North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack And Tech Tangle In Atlanta
10/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 19, 2001
By Tony Haynes
Georgia Tech is cranky. So is NC State. Perhaps that's good news for the 41,924 fans who will fill historic Bobby Dodd Stadium to watch the Wolfpack and Yellow Jackets get after it on Saturday at 3:30.
Let's put it this way: neither club will be in the mood for exchanging pleasantries when they square off in what could be called the desperation bowl. The desperation stems from disappointing losses both clubs have suffered the last few weeks.
There was a time not too long ago when Georgia Tech (4-2, 1-2 ACC) considered itself a legitimate ACC and national championship contender. Now, following back-to-back overtime losses to Clemson and Maryland, coach George O'Leary's Jackets are just hanging on for dear life.
"We're coming off a very tough loss, our second overtime loss that never should have gotten to overtime," O'Leary said about his team's error-filled 20-17 defeat to Maryland on Thursday, October 11. "I don't think anybody feels worse about those two losses than I do, but the key is that we have six games left. We have the second half of the season to play, and we have to move on and play the way we're supposed to play."
O'Leary could just have easily been quoting someone in the NC State camp, because the visitors from Raleigh will feel the same way this weekend.
"When you've got six games left, that can have a lot to say about what kind of year you can have," said Wolfpack quarterback Philip Rivers. "It can be a positive successful year or it can go the other way. I don't think we'll let it go the other way."
Said NC State defensive end George Anderson: "The bottom line is that we want to win the rest of our games."
The Wolfpack (3-2, 1-2) can take heart in knowing that it will never have to chase Clemson quarterback Woody Dantzler around a football field again. In a stunning performance last week, Dantzler whistled his way through the Pack defense to the tune of 517 total yards. Georgia Tech quarterback George Godsey doesn't have that kind of athletic ability, but he definitely knows how to use his valuable right arm.
"I think he's more of a pinpoint passer so you have to get more pressure on him," Anderson said. "The more pressure we can get on him, the better it will be for the defense."
That's funny, Georgia Tech's defense is probably thinking the same thing about Rivers. And if there is one thing the Jackets have done consistently well this season, it has been to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Led by the bookend tandem of Greg Gathers (eight sacks) and Nick Rogers, Tech leads the ACC in sacks with 24 on the season.
The 6-1, 260 pound Gathers, who has 28 career sacks, needs just one more to become the schools all-time leader.
"In some ways, a quarterback sack is just as important as a touchdown" Gathers said. "The sack is a momentum changer, a play that turns games around every week. It's the most exciting play in football to me."
Rivers probably wouldn't agree with those sentiments. He'd rather have time to set his feet and throw to a receiving corps that has been showing some promise in recent weeks. In scoring 37 points against Clemson last week, the Wolfpack finally got more man coverage looks, which allowed for a few more downfield connections to players like Bryan Peterson and Jerricho Cotchery.
"I think we're getting better," Rivers said. "All that matters is the won-loss record, but I think last week we got a lot better. We made a lot more plays. When you score 37 points, you've got to be doing something right. We'll do whatever they allow us to do and then attack them with what we do best."
Rivers and Godsey have continued to put up good numbers this season. Rivers leads the ACC in passing with an average of 250.8 yards per game. Godsey is throwing for 239 yards per contest, a figure that ranks third.
After spraining a knee in the third quarter of last Saturday's game, All-America linebacker Levar Fisher is being listed as questionable by the NC State training staff. Fisher, who was fitted with a special brace on Thursday, has been practicing on a limited basis. The Pack could be without defensive tackle Terrance Martin for the rest of the season. Martin, a 6-4, 290 pound junior, had his appendix removed earlier in the week.
Last season, Rivers' 23-yard touchdown pass to Koren Robinson in overtime lifted NC State to a rousing 30-23 victory over Tech in Raleigh. The win snapped the Yellow Jackets' five-game winning streak in the series. Georgia Tech has owned the upper hand in Atlanta, winning eight of the last 10. NC State hasn't posted a victory at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field since 1988 (14-6).
