ACC's silly season moving to the field
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Jul 21, 2003
Contact Bob Lipper at (804) 649-6555 or e-mail blipper@timesdispatch.com

GREENSBORO, Ga. That's not a misprint. The ACC hasn't packed up its headquarters under cover of darkness and moved from Tobacco Road to the intersection of Uncle Remus and Gen. Sherman's highway. John Swofford hasn't been placed in a bidness-protection program. Those two ghosts rumored to inhabit the Early Hill plantation house on Lick Skillet Road just outside Greensboro aren't John Casteen and Marye Anne Fox.

Expansion Follies 2003 is behind us (we think), and the launch to another football season is just 38 days down the road. It's a pretty tight turnaround for the league that brought you the conference calls from hell and a bait-and-switch special that left Eagles and Orangemen scrambling for cover and Hokies on the guest list.

Then again, they're just going from one game (pin the tail on the commissioner) to another.

This explains why the ACC's football wing has gathered in midsummer again for several rounds of golf, another round of dadgums from Bobby Bowden and the last preseason roundup for the league as a nine-member collective.

If this were a year from now, Frank Beamer could just putter over to the shindig by boat from his Lake Oconee getaway and take part in the Q&A sessions (memo to uninitiated media: anticipate multiple references to opponents who are "scary" and "legit"). As it is, Virginia Tech and Miami might not get as warm a welcome next August as they did 20 days ago in that other Greensboro.

"I think Miami and Virginia Tech are asking for more than they know about," Florida State linebacker Michael Boulware was saying yesterday. "It's going to be harder than they think."

Them's fightin' words for a league that didn't place a team in last year's final Top 10 and went 4-8 against ranked opponents. Nominal kingpin and 2002 champ FSU lost five times all told. Challengers N.C. State, Virginia and Maryland snared bowl wins and boast senior quarterbacks, but none has a track record that goes'Canes deep.

Ergo, Miami and Tech - each on a short list of national contenders - loom as potent additives for a conference that's gotten most of its mileage over the years from jump shots.

"To win the ACC, you're going to have to beat some incredible teams," said Wake Forest offensive guard Tyson Clabo. "It's not going to be a walk in the park."

Expansion was a walk on banana peels. Most of the players who were trotted out for meaningful sound bites said they were happy enough to have their sport's profile raised but conceded the process was a mite goofy and a mile prolonged. Duke defensive tackle and economics major Matt Zielinski sensed commerce at work.

"I see expansion being a front-office thing," he said. "It's not for the players. The players don't care as much as the people hoping to make money off of it."

Zielinski would love to take to the bank the notion the Blue Devils will end their record 25-game losing streak against ACC rivals. A safer bet might be divining a mad, four-way scramble to rule the standings.

"Used to be it was Florida State, and you're not supposed to beat'em," said N.C. State quarterback Philip Rivers. "But they got knocked off a couple of times, so maybe they're human. The conference is evening out. This year, it could be as crazy as it's ever been."

Which means it'd only come within three Hail Marys of matching the offseason.

 

ACC NOTES
Jul 21, 2003

FUTURE CAVALIER: Quarterback Scott Deke will be the latest member of his family to matriculate at a Virginia college. Deke, a 6-2, 205-pound rising senior at Loyola High in Los Angeles, has committed to the University of Virginia.

His mother attended Hollins; his father, Virginia Military Institute; an uncle, the University of Richmond; and a grandfather, Virginia Tech.

Deke, who lived in Centreville for two years as a young child, recently attended camp at U.Va. He left Charlottesville with a scholarship offer from Cavaliers coach Al Groh.

"I jumped on that chance because I knew that was the place I wanted to be," Deke said yesterday by phone from California. "It's always been a dream of mine to attend the University of Virginia, ever since I first set foot on the campus."

Deke has a 4.06 grade-point average and scored 1,340 on the SAT. He also had scholarship offers from Army and VMI, and said that Stanford and Cal, among others, had been recruiting him.

