Winston-Salem Journal du lieu suivant : Winston-Salem, North Carolina • 38

2 PAGE C4 WINSTON SALEM JOURNAL Saturday November 4 2000 COLLEGE OOTBALL NC State will continue its pursuit of the oj unexpected today and North Carolina will Insimply seek survival uJJv'And both must win on the road to succeed in their quests i i1' NC State will play Maryland in College i rarK in searcn or Doth a winning and bowl eligibility in 1 1 Coach Chuck first sea i Both were considered un likely in August but team has thrived by winning grC0Se 8as i UNC will carry a four game losing streak into its game at One more loss means a guaranteed losing re Il cord the second consecutive for 1 1 the Tar Heels and no bowl game And another losing sea jLson could lead to the firing of ItoQoach Carl Torbush Also today Clemson will chal iv lenge lorida State's reign in the ACC in Tallahassee in the second meeting of Coach tn Bobby Bowden of SU and his son Tommy 7'the coach yd Today NC State must forget last Jr 58 14 loss to SU if it is to resume its surprising success A)ii confidence running I Jn back Ray Robinson said makes us want to go out there and play even harder Even I on the sideline we say be 1 Oj cause its about pride right now wfi NC State is 5 2 overall and 2 2 in the i a ACC and Maryland is 4 4 and 2 3 I mi fortunes still depend on the i nstrong legs of LaMont Jordan its senior I i tailback and that could mean trouble for NC State defense has struggled to i stop the run all season and in the past four games opponents have generated 897 yards rushing including 324 by SU i el" Jordan has not had a stellar season after i ihmissing practice in August because of aca i ludemie questions about his eligibility but he is still a force as Duke discovered last week Duke held Jordan to 32 yards on 1 8 of his 21 carries But on the other three he amassed 126 yards and scored two touch downs one on a dash of 77 yards guy jumping on his back is not going to bring him Amato said seems to get better as the weather gets cooler I hope 85 Opposing defenses seem to have caught on against two as pects of NC attack which has led to two losses in the past three games Koren Robinson had at least 103 yards receiving in NC first five games but has been nearly shut down in the past two He has only five catches and 64 yards receiving in those games Tailback Ray Robinson has virtually disappeared twice He had 30 yards rushing against SU and only 14 at Clemson the games that NC State lost However Robinson has trampled Mary land in the past He rushed for 153 yards last season and 111 yards the season be fore He has had only five games of 100 yards rushing in his cafeer and two have come against Maryland really know why been in consistent running the ball this Rob inson said thought we could run the ball a lot more than we have We were deter mined to run the ball against Maryland last year find a way to get it done as long as winning all that TORBUSH SAID HIS team is frustrated but predicted that it will play with determi nation today at Three Rivers Stadium UNC is 3 5 and Pittsburgh is 5 2 game played this year has been great urgency but this one (will be) even Torbush said will deter mine if we have any chance to go to a bowl or any chance to have a winning season like to get our nose above water right State thinking of bowl UNC aiming to end skid By Bill Cole tJOURNAL REPORTER ACC TODAY 3:30: NC State at Maryland (WXLV Ch 7 WIST 983) 6:30: North Carolina at Pitts burgh (ESPN2 Ch 32 WSJS 600) 7:30: Clem son at lorida State (ESPN Ch 33) Chuck Amato (left) and Carl Torbush are having markedly different seasons UNC played one of its best defensive games of the season last week in a 17 6 loss at Virginia but might have to improve on that effort to stop passing attack Pitt lost 37 34 at Virginia Tech last week after carrying a 34 27 lead into the fourth quarter Quarterback John Turman passed for 311 yards and four touchdowns all to receivers Antonio Bryant and Latef Grim Bryant caught nine passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns Grim caught three passes for 106 yards averaging 353 yards a catch and added a touchdown Turman has 1587 yards passing and 15 touchdowns this season Bryant has 44 catches for 830 yards and eight touch downs and Grim has 25 catches for 414 yards and the one touchdown do these receivers rank? I think as good as any that Torbush said secondary) has been up and down just like our season The best thing we should have going is Michael Wad dell and Errol Hood (the cornerbacks) both made quite a few plays on some balls in the air (at Virginia) which will no question give them a great deal of self Torbush said his team could have won all of the four games in the losing streak He believes that UNC could be 7 1 instead of fighting for its life a lot of parity in the Torbush said now say got about six teams and one of them that any given week any of those teams in my opinion can beat each other We