4
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Struggling Devils
host hot Jackets
By David Boyd
Sport Saturday Staff Writer
In the past four years, homecoming
has been anything but something to look
forward to for the Duke Blue Devils.
The Devils (2-3,0-2 ACC), who have
dropped their last four homecoming
games, hope to reverse that trend today
at 1:30 as the Georgia Tech Yellowjack
ets visit Wallace Wade Stadium.
Duke, which lost to Navy 30-7 last
week, is in desperate need of a conference
win. If Duke hopes to return to a bowl
game, it must start by defeating the Ram
bling Wreck, which spoiled its homecom
ing in 1991 and 1993.
“We were extremely disappointed with
our football team last Saturday,” said
Duke head coach Fred Goldsmith, the
Devils’ second-year coach. “We’ve had
to get that behind us and prepare for a
very good Georgia Tech football team.”
The Devils have been plagued with
injuries all season. According to Gold
smith, they must be healthy if they want
to compete with the Jackets.
“We’ve just had an unbelievable
amountofinjuries,” Goldsmith said. “We
were very blessed last year, but this year
it’s just been one thing after another.
“It’s been hard, but our kids have kept
a very positive attitude. You’ve just got to
find a way each day and each week.
We’re trying to get the best team together
possible to go play a good football team.”
Georgia Tech is coming olf a huge
upset of then-No. 17Maryland.TheJack
ets stung the Terrapins 31-3 last Thurs
day as quarterback Donnie Davis led the
team with 17 of 23 passing for 150 yards
and one touchdown. Sophomore tailback
C.J. Williams smoked Maryland for 166
yards rushing.
“I’ve got an awful lot of respect for the
Pack, Tide tangle in Ttiscaloosa
By Joseph Rolison
Assistant Sport Saturday Editor
North Carolina State has just had one
of those years so far.
Since opening 1995 with a win over
Marshall, the Wolfpack’s fortunes have
continually declined. Home losses to
Baylor, Virginia and Clemson and a de
meaning 77-17 massacre at the hands of
Florida State leave the Pack smarting
with a 1-4 record.
In fact, times got so bad in Raleigh that
the Wolfpack’s efforts against the Tigers
evoked boos from the stands.
Those aren’t exactly the perfect cir
cumstances for traveling to Bryant-Denny
Stadium to take on No. 16 Alabama.
But that’s what N.C. State must do
today in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The 3-1 Crim
son Tide bounced back from a stunning
loss to Arkansas three weeks ago with a
31 -0 thrashing of Georgia in Athens last
weekend.
“We have absolutely no momentum
going into this game,” Wolfpack head
coach Mike O’ Cain said. “We have a
team that’s struggling right now.”
Georgia Tech
at Duke
2-2 (1-1 ACC) 2-3 (0-2 ACC)
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Site: Wallace Wade Stadium
Television: None
Series record: Tech, 32-29-1
Key players: TB C.J. Williams
(Tech), QB Spence Fischer (Duke)
job that they are doing at Georgia Tech
and the ability of their team,” Goldsmith
said. “Hopefully, we’ll be healthier this
Saturday and it will give us a better
chance.”
Georgia Tech coach George O’ Leary
knows that his team can’t take Duke for
granted. It’s a game for which they have
to be prepared.
“Duke is similar to ourselves as far as
they’ve had some injuries,” said O’ Leary,
whose team lost 27-12 to the Blue Devils
last year in Adanta. “Ithinkthey’reavery
good football team that is playing hard
and has basically had some problems
staying healthy.”
According to O’ Leary, the Devils are
a threat anytime quarterback Spence
Fischer has the ball in his hands.
“Our concern is their quarterback,”
O’ Leary said. “He’s one of the better
QBs in the conference who makes the
right decisions on running and throwing
the ball. He gets them in the right situa
tions.”
|l|f' MX. State at Alabama TIP
Site: Bryant-Denny Stadium iSSgt
Series record: Alabama, 3-0
Key players: DL Shannon Brown (Ala
-1 -4 overall bama), QB Terry Harvey (State) 3-1 overall
At the beginning of the season, State
was licking its chops at the thought of
knocking off the Tide. However, the
Pack’s tumultuous start has made today’s
game a must-win situation. And his team’s
steady loss of faith in itself has only wors
ened State’s ailments.
“The confidence level is something
I’m constandy working on,” O’ Cain
said. “We need to believe we can go down
to Alabama and win.”
NCSU starting quarterback Terry
Harvey, who threw six interceptions
against Clemson, enters the game with a
slight gimp.
“Terry won’t be full speed because of
a pulled groin,” O’ Cain said. “But he
doesn’t lack in confidence.”
ACC Gameday
Iferps hope to find 'veal 1 Milanovich
by Justin Scheef
senior writer
Although Maryland’s dream season
hit an unexpected brick wall Sept. 28, the
Terps hope to get back on the winning
track in today’s matchup at Wake Forest.
Maryland
burst out of the
gates with a 4-0
record and at
tained a No. 17
Associated Press
ranking before
getting wrecked
by Georgia Tech
31-3. The first loss
coincided with
the return of
quarterback
Marlon Estes
Scott Milanovich, who was suspended
for four games because of gambling.
Milanovich, who broke Boomer
Esiason’s school record for career passing
yards against Tech, threw for 352 yards
but no touchdowns last week. Brian
Cummings, who had steered the Terps in
Milanovich’s absence, sat.