About five games into his junior season, Deke won the starting job for a Loyola team that was ranked as high as No.8 nationally. He threw, he said, for about 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns.

OLD-TIMER: Bobby Blizzard went from Hampton High to Hargrave Military Academy to the University of Kentucky before landing at the University of North Carolina, where he's a rising senior and one of the nation's better tight ends.

"It's been a long road," Blizzard said yesterday at the ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro, Ga. "I'm 23 years old. I'm probably the oldest guy on the team, and now I'm playing with 18-year-old boys. Some people on the team call me 'Grandpa.' I feel like I'm a coach sometimes because I've been through it all."

The 6-3, 273-pound Blizzard had 28 receptions for 440 yards and five touchdowns last season.

READY TO ROLL: Injuries to his stomach, groin and shoulder marred Maryland tailback Bruce Perry's 2002 season. The ACC's offensive player of the year in 2001 started only one game for the Terrapins last season. But the fifth-year senior from Philadelphia has good news for Maryland fans.

"I'm as healthy as anybody can be," Perry said. "You don't get much healthier than that."

UPWARDLY MOBILE: Numerous Division I-A players transfer to Division I-AA schools each year. Safety Madieu Williams began his college career at I-AA Towson before transferring to Maryland before the 2001 season. Williams, who redshirted in 2001, made the all-ACC second team in 2002.

ON THE MEND: All-America tailback Willis McGahee, after seriously injuring his knee in Miami's bowl game, said goodbye to college football and entered the NFL draft. Did Florida State's star tailback, Greg Jones, consider going that same route?

"If I tell you I didn't think about that, I'd be lying," Jones said. "I thought about it, but that's him. Me and him are two totally different people. I wish him lots of luck."

Jones was on his way to earning All-America accolades last season when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament Nov. 2 against Wake Forest. He had reconstructive surgery about three weeks later.

"I think I still got a ways to go, but it's coming along," said Jones, who emphatically added that he expects to play in the Seminoles' Aug. 30 opener at North Carolina. - Jeff White

 

Sports Focus: Let The Hype Begin
ACC's Heisman hopefuls Schaub, Rivers are Web gems
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jul 21, 2003

GREENSBORO, Ga. By month's end, N.C. State will unveil a Web site (PhilipRivers.com) devoted to its star quarterback, a Heisman Trophy candidate.

Three days ago, the University of Virginia launched a Web site (Schaub4Heisman.com) designed to raise the national profile of its star quarterback.

On the cover of the Wolfpack's media guide, 6-5, 230-pound Philip Rivers stands alone, in uniform and with football in hand. On the cover of the Cavaliers' media guide, 6-5, 240-pound Matt Schaub stands alone, in a tux and with football in hand.

Say hello to the guys who enter the season as the ACC's marquee players. In a league that includes Florida State's Greg Jones, N.C. State's T.A. McLendon and Maryland's Bruce Perry - who, when healthy, rank among the nation's premier tailbacks - neither Schaub nor Rivers is a lock to snare the ACC's player-of-the-year award come November. But for now, the spotlight shines brightest on these two senior quarterbacks.

On the front of the ACC's media guide, players from each of the league's nine schools are pictured. The Schaub and Rivers shots are about five times larger than those of the other seven.

"I saw that," Rivers said of the cover yesterday at the ACC Football Kickoff. "I think it's good for the conference. Not to say we're the only two good quarterbacks in the conference - there's a lot of guys returning from last year - but I think that's a plus."

So who poses more problems for opposing secondaries more, Schaub or Rivers?

"I couldn't say who's better," Wake Forest safety Quintin Williams said. "I just know that they're both consistent, and you can't take either one of them for granted."

Ask a football fan outside the Southeast about ACC quarterbacks, and Rivers' name is likely to come up first. Never mind that Schaub was honored as the conference's player of the year in 2002 (as well as its top offensive player).

Schaub, who redshirted in 1999 and didn't become a full-time starter until last season, doesn't begrudge Rivers his fame.

"He's been doing it for four years now, and I really just started doing it last year," said Schaub, who graduated in May with a degree in economics. "He's very deserving of all the attention that he's been getting."

