ACC still fighting for national prestige
The ACC is competitive top-to-bottom. But since expansion in 2004, its teams have fallen flat against outside powers.
By DAVID TEEL
247-4636
August 3, 2008

One day, three storied opponents.

Often dismissed in college football circles, the Atlantic Coast Conference encountered a rare and potentially defining moment last Sept. 8.

Virginia Tech at No. 2 Louisiana State.

Miami at No. 5 Oklahoma.

Wake Forest hosting No. 16 Nebraska.

Each of the ACC teams was an underdog, but for a conference lacking signature victories and national prestige, the opportunities were clear.

Following recent trends, the opportunities were lost.

Virginia Tech fell by 41 points, Miami by 38, Wake Forest by three.

"The ACC in my view is as good as any conference in the country," Clemson senior quarterback Cullen Harper said. "It's time for us to prove it. … For some reason we're not playing well against other conferences."

Especially against other conferences' best. Especially in the four seasons since the expansion that advocates said would upgrade ACC football.

There are myriad reasons.

Start with history. None of the ACC's charter members is a traditional power, and the addition of Florida State in 1992 turned the conference into a monopoly — the Seminoles promptly won or shared nine consecutive league titles.

Then there's leadership. In the last two years, five of the ACC's 12 schools have fired their head coaches.

Finally, there's timing. Florida State and newcomer Miami boast a combined seven national championships, but both are enduring lean times — the Hurricanes are 16-16 in ACC play, the Seminoles 18-14 during the same stretch.

"Miami and Florida State don't have to carry this league," second-year Hurricanes coach Randy Shannon said. "There are other good teams."

Indeed, since joining the conference in 2004, Virginia Tech has emerged as the ACC's football heavyweight. The Hokies are 42-11 overall during that span, 27-5 in league play, with three top-10 finishes in the Associated Press national poll.

Boston College, which arrived in 2005, has won a bowl in eight consecutive seasons, the nation's longest such streak. Wake Forest, guided by coach Jim Grobe, has never been better.

But no team has moved beyond good to great, and the conference is hearing about it.

Early this summer on ESPN Radio, anchors Scott Van Pelt and Kirk Herbstreit ridiculed ACC football as irrelevant nationally — the "s" word that rhymes with "bucks" was dropped. This from the conference's primary network partner and a league alum — Van Pelt attended Maryland.

At the league's preseason media function last month, reporters grilled players and coaches about the ACC's quality. The questions were rooted in these numbers:

During the last four years, ACC teams are 2-17 against non-conference opponents ranked in the AP top 10. The record against top-25 competition is an equally bleak 9-31.

Since the 1998 advent of the Bowl Championship Series, ACC champions are 1-9 in BCS games. They have lost eight straight.

Those are far and away the worst marks among the six BCS conferences (see accompanying charts).

"We need to beat schools in the SEC and schools in the Big Ten and schools in other conferences," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. "That way we can claim we're as good as any of them."

Pollsters certainly aren't convinced. No team from the league has cracked the AP's final top five since Florida State in 2000, and the last conference squad other than the Seminoles to do so was Georgia Tech in 1990.

Conversely, the poll's second tier has been stacked with ACC representation. Fifteen league teams have made the final top 25 since 2004, second only to the SEC's 20.

"There's a lot of different ways to measure conferences," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "One of them is the quality (and depth) of competition within the league. If one team wins every week and wins most of them by 35 points and then wins the national championship, is that a good league?"

The computers used to help determine the BCS standings are no more generous than the polls.

Massey and Anderson-Hester rate the ACC behind the Pacific 10, SEC and Big 12 for the last four seasons. Colley ranks the ACC fifth, ahead of only the Big East, over the same time, while Billingsley places the ACC last each of the last two seasons.

Only Jeff Sagarin's formula, which deadlocks the ACC and SEC behind the top-ranked Pac-10 since 2004, seems to approve of expansion's influence.

ACC commissioner John Swofford contends such data are cyclical, and he has ammunition.

