Tony Haynes: Close Doesn?t Cut It For Pack

By Tony Haynes

Raleigh, N.C. If NC State had been playing horseshoes for the last eight weeks, its won-loss record might look more satisfying. But this is football and being close doesn’t count for very much.

In the midst of a three game losing skid that has put its bowl hopes in serious jeopardy, the Wolfpack (3-5, 2-3) has become the poster child for those who subscribe to the belief that “it’s not whether you win or lose that’s important, but rather how you play the game.”

While a nice sentiment, it’s not one that coach Chuck Amato and his players necessarily believe in. They didn’t feel good after losing by two points to Wake Forest three Saturday’s ago. A six-point defeat to Maryland didn’t feel any better the next week. Saturday’s narrow seven-point loss at Virginia was just as bitter.

“The desire of these young men is still there, and when you have desire it means you’re not afraid of hard work,” Amato said on Monday. “The attitude is there. The belief is there. The won’t quit’ is there. No one wants to win more than these young men. I hate it for the fans. But I hate it more for our players. The players hate it for [the fans]. Our fans will show up on Saturday night. Our players know that our fans are going to show up and our fans know that our players are going to show up.”

Georgia Tech will also show up. At 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the ACC, the Yellow Jackets can move to within just one win of clinching the Coastal Division title and a spot in the ACC Championship game by beating NC State on Saturday. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.

But perhaps Tech’s national ranking is a positive omen for NC State, which has won its last four games over nationally ranked opponents, including victories over Boston College and Florida State this season.

Since celebrating a 24-20 win over the Seminoles on October 5^th, the Wolfpack has come up short in its quest to taste that winning feeling again. The losses to Wake Forest, Maryland, and Virginia followed similar scripts. In all three games, the Wolfpack had either penalties and turnovers at critical times and struggled to get anything going offensively in the first quarter.

Since scoring nine points in the first quarter of the season opener against Appalachian State, the Pack has been shutout in the opening period of six of the last seven games. The only exception was a first quarter field goal against Boston College on September 23.

In the last two games, the scoring drought has continued into the second quarter as the Pack went into halftime with a big goose egg on the board against both Maryland and Virginia.

It’s almost as if NC State has been allergic to the end zone the last two games. In Charlottesville on Saturday, the Wolfpack put together a steady 13-play drive late in the second quarter, but came away with nothing when kick John Deraney hooked a 33-yard field goal wide left.

“We’ve got to score more points,” Amato said emphatically. “It has nothing to do with play calling. It has to do with penalties. In the first quarter we had two illegal procedure penalties and a holding penalty. How about the first drive? We have third and three at the 46 yard line and we drop a pass. It reminded me of the game against Wake Forest. We had third down and we dropped a pass. Plays have to be executed.”

Since Daniel Evans took over at quarterback five games ago, the Wolfpack has moved the ball better, but hasn’t always done a good job taking advantage of its output. In conference games only, NC State is ranked third in the league in total offense (316 yards per game), yet ranks 10^th in scoring (18.2 ppg.).

But perhaps the biggest difference between NC State and the other teams that are still in contention for division titles is simple: turnovers.

Minus-10 in turnover margin through eight games, the Wolfpack is ranked 11^th in the 12-team ACC. Not coincidently, the two teams that are perhaps in the best position to win their respective division titles Boston College and Georgia Tech are ranked 1-2 in the turnover margin category. The Eagles lead with a plus-10, while the Yellow Jackets are plus-nine.

To take that a step further, Boston College’s improving defense has forced a total of 23 turnovers in eight games. Georgia Tech has 18 takeaways.

And NC State? The Wolfpack has been on the receiving in of only six turnovers by its opponents. Nine times the opposition has dropped the ball against NC State and recovered its own fumble six of those times. Virginia, which played a turnover-free game against the Pack on Saturday, dropped the ball twice and recovered both times.

“Could you imagine if we would have gotten just half of those?” Amato asked. “In the Florida State game we had more people around it than they did and the ball got knocked back to them (twice in the fourth quarter). We work on it; we work on the attitude of it. This week we’re going to actually keep score of turnovers in every single drill that we do. You look at the ACC stats and that turnover margin is probably the most important stat that there is. Look at the teams that lead it and see what their records are and look at the teams that aren’t and look at what their records are on turnovers. We do everything we can to work on it.”

During its three-game losing streak, NC State has gotten only one turnover, a fumble by Maryland on a second half kick off return. In its three wins, the Wolfpack has a turnover margin of minus-one, and has actually won the turnover battle just once when it finished plus-one in the victory over Florida State.

In the five losses, the Pack has turned the ball over nine more times than its opponents.

In the Pack’s case, the difference in winning and losing close games the last three weeks is quite clear. To bad this isn’t horseshoes.

Where’s Leroy? Chris Long, Virginia’s relentless defensive end, looked a lot like his Hall of Fame father in the first quarter on Saturday. The son of former Raider Howie Long was in the Wolfpack backfield so much that you wondered if he might end up in the offensive huddle. But the disruption didn’t last, thanks in part to Leroy Harris, who moved from center to left guard. Because Virginia plays a 3-4 scheme, Harris was often responsible for keeping Long at bay.

“That Long kid is a special football player,” Amato said. “We made a move the other day and we put our special football player in front of him. You didn’t see [Long] much after that. That doesn’t mean our guy always won and he didn’t. That’s two great players that will be playing in that other league.”

Harris has actually played center, guard and tackle this season, but has spent most of his time over the ball. Luke Lathan, who was listed as the starting center before suffering a concussion during the preseason, played a season-high 53 snaps at Virginia, which allowed Harris to make his move to guard.

Amato said he’ll take a close look at a variety of combinations on the offensive line this week in practice.

Noon Start for Clemson Game: It was announced on Monday that NC State’s Nov. 11 game at Clemson will begin at noon. The ACC/Lincoln Financial JP Network will air the game live.

 

North Carolina State University Athletics

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