North Carolina State University Athletics
Behind the Scenes With Tony Haynes: Gator Bowl Gossip
12/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 23, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-Whether or not the Gator Bowl game against Notre Dame on New Year's Day will be the biggest football game NC State has played in its history is probably debatable, but there is no denying the fact that the Wolfpack program will get more exposure nationally than it's ever received for one game.
In fact, officials with NBC Sports project that the Gator Bowl could potentially be the second most watched bowl game over the holidays, ranking behind only the national championship match-up between Ohio State and Miami in the Fiesta Bowl (8 p.m. on Jan. 3).
Notre Dame's drawing power is, of course, unmatched in college football. The novelty of this rather uncommon match-up could also be appealing to fans around the country, who may very well be intrigued by a game between two teams that ever never met before. To be sure, there will be plenty of competition in the Gator Bowl's 12:30 time slot. The Outback (Michigan vs. Florida) and Cotton (Texas vs. LSU) Bowls, which begin at 11 a.m., will already be in progress. Another game, The Capital One Bowl pitting Penn State against Auburn, kicks off at 1:00 p.m.
Still, with more than 73,000 spectators filling Alltel Stadium and millions more watching on a national television network, it's fairly safe to predict that this will be the most-watched NC State football game in history.
Unsportsmanlike?Irish coach Tyrone Willingham's implication that one of NC State's substitution strategies could be perceived as "unsportsmanlike" is somewhat surprising, especially in light of the fact that the Wolfpack coaches always double-check to make sure anything unusual they may employ is within the rules. It was fairly common for the Pack to make as many as four substitutions after breaking the huddle in certain situations this season. Usually, the move would involve replacing tight ends with wide receivers (or the other way around), and at no time would there be more than 11 players in the huddle, which, of course, would be illegal. Like most staffs, the NC State coaches confer with officials prior to games about any unusual plays, formations or substitutions that could occur. Against Wake Forest on September 14th, the Pack was called for an illegal substitution when it made personnel changes after breaking the huddle. But after having time to review the play, that same referee held on to his flag when NC State utilized the exact same substitution later in the year.
She's Back:Back by popular demand, Annabelle's Bowl Diary returns when Annabelle Vaughan (NC State's Assistant AD for media relations) starts filing her Gopack.com reports from Jacksonville on December 26th. As usual, Annabelle will provide an insider's look at what the players and coaches are up to as they prepare for the Gator Bowl. It's our guess that Notre Dame's coaches do have the ability to access the Internet, therefore the diary will not include in-depth information on the game plan, nor will it feature explicit practice details. The reports will, however, provide a behind the scenes account of the team's activities during its stay in north Florida.
Willingham's North Carolina Roots:Born in Kinston on Dec. 30 1953, Willingham graduated from Jacksonville (N.C) High School. After spending three years at his alma-matter, Michigan State, as an assistant coach, Willingham returned to North Carolina to join Tom Reed's NC State staff from 1983-85. It was a lean era for Wolfpack football, which endured three consecutive 3-8 campaigns.
"They were really challenging years, walking in, trying to get the program back to being one of the top programs in the ACC," Willingham recalled. "One of the biggest challenges we found was trying to get the foundation back to where it should be, trying to establish not only the on field presence that we felt was necessary, but also the off field presence of trying to get the program on a real stable ground so our young men were graduating and doing all the things we felt were important, along with winning."
After Reed was replaced by Dick Sheridan, Willingham went on to spend a few years at Rice before being hired by Denny Green at Stanford.
