ETHAN HYMAN - ehyman@newsobserver.com
N.C. State's Russell Wilson (16) avoids the tackle by UCF's Darius Nall (53) while scrambling for a first down during the first half of the game against the University of Central Florida on Saturday Sept. 11, 2010, at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando, FL.
RALEIGH -- After an emotional, 28-21 win Saturday night in the heat and humidity at Central Florida, N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien fired barbs at the ACC's schedule makers.
On his postgame show on the Wolfpack Sports Network, O'Brien said the ACC made N.C. State a "sacrificial lamb" by scheduling the team to play Thursday night with Cincinnati, giving the team just four days of preparation.
O'Brien said his team was sluggish during practice Monday morning. He said players still are recovering from Saturday night, when the temperature at kickoff was 87 degrees and humidity was at 69 percent.
"It was pretty hot and muggy on the field, and certainly that takes a lot out of you," O'Brien said. "It drains you physically. It's tough to come back from that. It takes a couple days to get your legs back. And we had a lot of guys play a lot of plays there at the end, and that's my biggest concern."
Cincinnati also played Saturday and has the added complications of having to travel to N.C. State and play in front of the Wolfpack's crowd in a short week. But there's one subtle difference.
The Bearcats defeated Indiana State, a Football Championship Subdivision team, on Saturday. Cincinnati won 40-7 and was able to rest its regulars a bit while N.C. State played a physical, intense game on the road against a Central Florida team that was 8-5 last season and returned a total of 15 starters on offense and defense.
Cincinnati coach Butch Jones said his team didn't start preparing for N.C. State until after the Indiana State game but might have a bit of an advantage because of the extra rest.
"You go in with the mindset of, any team that you play, no matter what level or who they are, all the concentration is on the task at hand," Jones said. "And we did benefit that our starters were basically out going into the fourth quarter. We were able to play a lot of young players and kind of evaluate them. But you still prepare the same. I don't think it's that much of an advantage."
ACC associate commissioner for communications and football operations Michael Kelly said Monday that he was aware of O'Brien's comments. Kelly said the ACC tries to schedule teams for Thursday night games when they're coming off open dates but said it's not always possible.
Kelly said the ACC is contracted for six "special" dates this season on ESPN - two Labor Day games plus four Thursday night games. He said that because this year's calendar dictates that there's only one open date in the college football schedule (in some years there are two), the ACC's scheduling flexibility is limited.
ESPN specifically asked to have the game between Cincinnati (1-1) and N.C. State (2-0) on Thursday, Kelly said.
"We followed all the parameters that all our schools have agreed to in terms of how we can go about trying to schedule games," Kelly said. "We know it's a tough situation, but it's one we know our schools have adjusted to in the past, and in this case we're confident that Coach O'Brien's staff will have everybody ready to play Thursday."
It's one of only three games an ACC team will play on four days' rest this season. In the other two, Maryland and Virginia Tech both played Saturday after playing on Labor Day.
N.C. State linemen Jake Vermiglio and Jeff Rieskamp admitted that the tempo of practice was slow Monday but sounded confident that players will overcome their weariness.
Given the opportunity at his weekly news conference Monday to expand on his comments about the ACC, O'Brien declined. He said the ACC and its TV partners decided N.C. State is playing Thursday, and he doesn't plan to fight about it.
"I'm the guy that's got to coach them and get them back and get them ready to play Thursday night," O'Brien said. "That's who I am."
