After months of waiting, today’s the day
By Jay Jenkins
Published: August 29, 2008

Sprint after sprint. Squat after squat.

For the past eight months, as players came and went for varying reasons, Virginia’s football program had a true attention-getter to prepare for: a season-opening date with vaunted Southern California.

That comes full circle today at 3:30 p.m. inside Scott Stadium as the new-look Cavaliers entertain the third-ranked Trojans in front of a sell out crowd and a national audience.

With the marquee opponent on the docket, Virginia attempted to use the newfound level of concentration to its advantage during its annual training camp with hopes of making a statement.

“It probably tightened the focus on every little detail as far as the players are concerned,” said Virginia coach Al Groh. “As an individual player, when you are going to go up against one of the best players in the land at your position, and as a team when we are going to go up against a team like this, I think, everybody recognizes the need to try to get our game as finely tuned as possible.

“That’s probably the greatest impact [playing USC] had on our camp.”

Regardless of the result, much can be gained, Groh said, from tangling with a national title contender in a game he said was somewhat “outlandish” on paper.

“Competition is not about always scheduling to win,” he said. “Competition is about stepping out there and putting yourself out there a little bit and seeing what you can do with it.

“I think the type of players that we’re going to play against will be worthwhile for us. I think as a coach I have benefited from the challenges of getting ready for a team like this. I’ve learned some new things in having to deal with this team and some schemes that we haven’t had to deal with before.”

Few college football experts give Virginia, a 20-point underdog, a chance against USC. The Trojans have been to six straight BCS contests and had 40 players drafted over the past six years.

“Nobody expects us to win,” said Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim.

Groh joked that to win, the Cavaliers would need to “play like the New York Giants did” in Super Bowl XLII against the New England Patriots. “Rush the passer. Make big plays. Win at the end.”

Virginia certainly did its share of the latter last year — en route to a nine-win season, the Cavaliers set a record by winning five games by one or two points.

That previous model, of course, featured a pair of All-Americans — defensive end Chris Long and guard Branden Albert — and

veteran quarterback Jameel Sewell. Those faces and 11 other starters have departed, leaving Virginia with 10 returning starters, its lowest total in 22 years.

The candidates to the replace those voids have been all but announced at every spot except one: quarterback.

Pete Lalich, who played eight games as a reserve last year, battled with fellow sophomore Marc Verica and fifth-year senior Scott Deke over the past month with few details spilling out of training camp.

“Each one has done his part to have earned the position by doing the right things,” Groh said. “You just try to keep it from becoming a sideshow.”

Their teammates said they have an idea of the position’s winner, most likely Lalich, but the quarterbacks jockeying for position on the depth chart remained silent throughout the preseason practice period.

“We have tried to maintain an air of calm and sanity around the process,” Groh said. “The distractions come from outside, frankly, much more so than they from within the locker room and within the team.”

Until earlier this week, USC had its own quarterback controversy. Expected starter Mark Sanchez, who made three starts last year, was limited most of training camp by a dislocated kneecap. The junior has since returned to practice and was anointed as today’s starter earlier in the week by USC coach Pete Carroll.

While USC has only four returning starters on offense, its defense may be the best in the country. The Trojans ranked second nationally last year in total defense (273.2 ypg) and in scoring defense (16.0 ppg) and were one of only five programs to register more sacks than Virginia.

Carroll would like to see improvements, starting today, in one area defensively. The Trojans forced 28 turnovers last year and finished the season No. 41 in turnover margin.

“It will mark the difference between being a really strong, effective defense,” Carroll said. “We are going to be a good defense anyway, but how good we can be will be determined by how many times we can take the ball away.”

 

Huge test for Cavs off the bat
Inexperienced Virginia digs in as No. 3 Southern Cal comes calling
Saturday, Aug 30, 2008 - 12:07 AM Updated: 12:46 AM