For example, from 2001-05, conference teams were a sterling 21-12 in bowls, 4-4 against the SEC. In 2003, several computers tabbed the ACC as college football's best.

But the ACC's failures against non-conference, top-10 opponents are longstanding.

In the five years before welcoming Virginia Tech and Miami, league teams were 5-24 in such games. They were 4-31 in the 10 years before Florida State's arrival.

Swofford counters that competitive balance and a glut of first-round NFL draft selections translate to a healthy operation.

His evidence: The ACC's three championship games have produced three different winners and included five different participants — Virginia Tech is the lone two-timer. Moreover, in the last four drafts, 31 ACC players have been first-round picks, second only to the Southeastern Conference's 32.

From 2006-08, the ACC became the first league to have two top-four selections in three consecutive years — Virginia defensive end Chris Long and Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan were this year's.

"I don't know why (draft success) hasn't translated (to the field)," Clemson's Harper said.

Clemson was on the wrong side of the ACC's 2-6 bowl record last season, the conference's worst effort since 2000. The performance confirmed opinions formed on Sept. 8.

Virginia and Virginia Tech could have spared the ACC. But the Cavaliers failed to hold a late Gator Bowl lead against Texas Tech, and the Hokies appeared uninspired in an Orange Bowl loss to Kansas.

Virginia Tech was the first ACC team favored to win a BCS game since Florida State lost to Miami in the Orange Bowl following the 2003 season.

"Now, there's no question that (the ACC has) to do better in the BCS," Hokies coach Frank Beamer said. "We let the Atlantic Coast Conference down last year. We didn't play the way we needed to play in that type of ballgame, representing this conference."

Quarterback Sean Glennon echoed Beamer.

"We had a chance to really close a lot of people's mouths on that, and we didn't," he said. "We didn't play very well. In my opinion, it's a game we should have won. I think we were the more talented team, but they were the better team that day. I'm still a little sour about that game."

This regular season offers similar opportunities.

Virginia Tech plays at Nebraska, and Virginia opens at home against Southern California. Miami and Florida State encounter Florida, Clemson opens against Alabama, and Georgia Tech plays its annual finale against Georgia.

"I think it's just a matter of time," Beamer said. "We have a solid foundation."

The foundation includes new coaches such as North Carolina's Butch Davis, Duke's David Cutcliffe and Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson, proven winners all. There's also post-expansion television contracts — ESPN officials say the ACC's ratings have improved since adding Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College — financing higher staff salaries and facility upgrades throughout the conference.

And for those who place stock in such things: Rivals.com included Miami, Florida State and Clemson among its top 12 recruiting classes in 2008. And early reviews of that trio's 2009 hauls are glowing.

"When you're in a chair like mine," Swofford said, "you look at expansion on a long-term basis. … We could not be better positioned."

North Carolina State coach Tom O'Brien, who began working in the ACC as a Virginia assistant to George Welsh in 1982, takes a more pragmatic view of the conference.

"We haven't proven we can go on the national scene and win games," he said. "Until we do that, we don't have a leg to stand on."

Mark your calendar
Significant non-conference games in 2008 for ACC teams:

• Aug. 28: North Carolina State at South Carolina.

• Aug. 30: Southern California at Virginia; Alabama vs. Clemson (in Atlanta); Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina (in Charlotte).

• Sept. 6: Miami at Florida.

• Sept. 11: North Carolina at Rutgers.

• Sept. 13: California at Maryland.

• Sept. 20: Miami at Texas A&M; East Carolina at N.C. State.

• Sept. 27: Virginia Tech at Nebraska; South Florida at N.C. State; Colorado vs. Florida State (in Jacksonville).

• Oct. 11: East Carolina at Virginia; Notre Dame at North Carolina.

• Nov. 8: Notre Dame at Boston College.

• Nov. 29: South Carolina at Clemson; Florida at Florida State; Georgia Tech at Georgia.



 

U.VA. NOTES
Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008 - 12:07 AM

At camp, football team minimizes distractions
Training camp started Monday night for Virginia's football team, and when they're not on the practice field, eighth-year coach Al Groh's players will spend much of this month at a Charlottesville hotel.