“Brian Cummings was not able to
practice last week, so we really didn’t feel
it was prudent to put Brian in the game,
but he’s healthier and ready to play this
week,” Coach Mark Duffner said.
Cummings came out of the Duke game
with an injured throwing shoulder and
ankle. Duffner said Cummings could have
played if he was needed.
Against Wake, Duffner said he was
going to play both QBs, with Milanovich
starting again.
Wake Forest coach Jim Caldwell said
it doesn’t matter who’s behind center
because the offense is the same. “We’re
going to get prepared for what they do
schematically, not who’s taking snaps for
them,” he said.
Duffner said he hopes having both
signal callers available will help his team
bounce back after the first loss. “Maybe a
letdown occurred, but we just didn’t play
Confidence may not be enough to
stem the Tide, though. Alabama sports a
stingy ‘D’ that specializes in suffocating
running backs and hounding quarter
backs and receivers.
Conversely, the Crimson Tide’s offen
sive attack has been less than lethal this
season. Its rushing game has been virtu
ally nonexistent at times.
Yet O’ Cain knows that playing the
Tide entails much more than just doing
battle with ‘Bama’s men on the field.
“This is a tremendous challenge, be
cause you not only play a tremendous
team, you also play a lot of mystique,” he
said.
Despite N.C. State’s hardships, O’
Cain has not abandoned his team’s cause.
Forest at Maryland^,
Site: Groves Stadium
Television: None
/ JO23 — Series record: Maryland, 31-11-1
Key players: QB Scott Milanovich ks&AIA
1-4 overall (0-2) (Maryland), WR Marlon Estes (Wake) 4-1 (2-1 ACC)
well,” he said. “We need to have more
balance in our attack offensively. We
have more possibilities with our offensive
team with two quarterbacks.”
Wake has pondered blitzing the Terps,
but Caldwell isn’t sold on that scheme.
“Their offense is geared to handle that
pressure,” he said. “They were so close to
breaking a couple of those blitzes Geor
gia Tech came with. I don’t think that
anybody can do that consistendy against
Maryland because their offense is too
strong and too organized.”
SEC, ACC square off
as wounded Bulldogs
face revamped Tigers
By Aaron Beard
Staff Writer
One of the most storied college foot
ball rivalries draws to a close tonight at
Clemson’s Memorial Stadium as the
SEC’s Georgia Bulldogs visit the Clemson
Tigers.
The Bulldogs (2-3, 1-3 SEC), who
started the season by throttling South
Carolina and losing a hard fought game
at Tennessee, will limp onto the field for
the 6:39 p.m. kickoff. Injuries have rav
aged this team, claiming its starting quar
terback and tailback.
The Tigers (3-2, 2-2 ACC), on the
other hand, will be coming off a high
note, thumping N.C. State 43-22 in Ra
leigh last weekend.
“We’re coming off a very hard fought
game at North Carolina State,” Clemson
coach Tommy West said. “We probably
have as many bumps and bruises as we’ve
had at any time this year.”
Clemson has been a difficult team to
figure out this season. The Tigers played
well against top-ranked Florida State,
losing respectably, 45-26. But Clemson
played poorly in its 22-3 loss to Virginia
two weeks ago, the fust loss to Virginia in
Death Valley in the history of the series.
Against the Wolfpack, Clemson found
their offense and turned up the defense,
forcing Terry Harvey into six intercep
tions.
“Well, the thing we did was we cor
rected our penalties and our turnovers,”
West said. “I think our offense never lost
confidence in the Virginia game. We
moved the ball, but we stopped drives
with penalties and turnovers. So it was
certainly pleasing as a coach to see us not
turn the ball over and over.”
The injury situation at Clemson cen
ters around starting defensive back Andy
Ford, who injured his ankle in Raleigh. In
pwwrtfftsitttMar
On the other side of the ball, the Dea
cons will look to a talented wide receiver
of their own —Marlon Estes. The senior
has 30 receptions and is tied for second in
the ACC and 14th in the country in pass
receiving.
But Estes and Cos. may not hold enough
firepower to contend with the Terps’
quick-strike offense.
Caldwell said, “We’re still obviously
struggling in trying to get another vic
tory, and it doesn’t get any easier for us
this weekend.”
Georgia
at Clemson
2-3 overall 3-2 overall
Time: 6:39 p.m.
Site: Memorial Stadium
Television: None
Series record: Clemson, 38-17-4
Key players: FB Raymond Priester
and QB Nealon Greene (Clemson)
addition, senior cornerback Andre
Humphrey missed last week’s game at
NCSU for personal reasons. West would
not comment on Ford’s status except to
say that he was not currently with the
team.
The offense, with the exception of the
loss to the Cavaliers, has played solidly
this season. Sophomore quarterback
Nealon Greene is having a fine season,
completing close to 60 percent of his
passes for 902 yards and six touchdowns.
His favorite target, flanker Antwuan
Wyatt, leads the team with 20 receptions
for 333 yards and one touchdown.
West’s counterpart, Georgia coach
Ray Goff, could be watching his job slip
away. With the loss of all-SEC and cur
rent Cleveland Brown quarterback Eric
Zeier, Goff had to rely on an inexperi
enced offensive unit
But once quarterback Mike Bobo and
tailback Robert Edwards went down with
injuries, the Bulldogs began to falter. Last
week, the tailspin continued with a 31-0
loss at the hands of Alabama.