North Carolina State University Athletics
Amato, Pack Expect Intense Battle with Pirates
11/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 22, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - Regardless of what happens in this Saturday's 1 p.m. meeting between East Carolina and NC State at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, neither team will be playing a 12th game this season. Both the Pirates (2-8) and Wolfpack (4-6) will be closing out trying campaigns that have left fans of both schools disappointed and one coach with a pink slip. While the Pack will be looking to taste victory for the first time in more than a month, ECU will be trying to win one for coach John Thompson, who was told last week by new athletics director Terry Holland that his services would no longer be required beyond this season.
In a heated series that has been continued off and on since 1970, this Saturday's meeting could very well be one of the more anticlimactic games between the two schools. There will be no TV cameras and no bowl scouts on hand this week. It's doubtful that even a few highlights will be available on SportsCenter.
But for anyone who is expecting a lackluster affair between two clubs that are headed nowhere for the holidays, they could be sadly mistaken. This is, after all, East Carolina and NC State.
"It's going to be a very intense game," said Wolfpack head coach Chuck Amato, who won't be going bowling for the first time in his five-year tenure as NC State's head coach. "If you've never been around one - East Carolina versus North Carolina State - you have no idea how intense this game can be. It's a game that will be every bit as intense, or more so, than the University of Carolina is. That's saying something."
Amato got his first taste of just how intense a battle this could be when he was an NC State assistant coach under Lou Holtz and Bo Rein during the 1970s, when ECU fielded competitive teams coached by Pat Dye. At that time, the two clubs played each other every year.
This Saturday's contest will be the first meeting since 1999, which, ironically, is the game that ultimately sealed the fate of Amato's predecessor, Mike O'Cain. Not long after a 23-6 loss to the Pirates on November 20th of that year, O'Cain was dismissed, a move that opened the door for Amato to return to Raleigh.
Now, as he embarks in his first encounter with ECU as a head coach, Amato will likely share a little history lesson as he tries to get his players mentally prepared for their 2004 season finale.
"If you go back to 1987 and take the last five games of this series, the record is 1-4 - one win for North Carolina State and four losses," Amato said. "Those people down there take this game very, very, very serious."
Following East Carolina's 32-14 victory in Raleigh in 1987, the two teams didn't play another regular season game until nine years later, when the Pirates blasted the Pack in Charlotte, 50-29. The Wolfpack bounced back the next season, winning 37-24. And during that period when the two schools weren't facing off in the regular season, the Peach Bowl jumped in and matched them up for what became a memorable contest on New Year's Day, 1992. Trailing by two touchdowns early in the fourth period, ECU rallied to post a 37-34 victory in what was probably the most exciting game in the history of the rivalry.
Amato, like most other football fans, saw video of the ugly melee that broke out between South Carolina and Clemson last Saturday. When asked if it would be appropriate to address his players about keeping their emotions in check this weekend, Amato said he would do whatever is necessary.
"I'll bring that up anytime I feel it needs to be brought up," he said. "It's the last game for Coach Thompson. It's the last game for every senior on the football field; it's the last time they'll ever play for either university. We've got to make sure that the game is played like it's supposed to be played. That's for 60 minutes between the snap of the ball and the whistle. You're allowed to hit each other as long as you want until they snap the ball and they blow the whistle. Then it's over. If each team has 70 snaps, that's a 140-round fight that you can go like mad from the snap to the whistle."
Wolfpack Injury Update: Right offensive tackle Derek Morris, who re-injured a gimpy ankle in NC State's game against Florida State 16 days ago, is listed as questionable for the ECU game. Amato says the ankle is probably better than it was in the week leading into the FSU contest. The Wolfpack will need all the help it can get on the O-line since starting center Jed Paulsen and guard Leroy Harris will be out once again this week. Leading pass-catcher Richard Washington, who has missed 11 straight quarters since spraining a knee at Clemson on October 30, is also listed as questionable.
