North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Wants to Build on Past Season
8/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 12, 2003
By the Associated Press
It doesn't take very long to come up with a word to describe the NC State University football team - confident.
Beating Florida State and Notre Dame to cap a school- record 11-win season and having Philip Rivers under center for a fourth straight year is enough to boost any team's ego.
Add a series of speedy recruiting classes and the Wolfpack players are talking Atlantic Coast Conference title and national championship in 2003.
"How many people really did give Ohio State a chance last year?" coach Chuck Amato said of the national title the Buckeyes won over Miami.
"You've got to dream about it, you've got to talk about it so if it happens we just don't faint," Amato added. "The big thing with this group is, `How will they accept the challenge?' The expectations are high. Will we go out and faint or will we go out there and say, `Hey, we're for real?'"
Many believe the Wolfpack has the material to crack the top 10 after losing three games last season by a combined 15 points.
NC State is the only club in the ACC to return a 3,000- yard passer (Rivers), a 1,000-yard rusher in T.A. McLendon and a 1,000-yard receiver in Jerricho Cotchery.
And the Wolfpack will get an early test on Sept. 13 at Ohio State. A win over the Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio, would likely propel NC State into the top 5 before the heart of the ACC season begins.
"We've got an opportunity to do something great here and it's my last chance to do it," said Rivers, who barring injury will set the ACC's all-time passing mark. "We can't keep getting close again like we have every year."
The Wolfpack was a .500 club under coach Mike O'Cain before Amato, Bobby Bowden's top assistant at Florida State, took over his alma mater in 2000.
He's gone 26-12 in three seasons and put the Wolfpack on the national radar by luring more than 20 talented prep players to Raleigh from the state of Florida.
However, the Wolfpack has finished no higher than fourth in the ACC race each of the last three seasons.
"I've got my standards set and I've told my coaches and I've told my players that I'm not going to change them," Amato said. "You either get on the ship with me or, if you don't like it, go somewhere else.
"We've enjoyed some really good success, but we've not won any championships. We haven't even vied for them. That's a punch in the mouth. But we're building a program. You've got to build a foundation first."
The most noticeable upgrade has been overall team speed, which could now be the best in the ACC.
"If we ran a track meet against my first team here it wouldn't even be close," Amato said.
NC State returns seven starters from an offense that led the ACC at 32.9 points a game. That group includes Rivers, a 6-foot-5, 236-pound quarterback who has thrown for 8,993 career yards and 61 TDs, and should figure in the Heisman Trophy race.
"The great thing about that guy is he just flat out wins," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said of Rivers.
"They are never out of a game with him in there. He plays with a confidence that is infectious on everybody else."
Rivers is deadly accurate, having completed 60.2 percent of his passes. And he's thrown just 27 interceptions in 1,227 attempts.
"Philip wants to get us to that ACC championship because if that happens then great things will happen for him," Amato said.
McLendon's 1,101 rushing yards as a freshman added needed balance to NC State's wide-open passing game, while Cotchery averaged 17.8 yards a catch last season.
"To me, Jerricho Cotchery can be mentioned in the same sentence with Koren Robinson," Rivers said of the former Wolfpack All-American who was a first-round draft pick of the Seattle Seahawks.
While the Wolfpack has plenty of stars on offense, don't expect Amato to reduce the number of trick plays he calls.
"If we had 11 All-Americans I would still do that," he said. "The kids have fun with it - especially if you execute it. We're starting to get a reputation that something is going to happen. It's good for people to worry about it."
NC State led the ACC in sacks last season, but will field a young defensive front in 2003.
That's Amato's biggest worry heading into the season- opener Aug. 30 against Western Carolina.
"We'll put our youth and ambition up against age and experience right now because we have to," Amato said of his defensive line. "If we get whacked around that's OK, it's part of growing up.
"You can have all the skill in the secondary that you want and you can cover like mad, but you can't cover forever," he added. "It all works together. If the quarterback has five, six or seven seconds to throw the football we've got a problem."
NC State will have to finish strong if it hopes to land a BCS bid, closing with November games against Florida State and Maryland.
"We're telling all of our players to cut it loose this year," Amato said. "There is no reason why (a national title) can't happen for us."