Rivers, who entered State in January 2000 after graduating early from his Athens, Ala., high school, has been the starter since the Pack's opener that year. He's on track to graduate in December and to break every school passing record.

A season ago, when N.C. State finished 11-3, Rivers completed 62.7 percent of his passes for 3,353 yards and 20 touchdowns, with 10 interceptions.

Schaub, from West Chester, Pa., completed 68.9 percent of his passes for 2,976 yards and 28 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions, and helped a U.Va. team picked eighth in the ACC tie for second. The Cavaliers finished 9-5, and Schaub's brilliance meant Rivers had to settle for a spot on the all-ACC second team.

"I don't know if 'disappointed' is the word, but certainly that's a personal goal of mine, which coincides with the team goal," Rivers said. "But like I said, he had a great year. He was well-deserving of the award."

Schaub and Rivers shook hands and chatted yesterday afternoon. They'll meet again Nov. 1, when Virginia visits State.

 

Passers top list of ACC returnees

7-21-03

By TIM PEELER, Staff Writer
News & Record

GREENSBORO, Ga. -- Standing in the hallway of the Ritz-Carlton Resort, Philip Rivers and Matt Schaub shook hands, smiled and started talking about football, something they have rarely been able to do with each other in two brief on-field meetings following games.

But Sunday afternoon, the ACC's two most experienced quarterbacks got to know each other during the ACC's annual Football Kickoff, held this year at this swanky hotel at Reynolds Plantation.

The conversation between the two was fairly brief. But talk about the two, and many of the league's other offensively explosive players, lasted most of Sunday afternoon.

Both N.C. State and Virginia are launching Web sites to publicize the accomplishments of their prized quarterbacks, precursors to possible Heisman Trophy campaigns.

"We've become such a passing league," said Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen. "We were playing more with five and six guys in the secondary than with four."

More correct, however, is to say that the ACC is on the offensive in recent years, and that doesn't just apply in acquiring teams from the Big East.

Schaub is the ACC's reigning Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year. Rivers needs only to stay on a leisurely pace to break Heisman Trophy-winner Chris Weinke's career passing record of 9,839 yards and become the league's first 10,000-yard passer.

Both of the league's most recent Offensive Players of the Year, Schaub and Maryland running back Bruce Perry, return when the season begins the last weekend of August. And each of the last three ACC Rookies of the Year -- Rivers, Florida State quarterback Chris Rix and N.C. State tailback T.A. McLendon -- are back to put up more big numbers.

Only Wake Forest has to replace its starting quarterback. North Carolina quarterback Darian Durant returns after leading the ACC in total offense last year.

Six of the league's top eight rushers from last year return. And Perry, who led the league in rushing in 2001, says he's perfectly healthy going into the fall.

"I'm going to make me a sign to put up that says, 'I'm fine,'" Perry said Sunday afternoon, after being asked the same question for the umpteenth time.

For some of the league's best defensive players, it makes the question of who is the most dangerous offensive player in the league nearly impossible to answer.

"I don't think there is a best player in the league," said Wake Forest defensive back Quintin Williams. "They are all so different. There is no definite best."

Of course, some players took the easy way out. North Carolina safety Dexter Reid, asked who he would say is the best offensive player in the league other than his teammate, Durant, refused to be disloyal.

"Durant," Reid said. "Durant, first team, second team and third team."

OK, but the more likely candidates are Schaub and Rivers.

And no one was willing to call much of a distinction. Both are confident in their own abilities, and have the ultimate confidence of their teammates.

And while they aren't exactly trying to beat the other out, both admitted they keep up with what the other is doing.

"When you have any personal goals at all, you compete against other guys," Rivers said. "But when we play Virginia, I am not playing him. When we play North Carolina, I am not playing against Durant. But you certainly compete and enjoy keeping up with guys across the country.

"(Schaub) had a great year last year. He does all he can do to help his team win, and that's what we are in it for."

