University of Virginia Library

Relief Pitching

Turnabout
Is
Fair Play

By John Markon

THIS YEAR'S ACC COACH OF THE YEAR doesn't look
much like a football coach. Lou Holtz, leader of the N. C.
State Wolfpack, looks more like a chemistry professor. Mr.
Holtz is very short, extremely slender and bears no
resemblance whatsoever to the two-way player at center and
middle linebacker that he was at Kent State only 15 years ago.
He's only 35 years old but appears to be over 50. He wears
thick glasses, thermal underwear (on a 75 degree day) and his
face has what is probably a year-round leathery tan look. If I
were keeping the players' gate at Scott Stadium I would have
demanded to see both his sidelines pass and additional
identification.

Mr. Holtz, however, has done one hell of a job in
resurrecting football at N.C. State. Hired at the end of last
season away from a post at William & Mary, he inherited a
team that won but three games in 1971 and molded it into a
contender for a post-season bowl spot overnight. One of
State's losses last year was a Homecoming game with Virginia
in Raleigh. The Wahoos were able to hang on to top a State
eleven that seemed both listless and undermanned, 14-10.
Saturday, a State squad suffering neither of these problems
and heading for the Top 20 whipped Virginia, 35-14.

"I'M DARN PROUD of this team," was the way Mr. Holtz
summed up the game, and he went on to say that "It's great to
be with a winner. In all my years of coaching I've never
coached a winner and this just feels great. Virginia did a fine
job. We just had to suck it up in the second half and we did.
We're not big, not strong, not quick but we do what we can to
win. I thought Bruce Shaw played an excellent game."

Shaw, of course, is the Wolfpack quarterback, and he was
only magnificent. He completed 12 of 20 passes for 188 yards
but, more importantly, led the 'Pack to most of their 13
successes in 20 third and fourth down plays. Many times in
these clutch moments Shaw could be seen looking for his
talented flankerback Pat Kenney, a wingback turned wide
receiver, who spent the afternoon giving second-year safety
Mike Cornachione a painful lesson in pass defense. The
Shaw-Kenney machine clicked six times for 114 yards and at
times seemed unstoppable.

"VIRGINIA SURPRISED US a little," continued Mr. Holtz
in his post-game analysis, "They threw well, and they hit us as
well as anyone has this year. They're a quick, aggressive team
and they put on a lot of pressure." Strangely enough, all these
statements were true. For a change the Wahoos showed a
passer, Scott Gardner, who could zing the ball on a par with
Harrison Davis, and coupled it with a swarming, hard-knocking
defensive style. Against a lesser team than the Wolfpack it
would have produced a victory.

Gardner, a first-year man, did not start the game. Joe
Schaeffer, another first-year man, did. Scott more or less took
over midway through the second period and led the team on
two nice touchdown drives. Gone was the nervousness and
slowness that had made him such a hurting unit against
Clemson two weeks ago. Gardner looked sharp and used all his
receivers wisely. Cavalier coach Don Lawrence, was able to call
a more varied offense from the bench with Gardner in charge
and the 'Hoos run-run-pass fixation of the previous few games
didn't apply.

SCOTT'S STOCK IS RISING after his 172-yard 15-for-27
game and, if you ask me, the only man he has left to beat out
is the injured Davis, who played an unusual fullback role
Saturday. Harrison, on the mend from a thumb injury, even
managed to look good, running three times for a five yard
average and making a few good catches. He threw two option
passes, completing one to Gardner. Virginia, although scoring
only 14 points, had a good day on offense with 428 yards
total offense.

STATE, OF COURSE, did better. The Wolfpack rushed for
216 yards and passed for 246. This balanced attack paid
dividends in the second half as our smallish defense, loosened
up by the passing of Shaw and Dave Buckey, was worn-out
and ready prey for the powerful State ground game led by
fullbacks Stan Fritts, Charley Young and halfback Willie
Burden. To their credit, the Wahoo defenders never lost their
edge in the game and seemed as fired up in the third quarter as
in the first. They were just outmanned by a bigger, better State
offensive team. Press box denizens were so impressed that
some compared State to West Virginia, an earlier 48-10
conqueror of the 'Hoos. State is better than West Virginia.

The game was very physical. Time outs were called three
times to assist injured State players off the field and Buckey,
their fine freshman quarterback, was put out indefinitely by a
shoulder injury. Virginia tailback Kent Merritt, who entered
the game with an ankle problem, has an even more serious one
now as he left the field during the fourth quarter aided by a
trainer and walking with a cane. Thriving in the violent
atmosphere was the violently-oriented Chuck Belic who
latched on to 5 passes for 98 yards and ran five times for 22
yards. Chuck, a fourth-year man playing his last game in Scott
Stadium, had the best day of any Cavalier on the field.

THE EFFORTS OF BELIC, Gardner, Davis, and the defense
were, alas, insufficient. N.C. State and their funny-looking
little coach are on top; the Peach Bowl scout watching them
should have been impressed. Virginia and brawny Don
Lawrence are now 3-6 and looking at a game with North
Carolina, the only ACC team to beat State.

Getting back for the last time to Mr. Holtz, he was asked by
one of a gaggle of anxious newsmen after the game if he saw a
bowl bid in the Wolfpack's future. "Bowl game!" he replied,
"We have to play in University Park next weekend. There's
your bowl game." And there he was, looking forward to a
Penn State game with a chance; of beating the powerful
Nittany Lions. If Mr. Holtz isn't named Coach of the Year the
ACC Sportswriters Association ought to be investigated. He's
accomplished the miracle of spontaneous generation, making
something out of nothing. Turnabout is, indeed, fair play and
the meek are starting their grab for the earth.