The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 52

THE NEWS OBSERVER SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 24 1995 COLLEGE FOOTBALL OM Illinois 74 East Carolina 0 scs is ONO a tc Y1 tv ri 9 a tt a tc tv ri a it 0e ''-N 44 f--' iirc11'' 'vi-" i 0''' fty ri- 1 li-- 4- s'7 I e-i I o' 4 --I ')o i 4 'Ill'Isk twor )iff 1'''' '1'Ift'''It': IPt j4 i i' 4 45 I toti vf5: 7 01ii: 4 -i --1- '''''-'i -4 ''tes 4 i'" 7-- 47-'' '''4' 4p i i iis '-z: '-'4'' i tk -'-J4- i- i 1 v2 41- -'k 0 MOIMRIMOOMO East Carolina's Doren Hart (22) slows Illinois running back Robert Holcombe THE ASSOCIATED DRESS ECU defense does its job 12c Co On fir Duane down pa the next of Troy made hi "I tho when I ti complet yards ar wasn't started could great pi "I just I broke' little bit just thai They wc a fluke I are they How 4 The I all aftei ers Ric combin normal Rice passes and fot Hardy es battc five cluz "Our much I those lalow a someth frustrat Adde normal have vl today" The turnov( in the series "We stay in defens( coach team just on na bein pened second It wa a Stal bly In th 12c On first Duane the next of Troy made his "I when I completed yards and wasn't started could great "flust I broke" little bit just thank They a fluke are they How The all Rice combined normally Rice passes and four Hardy batted five "Our much those know a something frustrating Added normally have today" The turnovers in the series "We stay in defense coach team just one being seconds It was In a State's bly In the minds: a 7-0 loss "I say it was a 50-50 effort on our part because our objective was to hold them scoreless" said Cooper who missed the Liberty Bowl with an injured knee "And we gave up a touchdown" Even so ECU's defense swarmed around the ball all day Ten tackles were made behind the line of scrimmage Running back Robert Holcombe did rush for 130 yards but it took him 49 carries The Pirates forced Illinois to punt eight times "As long as we kept them on a long field we thought we could keep them out of the end zone" ECU coach Steve Logan said "Their offense they're kind of anemic Once they got the lead their whole theory was: Don't turn the ball over and let the defense win it" "We didn't win the game so I guess we didn't gain no respect" Burke said "We played hard but playing hard doesn't always win" ECU CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1C down Il lim cornerback Lyle tipped a potential touchdown pass away from Shannon On play Lyle stepped in front Smith on a slant route and third mtercepuot thought it was a touchdown threw it" said Crandell who 19 of 39 attempts for 178 three interceptions "He really in my vision when I throwing I didn't think he make that play It was just a play" saw a three-step drop and Lyle said "You know it's a luck a little bit planned I God we won that game were saying that last year was that we shut 'em out What going to say now?" about "touche?" Illinois defense dominated afternoon especially linebackers and Kevin Hardy Their pressure frazzled the stoic Crandell finished with a sack threL batted down three tackles quarterback pressures recorded a sack three passes down seven tackles and quarterback pressures passing game was pretty limited today because of two guys" Crandell said "I couple times I tried to make out of nothing It was a game for me" Logan "If we do what we do Simeon Rice would won the Heisman Trophy Pirates forced four but gained only 3 yards each of the four subsequent would not have been able to it if we hadn't been playing the way we were" Illinois Lou Tepper said after his improved to 2-2 "We were mistake from East Carolina in the game and that happened unfortunately in the last of the game" Hardy usually second fid Pack's sinking sink-or-swim setting NC football season proba- sank Saturday purest mathematical sense the dubiously his toric 14-0 loss -1 fl to Baylor ir Carter-Finley st Stadium did- n't quite elim- 4 mate the 1-3 1 Wolfpacl from making CALIM an eighth TUDOR straight post- season trip But the outcome and the manner in which it developed did answer most of the other questions about a team that was struggling to tread water even before the Baylor deluge arrived We know now for instance that State is not very sound in terms of mental toughness The game against Baylor loomed as a psychological crossroads from the moment State blew the lead late and lost to Virginia 29-24 on Sept 9 That dilemma was unavoidable given the way State's schedule was configured Virginia followed by Florida State Baylor Clemsol and Alabama The seeds of what sprouted Saturday were planted against Vir ginia It was there for everyone State's coaches and players included see and it clearly was their problem to correct Some of the players even discussed it after the Virginia loss They knew if they didn't respond against Baylor they would be cornered 'And now we are cornered" State defender Jon Rissler said "Now we've left ourselves no room for error" That is an almost impossible predicament for this team because errors