Rivers-Schaub rivalry headlines ACC's arms race
By AL FEATHERSTON : The Herald-Sun
afeatherston@heraldsun.com
Jul 20, 2003 : 6:40 pm ET

GREENSBORO, Ga. -- The two quarterbacks pictured on the cover of the ACC's 2003 football media guide could almost be mirror images of one another.

The one in red and white is probably the biggest name in ACC football -- a three-year regular who is on pace to break all of the league's career passing records. The one in black and orange is the returning ACC player of the year.

So which is the league's headliner? N.C. State's Philip Rivers or Virginia's Matt Schaub?

"Some people may look at it that way -- I don't," Schaub said. "I just see two players on [the guide's cover] who represent two teams that have a chance to win the championship."

Rivers and Schaub were two of the featured players on hand Sunday when the ACC's Football Kickoff opened at the Reynolds Plantation. The affair not only provided the media a chance to talk to players from all nine ACC teams, it provides the players a chance to get to know each other.

"I'd like to meet [Rivers]," Schaub said. "He's another guy who's gone through the whole situation of being a quarterback at a D-I program. He's had a lot of success and a lot of attention. To get a feel for what he's gone through and how he's handled it can only help me. ... We share a mutual respect."

The ACC returns a plethora of established quarterbacks in 2003. North Carolina's Darian Durant actually led the league in average total offense a game. Maryland's Scott O'Brien was 12th nationally in passing efficiency. Florida State's Chris Rix, Clemson's Charlie Whitehurst and Duke's Adam Smith all have had their moments.

But Rivers and Schaub represent the ACC's best.

"Both of those quarterbacks are great," Wake Forest defensive back Quintin Williams said. "Obviously, they're NFL talents and you can't downplay their talent.

"Schaub trusts his players. He'll take a chance with them and throw the ball and let his receivers make the catch. Rivers, he's a technician. You can see him picking defenses apart. He's not afraid to go for the short passes and just pick up three yards at a time to move it down the field."

The similarities between the two quarterbacks are striking. Both stand 6-5 and weigh in the neighborhood of 235 or 240 pounds.

"I think we're pretty similar in all aspects," Schaub said. "We both have a great feel for what it takes for our team to win. We're the same age ... the same year. I think we're both very mature."

There is a difference -- Rivers is married and is the father of a 1-year-old daughter.

"No, I'm not married ... no kids," Schaub said. "He's got me in that department."

Rivers also is the more established player, which explains why he's reaping more national attention this preseason, while Schaub's ACC honors seem to be overlooked. One recent survey of Heisman Trophy candidates listed Rivers in the top five, while Schaub's name wasn't even mentioned.

"It doesn't bother me at all," Schaub said. "It's motivation, yeah, but at the same time it's preseason stuff and you've got to go out and play. Like [Iowa QB] Brad Banks last year ... who would have had him out there? Who thought he was going to be as good as he was and lead the nation in passing? You never know what can happen."

Schaub insists that he doesn't begrudge Rivers the acclaim he's been getting.

"He's been doing it for four years now and I really just started doing it last year," he said.

While Rivers has started every game in his three years at N.C. State, Schaub had a long, tough road to stardom. He played in just three games as a freshman and alternated with Bryson Spinner as a sophomore. His status was so unsettled that when he got off to a slow start in last year's opener against Colorado State, Schaub was benched for freshman Marques Hagans.

But that was not a sign of things to come. Schaub regained the starting job, leading Virginia to nine wins, a second-place finish in the ACC and a resounding victory over West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl.

"It's been a long road and I've put a lot of work into my game," he said. "At the same time, it's no time to be complacent. There are still a lot of things to be done."

Schaub threw for 2,976 yards last season, completing 68.9 percent of his passes. His ratio of 28 touchdowns to seven interceptions is astounding.

In contrast, Rivers threw for 3,353 yards and completed 62.7 percent of his passes. He threw for 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as N.C. State won 11 games and crushed Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl.

So who had the better year?