Southern California at Virginia Where: Scott Stadium (cap. 61,500), Charlottesville
When: 3:30 p.m.
On the air: TV -- ABC regionally; ESPN2 in other parts of country. Radio -- WRVA (1140), 2:30 p.m.
Tickets: Sold out
Line: USC by 19½
Records: Season opener for both.
Players to watch: USC -- QB Mark Sanchez, Sr., 695 yards and seven TDs last year; LB Brian Cushing, Sr., 16.5 career tackles for loss; LB Rey Maualuga, Sr., 20 career tackles for loss; TB Joe McKnight, So., 540 yards rushing last year. Virginia -- LB Jon Copper, Sr., team-high 109 tackles in 2007; LB Clint Sintim, Sr., nine sacks; TB Cedric Peerman, Sr., 585 yards rushing in six games; TE John Phillips, Sr., 17 catches, 193 yards, 2 TDs.
Outlook: First football game between these schools. Southern California, ranked No.3 in The Associated Press' preseason poll, might be as talented as any team to play at Scott Stadium, and few expect U.Va. to keep this one close. . . . Virginia will be breaking in new starters at quarterback, kicker, punter, defensive end and center, among other positions. . . . The Cavaliers are 2-16-1 all-time against top-five teams. . . . This is Pete Carroll's eighth season as the Trojans' coach and Al Groh's eighth as the Wahoos' leader.
Three keys for U.Va. 1 Take the game into the second half. A record crowd is expected at Scott Stadium, and a competitive first half by the Wahoos will keep fans engaged. If the Trojans blow out to a big lead before halftime, U.Va.'s home-field advantage will be squandered.
2 Establish the run. In Cedric Peerman and Mikell Simpson, Virginia has two outstanding tailbacks. If the Cavaliers can grind out first downs with their running game, the clock will keep moving and they'll give their defense some much-needed rest.
3 Win the turnover battle. On paper, at least, USC has the edge on U.Va. in virtually every area. In order to have a chance, Virginia must limit its mistakes and capitalize on those the Trojans make.
-- Jeff White
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The deal was struck and the series announced 16 months ago, delighting University of Virginia football fans eager to see a marquee opponent visit Scott Stadium.
Careful what you wish for, right? U.Va. opens its eighth season under coach Al Groh against mighty Southern California today.

"It ain't going to be easy," USC coach Pete Carroll said, but that's not a widely held opinion.

The Trojans, ranked No. 3 in The Associated Press' preseason poll, are favored by nearly three touchdowns, and few would be surprised if they won by more than that. Win or lose, though, Groh believes his inexperienced team will benefit from the experience.

"When you play the best, it brings out the best in you," the reigning ACC coach of the year said Tuesday. "Whatever it brings out of us, I think it will bring more out of our team and serve us better than if we'd played Alaska State or somebody like that."

Under Carroll, who like Groh is a former coach of the New

York Jets, Southern California has ruled the Pac-10 and advanced to the Bowl Championship Series six straight times. The Trojans have won at least 11 games in each of the past six seasons.
"Just as a football fan, somebody who likes to watch football at the highest level, I'm tremendously impressed," Groh said. "They're fun to watch. . . . They're about as good a team as we've ever seen. Probably reminiscent of the Florida State teams of the mid-'90s."

U.Va. and USC will conclude their two-game series Sept. 11, 2010, in Los Angeles.

Attrition isn't a popular subject with Groh, but the lineup he'll field this afternoon differs significantly from the one he once expected to have on opening day 2008. More than a half-dozen players with eligibility remaining have left U.Va.'s program since the end of last season, among them quarterback Jameel Sewell, defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald, linebackers J'Courtney Williams and Darnell Carter, and cornerbacks Chris Cook and Mike Brown.

The departure of Sewell, who's expected back at U.Va. in January, means the Cavaliers will have a first-time starter at quarterback today: sophomore Peter Lalich, sophomore Marc Verica or graduate student Scott Deke. Lalich, Sewell's backup last season, is the most talented of the three, and he's the only one who has thrown a pass in a college game. Groh has yet to name a starter, however, and might go with Verica or Deke.

Whoever takes the first snap for U.Va. will face a fast, fearsome defense stocked with future NFL players. Virginia also is breaking in new starters on the interior of its offensive line: sophomore right guard B.J. Cabbell, sophomore center Jack Shields and senior left guard Zak Stair, a converted tackle. Between them, Shields and Cabbell have appeared in only five games, and they should expect no mercy today.

"Awesome," Groh of USC's defense. "Awesome. We'd like to have quite a few guys who can run and hit and change the game the way their guys do."

Virginia's new defensive coordinator, former Marshall coach Bob Pruett, inherited a unit that lost two of its top three playmakers: ends Chris Long and Jeffrey Fitzgerald. Overall, only five starters are back on defense, including senior linebackers Clint Sintim, Jon Copper and Antonio Appleby.

