North Carolina State University Athletics
Good-bye Florida State, Hello Maryland
11/12/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 12, 2001
By Tony Haynes
Like many NC State fans, Wolfpack football players celebrated well until the early morning hours following Saturday's historic triumph at Florida State. And not only did the win rank as one of the most memorable in school history, it got the Pack squarely back in the hunt for a cushy bowl trip over the Holidays.
Now comes the hard part.
After all the celebrations and euphoria, will it be possible for NC State to put Tallahassee in its rear view mirror and get itself ready for the next game? And that next game, by the way, just happens to be against the nations 10th ranked team. Maryland (9-1, 6-1), which has already clinched a tie for the ACC title, can win the championship outright by beating the Wolfpack at Carter-Finley Stadium this Saturday night. If that doesn't get the Pack's attention, then perhaps nothing will.
"We'll have our last conversation about Florida State [on Monday night] after we go over the honor roll and go over the awards for the game," NC State head coach Chuck Amato said during his weekly press gathering on Monday afternoon. "I'm going to tell my players-and this applies to myself-we will not answer another question about Florida State until the season's over. That game is over. It was a great game to win, it would have been even greater if it would have been the last game of the year because right now I would be in Florida recruiting. We have a team coming in here that's awfully good."
And then Amato added: "We have ways to bring 'em down."
The menu for Monday night's workout was to include the always-strenuous mat drills, which have a way of grabbing everyone's attention.
For this game, however, it may not take a Knute Rockne speech to get NC State focused in on the task at hand. Much will be at stake for both teams this weekend. Along with clinching the ACC championship outright, a win would also land Maryland a spot in the prestigious Orange Bowl.
For NC State, the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando or perhaps even the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida would all figure to be in the mix if the Wolfpack can pick up its seventh victory on Saturday. And on another incentive front, NC State hasn't forgotten how it let a 21-6 lead slip away at Maryland last season. The 35-28 overtime loss to the Terps was probably the Pack's most disappointing defeat of 2000.
"Being up 21-6 at halftime we really felt like we had the game under control," said NC State running back Ray Robinson, who recorded his third straight 100-plus yard rushing game on Saturday. "Coming out in the second half, things weren't going our way, we were making mistakes that we didn't make in the first half. It was a really disappointing loss. We'll try to make sure that doesn't happen this year."
Maryland's turnaround under first-year coach Ralph Friedgen has been nothing short of amazing. After going 5-6 last season, no one expected the Terps to even contend for an upper-echelon finish in the conference. Now, they stand one win away from a 10-1 season and a BCS Bowl bid.
"That just shows the character of their team," said Wolfpack linebacker Levar Fisher. "They believe in their coach just like we did last year with coach Amato. Those guys are capitalizing on everything. He must be a great coach, he must have said a lot of things to those guys to get them to believe what they're believing. I know that they feel like they're unbeatable right now. They're going to be ready and we're going to do everything in our power to get prepared this week."
Injury update: NC State sustained no new injuries in Tallahassee. Senior cornerback Brian Williams, who was limited by a hip injury last Saturday, is listed as probable for this week's game. Defensive end Shawn Price (ankle) is also probable.
