North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes:: Wolfpack, Cavaliers Rely On Young QBs
10/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TONY HAYNES
RALEIGH The last time NC State and Virginia met in football, senior quarterbacks Philip Rivers and Matt Schaub put on a dazzling aerial display that produced a total of 88 points, 996 total yards and 11 touchdowns.
With Rivers hitting 29-of-34 passes for 410 yards and four touchdowns, the Pack finally prevailed 51-37 in one of the wildest shootouts ever played at Carter-Finley Stadium. Schaub countered with 393 yards on a 41-of-55 passing touch.
“I have the coaches critique which we use to look at a year later to see what we might have done differently,” said NC State head coach Chuck Amato. “It had been three years and I brought that one out. We must have blitzed more in that game than in any two games combined. We couldn’t get to him and they couldn’t get to Philip. When you did it, they’d just hit the open man anyway.”
Since that November night in 2003, however, both teams have struggled to fill the substantial shoes of two gun-slinging signal callers who now make a living playing on Sundays.
When the Wolfpack (3-4, 2-2) and Cavaliers (3-5, 2-2) face off for the first time in three years Saturday in Charlottesville (12-noon), a pair of young, promising quarterbacks will be trying to keep their respective teams in the hunt for bowl games.
The keys to the NC State offense have been turned over to redshirt sophomore Daniel Evans. Since taking over for Marcus Stone four games ago, the
But let’s put that into perspective. In that 51-37 game three years ago, NC State piled up a whopping 553 yards of total offense. So far this season, the Wolfpack has yet to trip the 350-yard plateau.
The growing pains have been similar for
Redshirt freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell, an athletic lefthander, has gotten better and better in his five starts, and as a result, the Cavaliers have become a more improved team offensively. In his most recent outing, Sewell went 17-of-25 for 166 yards in a 23-0 win over
“[Sewell] has improved and improved,” said Chuck Amato. “He’s a quarterback who can hurt you with his feet, but he’s also got a cannon for an arm. As the games have gone on they’ve added more called runs for the quarterback, which presents another problem.”
And while Evans and Sewell have given their respective teams hope for not only the rest of the year but the future as well, neither is yet capable of taking on the type of wide-open offensive packages that made Rivers and Schaub so lethal back in 2003.
Still, coaches Al Groh of Virginia and Amato know what it’s like to coach record-breaking quarterbacks. Like the fans of the two schools, both coaches were spoiled by the overall excellence of Rivers and Schaub three years ago.
“Football has turned into almost a one position game,” Amato said. “If our [quarterback] is better than yours, we’ve got a little better chance. If they’re both even, then you can have a fling out there like we did against
Groh, who has developed a close friendship with Amato over the years, spent a number of falls coaching at the pro level before returning to his Alma Mater six seasons ago. The former head coach of the New York Jets agrees with Amato, saying that it’s tough to win big without a solid player at the quarterback position.
“The game is truly a quarterback driven game right now,” Groh said. “If you’ve got real performance at that spot you’re going to score a lot of points. Really, your quarterback has to be on every week.”
Evans and Sewell continue to feel their way through the process. In his first two starts, Evans directed come back victories over
In the 26-20 defeat to the Terps, Evans made his share of positive plays, but also threw a pair of second half interceptions.
Sewell’s apprenticeship has also included a few rough spots that have begun to smooth out as he’s become more and more comfortable with his surroundings. In the last few weeks, he’s done a little less thinking and a lot more reacting. The result has been a quarterback who has appeared to be a little more instinctive.
“He’s just had a little more awareness to game situations,” said Groh. “In the beginning with young quarterbacks, they’re just thinking more about the play. We still have some issues with getting the play called the way it was signaled in from the sideline, which can be a source of some irritation. To go beyond that, when a player has a quick enough grasp and recall of the play, he can really size up the situation. He’s directed a couple of real good two-minute drives the last couple of weeks and those are indications that he’s now able to think bigger than just the play and fit the situation in and around things also.”
Back in 2003, Rivers played just a little bit better than Schaub, which ultimately spelled the difference. On Saturday, a pair of young quarterbacks will be looking to out-duel the other in a game that has high stakes for both teams.
With 2-2 records in conference play, both NC State and Virginia know that desperation time has arrived.
“Every win from here on out is important, but
