North Carolina State University Athletics
Behind The Scenes With Tony Haynes: Pack Passes the Test
9/24/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 24, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-Good teams can't have great seasons without winning games that appear to be slipping away. It was in the dry heat of Lubbock, Texas that 15th ranked NC State sweated out a victory that will greatly improve its chances of becoming a very good football team. The players on this team won't forget how relaxed their sideline became when Texas Tech fans were heading to the exits in droves after the Wolfpack zoomed out to a 38-10 lead in the third quarter. They'll also remember how that seemingly insurmountable advantage disappeared into the North Texas wind.
Live and learn. Kill a fly with an axe. It ain't over until it's over.
The old clich?s don't seem to mean much until the lessons they teach are learned the hard way. Fortunately for NC State's 15th ranked football team, the harshest lesson of all was avoided when it managed to beat the Red Raiders in overtime, 51-48.
Now after avoiding disaster, after overcoming adversity and after extricating itself from a fourth quarter in which absolutely nothing went right, the Wolfpack is more battle-hardened than it was a week ago.
"A lot of important things will come out of this game," said NC State head coach Chuck Amato. "People said adversity hadn't hit us; well it us hit us on the first drive of the football game (when Texas Tech scored). Then there were those five touchdowns in 22 minutes."
During their remarkable comeback, the Red Raiders converted three fourth down plays, two of which were penalty-aided. On those rare occasions in the fourth quarter when the NC State defense would stop Texas Tech, a yellow hanky would always seem to appear, compliments of the Big 12 officiating crew working the game.
Misfortune and adversity have a way of cracking the glue that holds all the pieces together. And while the Wolfpack may have cracked, it didn't fall apart. Herb Sendek's basketball team last season provided a lesson on the bountiful rewards that can be reaped through togetherness and chemistry. An admirer of how Sendek's team conducted its business last season, Amato is now succeeding in his efforts to build a team that is both talented and unselfish.
"This is the most unselfish team I've ever been on and it's the most successful team I've been on," said senior tight end Sean Berton, who transferred to NC State from West Virginia. "It's something we're having fun with."
Already, there have been numerous examples of players putting the team ahead of their own individual interests: Slated to be a starter at cornerback, Greg Golden never complained after being asked to move to tailback during the preseason; starting rover Andre Maddux played over a 100 snaps at Texas Tech if you include his duties on special teams; and middle linebacker Dantonio Burnette played virtually the entire game on Saturday with a broken thumb.
"This group of youngsters is close," Amato said. "They had watery eyes in the locker room after that game that were tears of joy," Amato said. "To see these youngsters grab each other and hug each other-that's togetherness. They've trained together, they've worked together, they've played together, now finally they've answered some questions."
After four fairly one-sided wins, there were the usual questions about how this team would react to a tight, pressurized situation. Now Amato knows his Wolfpack will react the right way the next time it is thrown into the gauntlet. Instead of panicking in Lubbock, the Pack reached down and found an instinct for survival that all good teams must have. And the next time this team takes a commanding lead into the fourth quarter, a battle cry of "remember Texas Tech" will be heard on the sidelines and in the huddle.
"Adversity is going to strike sooner or later, I just wish it wouldn't have struck that hard and that fast," Berton said. "We were up 38-10 and we should have choked the life out of them, but we didn't. That's just something we have to learn right now."
Good teams can't have great seasons without learning a few valuable lessons along the way.