Sintim, who led the nation's linebackers with nine sacks last season, was asked Tuesday if U.Va. has embraced its underdog status for the opener.

"You got to," he said. "Nobody expects us to win."

 

Visiting Southern Cal prefers getting a test on the road to start a football season
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

For Southern California to fly across three times zones to open its football season, host Virginia must be doing something right.

"It probably says we're not doing too much right," said UVa coach Al Groh in a self-effacing moment earlier this week.

In other words, if the Cavaliers were a little more imposing, maybe the Trojans wouldn't be as willing to make their cross-country jaunt. But, USC has a history of embracing early season challenges.

This is the fifth time in the last six years that USC has opened on the road, including a 2004 meeting with Virginia Tech at Fed-Ex Field in Landover, Md. The Trojans played at Auburn in 2003, at Hawaii in 2005 and at Arkansas in 2006.

"Last year, we opened up against a solid team [Idaho] at home and it didn't have the same kind of magnitude," said coach Pete Carroll, who added that USC's scheduling approach "has always served us well."

The Trojans didn't have much trouble last year in dispatching the Vandals, 38-10, then took a week off before traveling to Nebraska. This year they'll enjoy an open date before hosting Ohio State on Sept. 13.

Carroll likes a stiff early test so he knows what areas to address for the next part of the schedule.

"There's a whole format to it, and we're comfortable with it," Carroll said. "When you successfully go through one of those [openers] and you get a win, you've accomplished a great deal.

"We know how to go on the road, we know how to play difficult opponents, we know how to play in front of big crowds, all of those feathers in your cap that you get as you head into your season."

Carroll didn't say anything about losing an opening game and with good reason. The Trojans are 7-0 in openers since his arrival in 2001. Few are giving Virginia a chance today. The oddsmakers have the Cavaliers pegged as 1912-point underdogs.

With today's 3:30 p.m. kickoff, Southern Cal will become the first Pac-10 Conference team to take the field at Scott Stadium, but Carroll previously has been on the premises.

As an assistant at North Carolina State from 1980-82, he was associated with two Wolfpack teams that won at UVa.

Groh was the head coach of two Wake Forest teams that were beaten by State during Carroll's tenure, and they've been on similar tracks ever since. Both worked for the New England Patriots, Carroll as head coach and Groh as an assistant, and both were head coaches of the New York Jets for one season.

"When I left New England, I could have sold him my house," Groh said.

They've never worked together, but preseason interviews would suggest there's a healthy amount of respect.

"Jon Oliver and I were having a conversation," said Groh, referring to the UVa administrator who works most directly with football. "The conversation was about, 'Hey, why don't we try to do something ... outlandish, just kind of step out of the box.'

"I remember the conversation very specifically. Maybe I was getting entrapped. I said, 'Now that we've decided to do something like that, Jon, do you have anything in mind?' Given his time in the Pac-10, he said, 'Why don't we try to get USC?' I can see his face now as he was waiting for my reaction.'

"I said, 'Yeah, let's see if we can do it.' "

In a short period of time, Oliver had put together a two-game series with USC that will send the Cavaliers to Los Angeles in 2010.

Oliver approached Groh one more time to make sure he was still sold on the idea.

"I told him, 'Absolutely,'" Groh said. "As they say, the time to worry is before you place the bet."

Unlike the Trojans, UVa has not distinguished itself in openers. Groh is 3-4 and the last two openers have been particularly ugly. The Cavaliers lost 38-13 at Pittsburgh in 2006 and 23-3 at Wyoming last year.

On the other hand, some of UVa's best seasons have followed inauspicious openers. The Cavs have won nine games twice under Groh, in 2002 after losing their opener to visiting Colorado State and last year, when they won seven straight after the loss at Wyoming.

UVa's only 10-win season followed a 36-13 loss to Notre Dame in the season-opening Kickoff Classic.

"When you play the best, it brings out the best in you," Groh said. "Whatever it brings out of us, I think it will serve us better than if we had played Alaska State or somebody like that."

Note

Sophomore wide receiver Staton Jobe, who started 12 of 13 games for Virginia in 2007, will miss the Cavaliers' game today against Southern Cal.

In addition, would-be starting cornerback Ras-I Dowling was declared "doubtful" in an injury report made available Thursday night.