have not done that got to get it done What got to do is make some key plays early to gain some confidence but then got to maintain it for the last seven or eight min utes of the game when we have not gotten the job John Lindsay MSCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE Teams: Vir ginia Tech at Miami Time: Noon TV: WTWB Ch 3 WMY Ch 9 Blacksburg last November And UM gain any sportsmanship points that night according to Whitaker that game was dirty from the war Whitaker said They did a lot of stuff like clawing at the eyes spitting and if you remember we had to put a shield on (former Tech RB) (Stith) helmet early in the second quarter because they were digging at ids eye under the or their part the 'Canes backing down this time either Coach Butch Davis of Miami has all but accused the Hokies of making up injury not Davis said earlier this week you think hurt kidding Big East last year en route to a perfect 1 1 0 regular season Tech trailed Syracuse at halftime two weeks ago before scratching out a 22 14 win Last week the Hokies needed Carter Worley's 27 yard field goal with 21 seconds left to squeak out a 37 34 win over Pittsburgh Virginia Tech has nev er beaten an opponent ranked in the top five as troubled as an undefeated teamdn be Star quarterback Michael Vick is lobbied by a sprained ankle and probably start Dave Meyer a fifth year seniorackup will likely get the call Speedy re ceiver Andre Davis has a sore heel and is jpestionable And lately the Hokies have hardly resem j(ed the juggernaut that buzzed through the question our backs are up against the Beamer told reporters this week not the way like to have going into a big bailgame a little short handed but that's the way it And though Miami and Virgin ia Tech have played only 17 times over 47 years it has devel oped into a quite a rivalry As venerable ABC announcer Keith Jackson would say these two teams just plain like each other want us bad I guarantee you they want us Hokies cornerback Ronyeil Whitaker told the Roanoke (Va) Times guarantee you going to come in and try to do everything to try and win this game They're going to scratch claw bite and on the other end going to do the same thing And you know you want to do that to us things could get ugly going into a hostile environ ment with one of the most physical teams in the country And right now all about your gut check and your manhood With quarterback Ken Dorsey and receiv not going to let anybody take that from ers Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss the you feature exactly the kind of downfield The Hokies trounced Miami 43 10 in passing attack that gives the Hokies trouble AP PHOTO Quarterback Michael Vick of Virginia Tech may be on the sidelines today Va Tech travels to Miami Hokies say dirty jA moment of truth has arrived for theVirginia Tech football program By winning 19 of their past 20 games thesecond ranked Hokies (8 0) have accom iplished a lot over the past two seasons Tech Cplayed in the national title game in January dropping a hard fought 46 29 decision to ft lorida State Coach rank team iS one of only eight schools to to a bowl game in each of the yfpast seven seasons no Jx small feat considering the Ho okies had been to only six bowls yTpver their first 94 years prior to arrival in all of this could matter little if the Hokies come up Cbig against third ranked Miami PSaturday at the Orange Bowl A sixth con bsecutive win over the revenge minded fcCanes would put Tech squarely within jri grasp of a repeat appearance in the Bowl gi ghampionship Series title game this time ie Orange Bowl in Miami Jan 3 But Virginia Tech heads into the show lown the first time in Big East Confer mce history two top three teams have 1 i ITTv I li DEACONS Continued rom Page Cl 1 1 Carolina 38 0 in its opener and Wake orest when it lost quarterback CJ Leak in a fierce 55 7 pounding at Clemson that 2000 would be a long trying season And as the losses accumulated and at tendance dwindled toward four digit fig ures fans and media began pointing toward game as the light at the end of the tunnel for one team and absolute abyss for the other Raising the stakes was the decision to televise the game at noon on Raycom Jeffer sonPilot ACC Network If politicians were serious about the quality of televised pro gramming this would be a real hot button issue Coach Carl ranks of Duke has heard all the cracks and he appreciate any of them His response? S' Sticks and stones things going real well peo ple are going to make those kind of com nents because some people think and cute and think it makes for good hings to ranks said the leople who are always looking to think that the popular thing to do That seems to quite prevalent in society nowadays I think our guys care or really pay too much attention to that Linebacker Ed Kargbookorogie of Wake orest said that lost in all the folderol is effort that players from both teams put forth and the burning desire