Groh glad to have Trojans as the opener
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

If there's one consolation for Al Groh as he looks ahead to an Aug. 30 visit from Southern Cal, it's that the opener has rarely set the tone for his Virginia football teams.

The Cavaliers have won nine games in a season twice during Groh's seven-year tenure, and they lost their opening game on both occasions.

When Virginia lost its 2007 opener at Wyoming, 23-3, the team hadn't returned to town before a noted school landmark, Beta Bridge, had been painted over with the message, "Groh Must Go."

All the Cavaliers did was win their next seven games en route to a 9-4 season, but offseason losses -- anticipated and otherwise -- have relegated UVa to a fifth-place preseason choice out of six teams in the ACC's Coastal Division.

Perhaps there could have been a better time to entertain the Trojans, who were ranked third in last season's final Associated Press poll.

"This is the most talented college football team I've seen since I had to do pre-draft work on the Florida State teams of the mid- to late-1990s," said Groh, who was a National Football League assistant at the time.

"They had the most guys in the country drafted last year and a couple of NFL general managers have told me: 'They might have more drafted next year.' They definitely have been in a league of their own in the decade from 2000 on."

And, the Cavaliers have fewer than six weeks to get ready for them.

"It's as good a time as any in that we only wanted to play it in the first game, and they only wanted to play it in the first game," Groh said earlier this week at the ACC's Football Kickoff in Greensboro, Ga.

"Given who the opponent is and the important we place on conference play, what would it be like if we had seven conference opponents and then Southern California? It would be distracting, certainly, and perhaps harmful to our intentions within the conference."

Virginia seniors Clint Sintim and John Phillips addressed the media one day before Groh's sitdown. They didn't shy away from the challenge of facing Southern Cal.

"'Excited's' not the word for it," Sintim said. "'Ecstatic' is the word. It's a team full of Army All-Americans and even their back-ups were All-Americans [in high school]. I've never played a team of that caliber.

"I heard rumors about the game last year, that we were going to play USC or Penn State. I was hoping for USC. In my spare time, I've been looking at a DVD of their last four games, putting numbers together with the names and bios on the Internet. Nothing too serious, but it just adds to the excitement."

Virginia is 3-4 in opening games under Groh, with the losses to intersectional foes Wisconsin, Colorado State, Pittsburgh and Wyoming.

"We analyze everything all the time," Groh said. "Just because we give something a lot of forethought doesn't mean that there wasn't a better way to do it.

"We do want to play better than we have in the past couple openers and there's an absolute need to play better in this one."

Odds 'n Ends

Cornerback Mike Brown is not listed on the Cavaliers' roster but Groh said he is still waiting for information before making a determination on Brown's status. In February, Brown was charged with larceny and possession of marijuana and he did not participate in spring practice. ... Groh said that his team's collective grade-point average was higher in the second semester than at any time in the previous nine years. ... Groh and his wife, Anne, spent a long weekend in El Salvador at the invitation of U.S. Ambassador Charles Glazer, a fellow UVa student in the 1960s whose son was a faceoff specialist for the Cavaliers' undefeated 2006 lacrosse team.
 

Virginia notebook
By Andy Bitter
Published: July 21, 2008

GREENSBORO, Ga. — Virginia was picked to finish fifth in the ACC’s Coastal Division by the assembled media at the ACC Kickoff on Monday. Cavaliers coach Al Groh was neither surprised nor concerned.

“Our team probably continues to labor to get much respect in this conference,” Groh said.

Despite winning nine games in 2007, tied for second-most in school history, Virginia was hit hard by offseason attrition both expected (Chris Long and Branden Albert heading to the NFL) and unexpected (academic suspensions to starters Jameel Sewell and Chris Cook and the transfer of rising star Jeffrey Fitzgerald).

That leaves plenty of question marks on both sides of the ball, with inexperienced players battling it out for playing time.

“When Chris Long and Branden Albert were getting ready to start, I don’t recall there were any people saying, ‘Oh wow, this is incredible. These guys are going to start,’” Groh said. “Now everybody is saying, ‘What are you going to do without these guys.’ …

“So there are players coming up who are going to have the same opportunity as those players did, go from no-name players in the eyes of people who didn’t know to being people everybody is saying, ‘What are you going to do without (them)?’”

Countdown to USC

As of today, Virginia is 39 days away from its season-opening clash with perennial powerhouse Southern Cal at Scott Stadium. Count Groh as those touting the Trojans, who should garner a top-five ranking to start the season.

