ACC notebook

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Posted 6:47AM on Thursday, September 16, 2004

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina State coach Chuck Amato spent 18 years as an assistant at Florida State, so he's used to being impressed by Bobby Bowden. A week ago, Bowden delivered a eulogy at the funeral for his grandson and a former son-in-law, who were killed Sept. 5 when their car was hit a by a utility truck that was helping to restore power outages caused by Hurricane Frances. Amato attended the funeral. ``What a strong family, what a strong person that man is,'' Amato said. ``I'm a wimp compared to him. There's no way I could get up there and talk. ``I've seen him do it numerous times. It's his deep faith and his Christian belief that allow him to do it.'' For Amato, who's known as much for his gregarious personality as he is for his coaching ability, the deaths again highlighted that no one is guaranteed anything. ``I don't know if I'm in the first inning or extra innings (of life),'' Amato said. ``I'm going to have fun.'' The Wolfpack (1-0) plays No. 9 Ohio State on Saturday. MORE MOSS FOR MIAMI: Tyrone Moss carried just six times for five yards against Florida State last week, while Frank Gore ran 18 times for 89 yards. It was hardly the shared workload coach Larry Coker wanted from his running back tandem. Coker expects Moss will play more Saturday against Louisiana Tech. ``He didn't have a chance,'' Coker said. ``He got a couple carries and then he was on the bench. It wasn't intended that way; it just worked out that way. Definitely we need to get him involved and get him more opportunities in the game. We want him to share time with Frank.'' 'NOLES STRUGGLE: After one game, Florida State finds itself in an unfamiliar position at the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference in total offense. The Seminoles gained only 165 yards in their opener against Miami, a game the Hurricanes won 16-10 in overtime. Chris Rix finished 12-for-28 for 108 yards, and he also threw two interceptions. ``I don't think it was jitters,'' Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. ``A lot of our fault was Miami. A lot of it. ``After looking at the film, I'll be honest, collectively this defense might be as good as it was last year. I didn't think they could do that, but they really surprised me.'' Particularly frustrating for Bowden was the fact that the Seminoles led for nearly the entire game. Miami trailed 10-0 entering the fourth quarter, then tied it with 30 seconds left when Brock Berlin threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Sinorice Moss. After the Hurricanes recovered a fumble by Rix on the third play in overtime, Frank Gore ran in from 18 yards out to Miami the victory. ``That's kind of hard to take,'' Bowden said. ``If you open up against somebody who isn't very good, we probably would have gotten by them and seen some of the mistakes we were making and do something about them.'' RUNNIN' CAVALIERS: Virginia coach Al Groh put a strong emphasis on the running game in preseason practice, and so far, it shows. The Cavaliers have rushed for 585 yards in two games, tops in the ACC and more than double the total of their opponents. Wali Lundy leads the way with 177 yards, and Michael Johnson and Jason Snelling each have more than 100. ``I don't know if I had an expectation on it, I had a hope for it,'' Groh said. ``I think all of us did. And that hope will only become a reality over the course of four months. But it's off to a good start.'' Despite the big total, No. 12 Virginia (2-0) has very few long runs, and the longest is 25 yards. The six players who have carries have averaged 5.6 yards an attempt. ``When you analyze your running game, you have to analyze it two ways,'' Groh said. ``Average yards per play certainly the most important. If you rush for 300 yards and you average 3.6, that might not make you as effective as if you rush for 150 yards and you rush for 5.5.'' DUKE'S QB SHUFFLE: Mike Schneider started the opener at quarterback for Duke, then Chris Dapolito got the nod last week against Connecticut. Who gets a chance this week at Virginia Tech? Coach Ted Roof isn't saying. ``One of those guys has to separate himself on game day,'' he said. ``They're both going to have opportunities and every week we're going to evaluate it and see where we are.'' The duo has combined to complete 29-of-49 for 283 yards and a touchdown. Dapolito has the only interception, which was returned for a TD by the Huskies, and Schneider took over for the final drive in that game. He nearly led Duke (0-2) to a come-from-behind victory, but Matt Brooks missed a 36-yard field goal with six seconds left. ``Mike has been out competing and he couldn't have done what he did when he went into the game if he'd been sulking or sticking his lip out,'' Roof said. ``He went into the game and he was competing and I was proud of the things he did.'' REIS' START: As a strong safety, Georgia Tech's Chris Reis played significant minutes in only two games last season. Now, he's making an impact at linebacker. The 6-foot, 215-pound Reis leads the ACC with 24 tackles in two games. ``It's probably nothing short of amazing,'' Yellow Jackets coach Chan Gailey said. ``He really has a nose for the football.'' In 2003, Reis got chances against North Carolina State and then against Tulsa in the Humanitarian Bowl. He finished with eight tackles in both of those games, including a sack and two others for a loss against the Wolfpack. ``I had a guy that has been around Tech football for a long time telling me that he is just the perfect Georgia Tech football player,'' Gailey said. ``Hard nosed, tough, can run, will hit people, great instincts. All those things that are allowing him to be around the football. ``He's making tackles when he gets there. He's not missing many, either.''