North Carolina State University Athletics
Tangerine Bowl Perceptions Vary
12/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 21, 2003
By Tony Haynes
Orlando, Florida-When NC State and Kansas meet in the Mazda Tangerine Bowl at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, the overall perception of the two programs and how they arrived at this point couldn't be more different. After being picked to challenge for the ACC title, the Wolfpack failed to live to its own lofty expectations and those of others during a rocky 7-5 ride through the regular season. Kansas, a school known for football follies and basketball excellence, surprised many of the preseason prognosticators in the tough Big 12 Conference by gaining bowl eligibility with a 6-6 mark. In reality, however, there may not be as great a difference in the two clubs as some might think.
"We're 7-5, they're 6-6," said Pack coach Chuck Amato. "We're talking about one game, so it's a pretty much an even match."
Just imagine what NC State's record might have been had star quarterback Philip Rivers missed four games? That's what Kansas had to deal with when signal caller Bill Whittemore, a cagey player who set a school record with 16 touchdown passes, missed the better part of four games late in the season. It just so happens that the Jayhawks lost all four of those games after opening with a 5-2 mark.
With Whittemore back in the line-up on November 22, Kansas wrapped up its first bowl invitation since 1995 by blasting Iowa State in its season finale, 36-7. With their long-awaited bowl eligibility at hand, the Jayhawks celebrated as if they had reached a major milestone. And why not? While NC State is making its fourth bowl appearance in as a many years under Amato and 21st overall, K.U. will be playing in the postseason for only the ninth time in the more than 110 years of football.
Are the Jayhawks excited to be in Orlando? You bet.
"It's great for our kids," said Kansas head coach Mark Mangino, a former Oklahoma staff member who was once named national assistant coach of the year. "This is just our second year at Kansas and when we came in, we told our kids that we were going to set the bar high. We told them that if they worked hard and helped and supported one another and stayed focus on our goals that good things would happen. Here we are in our second year at the Tangerine Bowl and it's a great reward for our kids."
And it's also a big deal for a program that hasn't posted a winning record in eight frustrating years. Given the long futile history of Kansas football, Mangino has also worked a minor miracle this year by becoming the first KU coach since 1975 to lead his team to a bowl game in just his second year.
"When a program hasn't won for a long time and hasn't been able to sustain success over a period of time, there's a lot of apathy," Mangino said. "Our program just wasn't well respected on campus, in the community and among our boosters and alumni. What you have to do is to tell your players 'we can't control all those external things. Let's take care of the things that we can control and let's be good at the things we can control and then good things will happen.'"
Good things did happen, especially when the Jayhawks stunned nationally ranked Missouri 35-14 back on September 17. Then came the season-ending blowout over Iowa State that culminated what certainly was a better than expected campaign.
There was no such satisfaction for NC State, which must now ignore the common perceptions associated with this game because the reality is that Kansas has been a pretty good football team, especially when Whittemore has been on the field.
"There offense scares me to death," Amato said. "They do so much and their quarterback handles their offense like Philip handles ours."
Averaging nearly 30 points per contest, the Jayhawks scored 21 points or better in nine of 12 games. The Wolfpack fields an offense that put up 36 points per game, meaning fans in attendance at the Florida Citrus Bowl on Monday could very well be in for more than just a few offensive fireworks.
In Whittemore and Rivers, this game will feature two of the more efficient quarterbacks in the country. Whittemore's impressive completion percentage (62.6%) is the best in school history, yet it doesn't even come close to Rivers' mind-boggling completion rate of 71 percent.
"It's hard to ignore Philip Rivers," said Mangino. "He's really special. I've had a chance to watch him on tape and watched him over the years on TV. He's a just a phenomenal player."
A phenomenal player who will end his career as the top passer in ACC history and No. 2 all-time in the NCAA. As the final game of his storybook career approaches, Rivers just wants to be able to say that he had a good taste in his mouth when he took his NC State uniform off the final time.
"Certainly we want to end with a win," Rivers said. "For our seniors we want to win our last game and then for next year's team we want to jump start them."
Rivers' 51st consecutive game will also be his fourth straight start in a bowl game. NC State's all-time postseason record stands at 10-10-1 with one of those wins coming over Kansas in the 1973 Liberty Bowl in Memphis (31-18). Amato coached the Wolfpack secondary in that contest, which was the first and only meeting between the two schools.
Three More Players Out:Due to the death of his Grandfather, kickoff specialist John Deraney will not play in the Mazda Tangerine Bowl. Adam Kiker is expected to handle the kickoff duties. Center Brandon Sanders will also be missing due to the death of his mother. Cornerback Greg Golden joins defensive linemen Alan Halloway and Sheldon Lewin on the list of those who won't dress because of disciplinary reasons. Dovonte Edwards will start in place of Golden and Manny Lawson, who has played mostly linebacker this year, could start at defensive end.
Amato Under the Weather: Feeling a bit under the weather, Amato did not attend Sunday's final pre-bowl press conference. He was replaced "in the line-up" by associate head coach Doc Holliday....Legend has it that the winner of the annual "Tangerine squeeze off," which features a handful of players from both teams, usually goes on to win the game. Anchored by offensive linemen Sean Locklear and Justin Wortham along with tailback Cotra Jackson, NC State squeezed the most juice on Sunday....Only Michigan State and Rutgers had more dramatic turnarounds this season than Kansas, which was just 2-10 last year...The bowl pregame show on the Wolfpack Radio Network on Monday begins at 4:30 p.m.