According to the ACC's new injury policy, "doubtful" is described as at least a 75-percent chance that a player will not play. Starting wide receiver Maurice Covington is described as "questionable," meaning there is a 50-50 chance he will play.

Jobe has a sprained ankle and Dowling has been plagued by a sore leg throughout the preseason, Groh said.
 

USC's title hopes begin with game against Virginia
Underdog Cavaliers want to upset mighty Trojans
The Associated Press • August 30, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE — On one side of the country, Virginia's players anticipate their game against No. 3 Southern California as an opportunity to test themselves against the standard by which all college football programs are judged and the biggest game most of them have ever played.

And on the other, there's Trojans tailback C.J. Gable, scoffing.

"They're not better than our defense," he said of the Cavaliers this week. "We've got the best defense I'm ever going to play against. ... Their defense is nothing compared to ours."

The answer will come Saturday, when Cavaliers linebacker and co-captain Clint Sintim said he and his teammates would be foolish not to go in thinking they are decided underdogs.

"It's one of the better teams in the nation, it has been for quite some time," Sintim said. "It's a great opportunity for our program to play a team of that caliber."

He added: "Nobody expects us to win."

That is not to say that Virginia doesn't look forward to pulling off a shocker.

"I think everyone is going to be a little bit nervous," left guard Zak Stair said. "It's the first game and for a lot of guys, it's going to be their first start."

That will even be true of the Cavaliers quarterback, who is not expected to be revealed until Virginia's first offensive series. Through training camp, coach Al Groh has contended that senior Scott Deke and sophomores Peter Lalich and Marc Verica have battled evenly.

Lalich is the only one of the three to have ever thrown a pass in college.

The battle has drawn a lot of attention throughout training camp, and none of the candidates have spoken publicly since Deke announced that all three had agreed, with Groh's blessing, to withhold any comments until they actually accomplish something on the field.

Wide receiver Kevin Ogletree said he isn't concerned about the choice taking so long.

"We know whoever it's going to be, they're going to be ready," Ogletree said.

Ogletree will help make that so, bringing a deep threat to the wide receiver position in his return from missing all of last season with a knee injury. He caught a team-best 52 passes for 582 yards the year before and is eager to finally get his season underway.

The Trojans are too, and are expecting a stiff test at sold-out Scott Stadium.

"We know they're a solidly coached defense, a very disciplined group. I know it's going to be a challenge for us," quarterback Mark Sanchez said. "We're a new team, we're trying to put our stamp on the USC tradition. ... We'll find out a lot about ourselves on Saturday."

Sanchez has already shown his toughness, needing just 17 days to bounce back from a dislocated kneecap before declaring himself ready to go behind a rebuilt offensive line.

The line will protect him, said guard Jeff Byers, the lone returning starter.

"I really feel like we're ready for any blitz situation they throw at us," he said. "If we can handle this situation, we can handle anything. The only way you become the best is to play the best. ... I believe, I hope, we're going to do special things."

The contrast of programs will continue after the game, too. While the Trojans host Ohio State in two weeks, Virginia hosts Richmond of the Football Championship Subdivision.

 

Cavaliers setting sights on a Trojan conquest
August 30, 2008 12:17 am
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
CHARLOTTESVILLE--

Virginia coach Al Groh was having an informal conversation with Cavaliers Executive Associate Athletic Director Jon Oliver when the pair came up with an idea to do something "outlandish" in terms of scheduling.

Oliver, who held the same title at Washington State for six years, called on his Pacific 10 connections, and soon the Cavaliers had scheduled a two-game series with national powerhouse Southern California.

Today at 3:30 p.m. in Scott Stadium, Groh will find out just how wild the plan was when the third-ranked Trojans visit Virginia for the first time ever, in the season opener for both teams.

"When you play the best, it brings out the best in you," Groh said. "I think it will bring more out of our team and serve us better than if we had played Alaska State or somebody like that."

There's not much disagreement that USC has been the best this decade. The Trojans won the national title outright in 2004 and shared the crown with Louisiana State in 2003.

They're 70-8 in the past six seasons. They've also had three Heisman Trophy winners and 40 NFL draft picks in that span.

No wonder they're 19-point favorites on the road against the Cavaliers.

"They're the stamp of college football, the elite of the class," Virginia senior safety Byron Glaspy said. "Playing against them, you see where you stand."

