one last week."
That one last week, a 58-14 shellacking at the hands of Florida State, would be a good one to forget. It was, in fact, the only time all season that the Wolfpack has been outmanned and outclassed on the field.
For his part, Rivers had the worst game of his young career, going 19-of-40 for 150 yards and three interceptions. But then again, he's never encountered a defense anywhere close to as good as Florida State's. Maryland should be a little more forgiving this week. The Terrapins are yielding 451 yards per game, a figure that ranks them eighth in the ACC in total defense.
Still, Maryland seems to be playing its best football of the season. Not surprisingly, the surge comes at a time when star tailback LaMont Jordan is just beginning to rev up his powerful engines. In Back to back Terps' wins over Wake Forest and Duke, Jordan rushed for 244 yards and three touchdowns. With his 158-yard outburst against the Blue Devils last week, Jordan moved into seventh place on the ACC's career rushing list with 3,920 yards. The 5-11, 220 pound senior is just 80 yards shy of becoming only the 4th player in league history to rush for 4,000 career yards.
"He always seems to break a big run," Amato said. "He broke a long run against Florida State this year and two against them on options last year. He's a load. He's big and strong and he breaks a lot of tackles. He seems to get better as the weather gets cooler. I hope it's 85 degrees on Saturday."
Historically, Jordan has been at his best late in the season. Last year, he averaged 183.5 yards over his last five games and finished up with a 306-yard explosion against Virginia. Ironically, the only team Jordan didn't run over the last half of the season was NC State. In its 30-17 victory over the Terps at Carter-Finley Stadium, the Pack held Jordan to 75 yards on 20 carries.
As it turned out, the rushing star in last year's game was NC State's Ray Robinson, who amassed 153 yards on 30 carries. In its current four-game winning streak over the Terps, the Wolfpack has out-gained Maryland by nearly 200 yards per game (464 to 266).
With a possible top three finish in the conference hanging in the balance, the Pack can take solace in knowing that it's about to face four opponents it has experienced a lot of success against over the last nine years. Since 1991, NC State is a combined 27-9 against Maryland, Duke, Virginia and Wake Forest.
Of course, those numbers won't mean a thing if the Pack doesn't play well this week.