That means they're not likely to get in any trouble with the law, and that's a good thing for a program whose public image has been marred this year by incidents involving such players as Will Barker, Dave Roberts, Peter Lalich, Mike Brown and J'Courtney Williams. (Brown and Williams have since been dismissed from the team.)

"I feel like that was a knock on the head, and everyone's trying to get focused now," junior nose tackle Nate Collins said yesterday.

Junior wide receiver Kevin Ogletree said: "We're not having any problems right now. We're playing football. We're in camp. We practice every day, and that's all we can control. We know what's in front of us, and we're working."

Men's basketball team heading to Montreal
Its 2008-09 opener isn't until mid-November, but the U.Va. men's basketball team will take the court long before that. The Cavaliers are allowed 10 practices, starting Aug. 19, before leaving late this month for three exhibition games in Montreal.

U.Va. will play twice Aug. 30, taking on St. Lawrence College in the morning and Concordia University in the afternoon. A day later, Virginia will play at McGill University in the morning.

Coach Dave Leitao's two seniors - swingman Mamadi Diane (foot) and center Laurynas Mikalaukas (shoulder) - are recovering from offseason operations and won't play in Montreal. Leitao's freshmen - big men John Brandenbug and Assane Sene and guard Sylven Landesberg - can't start practicing with the team until classes start at Virginia on Aug. 26, but they'll be able to play in Montreal.

Godwin High shortstop plans to join Cavaliers
One of the state's best high school baseball players, shortstop Reed Gragnani, has committed to U.Va. and plans to sign a letter of intent in November.

Gragnani, whose brother Robbie was a standout at VCU, is a rising senior at Central Region power Mills Godwin High School. As a junior, Gragnani hit .525 - the second-highest average in school history - with two home runs, 19 RBI and 12 stolen bases. He was named first-team All-Metro.

U.Va. coach Brian O'Connor's roster includes one former Godwin standout: Tyler Biddix.

From pitch to gridiron
Yannick Reyering, who was an all-ACC soccer player at U.Va., is among the new walk-ons on Groh's team.

The 6-5, 205-pound Reyering, a native of Germany, totaled 39 goals in his three seasons on the U.Va. men's soccer team. He has exhausted his soccer eligibility but can play football this season.

Other recent additions to the Virginia football roster: kicker Robert Randolph (Naples, Fla.), center John Maghamez (Ashburn), wide receiver Johnny Pickett (Centreville), quarterback Kyle McCartin (Warrenton) and linebacker Brady Stovall (Roanoke). McCartin's brother, Connor, a senior at Fauquier High School, has committed to U.Va. for 2009.

Known commodity
On a football team with many question marks, fullback isn't one of them. Virginia's returning starter is junior Rashawn Jackson, who played inside linebacker as a redshirt freshman in 2006.

After a season with Jackson at fullback, Groh has a better idea of how best to use the 6-1 253-pounder. Jackson rushed 20 times for 72 yards and caught eight passes for 46 yards and one TD last season.

"He's a very versatile player," Groh said. "You got little glimpses of him last year. He catches well, he can run with the ball. He's got whatever is necessary to be a good blocker; he's just got to get'em blocked." - Jeff White

 

Ex-soccer star still kicking around with Cavs
Posted to: College Football Sports
Roanoke Times
© August 6, 2008
By Doug Doughty

A two-time, first-team All-ACC selection has joined the competition for Virginia's place-kicking job.

As impressive as those credentials might sound, it is worth noting that Yannick Reyering has never made All-ACC in football - at least the American brand.

Reyering has led the U.Va. men's soccer team in scoring each of the past three seasons, but his eligibility expired at the end of the 2007 slate.

The NCAA limited Reyering to three seasons, originally ruling him ineligible in 2005 because of his involvement with a German semi-pro team. Virginia subsequently succeeded in an appeal to make Reyering eligible as a freshman but not as a senior in 2008.

