North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Amato, Pack Bracing for FSU Visit
10/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. No one knows better than Chuck Amato what kind of dazzling speed, talent and athleticism will be coming this way on Thursday night. For most of the 18 years he spent as an assistant coach under
And although FSU no longer overwhelms ACC opponents the way it once did in the early and mid-90s, the overall talent quotient in Tallahassee hasn’t really waned that much.
“Every year they have one of the top five recruiting classes in
They have won to the tune of 164 victories since 1990, five more than any other Division one school over that period, a stretch that has included a pair of national titles. Since joining the ACC 14 years ago,
Needless to say, a victory over the Seminoles every now and then is worthy of a feather in the cap’ for most schools. Interestingly, no program north of
Clearly,
Amato knows
But he also scoffs at the notion that his intimate knowledge of the FSU program has given him an edge in these matchups. Amato also insists that the Pack’s recent success in the series will mean nothing when the two teams face off again Thursday night (
“You know what? That goes both ways because they know me too,” Amato said. “It sure didn’t help that first time we played them up here seven years ago when they took our pants down in front of 50,000 people and spanked us.”
To be precise, that spanking in the woodshed resulted in a 52-14
Since that night, however, the Wolfpack has recovered to win three of the last five meetings, including two in
Those story lines were too good for ESPN to pass up. On Thursday, the all sports network’s announcers Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will no doubt chronicle the Amato-Bowden connection and the competitiveness of this series.
Amato wishes he had the ability to bottle whatever magic the Pack has produced in recent years and unleash it again on Thursday night. But after doing hours of film study on this year’s Florida State team and carefully breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of his own club, he realizes that what happened in 2001, 2002 and last year won’t in the words of Humphrey Bogart “amount to a hill of beans” on Thursday.
“What’s happened in the past is history,” Amato said on Monday. “There are two new teams playing this year.”
Two new teams that are seemingly at a crossroads.
On that same day, NC State was 46 seconds away from falling to 1-3 before Daniel Evans pulled of heroics not normally reserved for quarterbacks making their first college start. Needing only 41 of those seconds to drive the Wolfpack 72 yards, Evans hit receiver John Dunlap with a game-saving scoring pass that stunned
Packs fans left Carter-Finley Stadium in a celebratory mood that night, not wanting to even ponder their team’s plight had Evans not pulled off the improbable finish.
“He won that game in 46 seconds and that will always be remembered,” Amato said. “But the game was 60 minutes long. He was so sharp in those plays. He did a lot of things that went unnoticed in the other parts of the game, but it was his first start. To play the No. 20 team in the country and stick in there the way he did was really good. We’ve been building on that and we’ll see what happens.”
“We’ll be tested this week in a lot of areas because we’re going to play the fastest, strongest and quickest defensive line we’ve faced to this point,” said Amato. “That’s all seven, not just the front four.”
And no one knows that any better than he does.
Blackman Update: Out since injuring his right knee on the opening kick off at
“It’s probably going to be a game day decision,” Amato said. “I hope it’s as good as the decision was last week with A.J. [
After missing most of the first three games with a pulled hamstring, cornerback A.J. Davis played well in his return against
The Pack will be short one outside linebacker on Thursday night. James Martin is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on a wrist injury he sustained against B.C.
