North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack Hoping For Some Offensive Fireworks
8/23/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
On the surface, NC State offensive coordinator Norm Chow appears to be a soft-spoken, mild mannered type. But behind that easy going exterior resides a mad scientist, a creative genius who rarely stops thinking about formations, blocking schemes, and pass routes.
The offense that Chow has brought to Raleigh is a proven commodity; year in and year out, Brigham Young, under Chow's guidance, consistently produced points and yards in bunches.
Among other things, this is an offense that is tailor made for quarterbacks. Just ask people like Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Ty Detmer, all of whom gained their share of college football notoriety while flourishing in the Chow system.
Now it's Philip Rivers' turn.
"Coach Chow is a fun coach to play for," said the Wolfpack's freshman quarterback. "He has a good personality and he has a good relationship with the players. It's one of those offenses where everyone is getting a lot of touches. It's fun to be a part of."
There are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but most productive offenses--especially those that rely heavily on the forward pass--do a good job of stretching the defense and spreading the ball around. NC State's new offense certainly won't be hitting on all cylinders unless everyone is involved.
"I've been very impressed with the way the first offense has been putting up numbers during the preseason," senior linebacker Clayton White said.
"Sometimes it's hard to see what's going to happen because they have so many options and so many things they can go to on one play. If you're in a certain coverage and they run the right play, someone's going to be open. That's just the way that offense is set up; if you try to double-team one guy, another guy is in a route that's hard to cover."
The old coaching clich "we're going to take what the defense give us" is certainly applicable in this case. Defenses can disguise and create doubt, but they can't put two people on every eligible receiver, especially in this age of three and four receiver formations. Ultimately, it's up to the quarterback to find the most favorable match up and exploit it.
While hopeful that Rivers will be just as successful as that elite group of quarterbacks he's developed in the past, Chow also knows that every player must play to his own strengths and not make the mistake of trying to be like someone else.
"He's (Chow) not one of those coaches who talks about the past a lot," Rivers said. "Once in a while, he'll give me a situation and tell me what's happen with a certain play in the past, but he's not one to drop names."
Instead of dropping names, Chow and Rivers are focused on dropping some bombs on opposing defenses this season.
