North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Wolfpack Rolls "Lucky Seven" at Florida State
11/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 6, 2005
By Tony Haynes
Tallahassee, Florida - To Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford, it must have looked like NC State had 15 defenders on the field. His first glimpse came on one of FSU's initial drives of Saturday's game against the Wolfpack. The Seminoles' redshirt freshman quarterback retreated into the pocket, looked downfield and saw nothing but a sea of white jerseys. What he saw, but probably couldn't comprehend, was a new defense that featured seven defensive backs. The new scheme, put in place by head coach Chuck Amato and his defensive staff this week, helped the Pack secure a stunning 20-15 victory over the 9th ranked `Noles on Saturday night at Doak Campbell Stadium.
The win, NC State's first over a top 10 team since another memorable triumph in Tallahassee back in 2001, left open the distinct possibility that the Wolfpack (4-4) may indeed end up playing in a bowl game after all. In a jubilant Pack lockerroom after the game, representatives from three different bowl games offered their congratulations to Amato.
Now really, who would have thought that scene possible when the Pack trailed Southern Mississippi 14-0 in the third quarter last week? After roaring back to win that game 21-17, a strident, confident NC State team walked into one of college football's most intimidating venues on Saturday afternoon and played like a club that fully expected to beat the Seminoles again.
And the operative word is `again.'
Coming in, the Wolfpack was the only ACC team to have whipped FSU three times since Bobby Bowden's program joined the league in 1992.
Make that four, now. Also, make it two victories in Tallahassee. No other ACC team can claim even one.
For 18 years, Amato - then a Florida State assistant coach -- sat, listened and learned from one of his coaching mentors, the venerable Bowden. Now since returning to NC State, his record against the old boss is 3-3. And every time these two teams meet, it seems as though the Wolfpack has a new gimmick that confounds the Seminoles.
In this particular case, it was the seven defensive backs package. Employing three down linemen, one linebacker and seven DBs in obvious passing situations, NC State had Weatherford looking like a redshirt freshman that he is instead of a player who was the ACC leader in passing and total offense.
Finishing 19-of-38 for 181 yards, Weatherford had three huge interceptions that turned the tide in NC State's favor after halftime. Two of the picks were made by redshirt junior A.J. Davis before a third, this one by Garland Heath, salted the game away when FSU was trying to drive for a game-winning touchdown.
All three interceptions came when there were seven defensive backs on the field.
"I wanted to do this because I just had some thoughts about some things," Amato responded when asked about the surprising strategy. "It really worked well. We had three tall people going after the quarterback that can really get after people. I thought it could work well, I really did. Our kids executed it, and that's the whole thing."
And Florida State's Greg Carr, the speedy 6-6 receiver who leads the ACC in touchdown receptions? He had zero catches against the Pack's well-conceived bracketing zone coverages.
Of course, it didn't hurt the Pack's cause when Florida State all but abandoned its running game after NC State jumped out to a 20-10 lead in the third quarter. After picking up just 27 yards on 15 carries in the opening half, the Seminoles would run the football only eight more times in the second half.
"I was so concerned about them running the football on us," said Amato. "It sounds crazy when you're playing the number one passing team in the league and you say that you have to stop the run to beat them. But I really felt strong about that."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, NC State was getting another monster game from freshman running back Andre Brown, who backed up last week's 248 yard eruption with 179 yards on 26 carries against FSU. If it was Florida State's intention to take Brown away early in the game and force quarterback Marcus Stone to do the heavy lifting, it didn't show. On the Pack's second play from scrimmage, Brown sent a lightning bolt through Doak Campbell Stadium with a 65-yard run that gave NC State a quick 7-0 advantage.
From there, the tone was set for the NC State defense to let it all hang out.
For Florida State, third and long meant that sea of white jerseys in the secondary. And even though NC State was rushing only three in those situations, all-world defensive ends Mario Williams and Manny Lawson still managed to rush Weatherford and briefly used back-up Xavier Lee into the type of throws that are normally reserved for Florida State's opponents.
"Every time we ran the ball we'd end up with second and long," Bowden said. "They did a great job and had a great scheme. When they play a scheme like that, they force you to execute. They say, `okay, we're going to give you time to throw the football, but we're going to have so many guys back, you better throw it straight.' They did a better job of executing their part of it than we did of executing ours."
FSU converted just 2-of-16 third downs and was forced to punt a total nine times. Those are not the sort of numbers one would expect from a team that had been leading the ACC in total offense with an average of 444 yards per game.
But maybe the Seminoles hadn't seen many ends like Mario Williams and Manny Lawson, or a heat-seeking missile of a linebacker like Stephen Tulloch. And one thing they had definitely not seen before Saturday was the unexpected wrinkle that threw their big-play offense so off kilter.
It was a roll of the dice by Amato and company that truly turned into a "Lucky 7."
