North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Begins 110th Season of Football Against New Mexico
8/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 23, 2002
Gameday Central
Wolfpack Radio Network
Carter-Finley Stadium Security Measures
Gary Hahn's Scouting Report
Lobos and UFOs Don't Mix
Wolfpack Fan Zone
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh-Moments after his team concluded spring drills back on April 13, Chuck Amato spoke to his players, warning them that the August 24th opener versus New Mexico in the Black Coaches Association Bowl would be here before they knew it.
He was right.
In the earliest opener in school history, the Wolfpack will kick off the longest season in school history. If, as it hopes, it qualifies for a bowl game, the Pack will play a whopping total of 14 games this season.
"We were in two-a-days for a long time; it's as long a two-a-days as I've been involved with in a long time," said head coach Chuck Amato, who is beginning his third season at NC State. "Hearing our assistant coaches talk and they're talking to their buddies at other schools. Their buddies will say, 'we're just getting ready to put our pads on for the first time today or tomorrow.' Thank goodness the weather cooperated with us as far as the rain was concerned until the very end. But the biggest thing was the heat: the first two days we practiced it was really, really bad."
Speaking of the heat, Saturday's forecast was exactly what Amato was looking for: partly cloudy skies with temperatures expected to be in the low 90s by kick off time. While the Pack is certainly conditioned to play in heat accompanied by typical Raleigh humidity, New Mexico may not be.
"It's hot here, but it's not the same type of humidity that you have back there," Lobos coach Rocky Long said from his office in Albuquerque. "Players that are used to that obviously have an advantage. We're going to play a lot of kids. We're going to play a lot of kids on offense and we're going to play a lot of kids on defense in order to try to keep them fresh so that they can play the whole game."
After getting off to a 1-3 start last year, New Mexico rebounded to win five of its last seven games to finish up at 6-5. Despite last year's impressive run at the end, the Lobos have been picked to finish sixth in the four-year old Mountain West Conference this season.
"New Mexico has a good football team," Amato said. "You look at their last seven games and look at our last seven games and the record is the same, it's 5-2. Our players watched a lot of New Mexico film on their own this summer and it caught their attention. They see people coming up and knocking heads with good teams and beating them. This will be interesting."
The match-up between the NC State offense and New Mexico's swarming defense will certainly be interesting. Allowing just 87.4 yards per game last season, the Lobos were ranked fifth in the nation in rushing defense. By putting a lot of people on the line of scrimmage, the gambling Lobos can force a lot of unseemly looking offensive plays. Of course, that style also makes New Mexico more vulnerable to big plays in the passing game.
"Their defense is crazy," Wolfpack wide receiver Bryan Peterson said. "They have people lined up everywhere. They bring safeties, they bring everybody. They're the type of team that you have to throw the ball on. We've got the receivers and we've got Philip, so we think we can throw the ball on them."
If he stays healthy, junior quarterback Philip Rivers is well on his way to becoming the most prolific quarterback in NC State history. With two more years of eligibility remaining, the Athens, Alabama product is already third on the Wolfpack's career passing list.
Said Long: "We've got some good quarterbacks in our league, but no one that matches his stature."
Long, in fact, may have one of the best signal callers in the Mountain West Conference. After taking over in the fourth game last season, former walk-on Casey Kelly went 5-2 as a starter. And while New Mexico would prefer to establish the running game before going up top, the Lobos aren't the least bit hesitant to cut loose in the passing game.
"They want to run the ball at you and the running game is very simple. I hate to say this but it's a lot like Minnesota's was (referring to the 2000 Micron-PC.com Bowl), and we know what a good job we did defensively against them," Amato said with tongue planted firmly in cheek. "They will also go deep. They'll get you sneaking up and go play-action. They'll go downtown maybe 10 or 12 times every game. Hold on to your hats."
Both teams will be looking to replace key players on defense this season. New Mexico lost four of its top seven tacklers from last year's squad, including an outstanding cornerback in Stephen Persley. The Wolfpack must fill the void left by steady cornerback Brian Williams and All-ACC linebacker Levar Fisher. Although the Pack is somewhat inexperienced at the outside linebacker positions, senior middle linebacker Dantonio Burnette is excited about some of the young players who will be flanking him this season.
"They're very similar in the way that they play and they bring a lot to the table," Burnette said. "They have a lot of speed and they really want to get to the ball and make plays. I like to go to war with guys like that."
Avery Gibson and Pat Thomas, a pair of sophomores, have earned starts after performing well at the outside linebacker spots in the preseason.
When the NC State offense has the ball on Saturday, all eyes will be on Greg Golden, a former cornerback who will get his first start at tailback. Sophomore Josh Brown and highly touted freshman T.A. McLendon could also see some action in the backfield.
NC State's all-time record in season openers is 78-27-4. Under Amato, the Wolfpack is 2-0 in first games. This will be the first meeting between the two schools and, in fact, the first time New Mexico has faced a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
A percentage of the proceeds from this game will benefit the Black Coaches Association, which provides scholarships to deserving African Americans who wish to pursue a career in coaching or sports administration.