all have to win No competitor enjoys losing no matter how common the experience And all say they never expected to be in this situation playing in the most conspicu ous matchup of winless teams in the history of the ACC Previously the worst combined record for a game between winless ACC teams was 0 8 a mark dating back to 1967 when 0 5 UNC beat 0 3 Maryland reaction is to try to look past all the negativity" Kargbookorogie said been a lot of negative things And it hurts But in reality people that play the game take the game very seriously the fact that we won a game yet mean that football is a joke ootball is probably one of the most important things in our life right now So the game is still very serious to us and we want to look at the game from a positive aspect and in regards to everything we stand to gain from this game we can go out and get a Based on raw numbers and most of them have been pretty raw indeed Wake orest appears to be the stronger team Duke ranks No 1 13 among 1 1 4 NCAA Divi sion I teams in both scoring offense (96 points per game) and total defense (4659 yards per game) a lethal combination of ineptitude if there ever was one Wake orest by comparison ranks No 107 in scoring offense (120 points per game) and No 106 in total defense (4409 yards per game) Yet to hear Coach Jim Caldwell tell it in this week's news conference one would have thought the Deacons got the Duke game films mixed up with those from Okla homa give you enough problems with so many things that they do that they are a very difficult Caldwell said Asked to square his position to Duke's dismal rankings in the i ilicc Caldwell said statistics muimc be deceiving But apparently his co terj irt lYnk puts a bit more stock in me numbers ranks when questioned i Wiki 1 i est seemed downright envious ot me Dea offensive production averaging 1 1 1 yards rushing per game 183 yards passing per game 12 points per ranks said trade those stats Caldwell is right that some statistics are deceiving But one that Caldwell would like to change starting today is his 2 5 record against the Blue Devils 9 Injury riddled ASU will take on lowly VMI By Tommy Bowman JOURNAL REPORTER BOONE When VMI plays Appalachian State here today it just be the Keydets who will be hoping to improve The Mountaineers were sent reeling last week by an unexpected 30 27 loss to Chattanooga that dropped them as many as nine spots in the Division I AA polls and put them in a must win situa tion to have a chance at a playoff invita tion need to be preached Coach Jerry Moore said of his team which fell to 5 3 real ize the situation that has been created They know still got a good foot ball team Whether we can make amends and get back on track we know un til VMI (1 8) is on a seemingly perpetual route of recovery one that can be traced to 1981 its last winning season Coach Cal McCombs sees progress evident by closer games this year In their last three games the Keydets have outscored opponents 85 75 look at our won lost record and you might not see it but playing much better than last McCombs said still young age wise but getting better and better What we need right now is to win some superintendent recently pro posed a leave of absence from the Southern Conference while the strug gling program tries to become competi tive McCombs said out of the deci sion making loop and trying not to let the proposal deter from what trying to do came to VMI to help it become a better football McCombs said have time to worry about who going to be playing or where be playing And I think this team is so enthralled with becoming a better football team I think some thing that will distract them from what trying to THE MOUNTAINEERS' struggles are much more recent dating to last Satur day when their No 6 national ranking was obliterated Defensive end Jimmy reeman said that the Mountaineers might have over looked the Moes whom they had beaten 1 1 straight times and were a little too relaxed the before the game There much electricity think we were prepared but we just came out kind of flat and ree man said one thing there was nobody there (only 4012 fans showed up which meant that 16656 seats were empty) The place seemed empty There was no crowd cheering or band playing We turn it on And that's our ullback Neil Cornatzer said that a letdown was almost predictable get past (the first half of our schedule) and we're up against some teams not quite as good as the Georgia Southerns and Cornatzer said is a challenge to rise to the same emotional level Plus by the time we play these teams they have noth ing to lose take chan ces gunning for us and trying to spoil our sea reeman said of the Moes: got good athletes and we let them hang in there too long Then it was too Is it too late now? be OK if we play the rest of the season like supposed to reeman said been in similar situations before I remember when Western Carolina beat us at the end of the season a couple of years