"Those kind of things, you get into comparing and you're not going to win," Rivers said. "You can analyze it to death and say `If this' and `If that' ... but the bottom line is, which team wins. As far as team [success], they beat us head to head, but I would say our season was more successful."

And those are the terms he'll use to judge his "duel" with Schaub. Team success, not passing stats, will be the measure of the ACC's best quarterback.


 

From heckled to Heisman?
U.Va. promotes unlikely candidate as a hopeful
Published July 21 2003
David Teel

GREENSBORO, Ga. -- Matt Schaub ditched the baseball hat (worn backward, of course), donned a tux (a rental) and screened the baby photographs (nothing from the bathtub).

Ah, the life of a Heisman Trophy candidate.

You didn't know? You hadn't heard that Schaub, the quarterback whom Virginia fans heckled off the field in last season's opener, is contending for college football's most prestigious and overhyped award?

It's true. The school says so.

"Heisman Trophy Candidate Matt Schaub," trumpets the cover of the Cavaliers' media guide.

Schaub4Heisman.com, touts the Web site launched last week by Virginia's sports information office.

So Schaub is arguably the nation's best returning player? No. Not even close.

But he is the reigning ACC Player of the Year, and with a quick smile and degree in economics, not to mention gaudy 2002 stats, promoting him is a natural for a program striving to upgrade its profile nationally and regionally.

"I was all for it," Schaub said here Sunday at the ACC's football kickoff. "It's not often you get to go through something like this."

And it's not often that a quarterback gets yanked in the opener, watches a redshirt freshman start in his stead the following week and still emerges as his conference's leader in pass efficiency. But that's how Schaub's junior season transpired.

He earned fans' and coaches' wrath in a loss to Colorado State, bided his time behind Marques Hagans for nearly a half at Florida State, reclaimed the starting job against South Carolina, engineered three fourth-quarter comebacks, threw a school-record 28 touchdown passes and led the Cavaliers (9-5) to a second-place ACC finish.

"I think the turning point was the second half at Florida State," Schaub said, "and we carried that over the next six weeks."

Indeed, after the Cavaliers fell behind the Seminoles 23-0 midway through the second quarter, Schaub replaced Hagans and passed for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Virginia lost 40-19 but won its next six games.

A quarterback was born. But a legit Heisman candidate?

That depends not only on Schaub, but also on his teammates. How will they handle last season's success and this season's expectations? Can they improve their weak rushing offense and porous defense? How much will Schaub miss offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, who left during the offseason for a similar position with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars?

Heck, Schaub might not even be the ACC's best quarterback in 2003. Florida State junior Chris Rix, if his head is right, has big-league potential, and there's always senior Philip Rivers at North Carolina State.

Rivers, another "Heisman candidate" according to the preseason rags, is on pace to break the conference's career records for passing yards and touchdown passes set by Florida State's Chris Weinke, the 2000 Heisman winner. But in Rivers' three seasons as a starter, the Wolfpack has never finished better than fourth in the ACC.

N.C. State, per coach Chuck Amato's wishes, isn't touting Rivers for the Heisman, much as Virginia's George Welsh shunned a campaign for Cavaliers running back Thomas Jones in 1999. But Welsh's successor, Al Groh, is rarely bashful.

"Who's meant more to his team than Matt Schaub has?" Groh said.

Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett? Washington quarterback Cody Pickett? Wisconsin running back Anthony Davis? Texas receiver Roy Williams?

Who knows? As Schaub pointed out, Iowa quarterback Brad Banks wasn't on anyone's Heisman radar last year, but he finished second to Southern California QB Carson Palmer and guided the Hawkeyes to a share of the Big Ten title and an Orange Bowl bid.

These are good times for Schaub. He's shooting in the mid-80s on the golf course, and his intramural basketball team advanced to the championship game. He looks dapper in a tux on the media guide cover, and the baby pictures on his Web site aren't too embarrassing. Yes, his mom encouraged him to lose his omnipresent baseball hat, but such is the price of fame.

Heisman Trophy winner Matt Schaub? Hey, if Ben Curtis can win the British Open, why not?
 

