North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State and Minnesota Square Off in MicronPC.com Bowl
12/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Tony Haynes
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.-Perhaps officials with the MicronPC.com Bowl knew exactly what they were doing when they decided to pit NC State and Minnesota against each other. When the Wolfpack and Gophers look in the mirror they see images of, well, each other.
The similarities are almost eerie.
NC State (7-4) averaged 30.9 points per game during the regular season. Minnesota (6-5) averaged 31.4. The Wolfpack defense yielded an average of 29.4 points and 384.1 yards per contest. The Golden Gophers gave up 25.5 and 364.6, respectively.
Nothing ever came easy for either club this year. Case in point: the final week of the regular season. Needing a victory over Wake Forest to secure a seventh win, NC State faced a 14-3 deficit in the second half before exploding for 29 unanswered points to win going away, 32-14.
In its final regular season outing, Minnesota was up against an even more difficult situation. Trailing Iowa 24-12 with 12:28 to play and needing a win to become bowl eligible, the Gophers came back to post a 27-24 victory.
"We almost crashed and burned," said Minnesota head coach Glen Mason. "If we wouldn't have pulled out that game against Iowa, I might have been another one of those coaches that lost their job."
Even the two marquee wide receivers in this game look almost like twins. Standing 6-2 and weighing in at 203 pounds, Wolfpack sophomore Koren Robinson made 62 catches for 1,061 yards and 13 touchdowns. Minnesota wide out Ron Johnson, who goes 6-3, 216, made 59 grabs for 1,067 yards and 11 touchdowns. Heck, the two players were born only two months apart in 1980.
This is almost getting too close for comfort.
"They pretty much look just like our offense," said NC State safety Adrian Wilson in an assessment of Minnesota's offensive attack. "They spread the ball around a lot, they have some real tall receivers and they'll try to sneak a run in there every now and then. They'll go four wide and five wide and throw the ball all over the field."
Formation similarities aside, Minnesota is usually intent on mixing in the running game more frequently than NC State. Tailback Tellis Redmon averaged 4.5 yard per carry in piling up 1,122 yards on the ground this season. A fairly even balance between the running and passing games helped the Gophers average 422.5 total yards per game during the regular season.
"They put a lot of numbers up," said NC State senior linebacker Clayton White. "They've had a few problems in the red zone, but they always get to the red zone and that's what scary. They always put up a lot of yards."
And the Gophers put those numbers up by using a pair of quarterbacks: Freshman Asad Abdul-Khaliq usually shares time with junior college transfer Travis Cole, who passed for 1,780 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2000.
"Everybody talks about balance in running and passing; well, they've got it," Wolfpack head coach Chuck Amato said. "Running out of their top five formations, it's almost 50-50 run or pass. It's absolutely amazing."
Though not as balanced, NC State's offense isn't any less effective. The passing tandem of ACC Rookie of the Year Philip Rivers and Koren Robinson, combined with the unpredictable play-calling of offensive coordinator Norm Chow, made a lot of defensive coaches squirm this season.
The Pack has proven that it is capable of scoring from anywhere on the field, especially against teams that choose to blitz and leave their corners exposed in man-to-man coverage. And Chow's proclivity to throw in a special trick play or two always presents problems for opposing defenses.
"What don't they do on offense?" Mason asked rhetorically. "I'm putting a lot of that stuff into our offense to see how their defense will handle it. I've known of Norm Chow for a long time. I had the opportunity to face him a couple of times when I was an assistant at Ohio State and when I was the head coach at Kansas. He's a good football coach and he always keeps you on your toes. I guess the rule of thumb is to expect the unexpected."
And given the fact that Amato and Chow have had a full month to prepare for this game, anything is possible. But don't expect the cat to come out of the bag until the game starts.
"We didn't put in a lot of new stuff for this game, we just polished what we had," Rivers said. "Coach Chow usually puts in some new things for every game, but this will be our same offense. We worked on fundamentals like route running and picking up blitzes, things you can't always do from week to week because you don't have time."
This will mark NC State's second appearance in the MicronPC.com Bowl in the last three years. On December 29, 1998, the Pack was whipped by Miami, 46-23. NC State's all-time bowl record stands at 9-9.
Minnesota is making its second straight bowl appearance under Mason, who took the Gophers' job in 1997. Minnesota was edged out by Oregon in last year's Sun Bowl, 23-20.
NC State VS. Minnesota-Tale of the Tape
| Wolfpack | Gophers | |
| Record | 7-4 | 6-5 |
| First Downs (per game) | 20.9 | 20.5 |
| Third Down Conv. % | 36.0 | 38.0 |
| Points per Game | 30.9 | 31.4 |
| Points Allowed | 29.4 | 25.5 |
| Total Offense | 407.6 | 422.5 |
| Total Defense | 384.1 | 364.6 |
| Rushing Offense | 99.7 | 187.5 |
| Rushing Defense | 193.7 | 71.3 |
| Passing Offense | 307.9 | 34.9 |
| Passing Defense | 190.4 | 193.4 |
| Turnover Margin | +2 | +2 |
