North Carolina State University Athletics
Moving on to Maryland
10/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 11, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, NC - Just when NC State's football players thought they couldn't possibly feel the same level of disappointment they felt following Saturday night's odd 30-24 defeat at North Carolina, they were reminded of what's happened each time the Wolfpack has played Maryland the last four years. Four straight times the Pack has gone late into the fourth quarter with leads against the Terps and all four times Maryland has prevailed. The desire to snap the Maryland hex might just be what the doctor ordered as NC State head coach Chuck Amato tries to rid his team of the Carolina blues.
Leaving Chapel Hill two nights ago, the Pack (3-2, 2-1) couldn't help but think that defeat had been snatched from the jaws of victory. But then again, many of those same players were thinking the same thing in the aftermath of last year's 26-24 loss to Maryland. Taking advantage of a T.A. McLendon fumble with less than two minutes to play, the Terps got a 43-yard field goal from Nick Novak to finish off its fourth consecutive come-from-behind triumph over NC State.
In those four meetings, Maryland has outscored the Wolfpack 46-10 in the fourth quarter. That and more will be the backdrop when NC State travels to College Park for a 3:30 contest this Saturday.
"It's not just the fourth quarter; let's call it like it is: How about the last two minutes of the game?" Amato said on Monday. "You know what? The game last 60 minutes long, no matter what happens in the middle of the game and early in the game. But these are two new teams and a new environment. It's going to be to their advantage playing at home. I just hope we can get to the fourth quarter and be in that position."
Both NC State and Maryland will be licking emotional wounds when they meet on Saturday. While the Pack was being handed that heartbreaking loss in Chapel Hill, the Terps (3-2, 1-1) dropped a 20-7 decision at home to Georgia Tech.
And while getting over the North Carolina game will be challenging to say the least, senior safety Troy Graham figures a match-up with Maryland should help the Pack get refocused this week.
"I haven't beaten Maryland, so it would mean so much to me to go out there after a devastating loss like we had and bounce back with a victory," Graham said.
Said quarterback Jay Davis: "North Carolina did what they had to do to win the football game. We've got to move on and start learning about Maryland. We'll be ready to play a full 60 minutes and possibly more against these guys. They're a tough team and we've got to come out ready to play."
Davis has certainly been ready to play lately, especially over his last six quarters of football. In back-to-back games against Wake Forest and UNC, the junior signal caller has completed 40-of-52 passes (76.9 percent) for 517 yards.
Despite giving up some big plays and 30 points at UNC over the weekend, the NC State defense is still ranked first in the nation in pass defense (112 ypg.) and is third in total defense (226.20).
Injury Woes: Amato said that starting center Jed Paulsen would definitely miss the game at Maryland, meaning left guard Leroy Harris will move over to center. James Newby is slated to fill Harris' old spot at guard. Paulsen suffered what is being called a severe high ankle sprain in the fourth quarter of the game at North Carolina, although Amato said he had not yet received the final report on other tests that were taken on the ankle earlier on Monday.
"Jed has truly been an outstanding leader since back in the spring," said Amato. "He's a tough guy. Jed Paulsen blew out an ACL in the second quarter of the Navy game a couple of seasons ago. They said he would be out for the year and they wanted to operate on it immediately. He said no, he wanted to come back. Four games later he came back and played for the rest of the season and they operated in January. He makes all the calls in there. That's a big hit for us."
Amato did add that veteran offensive lineman Rickey Fowler, who played 19 snaps on Saturday night, will also be available this week. Fowler has been recovering from off-season knee surgery. Other injuries of note, McLendon is listed is probable for the Maryland game, although he did come away with an AC separation in his shoulder and a hamstring strain. Starting rover Andre Maddox also missed most of the Saturday night's contest in Chapel Hill with a strained hamstring as well. Maddox is listed as probable this week.
