North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Football Schedule: Nation's Sixth Most Difficult
6/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
June 11, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - NC State football coach Chuck Amato doesn't need a web site ranking to tell him something he already knows: the Wolfpack will certainly have one of the most difficult schedules in the country next season. With home dates against perennial powers Ohio State, Miami and Florida State looming, along with road games at Virginia Tech, Clemson and Maryland on the slate, the Pack has earned the distinction of having the nation's sixth toughest schedule according to nationalchamps.net.
"The new ACC," which will include the Hurricanes and Hokies this fall, is starting to look like a football behemoth. And although some team's schedules in an 11-team league will be tougher than others, there will be plenty of competition to go around. Along with NC State's ranking, nationalchamps.net ranks Georgia Tech's schedule 2nd, Virginia Tech's 3rd, North Carolina's 11th, Clemson's 14th, Florida State's 15th, and Wake Forest's 18th.
In other words, the schedule rankings for ACC football now look like something you might see during basketball season.
"This conference is such a tremendous basketball conference and it has earned that reputation over many, many years," Amato said. "For us to be mentioned as their equivalent in football, I think that's got to help us in recruiting. It's going to be a tough league to handle."
After hosting Richmond in its opener on September 4, the Wolfpack will have a bye week before diving right into the meat of its schedule with back-to-back games against the Buckeyes (September 18, 3:30 p.m. on ABC) and Virginia Tech. Miami's visit to Raleigh on October 23 will be sandwiched right in between very difficult road tests at Maryland and Clemson. Florida State, which has split its last four games with NC State, comes to town on Thursday night, November 11 (7:30 p.m., ESPN).
"That's why we went into this venture (expansion)," Amato said. "No matter which half of the division you're in, sooner or later you were going to have a schedule like this where you would be playing Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech. Recruits are talking about ACC football now."
Not to be forgotten for the Wolfpack will be three emotional in-state battles against Wake Forest, North Carolina and East Carolina. The contest against the Pirates will be the final game of the season on November 27th and will be played in Charlotte.
Although the Pack hasn't faced ECU since 1999, Amato knows that particular meeting will be intense.
"It's in the state," he said. "It's a game within this state that's got to be won no matter where we stand at that point in the season. Both teams will come out fuming. We've got an awful lot of youngsters on our team now from eastern North Carolina. I can remember years ago when I was an assistant here, people kind of felt like if you dominated eastern North Carolina [recruiting] you won because there's an awful lot of talent down there."