and poor kidy ment have become its trademarks The Wolfpack hasn't displayed much discipline and maturity since even before the season Developing those traits at this point will be exceedingly difficult The one thing in State's favor at least in the short rut' is that Cavaliers end jinx by Tigers Groh Virginia set lofty goals THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CLEMSON SC Mike Groh may have chased away years of Death Valley demons but he and his teammates are chasing much bigger goals Groh ran for one touchdown and threw for one as the 11th-ranked vitinicom22 Cavaliers beat the Tigers 22-3 Clemsonom3 winning at Clemson's Memorial Stadium for the first time in 19 games "Right now this team has a lot of goals as far as the season goes" said Groh who ended with 171 yards and a put-the-game-away 76-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Jeffers "Winning at Clemson was not at the top of the fist winning a lot of games was" After Groh's 1-yard dive and Tilu Barber's twisting 11-yard touchdown in the first quarter Virginia sat back and watched the Tigers (1-2 ACC 2-2 overall fall victim to the same strange phenomena that plagued the Cavaliers since 1956 Clemson quarterback Nealon Greene twice lost fumbles in the second half with no defender close The Tigers were called for 11 penalties several in crucial situations And just when Clemson seemed to grab momentum after Jeff Sauve's 27-yard field goal in the third quarter Groh struck for his score to Jeffers to put the game away Barber closed with 27 carries for 111 yards his fourth game with more than 100 yards this season Virginia (3-0 4-1) spent years wondering just when it would win at Clemson since the teams first met on Nov 24 1956 The closest the Cavaliers had come was a 20-20 tie in 1991 But this week Virginia coach George Welsh drilled his players with confidence Welsh said he never not once talked about Virginia's 0-17-1 Death Valley record coming in "We've broken all the curses and all the jinxes that all the media have put on us" he said Virginia 22 Clemson 3 Clem 21 52-180 213 48 19-362 4-38 32 12-74 35 10 First downs Rushes lards Passing Return Yards CompAttInt Punts Fumbles-Lost Pena Ities-Yards Time of Possession Virginia Clemson 14 36-132 171 14 9-20-1 8-41 1-0 3-43 24 50 12 0 10 0-27 0 0 3 0-3 Scoring summary First: 1 run (kick blocked) 11 run (kick failed) Third: Souse 27 76 pass from Grob (Garcia kick) Garcia 30 Individual statistics Rushing! Virginia Timber 27111 Medley 6-19 Grob 32 Clemson Priester 27111 ESmith 1046 Wyati 112 Greene 137 RBrown 1-4 Passing: Virginia Grob 920-1171 Clemson Greene 19362213 Receiving: Virginia Jeffers 4-112 Derey 331 ()Allen 228 Clemson Wyatt 682 MAllen 5-23 Priester 422 Home 3-77 Crooks 19 AREA ROUNDUP Western Carolina 31 The Citadel 14: Mark Howell ran for two touchdowns and Western Carolina's defense stymied The Citadel's wishbone The Bulldogs (2-2) managed just 248 yards of offense its worst performance ever against the Catamounts (2-1) in the 20-game series At the same time Western Carolina's 223 yards rushing marked the first time it had outrushed The Citadel After Citadel quarterback Stanley Myers scored on a 6-yard run in the first quarter to cap a 69-yard drive the Bulldogs gained just 47 yards and two first downs in its next four possessions Howell's first touchdown was on a fourth-and-goal at The Citadel 1 with 2:01 left in the half His second score was a 52-yard dash with 2:51 to play Chad Greene accounted for Western Carolina's next two scores to pot the game away He hit David Patten on a 51-yard scoring play midway through the third quarter then added a 4-yard run with 1:44 left in the period Emory Henry 32 Davidson JD Davis ran for 197 yards and two touchdowns and Andy Stanley rushed for two more scores Davis carried 22 times and scored on runs of 42 and 2 yards while Stanley added 2- and 7-yard touchdown runs for the Wasps (3-0) Davidson is 1-2 Carson-Newman 29 Elon 8: Quarterback Matt Penland scored two touchdowns in the South Atlantic Conference victory Eagles kicker Bryan Standfest added two field goals to Penland's 6- and 3- yard touchdown rushes giving Carson-Newman (3-1 2-0) a 20-0 lead at the half FROM WIRE REPORTS First downs Rushes lords Possing Return Yotdr CompAtt Int Punts Fumbles' ost PenottiesVords Time or Possession 9 2459 178 41 19-393 1137 8-46 73:16 15 55150 144 45 1322-3 8-38 1-1 5-31 36:44 Minot 0 0 0 0-0 0 7 0 0-7 kennel summer) Second 11--Holcombe 1 tin (Scheupinin kick) 955 Drive: 10 ploys 38 yaras 5:00 Key play: Hardy sacks Crandell forces fumble recovered I of ECU 38 individual leaders Rushing: ECU: McPhail 1947 rondos' 4 4 Galloway 1-1 Illinois: Hokombn 1 0 Weaver 1-4 Johnson 4 14 Passing: ECU: Cronder 1 J9 llin Johnson 10-162 121 Wars Receiving: ECU: McPhail Ris anon J62 Galloway 3-32 Richards 3- 17 Ni 4 limo Dulick 7-56 Fisher 5 1 4 4copr Tackles: ECU: Dot Hod 11 rurke I Coapc Foreman 6 Libiana 8 8 Washington 7 Hardy A-60545 Player of the Game: Entire Mini telense which held