North Carolina State University Athletics
Buccaneers and Pack Square off at Carter-Finley
8/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 30, 2002
Gary Hahn's Scouting Report
Wolfpack Offensive Line Coming Together
Rivers' Unmistakable Artistry
Carter-Finley Stadium Information
Wolfpack Radio Network Stations
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-Over the years, schools from the Division 1-AA Southern Conference have never shied away from expressing their desire to schedule games against schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The bottom line is money. For Southern Conference teams, road games against ACC teams, or any games versus Division one opponents for that matter, deliver big fat checks to athletic departments that often struggle to balance their budgets.
But it's highly doubtful that any of East Tennessee State's football players will be thinking about athletic department coffers when they meet 24th ranked NC State (1-0) on Saturday night. More than likely, they'll be thinking about winning a game that no one gives them a chance to win. The Wolfpack, of course, will want to make sure that ETSU gets its money, but nothing else.
"Certainly they're a 1-AA team and we should win the game," said NC State quarterback Philip Rivers. "But we can't take them lightly; they've got a lot of starters back and they've got athletes just like we do. We've got to approach the game mentally prepared and take care of business. We can't let it be like Arkansas State and go out there and slop around. We're looking at staying focused and getting after it from the start."
Neither Rivers nor his older teammates have forgotten about Arkansas State. On a rainy night two years ago, the Wolfpack nearly turned Chuck Amato's head coaching debut into a disaster. Playing in his first college game, Rivers somehow yanked victory from the clutches of defeat as the Pack escaped with a 38-31 win in double overtime.
Such theatrics probably won't be necessary if NC State is able to build on last week's fairly dominant 34-14 victory over New Mexico.
"We can't have any slip-ups, especially in these earlier games where we have some good chances to show the country what we're made of," said senior offensive tackle Scott Kooistra. "We can't come out and not take an opponent seriously. We're going to take every opponent seriously and I think that's one of the trademarks we have here."
Historically speaking, however, Southern Conference teams have often held their own in games against neighboring schools from the ACC. Dick Sheridan became NC State's number one coaching target only after his Furman team pulled off back-to-back upsets of the Wolfpack in 1984 and '85.
Back in 1991, Marshall was a Southern Conference member when it basically dominated NC State for 58 minutes in a game played at Carter-Finley. It was only through divine intervention that the Wolfpack escaped with a 15-14 triumph that day.
Oh, and by the way, the all-time series between NC State and East Tennessee State is tied 1-1. In the first meeting between the two schools in 1987, the Buccaneers stunned the Pack 29-14. One year later, the Wolfpack avenged the upset in a big way, rolling to a 49-0 victory.
But this is 2002 and things appear to be different. While NC State seems to have the type of talent needed to contend for an ACC title, East Tennessee State will be trying to rebuild an offense that returns only two starters from a team that posted a 6-5 mark last season. By contrast, the Buccaneers are one of the few teams in college football that will return all 11 starters on the defensive side of the ball.
"Because we play two first games (this will be ETSU's first game), we did a lot of film evaluating of both of our first two opponents last spring and during the summer," Amato said. "They will run the option and that's the biggest thing. They've got some real good athletes. I'm real concerned about the quarterback. He's one of those motorcycle guys that can turn a bad play into something good. Guys like that can make things happen on their own and that's very dangerous."
Quarterback Dashannon Gamble's athletic ability and quickness aren't complimented by a great deal of experience. The sophomore has zero game experience after sitting out the 2001 season because of some academic issues. Ironically, the only East Tennessee quarterback with any game experience is Jatavis Sanders, who played at NC State before transferring nearly two years ago.
Already blessed with an inordinate amount of depth at the wide receiver, NC State will welcome Dovonte Edwards back to its offensive line-up this weekend. The speedy sophomore from Chapel Hill missed last week's opener after spraining a knee during the preseason.
"Having him back will mean a lot," said Rivers, who needs just 10 more passing yards to pass Terry Harvey for second place on the Wolfpack's all-time passing yardage list. "He probably could have pushed it and got out there last week and I know he wanted to. He brings the straight-ahead speed, but he's also got a lot of moves and can make people miss. It was probably good that a few guys were able to get in there in his spot last week. Now we can get him back in the mix and have five or six guys ready to go."
NC State's all-time record against Southern Conference opponents is 14-9-4.
Saturday night's game will not be televised. The airtime on the Wolfpack Radio Network is 6:00 p.m. Tickets are available for the contest. To place an order, call the NC State ticket office at 1-800-310-PACK or (919) 515-2106.
