Beating the heat an important element in beating ECU

The forecast for Saturday's game against East Carolina is for temperatures approaching 90 degree at kickoff

No need to check the Weather Channel. It's going to be hot on Saturday for NC State's football game against East Carolina.

Dangerously hot, with temperatures approaching the 90-degree mark as the day goes on.

What else would you expect from a noon kickoff on the last day of August in North Carolina?

Schools all across the Southeast -- including State -- have instituted extreme heat plans in an effort to keep fans attending this weekend's season opening games as safe as possible. But what about the players on the field, who will be banging heads with one another in full pads for the better part of four hours?

According to Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren, the precautions for them begin long before they run out of the tunnel and into the blazing sun.

"The education process started a long time ago with the team in August camp," Doeren said. "The heat of North Carolina and really the South in general, your players have to understand their bodies a certain way, And there's a lot more science now. 

"Our nutrition staff and our training staff and our weight room staff constantly are educating our players. We actually did another one today on how their bodies run -- what the fuel is -- not everybody's the same, some guys sweat a lot more salt, some guys sweat a lot more electrolytes, some guys who are a lot more water. And they have to know that."

Regardless of the players' metabolism, senior safety Jarius Morehead said that the approach is the same when it comes to beating the heat. Or at least managing it.

Hydrate, he said.

Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.

"The night before the game I'll drink at least four or five Powerades," Morehead said. "If you ain't peeing every five minutes, you ain't hydrated."

Morehead said that practices in the heat are much more demanding than games.

"If you run hard in practice, you're going to be fine in the game," he said. "We practice in the morning for a reason, because a majority of our games are at noon."

In addition to conditioning, depth will also play a role in the outcome of Saturday's game.

Doeren said that while the objective is to play starters as much as possible given the conditions, he plans to rotate players as much as possible, especially on the offensive and defensive lines.

"If you have guys that know what they're doing, you're going to use that for sure," the Wolfpack coach said. "You know, there's some positions that aren't as deep as others. But the ones that have that you're going to use it and and obviously you don't want to do that in a scenario where your quality goes down."