“This is the most talented college football team I’ve seen since I had to do pre-draft work on the Florida State teams of the late and middle ’90s, “Groh said. “Warrick Dunn, Peter Warrick, Marvin Jones, (Andre) Wadsworth, Reinard Wilson, Samari Rolle — those guys. This is the most talented college team I’ve seen since them.

“(The Trojans) had the most guys drafted in the country last year and a couple NFL general managers told me they might have more drafted next year. They have clearly been in a league of their own during the decade from 2000 on.”

That’s clearly a concern for Cavaliers fans, who have seen their team stumble in recent season openers, losing 38-13 at Pittsburgh in 2006 and finishing with 100 yards of total offense in last year’s 23-3 pounding at Wyoming.

The Trojans should serve as extra motivation during Virginia’s training camp.

“You can’t be caught off guard,” UVa tight end John Phillips said. “It means you can’t be slacking off. You can’t just go and stick your toe in the water. You’ve got to be ready to jump in.”

Extra points

Sophomore Trey Womack, who worked out at both cornerback and safety in the spring, will be a safety when practice opens on Aug. 4. … Groh said UVa’s spring semester team GPA was the highest at Virginia in the last nine years. … The ACC will begin implementing injury reports this fall, the first Division I conference to do so. The twice-weekly reports will announce levels of injury in a way similar to the NFL’s system — out, doubtful, questionable and probable. Groh, who is reticent to dole out any injury information, actually likes the idea. “(It means) I don’t have to answer all those stupid questions from Sunday through Wednesday,” he said.

 

Trouble in ACC? Don’t tell league commish
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: July 22, 2008

GREENSBORO, Ga. - John Swofford said Tuesday morning that if some think the ACC has a post-expansion image problem, he doesn’t share that opinion.

The league’s commissioner — who engineered the addition of Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College three years ago, giving the ACC 12 members and a conference championship football game — declared that all is well within the geographical footprint that sprawls from South Beach to Cape Cod.

“How we as a conference evaluate expansion is not based on the short term competitive aspect of it, but on the longer term positioning and stability aspects of it,” Swofford said during his annual state of the league message at the ACC Football Kickoff. “If you have that and you have the type of commitment and the programs we have in our league, we feel as if we couldn’t be positioned any better for success.”

Did the move hurt hoops?

The conference has come under fire from some national and regional critics of late because of the league’s failure to put a team in football’s national championship picture and for a perceived drop-off in basketball.

When the ACC expanded, it was presumed that Florida State and Miami would continue their national gridiron success, but both teams have slumped. In fact, the last time the ACC produced a national champion came in 1999 when the Seminoles defeated Virginia Tech (then a member of the Big East) in the Sugar Bowl.

“All of this is cyclical,” Swofford said, “whether it’s individual programs or if it’s conferences. All you have to do is look at history there.”

The coach of this season’s favorite to win the ACC football title, Clemson’s Tommy Bowden, said Saturday that he agreed with the cyclical theory.

“Not long ago, it was Florida State and Miami dominating college football,” Bowden said. “Where was the SEC then? These things go in cycles. The SEC has had a nice run. I’m sure that the ACC or another conference will take its place.”

A big opportunity

Bowden’s Tigers could help the cause right out of the starting blocks when Clemson meets Alabama in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome to start the season.

Duke’s new head coach David Cutcliffe said that the SEC and ACC “are a lot more similar than people might think.”

Cutcliffe, arguably the top offensive coordinator in the country during part of his 19 years at Tennessee (he also was head coach at Ole Miss for six seasons in between), is familiar with both leagues via watching film.

New rules

Charlottesville’s Doug Rhodes who serves as the ACC’s coordinator of football officiating went over the new college football rules changes with media on Tuesday morning, specifically the change in play clock.

This season, the play clock will be set at 40 seconds when the ball becomes dead, either in or out of bounds, and when a pass is incomplete. However, the 40-second play clock will not be used after any of the following events occur: a penalty is administered; a charged team or media time out; measurement; change of possession; try for point after touchdown; start of each period; start of a possession in overtime; or an instant replay. In those cases, a 25-second play clock will be used.

When a ballcarrier goes out of bounds, the clock will now start on the referee’s “ready” signal, except during the last two minutes, when it will start on the snap.

