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Wolfpack, Jackets under spotlight
By Tim Peeler, Special to CNNSI.com The whole country will get a chance to find out whether N.C. State freshman quarterback Philip Rivers and his undefeated Wolfpack teammates are for real Thursday night when N.C. State hosts Georgia Tech. It's a nationally televised contest that both coaches hope will answer some of the questions that have come up about their teams. Can the 18-year-old Rivers, who is second in the nation in total offense and leads the ACC with his freshman record-setting 10 touchdown passes, perform in the pressure of a conference games? So far, he has put up big numbers against a non-conference schedule that wasn't highly regarded to begin with. Will Georgia Tech run over the Wolfpack defense, which pitched a shutout last weekend against SMU, but has a history of giving up big rushing yardage to the Yellow Jackets? In five straight wins over N.C. State, Tech has averaged 242 yards on the ground. Can Tech go from stopping the wishbone, which it saw against Navy on Saturday, to stopping the nation's most proficient passing team in only five days? The Wolfpack is averaging 376.3 yards in the air. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, is last in the ACC in passing defense, giving up an average of 303 passing yards in three games. "It's not such a problem getting ready to play Thursday as it is getting ready for the type of team State is," Tech head coach George O'Leary said. "We just finished playing a running team [Navy] and now we've got to play a team that throws it about 50 times a game." First-year N.C. State coach Chuck Amato savors the opportunity to showcase his team, which has been the talk of the league not so much because it won three games over teams it was favored to beat anyway, but for its style of play. In three games, the Wolfpack have put up huge numbers. If it happens again Thursday, Amato and his team could be headed for a special season, like the one Dick Sheridan had in 1986, when he inherited a 3-8 team and produced an 8-3-1 record.
Warmed heartNothing makes an old man feel good about his team like a good blowout.That's what Florida State, which had not impressed Bobby Bowden very much in its first two games, gave their veteran coach Saturday afternoon against North Carolina. It was, in fact, a total domination. The 63-14 victory warmed the ol' tee-totaller up like a nip of brandy. "I feel better about our team after the North Carolina game," Bowden said after the game. "If it had ended up 29-13 or something I would say there is something missing. "This group might not let themselves get beat, but they don't know how to put the game away. At least I saw we could do that." Bowden even saw some life in his rushing game, which gained 194 yards, its highest total in 17 games. One thing that didn't make Bowden feel good was watching his kickers miss three extra points in the game. The three kickers Bowden has used so far have already missed more PATs than Sebastian Janikowski missed in his three years as FSU's kicker. Bowden tried the aptly named Chance Gwaltney on the first two attempts, which he missed, then gave freshman Brett Cimorelli a chance. He missed one also. This week against Louisville, Bowden will give the job back to junior Matt Munyon, who has made five of his six PAT attempts in the Seminoles' first two games.
Road warriorsSo far, Clemson has been pretty comfortable, rolling up big numbers in easy victories over the Citadel (38-0), Missouri (62-9) and Wake Forest (55-7).This weekend, however, the Tigers will find out how they handle life on the road when they travel to Virginia. "I think our players understand that the stakes have now gone up, but until Saturday we will not know if they know how to respond," said Tigers coach Tommy Bowden. "In the process of establishing respect for our program we have to be able to beat good teams on the road. We will not be a good team until we can do that." The Tigers were 2-2 on the road in ACC games in 1999, Bowden's first year as head coach, and 0-4 in 1998 in Tommy West's last year as head coach.
Unfixed LeakPerhaps Wake Forest coach Jim Caldwell will admit that he was silly to think that sophomore quarterback C.J. Leak would make it through the season unscathed. The coach hoped to use Leak to guide the Demon Deacons all the time, at least until sophomore James MacPherson returned from arthroscopic knee surgery in the spring.Instead, when the highly touted Leak suffered a dislocated knee against Clemson, Caldwell had to rush freshman Anthony Young into the game. The coach had hoped to redshirt Young and had not played him in the first two games. Now, with Leak out for the season, the offense has been handed over to Young. Young, who directed Wake's only scoring drive in the 55-7 loss, was also disappointed that he was forced into action. "I wanted to redshirt and get a year up under me so I could get bigger and stronger," Young said after the game. "But they told me what the scenario was, and if it happened like that, I was going to have to play. That's what I'm going to have to live with. There's no way around it, and there's no way I can change it."
Another official complaintAdd Maryland to the list of teams whining about ACC officials. The Terps thought several calls went against them in Saturday's loss to West Virginia and coach Ron Vanderlinden put together a videotape of plays that he thought were questionable. Wonder if he put in the one where his offensive lineman grabbed quarterback Calvin McCall and dragged him into the end zone?That should have been a 15-yard penalty, but it wasn't called. Maybe the Terps should refocus their energy on developing a rushing game, which would have negated the need for four downs inside the 10-yard line on the possession in question. You certainly don't see LaMont Jordan's name pop up on any Heisman hopeful lists anymore, but at least he's got 100 yards now. That's 100 yards on 40 carries in two games, with an average of 2.5 yards per carry. Most of the blame has been placed on the Maryland offensive line, which replaced two starters from the unit that helped the Terps lead the ACC in rushing last year. But it couldn't have helped that Jordan, a notoriously slow starter anyway, missed all of spring and much of fall practice trying to get his academics in order. "I never thought [this] would happen," Jordan said. "It is not something that ever crossed my mind. I was expecting to be in the top five [in the nation] in rushing." Tim Peeler covers the ACC for the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record. Check back every Wednesday afternoon for his latest CNNSI.com insider.
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