Reyering, who turned 24 this month, was taken by FC Dallas in the second round of the Major League Soccer draft in January, but he was still rehabbing from knee surgery and did not sign.

He tore his anterior cruciate ligament on the eve of the 2007 ACC men's soccer tournament and missed the remainder of the season.

"I was cleared to play at the beginning of May," Reyering said Tuesday, "but I still had some patellar tendinitis and didn't feel like my knee would hold up for the two weeks of practice that it would take to get ready to play in an MLS game."

U.Va. men's soccer coach George Gelnovatch had suggested in April that Reyering give football a chance.

"I remember when I got here, I went to the very first football game but I left at halftime because it didn't make any sense to me," Reyering said.

"Once I got somebody to explain the rules to me, I really got into it. If I'm not going to football games, I watch on TV."

Reyering uses his reconstructed left knee to plant, but so far any pain has been tolerable and he has enjoyed the challenge.

"I'd say, if I hadn't been hurt, that I'd probably be playing soccer now," Reyering said, "but there was always a small possibility that I might stay around. Football was part of it, but there was also that element of finishing school that appealed to me."

Reyering was one of six players not previously on the Cavaliers' roster who joined the team for the start of preseason practice Monday.

Included in that group was Brady Stovall, a 6-2, 235-pound linebacker candidate from Roanoke.

The Cavaliers also welcomed Robert Randolph, a kicker whose Naples, Fla., team went undefeated and won the state championship in its classification; John Maghamez, a 6-3, 285-pound center from Loudoun County; and quarterback Kyle McCartin (6-4, 200) from Warrenton.

McCartin, injured early in his senior season, has a younger brother, Connor, who plays linebacker for Fauquier County High School and has accepted a scholarship offer from U.Va. for 2009.

The Cavaliers also welcomed Johnny Pickett, who had 75 receptions for 1,334 yards last season, when he was the leading receiver for N.C. State-bound quarterback Mike Glennon on the Westfield High School team that won the Group AAA Division 6 state championship.

Pickett had 10 receptions for 193 yards in Westfield's 24-21 victory against Oscar Smith in the state semifinals.

 

Coaches mess up poll
David Teel
August 6, 2008

Led by those Miranda experts in Athens, Ga., six schools — parity is reality — received No. 1 votes in the college football season's first coaches' poll.

ACC fave Clemson checked in ninth, defending conference champ Virginia Tech 15th, and Florida State not at all, the Seminoles' first preseason absence since 1982.

But the most curious news was the list of 61 voters.

Sadly, it's the usual suspects. The same suspects who so collectively fouled last season's final Bowl Championship Series standings.

Of the 60 coaches who participated last year, 49 return. This includes Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer and Florida Atlantic's Howard Schnellenberger — more on those gents in a moment.

The 11 departures were not term-limited or impeached from the panel, said Mel Pulliam of the American Football Coaches Association. They either elected not to serve or lost their job.

Pulliam, the AFCA's director of marketing and development, has coordinated the panel for 15 years. He said each of Division I-A's 11 conferences is assured of multiple voters and that coaches can serve indefinitely.

USA Today counts the weekly ballots and lends its considerable name to the poll. Moreover, editors monitor the process for irregularities, said Craig Bennett of the newspaper's sports department.

He declined to elaborate or comment on last season's voting.

Dubious would be a kind description. And dubious has no place in a poll that counts one-third toward the BCS standings.

To refresh your memory:

Entering their respective conference championship games, co-No. 5 Virginia Tech led No. 7 Louisiana State by 27 points in the poll. This was preposterous given that both were 10-2, that the Tigers navigated a more difficult league and, oh by the way, crushed the Hokies 48-7 in September.

Then Virginia Tech defeated No. 12 Boston College for the ACC title, and LSU beat No. 15 Tennessee for the SEC crown. Which in theory should have extended the Hokies' poll lead, right?

Wrong. In a bizarre 203-point reversal, LSU assumed a 176-point lead over Virginia Tech.

In so doing, the Tigers leapfrogged to No. 2 and into the national championship game, where they defeated Ohio State.

