North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack Trying To Get Back In Groove
9/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 17, 2001
By Tony Haynes
By September 21st of last year, NC State had already played four football games. But when the calendar hits September 21st of 2001 this Friday, the Pack will have only one game under its belt.
When they changed this year's football schedule to accommodate ESPN early in the summer, head coach Chuck Amato and athletics director Lee Fowler already knew that the Wolfpack would be getting off to an unusually late start when it hosted Indiana on September 6.
What they couldn't have anticipated was the horrifying terrorist attack last Tuesday that left the entire country in shock. The aftermath of that tragic event forced the postponement of Thursday's scheduled home game against Ohio.
The end result: After waiting all summer to finally play its first game, the Pack will be forced to endure another 16 days between it season opening win over Indiana and this Saturday's contest at SMU.
"There's absolutely nothing we can do about it," Amato said during his weekly press conference on Monday. "We will start today doing our normal routine on Monday evenings."
Last week was anything but routine following the kamikaze hijackings that changed the world forever. After putting his team through a lengthy scrimmage on Wednesday night, Amato ordered a change in the practice routine. Instead of working on offensive execution and scouting reports, the entire team did mostly conditioning drills.
"It was just a way that we could show in some little sense that we were sensitive to the situation taking place in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania," Amato said. "We knew by three o'clock (last Tuesday) that the Thursday game was cancelled. We brought them in and talked about it very briefly. It wouldn't have made a lot of sense for us to go out and bang each other up, and somebody get hurt because our minds weren't into what we were doing. We were watching TV all day just like everybody else. You'd walk by the lounge and see 15 players sitting in front of a TV watching what was going on. It's something that will last the rest of our lives and change how we think and how we do things."
One major change will occur on travel days. No longer will teams be allowed to take a bus through the security gate and on to the tarmac for direct boarding of a charter aircraft. When it travels to Dallas this Friday, the entire team and support staff will be forced to go through a security checkpoint at the terminal. The same scenario will present itself on the trip home after the game.
"As opposed to getting back at two o'clock in the morning, we could get back at five in the morning," Amato said. "We'll learn more on Wednesday when two teams travel to play a Thursday game. Maybe we can learn more on how things went for them in anticipation of what will happen."
On Thursday, Rice will play at Nebraska while Mississippi State squares off against South Carolina.
The expected travel delays and the unexpected time off between games will certainly test NC State when it finally faces off against SMU on Saturday evening at 6:30.
"The wait has been pretty tough for us because at this time last year we had already played four games," said Pack linebacker Dantonio Burnette. "We're just trying to get ready for this week's game and go full speed ahead. Coach was real smart about it last week because he knew it would be real tough for us to focus on football. He gave us off on football stuff and basically gave us conditioning work."