the ECU offense to '15 total yn 4' 66 words on the final drios Play of the Game: With secondandgoal from the Illinois 7 and :30 remaining Crandell had on open Troy Smith on a slant Out of nowhere come the Illini Duane Lyle intercepting his third pass of the game Next week: ECU hosts West Virginia at noon at DowdyFicklen Stadium in Greenville die to Rice who helped create the game's only point' He blindsided Crandell in the second quarter forcing a fumble that lineman Mi kid Johnson pounced on "That sucker was misaligned" Logan said of Hardy's sack "He was screwed up as a Christmas turkey and came running off the edge late and no one identified where he was" The Mini offense booed repeatedly by the 60545 at Memorial Sta dium plodded 38 yards in five minutes before Robert Holcombe went off left tackle for a 1-yard touch down run hoicombe was tne Illini's offensive yeoman carrying a school-record 49 times for 130 yards But again it was the Illinois defense that prevented East Carolina from exacting its revenge "Man that's the best defense we've played in a long time" said running back Jerris McPhail who finished with a tough 40 yards on 19 carries season but fast Clemson should arrive Saturday in a similar jam But one win won't stop the Pack's bleeding a this point It'll take two meanint a win over Clemson and a wn at Alabama the following Ateek ir order for State tt re-establish what it thognt was there a moittL ago But there's more wrong with the Wolfpack than the problems of lack of leadership and concentration Quarterback Terry Harvey fully battered struggled to stay in the game after halftime against Baylor and that's before he has to face the Clemson and Alabama defenses back-to-back of course "He was playing on guts" offensive lineman Steve Keim said Couple that situation with the fact that State coach Mike O'Cain said he didn't think at halftime that a win would have been possible without Harvey in the game and the offensive unit's liabilities are painfully obvious O'Cain said as early as June that a completely healthy Harvey would be a must through the first six games Now O'Cain has to be concerned about Harvey's ability to make it that far After Alabama State gets a week off before and after Duke on Oct 21 Second-string quarterback Jose Laureano can be put on a fast-forward pace during that period but not before Harvey's health is not the only problem The running backs aren't producing as hoped The offensive line has been banged up and the backups haven't responded Entering the last weekend in September State not only is without a win over a Division I-A opponent it has scored only five rushing touchdowns in four games It comes down to this: None of the numbers are adding as State had hoped The team envisioned at worse a 3-3 split through the first six games and then a five-game win streak Duke Maryland Georgia Tech Wake Forest and UNC to end the year Right now 2-4 appears a diffitult goal and 24 teams usually do not win five straight under any circuit' stances Pirates stymie Illinois offense BY RICK DORSE)t STAFF WRITER CHAMPAIGN III East Carolina was hoping its best offense would be its defense Saturday and 't nearly was The Pirates' defense not to be outdone by the better known Illinois contingent created the necessary havoc to frustrate the Illini's offense ECU intercepted three passes by quarterbacks Johnny Johnson and Scott Weaver and forced a fumble on the game's second play Illinois could muster only 256 total yards on 16 possessions At the Liberty Bowl in December Johnson dissected the Pirates for 250 yards passing and four touchdowns He was 10-of-16 for 121 yards NCSU CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1C Terry Harvey pulled a groin muscle and gamely gutted his way through the final 30 minutes The Pack had wanted to use more option plays after intermissionbut junked the idea with Harey nobbling So while the defense "played well enough to win" in O'Cain's opinion the offense kept butting its heaa against a Baylor wall We were kind of looking at each other wondering why nothing was working" offensive guard Steve Keim said "I just couldn't understand what was happening out there It confuses me" State got a big break at the beginning of the fourth period when fresh man Bobbie Cotten intercepted a pass and returned it to the Baylor 46 But another pass was dropped and State bogged down again While the gloomy wet weather wasn't what State wanted Baylor's players seemed to enjoy it "Last night we talked about the weather and we prayed for some thing like this" linebacker Gary Bandy said "We loved it We knew it would be a physical smash-mouth game that's right up our alley" Baylor's Jerod Douglas twisted turned and darted for 90 yards and caught five passes for 52 And quarterback Jeff Watson completed 11 of 20 tosses for 130 yards "Our defense played well enough to win" State's Harvey said "When you give up 14 points you should get it done" Piii 'OCtIN'' '4'' )0'i 1 34'''l tr it and two interceptions Saturday "They