Indiana University Athletics
Selected Quotes from NC State's Head Coach Chuck Amato
9/4/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
September 4, 2000
Selected Quotes from North Carolina State Head Coach Chuck Amato on this Saturday's Game
Raleigh, N.C. -- Selected quotes from North Carolina State head coach Chuck Amato on this Saturday's game:
What are your concerns this week?
"I am going to tell the kids to look in the stands and see all the Red and White and we are really in Carter-Finley Stadium. We are going to learn a lot this week going on the road and see how they react. It is going to be a big game up there because they have finished the season up scoring a lot of points. Their QB has done something that no quarterback in the Big Ten has ever done and that's have over 5,000 yards of total offense (as a sophomore). You think how long the Big Ten has gone along and some of the players they have had in that league. They say you make most of your improvements between your first game and your second game. Indiana has not played a game and we have. We are playing two first games.
They have new coordinators on both sides of the ball so we can only go with what they did last season."
Playing against a running QB:
"You have to be more disciplined. You have to keep good rush lanes and have good speed. With the option, which is something else they run, it becomes assignment football. You have to do what you are suppossed to do.
Anytime the quarterback runs the football, that means the offense is playing with 11 people. When a quarterback hands the ball off, they are playing with 10 people and that is how defenses gang up on the running game. When the quarterback runs, you have to shed blockers and go make plays. That is why I feel the option will come back."
On Randle El
"He has all the characteristics. He is bigger than Charlie Ward and faster than Joe Hamilton. I hate to use the words, but he is as dangerous as the Vick kid. He throws well and has that type of athletic ability."
What advantages to do have playing a game and IU has not?
"They have an advantage because they know what we are trying to do. We have an advantage because we have played, especially because we have a young team. We know what kind of mistakes we made last week. We are at a disadvantage because we do not know what they are going to do. If we did
not play, Keegan Weir would still be our center and if Indiana played last week they may have to play with a second string quarterback. There are pros and cons to both."
