North Carolina State University Athletics
Amato, Pack Look Ahead
9/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 14, 2003
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-Anyone who watched, listened to, covered or participated in Saturday's football game between NC State and Ohio State was probably still feeling a certain level of exhaustion on Sunday. In a wild roller coaster ride of a football game, the Buckeyes needed three overtimes to survive a Wolfpack upset bid that fell just inches shy of the south goal line at Ohio Stadium when running back T.A. McLendon was knocked back by Will Allen. But as he reviewed the game film on Sunday, coach Chuck Amato's suspicions were confirmed: despite the numbing defeat, his team had shown improvement in many areas.
"How many people would do what we did, scoring 17 unanswered points in about nine and a half minutes in a place that was really rockin' and rollin' at that point?" Amato said, describing his team's fourth quarter recovery after falling behind 24-7. "We came away knowing that these kids didn't quit, didn't give in. We had kids make plays and the guy that made most of the plays was Philip."
Quarterback Philip Rivers, as usual, was outstanding, passing for 315 yards and four touchdowns against Ohio State's stout defense. Rivers' touchdown throw to Jerricho Cotchery late in the first half gave him the career yards he needed to pass Chris Weinke as the ACC's all-time leading passer. Through three games, the senior from Athens, Alabama is the nation's leading passer (100-of-131 for 1,068 yards) and ranks 11th in passing efficiency.
But the most pleasing aspect of Saturday's contest for Amato may have been the play of NC State's young defensive line, which helped to stone Ohio State's powerful running game throughout the afternoon.
"In your wildest dreams, did you think that we were going to play Ohio State and they were going to end up with 44 yards rushing?" Amato asked. "There are an awful lot of positives."
Amato also cited the efforts of punter Austin Herbert, who averaged 41.6 yards per kick and did a good job of keeping the Buckeyes backed up most of the day.
Of course, in the immediate aftermath of the game, there was plenty of discussion and criticism surrounding NC State's play selection in the final overtime when it had the ball first and goal from the four. Employing a concept that it used with great success inside the five-yard line last season, the Pack went with its empty set package in hopes of spreading the Ohio State defense out. If the numbers were right at the line of scrimmage, Rivers, who scored 10 touchdowns in 2002, had the option of trying to wedge his way through a gap in the defensive line on a quarterback sneak. But even without a linebacker in the middle and a small number of players in the box, Ohio State played the runs on first and third downs well, keeping Rivers out of the end zone.
The series of plays came under intense scrutiny, especially from the announcing team covering the game for ABC television.
"I don't want to dwell on the last sequence," Amato said. "All I know is that it was the same people who called the plays that scored an awful lot of points against the defending national champions. I don't want to get into that. That's why they're TV analysts because they're not coaching."
On fourth down, McLendon was stopped just short of a touchdown that would have tied the score, thus denying NC State an opportunity to run a two-point conversion try that could have won it.
Coming off a knee injury that prevented him from playing in last week's loss at Wake Forest, McLendon certainly gave the Wolfpack (1-2) a boost when he was on the field, making three huge catches in the second half for 56 yards. If all goes well this week, he could see more limited action in next Saturday's contest against Texas Tech at Carter-Finley Stadium (12-noon kick off).
"He played probably more than I could have dreamed that he was going to play," Amato said. "T.A. sure does help that running game. He runs through tacklers and he keeps on running down the field. It's a huge dimension to take out of your game. He's one of the premiere running backs in the country. From what I understand, he felt good when he came in this morning. I'm not going to do anything to subject that young man to further injury for the remainder of this season and the remainder of his career. That's why he saw limited action yesterday."
On another injury item of interest, Amato said he wouldn't know the severity of a knee injury sustained by receiver Sterling Hicks until Monday.