Also, there are no more 5-yard facemask penalties — they’re all 15 yards now. And “horse-collar” tackles are now illegal, prohibiting players from grabbing the inside back collar of the shoulder pads or jersey and immediately pulling the runner down. Those sorts of tackles have caused serious injuries. There is also no more sideline warnings to keep coaches, players, and team personnel in order. The first two violations are 5-yard penalties and 15 yards thereafter.

A new bowl

The ACC now has nine bowl tie-ins, the latest is the Congressional Bowl, which will be held Dec. 20 at 11 a.m. at Nationals Park in Washington. The game will pit the ACC’s ninth pick vs. Navy. Starting out, this will be a pre-Christmas bowl game, but will be moved to a post-Christmas date after the inaugural year.

Wahoos tied for third

If you took the composite ACC football standings for the past four seasons (conference games only) and matched them by division and overall (excluding Boston College, which has been a member for only three seasons), then Virginia would be a three-way tie for third.

Virginia Tech has a 27-5 record, clearly the best and well ahead of Georgia Tech, which has gone 20-12 (and still fired its coach). However, the Cavaliers stand at 18-14 over that four-year span, tied for third-best with Clemson and Florida State. BC, which has naturally played one season’s fewer league games, is 16-8 over three years.

Who would have thought when expansion began that UVa would be no worse than Florida State or Clemson, and would be better than Miami?

The rest of the league: Miami 16-16, Wake Forest 15-17, Maryland 14-18, North Carolina 14-18, N.C. State 11-21, Duke 1-31.

Big bucks

Swofford noted that ACC football is producing slightly more revenue for the conference than basketball, but that those totals are probably as balanced as any league in the country. The ACC’s basketball revenue streams are still the best in the country and football has risen dramatically since expansion.

Play it again

Rhodes noted that instant

replay is working and not holding up games. He said that games were stopped 171 times last season and 40 times (about 22 percent) the call was changed due to replay. However, it didn’t take long for the change. The average length of stoppage was 1 minute, 39 seconds, which is slightly better than the national average of 1 minute, 47 seconds.

Rhodes also predicted that the new rules changes, particularly those affecting the play clock, will shorten games by about 10 minutes but he believes offenses will still average between 70 and 76 plays per game, unlike the clock issues of two years ago that dramatically impacted the number of offensive plays.

New talks

Swofford pointed out that the ACC will begin negotiations with Fox this summer over a future TV contract. There are still two years left on the current deal.

“We’re looking at another four year cycle, whether we extend it with Fox or go to the marketplace,” the commish said.

A deal should be struck with someone no later than early November, after which the ACC will start negotiations with its existing bowl partners.

Short yardage

ESPN’s College Game Day show will be at the Clemson vs. Alabama game to kick off the season. ... The ACC still pretty much owns ESPN’s Thursday night football package, with nine of the league’s 12 teams making at least one appearance in the game this coming season. ... A new twist that coaches demanded is that any team playing on Thursday night gets at least seven days of rest, rather than one team playing Saturday, then again on Thursday. ...There are also no open dates the last two weeks of the regular season leading into the ACC Championship game, which will be held in Tampa this season. ... About 20 percent of the composite football rosters in the ACC are comprised of players from the state of Florida. ... If you want to get an early glance at what the league has planned for its championship game, you should check out the following web site: TheRoadToTampaBay.com.

 

ACC commissioner likes state of conference
By MATT WINKELJOHN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/22/08

John Swofford wears several hats professionally, but entering his 12th season as commissioner of the ACC, he's most inclined to speak about the league.

That includes the bad that goes with the good — which includes ESPN's "Gameday" show kicking off the season in the middle of ACC territory in Atlanta.

On the first weekend of the college season, "Gameday" will broadcast from Atlanta before Clemson plays Alabama in the Georgia Dome on Aug. 30. That, Swofford said, " is certainly a good way for our league to start off."

He's also aware of the league's postseason shortcomings since expansion in 2004, yet quick to note positives that have come with the league's growth to 12 teams.

ACC teams are 14-17 in bowls since '04, as opposed to 14-10 in bowls in the four seasons before that. So when he addressed the media Tuesday morning at ACC Kickoff 2008 at Lake Oconee's Reynolds Plantation, he dwelled on potential and the future after a brief acknowledgement that, "You'd like for your champion, your best team [to do well in the postseason]."

But in a league that has a $258 million TV contract that has helped grow annual payouts to each school to nearly $12 million, wins don't always mean everything.

