Bill Snead/Journal-World PhotoOrlando, Fla. ? Ohio State struggled through a mediocre season in 2001 before winning a national championship last year. LSU will play for the national title next month in the Sugar Bowl after a ho-hum 2002 season.
North Carolina State’s players think the Wolfpack could be the next college football program to make that giant leap.
N.C. State is 7-5 entering Monday’s Tangerine Bowl date with Kansas University (6-6), but the Wolfpack were oh-so-close to much bigger things.
“It shows the separation between national champion and a 7-5 team is not that far,” senior quarterback Philip Rivers said Friday. “Ohio State won five close games last year that could have gone either way. You take a couple of points here and there and they’re 7-5. Instead, they were undefeated and won it all.
“It just shows how close we are. While it’s a negative in the current season, it could be a positive in the future.”
NCSU has 10 freshmen and sophomores among its 22 starters. The Pack think those young players will learn from their mistakes and near misses and finish the job next year.
Among those close calls were a three-overtime loss at Ohio State, an eight-point loss at Georgia Tech, a double-overtime loss at Florida State and a last-minute loss at Maryland.
Consecutive losses to FSU and Maryland capped a disappointing regular season and knocked the Pack out of contention in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
N.C. State entered the season with much higher hopes after finishing 11-3 — including a 28-6 victory over Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl — and a No. 12 ranking in the final poll in 2002.
“We felt like we could win it all this year,” senior receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. “I think it will be good for the future of this program. Some of the young guys had that experience, and now they know what it takes to take it to the next level next year. It was a good learning experience for the younger kids.”
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M-I-C-K-E-Y: Monday’s game will mark the second time N.C. State has played in the Tangerine Bowl — and visited the area theme parks — in three years. It also will be the last college game for Rivers.
“It’s tough,” coach Chuck Amato said. “It’s the last time Philip will get to see Mickey on somebody else’s tab. After that, he’ll have to pay out of his own pocket.”
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Other lessons learned: N.C. State stumbled in its last visit to Citrus Bowl Stadium. The Wolfpack were 7-4 and heavily favored when they met a 6-6 Pittsburgh squad in the 2001 Tangerine Bowl. Pitt won, 34-19. “That year we had some great practices leading up to the bowl game,” Cotchery said. “Our downfall was we didn’t carry that over to the game. Last year we did that well against Notre Dame. I think this team will be ready to do it this year.”
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Roy irrelevant: A member of the North Carolina media asked KU coach Mark Mangino if the departure of former KU basketball coach Roy Williams — who took over the head coaching job at North Carolina — had made his life easier as football coach.
“There’s no correlation,” Mangino said. “I would suspect he’ll be pulling for us. You need to ask him.”
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It’s academic: Kansas safety Jonathan Lamb and N.C. State kicker Adam Kiker were recognized Friday for their academic achievements. Lamb, a red-shirt freshman from Olathe, has a 3.67 grade-point average in pre-med. Kiker will graduate this spring with a degree in aerospace engineering.
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Chilly reception: Temperatures remained uncharacteristically cool Friday, and today’s forecast called for a high of 54. Amato said he was stunned temperatures Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C., were warmer than Orlando. “When that cold air hit me in the face, I thought we’d circled Raleigh and landed again,” he said.
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Bacheyie’s back: According to a rivals.com report, former KU signee Tang Bacheyie will enroll at KU next semester. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Canadian signed with Kansas last winter but was held up because of problems with his academic paperwork, according to rivals.com. The defensive back was an All-Canada selection.
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Etc.: Monday’s kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Central Time on ESPN (Sunflower Broadband Channel 48). … Monday’s officiating crew will be from the Western Athletic Conference. … The Jayhawks were scheduled to practice this morning before spending the afternoon at Universal Studios.
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