North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Looks To Get Back On Track Against Virginia
10/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 26, 2001
By Tony Haynes
After experiencing the highs of a fairy tale football season in which everything always seemed to go right, NC State is now finding out what life is like on the other side of the tracks. The balls that bounced the right way last year are going in another direction this season. The penalties that never wiped out big plays in 2000 always seem to come at the worst possible time in 2001. And the euphoric celebrations that ensue in the aftermath of close, dramatic victories always seem to be taking place on the other bench.
It's been said that what goes around comes around. NC State couldn't agree more.
Now 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the ACC, the Wolfpack will be staring postseason extinction squarely in the eye on Saturday when it hosts Virginia (3-4, 2-3) at Carter-Finley Stadium. A loss would make it very difficult to achieve the successful season everyone at NC State had hoped for. A win, however, could get the Pack on the road to recovery.
"This is a big game for us," said NC State offensive tackle Scott Kooistra. "If we get this win right here, we could go on a roll that could turn into a whole new season for us. I'm not saying that if we lose we'll be going in the tank because we're not that type of team. But I would say that this is the biggest game we've played so far coming off a two-game losing streak."
Back-to-back losses to Clemson and Georgia Tech weren't totally unexpected given the fact that NC State was listed as an underdog in both games, but the end result is that the Pack has little margin for error in its quest to qualify for a second straight bowl trip.
Needless to say, there'll be plenty to play for when the ball is kicked off shortly after 1:30 p.m.
"Personally, I've never beaten Virginia so the seniors that came into my class have never beaten them," said senior linebacker Brian Jamison. "We've lost to them the last three years in close games."
Indeed the Cavaliers have won the last three in a row and five of the last six in the series.
The brain trust on the UVA sideline is different this year. George Welsh, the man who took Virginia football to new heights, called it quits following last season. He was replaced by Al Groh, an alumnus who returned to the ACC with a most impressive coaching resume'. After serving as Bill Parcells' right hand man for a number of years, Groh was named head coach of the NFL's New York Jets last season. But after just one year on the job, he spurned the Big Apple for a chance to return to Charlottesville.
Under Parcells, Groh learned that successful teams do two things: run the football on offense and stop the run on defense. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers don't possess the tools to do either very well this season. Virginia's running game went south in a hurry when star tailback Antwoine Womack went down with an ankle injury in the season opener against Wisconsin. Womack, who led the league in rushing last season, is reportedly close to coming back. Without him, the Cavaliers are next to last in the ACC in rushing offense (103.4 ypg.).
Stopping the run on defense has proven to be an even more difficult challenge for Virginia, which has allowed its opponents to run for an average of 215 yards per contest.
"It doesn't make me very happy," Groh said. "Whether I understand the reasons why, I certainly didn't expect to be 15th in rush defense coming into the year because I kind of knew what our circumstances were. But that doesn't make me any happier with it."
In the latest NCAA statistics, Virginia is ranked 105th against the run. The question is whether UVA will be able to improve those numbers against an NC State team that's dead last in the ACC in rushing offense (74.3 yards per game). In an attempt to cut down long pass plays, most of the Wolfpack's opponents this year have committed more people to pass coverage. Some have even gone so far as to rush three and drop eight. With their base 3-4 alignment, it wouldn't be surprising if the Cavaliers employ a similar 'heavy coverage' strategy. If that happens, the Pack will have no choice but to prove it can run the football.
"They're big up front but if we get a hat on them we can block them," Kooistra said. "We expect to see some 3-4 just because that's their base defense. We struggled with three [down linemen] against Wake Forest a little bit. But we've been practicing against three down and four down all week so we'll be ready for them."
The way Groh sees it, this could turn out to be one of the more entertaining games of the college football weekend.
"This is a pretty good match-up," Groh said. "As we look at the teams records and how they want to make a move in the second half, the syles of play, what they're good at and what they're not so good at, they parallel each other quite a bit. This may not be Oklahoma-Nebraska, but in terms of the closeness of the competition, it might be just as good."
NC State owns the all-time series lead with Virginia by a 35-20-1 margin.
Saturday's game will not be televised. Airtime on the Wolfpack Radio Network is 12:45. Prior to the football game, the NC State men's basketball team will hold a scrimmage at the Entertainment and Sports Arena at 11 a.m.