New coordinators could cause angst
Wolfpack, Cavaliers quarterbacks expect smooth transitions
GREGG DOYEL
Raleigh Bureau

GREENSBORO, Ga. - They are Heisman candidates and cover boys, captains and quarterbacks. Virginia's Matt Schaub and N.C. State's Philip Rivers are 6-foot-5 and close to 240 pounds, and they couldn't separate their 2002 statistics with a spatula.

Philip Rivers, left, and Matt Schaub

Both attempted 418 passes, and while Schaub had more completions and touchdowns, Rivers had more yards and victories. Schaub won ACC Player of the Year; Rivers was third.

The cover of the 2003 ACC football media guide shows Schaub and Rivers dropping back to pass, Schaub on the left. Each stands alone on his team's media guide cover, clutching a football in both hands.

They have something else in common, something neither would prefer but both must deal with entering the 2003 season: a new offensive coordinator.

N.C. State replaced Marty Galbraith, who left for an assistant's position in the NFL, with former Auburn and Mississippi offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. Virginia replaced Bill Musgrave, a former Carolina Panthers assistant who returned to the NFL, by promoting two-year offensive line coach Ron Prince.

Offensive coordinators are more than eggheads who doodle formations in their office and sit in a box above the stadium to call plays. For the quarterback, they are another set of eyes, a sounding board, a liaison to the coach.

For Schaub and Rivers, it is their third offensive coordinators in four seasons. Neither seems too concerned.

"We had a good relationship," Schaub said of Musgrave. "He's a great coach, a great guy to talk to and learn from, but I don't think it's going to change our offensive philosophy too much. We'll build on what we were last year."

Said Rivers: "Coach (Chuck) Amato knows what to do, and he brought in a guy I think will be good for us. (Mazzone) has been around; he knows how to win."

To hear Schaub and Rivers tell it, even though both teams have new offensive coordinators, neither Virginia nor N.C. State will have a new offense.

Prince will be working off the offense installed at Virginia by Musgrave. Mazzone will direct the system implemented by the Wolfpack's 2000 offensive coordinator, Norm Chow, who's now at Southern California.

"The terminology of the offense is the same, and that's the biggest thing," Rivers said. "We know what we're doing."

The most critical change for Schaub and Rivers could come on game days, when they have to get used to someone else's rhythm for running an offense.

"I'll need to get a feel for his play-calling," Schaub said. "We'll sit down and discuss what he'll do in certain situations, so I'll have a good idea what to expect. That will develop in August so we're ready for the Duke game on Aug. 30, so nothing's a surprise."

Both quarterbacks seemed awfully at ease Sunday with having to incorporate a new offensive coordinator into systems that won a combined 20 games last season. Virginia and N.C. State are expected to contend for the ACC title and Bowl Championship Series berths.

"I know what you're saying," Rivers said, acknowledging a question along those lines. "You've got the guys, you've got a group intact, and now it could get better or it could get worse. But the terminology is the same, the players are the same. It's going to be good."

 

Schaub's reversal of fortune
By CAULTON TUDOR, Staff Writer

GREENSBORO, GA. -- By the end of Virginia's first football game a year ago, junior quarterback Matt Schaub had been benched and replaced by a freshman.
By the end of Virginia's 2002 season, Schaub was voted the top offensive player in the ACC.

It was a reversal of fortune that largely changed the competitive personalities of his school's program and an entire conference.

"Matt's impact was incredible," said teammate Almondo Curry, a defensive back.

"I wouldn't trade him for anybody."

Some other players would, though. In a league awash with quarterback talent, Schaub's accomplishments in '02 have given him little, if any, of a respect edge over N.C. State's Philip Rivers.

"To me," said Clemson linebacker John Leake, "Rivers is the best quarterback in the league. He's the complete leader."

In an approaching season that is expected to be marked by a furious four-way chase for first place -- Florida State, Maryland, NCSU and UVa -- the Rivers vs. Schaub jockeying may be almost as intriguing.

