THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610190512
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: 44 lines
George Welsh has had two weeks to tinker with Virginia's sputtering offense, but no one should expect major changes when the 20th-ranked Cavaliers play North Carolina State today.
Tim Sherman remains the starting quarterback and is back to 100 percent after spraining his right thumb in a 13-7 loss to Georgia Tech two weeks ago. As in the first five games, most of the offensive focus will be on tailback Tiki Barber.
But Welsh has made a few minor changes in an effort to juice up a passing game that has produced only one touchdown and nine interceptions. Welsh said he plans to make more use of two freshman reserve receivers - Demetrius Dodson and redshirt Shawn Jones.
``We have to play them to give our starters more rest,'' Welsh said.
While the quarterbacks have taken most of the heat for the passing game's problems, Welsh said a lot of it was not their fault. For instance, he said, a key interception thrown by Brooks late in the Georgia Tech game was due to the receiver making the wrong read.
``We haven't had a consistent passing game, but its been a combination of little things that have hurt us,'' Welsh said. ``We inched ahead there for a while and then we went backward against Georgia Tech, but some of that is mental. Sometimes you are just going to have one of those days.''
Despite its record, Welsh considers N.C. State (1-4) a good team. The Wolfpack has shown considerable improvement the last two weeks, defeating Maryland 34-8 and losing 24-19 last week to No. 8 Alabama.
``They have made a complete transistion from where they were a few weeks ago,'' Welsh said. ``I don't know how it happened, but they are much tougher and aggressive on defense and are executing better on offense.''
N.C. State coach Mike O'Cain credits the improvement to extra hitting time during practice and to his younger players - 10 are first-time starters - maturing.
O'Cain says ``the stakes are very high'' for his team against Virginia because he doesn't believe it is out of the bowl picture yet.
``We need to win five of our last six games to have an opportunity to play in the postseason,'' he said. ``I believe we can be a very good team. We have proven that the last two games.'' by CNB