don't have that explosion on the deep threat like they had at the Liberty Bowl" ECU linebacker Mark Libiano said "They didn't beat us by gashing the ball they beat us on some big plays We handled that well today "It's a total team loss" Libiano said "You'can't blame it on the offense you can't blame it on the defense I think our defense matured a lot more this week and when our offense gets rolling there's going to be some great games" Among the unsung heroes who gave the offense a chance to win were safety David Hart who had 11 tackles including three for losses and linebacker Marvin Burke who had seven tackles and a sack Cornerback Hank Cooper had seven tackles two interceptions and two passes stopped But the result is what weighs heaviest on many of tne players' Bears saw Pack's 'fear' By CHIP ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER RALEIGH Maybe it was the rain and the cold Maybe the fallout from Florida State was worse than expected Maybe it was Terry Harvey's pulled groin muscle or the dropped passes or the fumbled punts Or maybe just maybe Baylor simply is a better football team than NC State Whatever the Wolfpack is 1-3 after a 14-0 beating by the Bears in a game Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium that left the Pack tired wet angry miserable and desperately seeking some answers "We're setting all sorts of records this season but for all the wrong reasons" said senior guard Steve Reim "That's a horrible feeling" Horrible? Check out State's offensive stats: seven first downs 24 yards rushing 138 yards total That's horrible "We thought they'd come at us with smash-mouth football today" Baylor linebacker La Curtis Jones said "We thought that fullback would be one of the biggest challenges of the year He was soft And No 20 all the coaches thought he was so good He was soft" That's Wolfpack fullback Rod Brown who had 6 meager yards on five carries and tailback Tremayne Stephens who was held to 30 yards on 13 attempts "Surmised me too" said senior defensive end Daryl Gardener a 6- foot-7 315-pound senior "They looked like they had fear in their hearts It was like they were in shock" When did Gardener sense that "From the first play" he said "You can look into a man's eyes and tell if there's fear You don't expect that in somebody else's house" The Pack's offense was so inept that its only first down in the first half came on consecutive offside penalties against the Bears just before halftime State's longest play in the half was a 5-yard run by Stephens Baylor's Anthony Hodge finds the end zone STAFF PHOTO BY ROBERT WILLETT "I didn't know that" Harvey said shaking his head "We feel like we have a great offense but we didn't show it today I guess we showed some holes in our offense but that's football" Harvey who gamely played the second half with the groin injury admitted his mobility was limited The Pack basically scratched its option game he said And the passing game was strictly hit and miss mostly miss "I threw some bad ones" he said "Then when I did get 'em there we couldn't make the plays We couldn't keep the chains moving" But Harvey refused to use the rainy raw conditions as an excuse "The element was Baylor not the weather" he said "We just didn't execute We didn't have any consistency We just didn't get it done" Baylor which allowed some big plays in a loss to Mississippi State last week didn't give up any on Saturday "Our defensive front dominated" Baylor defensive coordinator Andy McCollum said "The first thing we had to do was stop the run and we did that And the effort was there for all four quarters" Gardener said the Bears also came into the game stewing over a few comments spotted in the local newspapers including Baylor's defense being compared with Virginia's "It said we weren't a top-notch Southwest Conference team" Gardener said "Defensively we took it to say we were slow and not that physical "Hey we're not Virginia We have more speed than Virginia" Bay lok 14 NC State 0 BU NCS First down 18 7 Rushes-yard 60-224 20-24 Passing yards 130 114 Return Yards -6 92 Comp-Alt-Int 11-20-1 12-31-2 Punts 6-38 9-36 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 4-1 Penalties-Yards 7-46 3-20 Time of Possession 41:31 1829 NC State 0 0 0 0 0 Scoring summary First: 15-ID run (Van Dyke kick) 6:33 Drive: 8 plays 42 yards key Play: State offside on 4th and 2 at State 34 Second: 1 ID run (Van Dyke kick) 7:03 Drive: 7 plays 42 yards Key plays: Douglas two 21-yord runs Individual statistics Rushing: Baylor Douglas 19-90 Hodge 19-67 Washington 17-48 Watson 4-17 NC State Stephens 13-30 Passing: Baylor Watson 11-20-1-130 NC State Harvey 12-31-2-114o Receiving: Baylor Douglas 5-52 Demnord 2-20 Washington 2-16 NC State Addis 3-36 Halt 3-23 Brown 2-8 A-39950 Players of the Game Boylor's defense Ploy of the Game NC State quarterback pulled a hamstring with :27 left in the first half forcing the Wolfpack to junk its option attack plans in the second half Next gams: State host Clemson next Saturday at 1 pm 4.