"He's great," Schaub says of Rivers. "I definitely understand why a lot of people are in his corner. He's just been so good and steady for a long time."

The affable Rivers certainly gives as much as he gets, stopping at no end to praise Schaub not only for his role in the Cavaliers' 9-5 record but in their 14-9 victory over the Wolfpack in Charlottesville.

"He's just a great quarterback, a great player, really," Rivers said.

About to begin his fourth season as State's starter and catalyst, Rivers is the ACC's big steady, as much of a football fixture as the ACC has had in years.

Schaub, to many, is still the big lucky, the guy at the wheel when Virginia's influx of recruiting talent under Al Groh suddenly meshed into a force that caught the rest of the ACC by surprise in midseason. It's a description that Schaub doesn't entirely dispute.

"I need to have a better season than last season," he said. "Last season was a great starting point, but it's important to improve for me and the team. Last season doesn't help us this season."

And, as Schaub and Curry emphasize, the Cavaliers have not lost the shock factor that figured heavily last season. After that season-opening loss to Colorado State in Charlottesville -- a game in which Schaub was lifted after throwing for only 73 yards and an interception -- the Wahoos absorbed a 40-19 pounding at Florida State. Against the Seminoles, Schaub regrouped handsomely, relieving freshman Marques Hagans and completing 19 of 25 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns.

"Florida State had their first-string defense in for most the game," Schaub said. "But we were so far behind that no one really understood how much that game meant to us. For me, it was the starting point. All the confidence I lost against Colorado State, I got back against Florida State. But when the score's that one-sided, it gets lost."

It didn't get completely lost on South Carolina in the third game. Schaub hit the Gamecocks for 20 completions and three touchdown strikes in a 34-21 win.

The run to ACC offensive player of the year honors was on. The Hoos, picked for eighth in the ACC, didn't lose again until Oct. 26 at Georgia Tech. Down the stretch, they smashed Maryland and got the win over NCSU that allowed them to finish higher than the Pack in the final conference standings.

"I grew up during that stretch," Schaub said.

And even in the 23-15 loss at Georgia Tech, Schaub was remarkable. He threw for 372 yards, completed 41 of 56 passes and had only one interception.

But perceptions can become reality in sports. While Schaub was virtually flawless in the postseason -- a 48-22 Continental Tire Bowl win over West Virginia -- Rivers and State emerged from the bowl games as a huge national winner. The Pack routed Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl and Rivers is now seen a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender.

Schaub has an Internet Web site -- created by UVa's sports information department -- and is being pushed by the school for the Heisman. But nationally, there's little doubt that Rivers is the more identifiable player.

Rivers' experience and lineup longevity carry important weight even though the Pack's conference record with Rivers is only 13-11. State last won six conference games in a season in 1994.

Rivers, one of the best quarterbacks in ACC history, may never be voted to the all-conference first team. That's difficult to imagine, but it's also difficult to comprehend Schaub's emergence as such a pivotal player in the league's power structure.

Odds are that neither will win the Heisman. It's even possible that another quarterback -- Maryland's Scott McBrien, North Carolina's Darian Durant, Florida State's Chris Rix or Clemson's Charlie Whitehurst -- will be the Schaub of '03. But it's been a long time since a sitting all-league quarterback had to fret the competition more than Schaub will have to do this season.



 

Canes on ACC players' minds
Everyone 'wants a chance' at UM
BY STEPHEN F. HOLDER
sholder@herald.com

GREENSBORO, Ga. - The University of Miami is more than a year from making its Atlantic Coast Conference football debut, but already it is a hot topic among the league's players.

And when questions about competing with the Hurricanes come up, the response is almost uniform:

Bring 'em on!

''With the type of tradition [UM] has, everybody wants a chance at Miami,'' Virginia defensive back Almondo Curry said. ``You want to beat teams like that.''

Said Florida State linebacker Michael Boulware: ``I think it's going to be a great advantage for the ACC. And I think Miami and Virginia Tech are asking for more than they know. It's going to be harder than they think.''