Not to suggest that the Hokies got hosed. They didn't.

But the coaches' voting patterns made zero sense. It was if they had a "Eureka!" moment after a season's worth of neglect.

Pulliam said he was unaware of the peculiar swing. The only requirements for voters, he added, were to be "conscientious and fair."

Neither applies to Schnellenberger's final regular-season ballot, where he voted Missouri fourth and Oklahoma seventh. Both teams were 11-2, and the Sooners had defeated the Tigers twice — the second time by 21 points in the Big 12 championship game.

Did we mention that Oklahoma forced Schnellenberger to resign as its coach following the 1995 season?

Other coaches had no qualms serving their own interests. Beamer voted Virginia Tech No. 2, the lone coach to have the Hokies that high, while LSU's Les Miles, Ohio State's Jim Tressel and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops tabbed their teams No. 1 — the Sooners' only other first-place nod came from South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, who employed Stoops as an assistant at Florida.

Such conflicts of interest are Exhibit A as to why the coaches' poll has no business in the BCS formula — absent a playoff, college football should mirror college basketball and appoint a committee to determine the BCS pairings.

Division I-A coaches revisit the issue each year at their January convention. But Pulliam said an overwhelming majority prefers to remain part of the system, even though most (all?) coaches don't have time to research a credible ballot, though some coaches delegate voting to underlings.

The laugh-out-loud irony is that USA Today's editorial page reviles the BCS.

"If all this seems rather funny — or just plain brain-dead — it should, because college football's playoff-less system is the biggest joke in sports," the newspaper opined last January. "The notion that a mixture of human polls and computer rankings could credibly define the two teams most deserving of playing in a championship game is absurd. Never has this been more obvious than this year, when the top of the rankings have been chaotic and the range of opinions huge."

Virginia coach Al Groh has the right idea. He does not participate and said he would not if asked.

 

Ogletree’s long road back
By Jay Jenkins
Published: August 5, 2008

There was a glaring omission from the players featured on the front and back covers of Virginia’s newly released media guide.

The scar on Kevin Ogletree’s knee explains the reasoning for his absence from the high-profile platform that included the team’s four captains and a handful of players entering their final campaign.

Now 17 months removed from the season-ending ACL tear, the wide receiver is officially back in the mix and gearing up for his long-awaited return to the starting lineup.

“I feel good,” Ogletree said during a teleconference Monday. “I am healthy, which is exciting, and I am looking forward to what is in front of us.”

There is reason for excitement after just two days of practice. Ogletree caught a team-best 52 passes in 2006, becoming just the ninth player in program history to eclipse 50 catches. Last season, with the Queens, N.Y., native on the shelf, Virginia’s entire collection of wide receivers combined for just over 70 receptions.

Ogletree, who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 189 pounds, admitted he has a list of things he would like to accomplish this year, but those were outweighed by a grander vision.

“I have goals, just like anyone, but my team goals are far bigger than my personal goals,” he said. “I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t want to achieve some things with personal stuff, but I try not to think about numbers, just what can help our team.”

It would be natural for any player returning from an injury as severe as Ogletree’s to have doubts about regaining his old form. It has been almost two years since he trotted off the field in Blacksburg following the 2006 season finale.

“I’m not trying to hold back anything,” said Ogletree, who mentioned that he could potentially be in the mix to help with returns on special teams. “I just really try to not even think about [the injury] as much as people think I do just because it has been a long process. Surgery was a long time ago.

“I kind of leave the wondering to writers and the playing to us.”

Virginia coach Al Groh said last month that Ogletree gained valuable upper-body strength during a diligent rehabilitation process.

That strength — and a newfound mental toughness — have Ogletree eager to return.

“Obviously it was a step back — I got injured and it’s part of the game,” he said. “It was something I had to deal with. At the time it wasn’t really what fit in my thought process — not what I wanted — but it happened.

“It is part of the game. I am kind of ready now to just move forward and be injury-free and just help my team do some things. We are trying to establish this ‘team power’ so we can be who we think we can be.”