Amato searching for answers

Akron loss raises unsettling questions for the Wolfpack

Many N.C. State fans were seen shaking their heads Saturday, seemingly in disbelief, after the Wolfpack's 20-17 loss to Akron.

Lose to the Akron Zips, at Carter-Finley Stadium? How could it happen?

Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato was asked that Monday: Should an ACC football program such as the Pack's lose at home to a team like Akron?

"I don't know, I don't know," Amato said during his weekly news conference. "Should any team in the Atlantic Coast Conference lose to, you say 'a team like that.' ... They were the conference champions, they went to a bowl and I believe they won it.

"Now what are you saying about that team? What are you trying to say?"

Akron did win the Mid-American Conference championship last season, its first football title in the league. The Zips went to the Motor City Bowl and lost to Memphis, 38-31.

But Akron plays in a dilapidated stadium, the Rubber Bowl. The Zips' facilities and football budget hardly match the Pack's. The oddsmakers made Akron a 10-point underdog for the game.

Yet the Zips won. Before Saturday, only two nonconference teams had beaten the Wolfpack under Amato: Ohio State twice, and Pittsburgh in the 2001 Tangerine Bowl. Amato's teams have feasted on nonconference foes such as, well, Akron.

"They're in a conference that allows nonqualifiers in school," Amato said. "Nonqualifiers. Y'all need to look that one up to write stories.

"You know what kind of players nonqualifiers are, usually?" he asked. "They're inversely proportional to what their grade-point average is. They can make a big difference."

Amato indicated that he had been told Akron had 10 nonqualifiers last season.

Akron athletics spokeswoman Melanie Schneider confirmed Monday that the Mid-American Conference allows schools to bring in athletes who do not qualify academically under NCAA rules for freshman eligibility. Schneider said Akron had three nonqualifiers in the program last season and has one on the roster this season.

As for the disparity in facilities between the two schools, which in theory should give a school a recruiting edge, Amato replied: "We just got the facilities. These facilities have just got built. They have not been here for 20 years.

"We've won a lot of games here. When are you going to understand that? We really have."

Losing to Akron was troubling for some of the State players. Senior safety Garland Heath, for one, said he "hadn't gotten over it yet."

The Pack twice grabbed the lead in the fourth quarter, only to have the Zips drive 96 and 67 yards for touchdowns with relative ease. The winning score, a 1-yard run by Dennis Kennedy, came on the final play.

"It was heartbreaking to lose a game in that fashion," receiver Darrell Blackman said Monday. "We fought back and took the lead ..."

Amato said the Pack wasn't the only ACC team to struggle at home against nonconference teams. He didn't mention any by name, but Florida State eked out a 24-17 win over Troy and Virginia held off Wyoming 13-12 Saturday after the Cowboys missed an extra point in overtime.

"We are an ACC team, and playing at home," Amato said. "And how many other ACC teams lost at home against somebody that the prognosticators said shouldn't?

"Maybe a lot of teams will lose to Akron before the season is out. Let's let the season play out and ask me that same question at the end of the year, OK? I mean, let's let the season play out."

The Pack plays Saturday at Southern Mississippi, a Conference USA school that's 1-1 after a 45-0 blasting of Southeastern Louisiana. The Golden Eagles opened their season at Florida, losing 34-7.

A year ago, the Pack began to resurrect a season gone awry with a 21-17 comeback victory over Southern Miss at Carter-Finley. With tailback Andre Brown rambling for 248 yards and Marcus Stone making his first start at quarterback, State rallied with two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Stone began an interesting trend that day: an inconsistency passing the ball from half to half that continues and still confounds Amato and the coaching staff.

Stone was 1-for-7 for 15 yards in the opening half against Southern Miss, with two interceptions, but finished 10-of-26 for 128 yards and one TD. For the season, he completed 29 percent of his passes in the first half and 59 percent in the second.

Against Akron, it was more of the same. Stone was 5-of-16 for 49 yards in the first half as the Pack was scoreless. He then was 11-of-15 for 160 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.

Why so erratic?

"We've been asking that question for the last seven, eight games," Amato said. "I think he takes so much on his shoulders. He seems to be better [with] adversity. When he's right, which we saw the other day ..., [but] we've batted around that."

Meaning the coaching staff. For Amato, it's another question without a ready answer.