The ACC's final season as a nine-team league kicked off Sunday when players from each team gathered for preseason media interviews. The conference's coaches and commissioner John Swofford will be available today and Tuesday.

The ACC Football Kickoff has provided the first opportunity for some to react publicly to the league's recent expansion. The decision to grow from nine to 11 teams was made official when Miami accepted the ACC's invitation June 30, joining Virginia Tech.

Consider Sunday's comments just a taste of what could come when the Hurricanes and their soon-to-be conference foes begin playing annual games, starting in fall 2004.

''I think it will take the ACC to another level,'' said Andre Maddox, a North Carolina State defensive back.

Maddox is different from most ACC players in that he has seen plenty of UM over the years. He grew up in Miami and played against many of the Hurricanes' athletes during his prep career at Killian High. He followed the expansion talks with keen interest and is elated over the additions.

''I would love to play at the Orange Bowl next year,'' Maddox said. ``I think it would be like going down to Tallahassee [to play FSU] during my freshman year, but 10 times more intense.

``I've always wanted to play Miami. This conference is getting more competitive. We did great in the bowl games, and this is just more competition for us. We're ready.''

And even if that is not true initially, games against UM will provide an opportunity for ACC teams to measure themselves against an elite opponent in a conference setting.

''I believe it's just going to elevate our play,'' Maryland running back Bruce Perry said. ``If you have a chance to play them every year, it will just help. I believe it's just going to elevate everybody's play.''
 

Seminoles no longer sure thing in the ACC
By Josh Robbins | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted July 21, 2003

GREENSBORO, Ga. -- Picking a preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference football title used to be a tedious exercise. Since 1992, its first year in the league, Florida State almost always seemed like the logical and obvious choice as the team to beat.

But the monotony may end today, when media members gathered at Reynolds Plantation for the annual ACC Football Kickoff fill out their preseason ballots.

To many, Florida State no longer seems as invincible as it once did, even though the Seminoles won the ACC championship last season. Just as important, three other teams -- North Carolina State, Maryland and Virginia -- have improved and appear poised to challenge the Seminoles for league supremacy.

And while preseason predictions mean little, if anything, in the long run, they certainly illustrate how competitive a league is expected to be.

"Each year, to me, from 2000 has gotten more and more competitive," NC State quarterback Philip Rivers said on Sunday. "And every year it's gotten a little bit more evened out. And this year, just looking at it, may be the most evened-out one yet."

Florida State, NC State, Maryland and Virginia all figure to start the season ranked in The Associated Press Top 25. The ACC hasn't placed four teams in the preseason top 25 since 1993.

"It's tougher," Clemson linebacker John Leake said of the league. "The competition's harder. Each year you can see it."

Rivers and his Wolfpack teammates have reason to consider themselves legitimate contenders. They finished the 2002 season ranked 12th in the AP poll -- highest among all ACC teams -- and have defeated FSU in each of the past two seasons.

A starter since the first game of his freshman season, Rivers needs only 846 yards passing to become the conference's all-time leader in career passing yardage. His mere presence gives his teammates additional confidence.

The Terrapins and Cavaliers also return their starting quarterbacks from a year ago. Scott McBrien became more familiar with the Maryland offense throughout the 2002 season, first playing with the Terps after he transferred from West Virginia. McBrien also should benefit from having running back Bruce Perry back in the lineup. Perry, the 2001 ACC Offensive Player of the Year, missed most of last season with an assortment of injuries.

"It's improved drastically," Perry said of the league. "I remember the days when Peter Warrick and [Chris] Weinke just ran through people. But now you've got other teams that are rising and at least are trying to compete with Florida State."

Virginia quarterback Matt Schaub, a fifth-year senior and the ACC's reigning player of the year, said he sees parity within the league.

"In the past years there was somewhat of a tiering system in the league; there were three teams that were at the top, in the middle and then the lower," Schaub said. "But now it's all seemed to balance out. I think that's great for the conference. It makes everything more interesting."

Florida State outside linebacker Michael Boulware had a different view.

"They're going to find it harder than they think," Boulware said.