North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Wolfpack Brings Out Best in Red Hot Quarterbacks
10/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 6, 2003
By Tony Haynes
NC State head football coach Chuck Amato would be the first to say that the Wolfpack defense has not played up his rather lofty standards this season. But he'd also give credit to the opposing quarterbacks who have seemingly been at their best against the Pack, especially the last three weeks. Between them, Texas Tech's B.J. Symons, Darian Durant of North Carolina and Georgia Tech's Reggie Ball have combined to complete 88-of-142 passes (61 percent) for 1,192 yards and seven touchdowns against the Wolfpack secondary.
In Georgia Tech's 29-21 win over NC State on Saturday, Ball, a freshman, had his best day as a collegian, throwing for 283 yards and two touchdowns. He was particularly impressive in some key third and long situations that produced first downs to keep the chains moving.
Symons, of course, continues to carve up every secondary he faces. In his last three games, the 5th year senior has passed for 1,752 yards, an average of 584 yards per game. On Saturday, he set his third Big 12 record in as many weeks by throwing eight touchdown passes in the Red Raiders' 59-28 trouncing of Texas A&M. And by the way, Symons left the game with more than 11 minutes remaining.
Durant is simply a solid player who needed only two and a half seasons to become the first quarterback at North Carolina to surpass 5,000 passing yards for a career.
As for the NC State defense, life won't get much easier this week with Randy Edsall's Connecticut Huskies coming to town. In six games this season, Connecticut quarterback Orlovsky is hitting just under 60 percent of his passes for an average of 286 yards per game.
The Big Three: When asked to list three areas in which his team must improve the most, Amato didn't hesitate.
"The kicking game, tackling and we have to get the ball in the end zone when we get down there," he said.
Such a solid staple in NC State's arsenal during the 11-3 campaign a year ago, the kicking game has been a major sore spot with Amato dating all the way back to the season opener against Western Carolina. It's somewhat puzzling that the Wolfpack has been inconsistent in this area given the level of emphasis NC State places on winning the kicking battle every week. Again, some credit must be given to the opponents, who are becoming extra committed to doing whatever is necessary to rise up to the Pack's level in that particular phase of the game.
A fundamentals junkie, Amato finds it unacceptable that tackling has become somewhat of an achilles heel for the 2003 defense. The Georgia Tech game on Saturday was a case in point.
"We sacked [Ball] six times, but we should have sacked him four or five more times," Amato said. "The tackling hasn't been as good as it needs to be. Right before halftime, three people missed him and then we let them get out of bounds when they had no timeouts left."
The Yellow Jackets then scored a big touchdown that gave them a 22-10 lead.
Then there are the continuing struggles with the short-yardage offense, failures that can certainly be traced directly to T.A. McLendon's absence. Even on plays that aren't necessarily blocked well, McLendon has always had a unique gift for finding a way to punch the ball in. Without him, NC State has become much more one-dimensional near the goal line, a fact that makes that condensed area of the field much easier to defend. Two trips inside the 5-yard line in the 3rd quarter in Atlanta netted a grand total of three points.
"It's tough," Amato responded when asked how difficult it is to score on the goal line without a strong running attack. "It would be great to have [McLendon] in there. Josh Brown wasn't 100 percent; he had a pulled hip-flexor. It's very, very difficult."
On Sunday, Amato hinted that freshman running back Reggie Davis could get some playing time if the injuries persist at tailback. The coaching staff has been holding out hope that it could redshirt the physical 220-pound rookie from Tallahassee, Florida.
A harsh dose of reality: Thanks to e-mail and the Internet, what were once known as "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" are now "Saturday Night Quarterbacks." Following NC State losses, I receive (through e-mail of course) the usual complaints about coaching, play-calling and performance. Normally, the focus is on two or three plays out of 60 that are run during the course of a ball game. Then there are those who imply that the loss would make it very difficult for them to get up and go to work on Monday morning.
Quite frankly, I was in no mood to respond to such trivial banter on Saturday night, not on the same day that we learned of Stephen Gates' tragic death. The rants about a football game sure seemed silly when I thought about George and Pat Gates, who were mourning the loss of their son, the victim of a hit and run accident early Saturday morning.
Gates, the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network, was a pleasant, polite and professional young man who took his job seriously, but always did so with a smile. As a fellow sideline guy for football, I used to tease him about wearing a coat and tie on the sidelines during the games. "You look way to dressed up to be down here," I would tell him.
I'll miss seeing that coat and tie on Saturdays and I'll miss being witness to the successful career Gates would have enjoyed.
When we shook hands and spoke after last week's NC State - North Carolina game, little did I know that it would be the last time that Stephen Gates and I would cross paths. I guess we all take life for granted when maybe we shouldn't.
My heart goes out to the Gates family and all of his colleagues at the Tar Heel Sports Network.
