Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995                   TAG: 9509180131
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: CLEMSON, S.C.                                 LENGTH: Medium

PANTHERS SET TO OPEN AT THEIR HOME AWAY FROM HOME

So, today, most churchgoers will pause - or is that Paws? - as the Carolina Panthers play their first regular-season home game in NFL history.

Well, sort of.

The Panthers' real home, Carolinas Stadium, is still under construction in downtown Charlotte. So, this college burg of 11,000 residents replaces Green Bay as the smallest NFL city, at least for one season, anyway.

And just how big a deal is it?

Among the familiar orange paws painted on Clemson streets is an occasional blue one. There is little question which game is No.1 here, even though the Tigers haven't roared in recent seasons.

``I wonder,'' asked a convenience-store clerk Saturday, ``if the Panthers could beat Florida State?''

Good question. The Seminoles won at Death Valley last weekend. The St.Louis Rams are four-point favorites to do so this weekend. If the Panthers feel like they're at a home-field disadvantage, it's legit.

They bused here, 2 1/2 hours, from their Rock Hill practice facility - another temporary home - Saturday afternoon. Carolina will treat every Clemson visit like this.

They want to beat the traffic, but it will be, in some ways, like 16 road weekends. And it's not exactly like the local populace - in either of its home towns - has warmed to the Panthers, either.

Today's 1 p.m. kickoff is blacked out on TV locally and in Charlotte, because only about 55,000 of the 76,000 seats in Memorial Stadium will be occupied.

Still, negotiating in traffic is expected to be an exercise in patience, and perhaps prayer.

State highway crews from the Carolinas are promising to take today off on I-85, but on the game's eve, traffic on the interstate near Gastonia was moving like the Panthers' offense, although the lane blocking was considerable.

Really, there weren't many folks here talking about the NFL game Saturday. They were more into how the arrival of pro football will change what is usually a sleepy hollow on Sunday.

There remains a furor about beer and wine sales at Memorial Stadium on NFL game days. Also, most churches are changing their schedules to avoid the bumper-to-bumper traffic.

For instance, St.Andrew's Catholic Church took today's regular 11 a.m. Mass and moved it to 6 Saturday night. One reason is the crush of expected visitors in town this morning.

Another reason? The priests have tickets to the game.

The inconvenience is a small price to pay for an NFL franchise, certainly much less than the $500 million-plus to date that Panthers' owner Jerry Richardson has committed to play the game in a different way than he once did as a receiver for the Baltimore Colts.

The non-sellouts, the beer flap, the church service changes have overshadowed one fact in recent weeks. The visiting team today is from a city the Carolinas beat for an NFL expansion franchise.

Clemson wasn't the Panthers' first choice for a temporary home, either. The club wanted to play this season at South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium, because of Columbia's closer geography to Charlotte and Rock Hill.

The Gamecocks held out for more dough from Richardson, who made a better deal with Clemson, which welcomed the club. For at least one season anyway, this college town is going to be big enough for two cats.

The inconvenience of driving to a home game 115 miles from the club's hometown galls some Panthers fans. Others are simply thrilled to have a team in Charlotte.

Those fans don't care that the Panthers are on a pace to set an NFL record for fewest rushing first downs in a season. They don't care that the Panthers, in 15 possessions that have started on the opponents' side of the 50, have managed only one touchdown.

They don't care that Carolina's third-down conversion rate is 17.1 percent, compared to the league-wide 39.7 last year. They don't care that today, Carolina could become only the second of 10 NFL or pre-merger expansion franchises to win its home opener. Minnesota, in 1961, was the other.

What they know is that they have an NFL team and they can get a ticket.

Amen.