"Would I have liked to have won every game? Absolutely," he said in a State of the ACC address. "How we as a conference evaluate expansion is not based on the short-term competitive aspect of it. All of this at times is going to be cyclical. We could not be better positioned for the future."

Swofford, who also serves as vice chair of the new College Football Officiating L.L.C. – an organization trying to bring all 11 Division I conferences together to unify the way games are officiated – and is in his second term as coordinator of the BCS, spoke a little about each of those endeavors.

But first, he focused on the homefront, the ACC.

"[In the past school year, the ACC had] four national titles," he said of North Carolina in field hockey, Wake Forest in soccer, Boston College in hockey and Florida State in men's outdoor track and field. "We had 12 individual national titles [including Georgia Tech's Amanda McDowell in outdoor tennis].

"We had 10 national player of the year recipients, five coach of the year recipients."

Swofford pointed out that North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough was the 16th consensus national basketball player of the year to come from the ACC since '75, and, "if you look at the NFL draft ... the ACC is the first league to have two of the top four picks for three consecutive years. We led all conferences with seven first-round picks, and in the past three years the ACC led the nation with 25 first-round picks [to the SEC's 21, and the Big Ten's 18]."

 

ACC hoping Tampa will be different
Ken Tysiac, Staff Writer
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GREENSBORO, GA. - More than half of the 65,837 seats at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa have been pre-sold for the 2008 ACC football championship game, ACC associate commissioner Michael Kelly said Tuesday.
Considering that tickets don't go on sale to the public until Saturday, that's good news for ACC officials frustrated with declining attendance in the game's first three years in Jacksonville, Fla.

Kelly said there is a comprehensive plan to boost attendance as the championship begins a two-year stay in Tampa that will be followed by a move to Charlotte in 2010 and 2011.

The lowest-priced tickets in Tampa will be available for $25 and will include admission to the ACC's fan festival and a concert to take place after the game.

"It's [a] value that I would say is unmatched in college sports and certainly in college football," Kelly said.

Jacksonville saw its announced attendance fall from 72,749 to 62,850 to 53,212 over three years with a lowest ticket price of $60.

Kelly said between 35,000 and 40,000 tickets have been pre-sold to groups that include Tampa Bay Sports Commission members, ticket holders of the ACC's bowl partners and fans who bought tickets in Jacksonville.

Season-ticket holders and fans on the ticket waiting list for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be targeted for the public sale. Bucs players who are ACC alumni -- Ronde Barber (Virginia) and Derrick Brooks (Florida State) -- will do advertising spots in Tampa Bay promoting the ACC championship game.

ACC officials also hope targeting younger fans and families will pay off in Tampa for the game scheduled at 1 p.m. on Dec. 6. Thirty area high school bands are scheduled to play at the game.

Later that evening, the Under Armour high school all-star game will take place at Raymond James Stadium. The following day, six youth league teams will play championship games at the stadium.

"We really feel like we've learned [from the past] and are looking forward to greater success," Kelly said.

Following expansion to 12 schools in 2005, the ACC hoped to settle on one site for its fledgling championship game. On Tuesday, commissioner John Swofford said the ACC will re-evaluate the future of the game after seeing how it is received after two years each in Tampa and Charlotte.

Charlotte organizers would like the game to establish a permanent home in Charlotte after 2011. Charlotte organizing committee executive director Steve Swetoha attended the ACC football kickoff in Georgia over the past few days and said city officials already are working on a plan for the game even though the city won't host for two years.

 

Swofford defends league caliber
ACC commissioner says location change will solve title game’s attendance problems
By PAUL STRELOW - pstrelow@thestate.com

Numbers do not lie
And when it comes to judging the success of the ACC's most recent expansion, which will enter its fifth season in 2008, there are some numbers that the league cannot escape:

1-9

The ACC's record in BCS Bowl games. The one win was when Florida State beat Virginia Tech, which then was not a league member, in the Sugar Bowl for the 1999 national championship. The ACC has lost nine consecutive BCS games.

2-17

The ACC's record against non-conference teams ranked in the top 10 the past four years.

9-31

The ACC's record against non-conference teams ranked in the top 25 the past four years.

0

The number of times the ACC has received an at-large bid to a BCS game.

— Cox News Service
GREENSBORO, Ga. — Despite lacking a presence on a national scale, commissioner John Swofford adamantly defends the caliber of ACC football.

In three years, expansion has provided the league greater depth, a widespread increase in talent and created substantially more competitive matchups according to Swofford.

