What a difference two weeks make!
Back on Sept. 23, I was getting ready to cover the N.C. State-Boston College game and there was nothing but gloom surrounding the Wolfpack program.
I saw it in the faces. I heard it in the voices of many, many fans that were milling around. Optimism was not at a premium. State was reeling at 1-2.
I was there early for a 6 o'clock live shot and took in the walk of champions, which happens a couple of hours before each home game. It didn't exactly look like a championship walk. A small but enthusiastic crowd was there, but there seemed only hope, not confidence, that State would beat Boston College.
The rest of the season -- they didn't want to think about it.
I do remember watching Chuck Amato that night during that short walk to the Murphy Center. If the pressure, the howl of the wolves calling for his job, the constant second-guessing, the failure to meet expectations -- if any of that was bothering him, you'd never know it. He looked confident, he shook hands, he smiled a big smile, and he bantered with the crowd. He looked like someone who knew something the rest of us didn't -- like maybe he knew that the kid Daniel Evans was going to be a pretty good quarterback and maybe he knew his players would never quit.
In the last two weeks, State has knocked off Boston College with Evans leading the miraculous final seconds drive, and then Thursday night, State rallied from 10 points down to handle former ACC bully Florida State as Evans threw three touchdown passes to three different receivers. And all of a sudden, State is atop the Atlantic Division in the ACC, playing solid defense and getting smart play from Evans and running the ball with authority.
It's easy to criticize Amato because he puts himself out there. He once said that he knew his personality wasn't for everybody and he added "You know what? I don't care."
That's Chuck Amato. That's why a lot of State fans love him, and that's why others don't. But the emotional coach, the flamboyant often-combative coach, is a fighter who believes in himself and who believes in his team and who loves N.C. State. He has to be given a lot of credit for turning around what could have been a disaster and that thump you hear are people jumping back on the red and white band wagon.
The Pack is back and Amato has held it together. It's not easy to be a coach. Your fans love you one game and want to have you fired the next. Amato has made State fans think big and what's wrong with that? Nobody ever gets to the top without thinking that they can.
With Wake Forest losing, State is in first place in the ACC's Atlantic Division. Yes, N.C. State with back-to-back wins over ranked teams has not lost in conference play. There is a lot of football left, to be sure. But you look at State's schedule and it's very favorable -- possibly only on the road at Clemson, which could decide who wins the Atlantic Division, and maybe at home against Georgia Tech, will the Wolfpack be an underdog the rest of the season.
State's not a great team, but neither is anybody else in the ACC. What the Wolfpack is, however, is a team with a solid defense, some really good young skilled players, a smart young quarterback who doesn't rattle and who appears to have "it" and a coach who can make this team believe.
I'll be honest. I like State's chances. State hasn't won an ACC title since 1979. They might not win it this year, but their chances in this ACC are as good as anybody's and better than most.
