North Carolina State University Athletics
Measuring Stick: Ohio State vs. NC State
9/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 17, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - The football coaches at Ohio State and NC State believe that they have good football teams, but neither will really know just how good until their clubs are measured against an equally talented opponent. On Saturday, Jim Tressel of the Buckeyes and the Wolfpack's Chuck Amato will get some definitive answers. When Ohio State visits Carter-Finley Stadium for the first time ever, it will be making its first ever appearance in the home venue of an ACC team. The game, a rematch of last year's triple overtime thriller that was eventually won by Ohio State, is set to kickoff at 3:30 p.m.
Unbeaten at 1-0 after opening with a lopsided 42-0 win over Richmond, the Wolfpack hasn't faced this type of competition since preseason scrimmages. But the same can be said for the 7th ranked Buckeyes, who used a 55-yard field goal by Mike Nugent as time expired to squeak out a 24-21 victory over Marshall last week.
"NC State is an extraordinary team," said Tressel, who guided the Buckeyes to their seventh national title in 2002. "They have great speed, they have veterans and they'll be playing in front of their home crowd. It will be a tough atmosphere for the visitors. We haven't experienced that, especially with so many young guys playing. They've maybe been to some away games, but they were just a part of the crowd. Now they'll have to perform, so I think it's going to be great for us."
Tressel is referencing the fact that OSU has several new starters in place after losing an unprecedented total of 14 players to April's NFL Draft. One of those new starters is sophomore quarterback Justin Zwick, who will also be leaving the friendly confines of Ohio Stadium for the first time.
"In my mind, what's going to be so valuable about this is he will not have been in a situation where the people have been flying around like they will be with the great team speed and the athleticism," Tressel said. "It's going to be a great new thing for him and I think he's looking forward to it and so are we."
But Zwick's counterpart on the other side will also be encountering the very same thing on Saturday. In his first start as NC State's starting quarterback two weeks ago, Jay Davis led scoring drives on five of six first half possessions before taking the rest of the night off against Richmond.
So Jay Davis has one half of football under his belt as NC State's starter. On top of that, he hasn't taken many legitimate hits since his senior year at Central Catholic High School in Clearwater, Florida more than four years ago. Given the fact that the redshirt junior wasn't touched during the preseason and rarely felt pressure against the outmanned Spiders, he'll certainly be in for a new experience against the talent rich Buckeyes on Saturday.
So will NC State's pair of freshman running backs, Bobby Washington and Darrell Blackman.
"They're going to get hit with much greater force this week," Amato said. "Last week was like a bomb. This will be like a 10 megaton. That's going to be the difference. The sonic boom is going to be a lot greater than it was last week."
With two relatively inexperienced quarterbacks playing in a game of this magnitude for the first time, it only figures that the team that does the best job of getting pressure on the other's passer could create the type of game-breaking mistakes that can often decide the outcome of games like this.
"I think you want to get pressure on this guy," NC State rover Andre Maddox responded when asked about defending Zwick. "You don't want him having that much time to set up and throw the ball deep. That's one of the main things we'll have to do is get pressure, to get him uncomfortable so he'll throw an incomplete pass or throw it to one of us."
Zwick has been involved in five of Ohio State's seven turnovers through the first two games, including four interceptions. But there has also been a feast or famine quality to his game. Overall, he's completed 32-of-56 passes for 537 yards and four touchdowns. Last week, Zwick's top target was sophomore wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who made 10 catches for 224 yards. Holmes, a native of Belle Glade, Florida, nearly came to NC State a few years ago before finally choosing Ohio State.
"They were pretty much one and two," Homes said. "I really did want to go to NC State because I thought they threw the ball a lot more. My uncle played in high school and he was always an Ohio State fan. He wanted to go to Ohio State but couldn't. After doing a lot of research, I decided to go to Ohio State to make him proud."
There has actually been a lot of crossover in the recruiting of the two staffs. Wolfpack offensive tackle Derek Morris was once enrolled at Ohio State for a short time before leaving the school. Receiver Richard Washington initially committed to the Buckeyes before having a change of heart and signing with the Wolfpack. And freshman receiver DaJuan Morgan ended up at NC State, but only after strongly considering OSU.
This is scheduled to be the final game of a two-year home and home series between the two schools.
