Duke, N.C. State renew intrastate rivalry

When N.C. State takes the field tomorrow, it might be without its life-blood. Phillip Rivers, the freshman quarterback who is everybody's choice for ACC rookie of the year, strained his shoulder last weekend during the Wolfpack's loss to Maryland and only returned to practice two days ago. And even when he did rejoin the team, he experienced mild pain in his throwing shoulder, forcing coach Chuck Amato to limit his throwing for the remainder of practice. In fact, midway through the workout, Rivers returned to the training room. As a result, the media has questioned whether it was wise for the Alabama native to continue playing against the Terps after injuring himself early in the first half. So is Phillip Rivers too tough for his own good? "Yes and no," Amato said. "He loves the game. If we had 85 people that loved to play the game like him, we would be tough.... That is why he is such a good leader. He knew what he was doing. If he did not have his shoulder [injury], he would have went airborne to get the first down." Duke coach Carl Franks, who has enough to deal with on his own, is one person who would probably not like to see Rivers play. The second-year coach has praised Rivers' play this season. "He has great poise under pressure," Franks said. "He makes a lot of smart decisions and does not make a lot of bad ones.... It is certainly one of the best performances that I have seen out of a freshman quarterback." The Duke game is not the first time Rivers has attempted to fight through a sustained injury. When Rivers entered N.C. State for spring practices, he broke a bone in his hand which he craftily concealed from his coach and teammates. This time, though, Amato was has been careful all week about Rivers' status. In addition, the Wolfpack coaching staff has begun extensive preparation with Rivers' possible replacement, freshman Olin Hannum. The backup brings less size to the N.C. State offense, giving up four inches and nearly 30 pounds. However, Amato cautions that Hannum is significantly quicker than his classmate. Whether or not Hannum gets the nod, many would agree that if there were ever a week for Rivers to take it easy, it would be against the winless Blue Devils. N.C. State enters the contest as the prohibitive favorite with or without Rivers because of the Wolfpack's wins over Georgia Tech and North Carolina and a close loss to Clemson. Regardless, Amato points to the recent string of close contests between the two intrastate rivals, and posits that his team will not take Duke lightly. "Look at the last couple of games," Amato said. "In the 1990s, the average number of points in the game has been 60. They have all been shootouts. They have all been close. It's a [rivalry]. When you are that close, they are all rivals."