Aug. 19, 2002

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ACC begins 50th season with a three-game slate ... Virginia's Cavaliers host Colorado State in the Jim Thorpe Association Classic Thursday night (FSNS, 7:30) ... Saturday's schedule finds NC State entertaining New Mexico in the BCA Bowl (FSNS, 4:30) while Florida State travels to Kansas City to take on Iowa State in the Eddie Robinson Classic (FSN, 8:30) ... Florida State (4th), Maryland (20th) and NC State (25th) earn berths in Coaches' pre-season poll ... AP pre-season ranking lists both Semnioles (3rd) and Terps (21st) ... Florida State's Bobby Bowden tied with Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant for second place on the NCAA's all-time Division I-A coaching win list with 323 wins ... NC State's Philip Rivers is 21st on ACC career passing list with 5,640 yards ... UVa's Billy McMullen is tied for 29th among ACC career reception leaders (141) and is 30th in receiving yardage (2,084).

Saturday, August 24
New Mexico (6-5 in 2001)at NC State (7-5 in 2001)
FSNS; 4:30 p.m., Carter-Finley Stadium (60,000)

THE GAME: NC State's Wolfpack bring up the curtain on their 110th season hosting Mountain West Conference foe New Mexico in the Black Coaches Association Bowl that will be regionally-televised on Fox Sports Net South ... this is the first meeting between the two schools ... the Wolfpack has won five straight and 13 of their last 14 season openers ... NC State is 4-0 in games played in the month of August.

THE COACHES: Rocky Long is 18-28 in his first four seasons at New Mexico ... Chuck Amato is 15-9 in his first two years at NC State, including a 7-1 (.875) mark against non-conference opponents and a 2-0 record in season openers.

NEW MEXICO: The Lobos had just three winning seasons in the previous 18 years until last year's 6-5 mark ... since Long's arrival at New Mexico in 1998, the Lobos win total has increased by one each successive season ... the Lobos were 5-2 in games where Casey Kelly started at quarterback ... overall, the offense improved from an average of 267 yards a game in 2000 to 377 yards last season ... WR Dwight Counter had a team-best 43 catches for 774 yards last year ... five of New Mexico's last nine losses have been by four points or less.

NC STATE: Junior quarterback Philip Rivers is already 21st on the ACC's career passing list with 5,640 yards, 17th in career passing efficiency (130.04), 27th in career total offense (5,529) and has thrown for more yards than any other quarterback through his sophomore season in ACC history ... Rivers completed a school-record .625 percent of his passes a year ago ... walk-on placekicker Adam Kiker made good on 13 of 14 field goal attempts (.929) in 2001 and finished fifth in the ACC in scoring (7.0) ... WR Bryan Peterson ranks 11th among Wolfpack career reception leaders (97) and 10th in receiving yardage (1,335) and has caught a pass in 25 straight games ... senior MLB Dantonio Burnette ranks eighth at NC State with 332 career tackles ... since the beginning of the 1998 season, NC State has blocked 18 punts and 11 field goals ... senior safety Terrence Holt has nine blocked kicks in his career, including seven field goals and two punts.

Saturday, August 24
Iowa State (7-5 in 2001) vs. Florida State (8-4 in 2001)
FSN; 8:30 p.m., Arrowhead Stadium (81,474)

THE GAME: Florida State's third-ranked Seminoles open their 2001 season when they take on Iowa State in the Eddie Robinson Classic ... Saturday night's game marks only the second meeting between the two teams with the Cyclones posting a 10-6 victory in

Anquan Boldin, who missed all of last season with an injury, will be ready to go for the opener.

Tallahassee in 1975 ... FSU is 27-13 against teams currently in the Big 12 ... the Seminoles have won their last 12 season openers with their last season-opening loss a 30-26 decision to Southern Mississippi in 1989 ... overall FSU is 23-3 in season openers under Bowden.

THE COACHES: Dan McCarney is 29-50 in seven years at Iowa State ... Bobby Bowden is 323-91-4 in 36 seasons as a head coach, including a 250-59-4 mark in 26 years at FSU.

IOWA STATE: The Cyclones have won 12 of their last 13 non-conference games ... QB Seneca Wallace was voted the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in 2001 after completing 62 percent of his passes for 2,0448 yards and 11 TDs ... Wallace was also second on the team in rushing with 475 yards and seven touchdowns ... Iowa State is one of six schools to produce a 1,000-yard rusher in each of the last seven seasons ... WR Lane Danielson returns after leading the Cyclones in receiving a year ago with 49 receptions for 694 yards and four TDs.

FLORIDA STATE: Freshman QB Chris Rix threw for 2,734 yards and 22 touchdowns last season ... Ricks led the ACC and was eighth nationally in passing efficiency ... in becoming only the second freshman to lead the ACC in passing, Rix set two ACC freshman records - most total offense yards in a single season (3,123) and consecutive games with a TD pass (11) ... Rix also finished third on the team in rushing with 389 yards ... running back Greg Jones led the team and was seventh in the ACC in rushing with 612 yards while averaging a team-high 5.3 yards per carry ... WR Talman Gardner had 11 TD receptions on only 33 catches as a junior in 2001 ... placekicker Xavier Beitia made his last eight field goal attempts of 2001 and made good on 13 of 14 on the year ... Beitia was the sixth freshman to lead the team in scoring ... first-team All-ACC DL Darnell Dockett was third in the ACC with 19 tackles for loss.

Thursday, August 22
Colorado State (7-5 in 2001) at Virginia (5-7 in 2001)
FSNS; 7:30 pm., Scott Stadium (61,500)

THE GAME: Virginia's Cavaliers kick off their 113th season (and the ACC's 50th) when they host Colorado State of the Mountain West Conference in the second annual Jim Thorpe Classic under the lights of Scott Stadium ... this is the first meeting between the two teams ... Thursday's game marks the second time in three seasons that UVa has opened against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference ... the Cavaliers lost to BYU 38-35 in the 2000 season opener.

THE COACHES: Sonny Lubick is 74-34 in nine seasons at Colorado State and 95-53 in 13 years overall ... Al Groh is 5-7 starting his second year at Virginia and 31-47 in seven seasons overall.

COLORADO STATE: Under Lubick, the school's second all-time winningest coach, Colorado State is 7-2 in season openers and has won seven games or more in a school-record eight-straight seasons ... junior QB Bradlee Van Pelt started the last nine games of the 2001 season and threw for 1,247 yards and eight TDs; Van Pelt also ran for 546 yards in 2001 ... the Rams are 34-17 in road games during Lubick's nine-year tenure ... Cecil Sapp, an All-MWC performer and the team's leading rusher in 2000 before sitting out last season to have a tumor in his leg removed, is back as is Henri Childs who led the team in rushing last year with 841 yards.

VIRGINIA: The Cavaliers are 73-30-9 (.692) all-time in season openers and 81-24-7 (.754) in home openers ... Colorado State is the first of nine games for UVa against teams that played in bowl games last post-season ... WR Billy McMullen had 83 receptions last year, the second-highest total in ACC history and 29 more than the previous school record ... McMullen also led the ACC in receiving yardage (1,060) and TD receptions (12) ... junior Matt Schaub started six games last year and was the team's leading passer with 1,524 yards, including a 334-yard effort against North Carolina - the eighth-highest total in school history ... sophomore Alvin Pearman rushed for a team-leading 371 yards in 2001 to become the first freshman to lead the Cavaliers in rushing since 1986 ... senior ILB Angelo Crowell set a school record with 144 tackles last fall and enters this season as the fourth-leading returning tackler in the nation.