But in the state-of-the-conference address Tuesday that concluded the ACC Football Kickoff, Swofford and league officials pointed to one area where football envy lingers: the championship game.

With three years of title contests under its belt, the ACC officials admitted its championship pales in stature to those of the other major conferences.

Thus ACC fans should expect to be inundated this year with promotional efforts aimed at stimulating increased interest.

“We’re trying to build our championship to be relevant to everyone involved,” said Michael Kelly, associate commissioner for football operations.

It was evident Tuesday that the ACC blamed part of its championship problem on location.

Jacksonville, Fla., has served as the host site each year; the game has been played at the 77,497-seat Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (formerly known as Alltel Stadium).

Two years ago, the Georgia Tech-Wake Forest contest sold 62,850 tickets but not that many fans attended the game. Attendance for last year’s Boston College-Virginia Tech championship was announced at 53,212, but an aerial blimp shot at halftime revealed the stadium to be more than half empty.

Now, the ACC will give Tampa, Fla., (2008-09) and Charlotte (2010-11) two-year trials.

The league has constructed an advertising campaign around the slogan “The Road to Tampa Bay” while trumpeting the city’s ability to host major events such as the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four and the 2009 Super Bowl.

Raymond James Stadium seats 65,857, making a sellout more likely. In addition, the lowest ticket price will be $25; in contrast, the cheapest ticket in Jacksonville was $60.

“That’s a real bonus for us as we continue to build the game,” Swofford.

While the SEC championship is entrenched in Atlanta, Swofford said the ACC has not determined whether it wants a permanent site for the title game. Swofford said a rotation has worked well for the Big 12.

“We have to find out what works best for us,” Swofford said.

 

Devvarman makes swift transition to pros
By Whitey Reid
Published: July 22, 2008

Since turning professional after he graduated in May, former Virginia star Somdev Devvarman has played 18 matches. The native of Chennai, India has won them all and has dropped just two sets in the process.
Talk about picking up where you left off.
When Virginia fans last saw Devvarman, he was dominating the college tennis scene. The Cavaliers’ co-captain posted a 37-1 record en route to his second straight NCAA individual championship.
Now Devvarman is steamrolling pro competition in much the same manner.
“I’m definitely very excited right now,” said Devvarman, who has won events in Pittsburgh and Rochester, N.Y. “I feel like I’m playing some good tennis. Things are really good.”
Today, Devvarman takes on former Vanderbilt star Bobby Reynolds in the Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships, a hard court event in Lexington, Ky. The 90th-ranked Reynolds made it to the third round of this year’s Wimbledon.
Devvarman is currently ranked No. 566 in the world — but he’s climbing fast. The 23-year-old has already knocked off two Top 100 players in Sam Querrey (No. 38) and Dudi Sela (No. 98).
“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by my success,” Devvarman said, “but you don’t walk on the tour here and expect to right away beat guys in the top 50 and top 100. That’s definitely been very cool.”
Devvarman, who now resides in Keswick — he’s made it his home training base — says that beating Querrey was definitely his biggest highlight to date. Querrey made it to the third round of this year’s Australian Open before losing to Novak Djokovic, the No. 3 player in the world.
“It was a good confidence booster,” said Devvarman, who pocketed $40,000 with the victory. “He had a big serve, which I wasn’t used to, but I got used to it I guess.”
One of Devvarman’s early wins as a pro was a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of former Georgia standout Travis Helgeson, who handed Devvarman the only loss of his 2007-08 college season.
“He’s a great player,” Devvarman said. “I think I got a little fortunate in that I got to play all of these guys on a surface [clay] that I preferred more than they did. I was pretty comfortable and I think that’s made a big difference.”
The modest Devvarman says his biggest adjustment as a pro has been the busier schedule — playing matches day in and day out while traversing the country. Devvarman’s main goal right now is to play in the U.S. Open next month.
“I’m definitely hoping to get into that, but it might be tough to build up that many points so I’m hoping for a wild card,” he said. “I just need to get my ranking up as high as possible.”
One would think that a two-time NCAA champion who hasn’t lost a match as a pro would have a pretty good chance of obtaining a wild card?
“I think I have a strong case,” said Devvarman, with a laugh, “but at the same time it’s not for me to decide. I obviously want it, but if not I’m going to work hard either way.
“I would definitely want to, because I think I’m playing some good tennis right now and can compete with the big boys.”