North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack a Work in Progress
8/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 31, 2003
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-As is his routine during the football season, NC State coach Chuck Amato got up Sunday morning and reviewed the film of the previous night's game. What he saw was an offense that did basically whatever it wanted to do in a 59-20 victory over Western Carolina. And the defensive performance that had left him with an uneasy feeling when he left Carter-Finley Stadium following the game probably wasn't as lackluster as he initially thought.
"We probably played better defensively than I thought at times," Amato said on Sunday afternoon. "It usually works that way."
In the immediate aftermath of the Wolfpack's season opener, Amato was concerned about a pass rush that didn't produce a sack the entire game. Incredibly, neither team dropped the quarterback, despite the fact that there were a total of 80 passes thrown.
After reviewing the tape, Amato saw a Catamounts club that was ready to use as many protectors as necessary to keep NC State's pass rushers away from senior quarterback Brian Gaither.
"They kept maximum protection an awful lot," Amato said. "They had a seven man protection about 17 times and a six man protection about 15 times. If you rush four and they have seven, they have two double teams, which is smart. But that means you should be able to cover."
But Amato still wasn't feeling any better about the ease with which Western Carolina scored right before halftime when Gaither found receiver Michael Reeder from 30 yards out.
"As soon as the quarterback let it go he got his clock cleaned, but there was a bust in the coverage," said Amato. "There were an awful lot of times when they had no-gain plays when they made nothing. I want to say it was 25 or 27 times that that happened. There were some good positive things. We've just got to keep working on fundamentals."
After giving up 14 points and 174 total yards in the opening half, the Wolfpack defense listened in as Amato delivered, shall we say, some words of inspiration in the locker room. The Catamounts would muster only six points and 61 yards the rest of the way.
Asked if he was taking a different approach with such a young defensive line, Amato responded, "they're going to take my approach. I know only one way to coach. I'm not going to change it whether the kid is 18 or 30."
Richard Returns: Amato said that the disciplinary action that kept receiver Richard Washington out of Saturday's game is now over, meaning the speedy redshirt sophomore will make his college debut against Wake Forest next weekend. Of course, Washington's services weren't really needed against the Catamounts, who had a difficult time covering any of the Wolfpack's receivers on Saturday. Between them, Sterling Hicks, Tramain Hall and Jerricho Cotchery accounted for 19 receptions. Eleven different players caught passes from quarterbacks Philip Rivers and Jay Davis on Saturday.
True Freshmen get Playing Time: A total of nine true freshmen appeared in the Western Carolina game: Mario Williams, LaMart Barrett, Maurice Charles, Chris Hawkins, Garland Heath, Ernest Jones, James Martin, Stephen Tulloch, and DeMarcus Tyler.