back This is another big wakeup call for Cornatzer said: think some convinc ing wins will help If we can do that I think you'll see us in the playoffs We lose again That definitely provides motivation You hate for it to have to be that way but maybe it will The Mountaineers continue to deal with a rash of injuries Last Saturday they lost receiver Joey Gibson for the season Linebacker Joe Best is expected to be back in the lineup today but tail back Karim Razzak is questionable with a strained knee hard because not getting anybody Moore said thought at one point we might get (offensive tackle) Bryan Metts back but it look like going to happen now obviously lost (defensive tackle) Jamie Lovem and now Joey (Gib son) And we have a healthy quar terback They're all about the same Not one of them is 100 Jerry Beard who has had the most carries among the tail backs in five of the past six games car ried even more of the load last Saturday after Razzak was hurt Beard had 84 yards on 19 carries against the Moes Quarterback Joey Gibson of VMI who has been slowed by a collapsed lung is expected to play 1 GAME DAY Teams: VMI at Appalachian State Time: 2 pm Radio: WKBC (973) Blount concerned about struggling Elizabeth City Time: 2 pm Rauio: WSNC (905) Notes: The Rams are No 8 in the South Region rankings but are still out of the running for a shot at the playoffs The top four teams from the region will be invited to the 16 teatn Division II playoffs WSSU is No 22 in the Top 25 Division II poll The Rams lead Divi sion II in turnover margin They have created 26 turnovers and have 10 turn overs Blount said his team has two irqury concerns Linebacker Kerwin' Graham and offensive lineman Jonathan Wilson are both battling knee injuries Wilson didn't play in last game and Blount said that he hopes both of them will be near 100 percent Quar terback Tory Woodbury has 56 career touchdowns (38 passing and 18 rush ing) He trails Richard Huntley the all time leading scorer in school history by just four touchdowns Huntley a run ning back from 1992 through 1995 scored 60 touchdowns in his career If the Rams win today the 8 2 regular season record will be the best since Pete Richardson guided the Rams to a 9 1 record in 1991 were suspended for the game Blount said they will be at full strength today Another incentive for the Vikings is that their homecoming game This will be the third straight home coming game opponent Tight end Arnell Wooten who had four catches for 98 yards last week in a 44 12 victory over Johnson Smith said that the Rams are treating this game like any other Playing them is like a regular game but coach says that jf we play to prove a point to! the rest of the then what we should Wooten said The Rams will make a 6 Vi hour trip' for the game a long ride back and it will be a quiet ride back if we lose that Wooten said i A win today will give Blount an 8 2 I regular season record the best since he took over before the 1993 season concern about the record or anything like Blount said concern is getting our team into position to defend that championship and what done" I By John Dell JOURNAL REPORTER While most observers are expecting a lopsided game today when first place Winston Salem State travels to last place Elizabeth City State Coach Kermit Blount of WSSU sees things a little dif ferently The Rams (7 2 5 1 CIAA) have wrapped up first place in the Western Division and a spot in next CIAA championship VWW game against Virginia Union so today's game ap pears to be nothing more Teams: than a tune up In fact it's a WSSU at Elizabeth uesignateu non conierence uy oiaie game for the Rams so it count in the league standings Nonetheless Blount is cautious as his Rams pre pare to face the team with the worst record in the league The Vi kings (1 8) have struggled under first year coach John Wright "Watching this team on film we are going to have to prepare to play them as if we are playing any other team" said Blount whose Rams are second in total offense and second in scoring defense in the CIAA is a very important game for us because we want to end our season with a win before we go into championship The Vikings have had trouble scoring ranking eighth in the league with 166 points a game Their defense bad ranking fourth in the league only win was a 16 13 upset of NC Central but that was in late Sep tember Since then they have lost five straight including last week by a 34 0 score to Benedict Blount said that the Rams good ei igh to just show up and win He 1 plan to change his starting line up and he said play his starters as long as needs to not a tune up game for Blount said aren't that good to just go in and tune up on somebody We have to go in thinking that this going to be an easy game We have to go in there get a win and jump on them early and get that confidence Blount said that the loss to Benedict was a little deceiving because the Vikings were without 12 jdayerswho ACCTODAY GAME DAY.