The Cavaliers are hoping that's not too far back, although it may be a challenge to keep today's game close.

Groh said that when he decided to schedule USC it wasn't done to put an early digit under the win column. He said the Trojans are the best team to enter Scott Stadium in his eight-year tenure.

"Competition is not always about scheduling to win," Groh said. "It's about putting yourself out there a little bit and seeing what you can do with it."

While the Cavaliers' plan to schedule USC was a bit unusual, the far-away trip for the Trojans to open the season is nothing new to them.

In 2004, they defeated Virginia Tech in the season opener in Landover, Md. They've also opened on the road against Auburn and Arkansas under eighth-year head coach Pete Carroll.

Carroll said those games bring a keen focus to open the season, and a win can jump-start a successful season.

"The thought about it is that when you successfully go through one of those games and get a win, you've accomplished a great deal," said Carroll, who has the highest winning percentage in the nation among active coaches (76-14, .844).

"It means a lot to us. We know how to go on the road. We know how to play difficult opponents in front of big crowds. All those are feathers in your cap that you get as you head into the season."

The Cavaliers are looking for a feather in their cap as well. Groh went back to his NFL roots when he said what Virginia must do to pull off the upset.

"Play like the New York Giants did," he said of the Super Bowl champions' unexpected victory over New England in February. "Anything the Giants did in that game. Rush the passer. Make big plays. Win at the end."

Notes

The Cavaliers have yet to announce whether their starting quarterback will be sophomore Peter Lalich, sophomore Marc Verica or fifth-year senior Scott Deke.

Southern California junior quarterback Mark Sanchez is expected to start after missing more than two weeks of practice with a dislocated knee cap. Freshman Aaron Corp will be his primary backup.

Virginia sophomore starting cornerback Ras-I Dowling is listed as doubtful for today's game. Lalich is probable, while starting wide receiver Maurice Covington is questionable.

Fans are encouraged to arrive early to limit traffic congestion.

 

USC must look out for speed bumps as well as sinkholes
Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times
Coach Pete Carroll is 49-9 in the Pacific 10 Conference and 76-14 overall in seven years at USC.
Trojans' road to national title game has some obvious big obstacles (like Ohio State), but the last couple years it's often been little ones (Stanford, Oregon State) that trip them up.
Chris Dufresne
August 30, 2008

A reader this week complained in an e-mail about the river flow of nauseating praise being heaped on USC when, in fact, the Trojans really haven't been thatthat dominant in the Pete Carroll era.

Half of those six straight Pacific 10 Conference titles, after all, were shares of championships.

And it's not as if Carroll (two) has won as many national titles as Bear Bryant (six).

It got me thinking about expectations.

Maybe the Trojans, in a historical, Mt. Rushmore context, have underachieved.

Carroll's 49-9 conference record in seven years may rank him No. 1 all-time in Pac-10 winning percentage, but one of those nine defeats was by seven points.

How do you return home and face loved ones after that, especially when the other defeats were by three, two, five, three, three, one, two and four points?

People talk about national titles in 2003 and 2004, but what about three other titles USC drop-kicked away?

Three years ago, USC blew a fourth-quarter lead in a three-point title-game loss to Texas.

In 2006, a four-point loss to rival UCLA denied USC a beeline to a Bowl Championship Series title-game matchup against Ohio State.

Last year, an unforgivable home loss to 41-point underdog Stanford cost USC another trip to the national title game.

If you want to throw in 2002, Carroll's second year at USC, the Trojans finished No. 4 in the BCS standings after losses to Kansas State and Washington State by a combined 10 points.

You call that dynastic?

It shows you how hairsplitting the dissection of dominance can get.

Sometimes "nit" is the only pick.

The poll vault bar is set so high it doesn't matter that USC has only four starters returning on offense, lost seven first- or second-round players to the NFL, and starts the season on the road with a new quarterback.

USC, people figure, will figure it out.

Matt Leinart had never taken a game-action snap at quarterback before the 2003 opener at Auburn. That turned out to be a 23-0K win that sparked a season that ended with a split national title.

USC starts anew today, ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press media poll and No. 2 by the coaches.

There is no easing into seasons anymore. "We're going for it and that's the only way we know how to do it," Carroll said this week.

The question isn't whether USC is going to win 10 games.

The question is whether USC can win 11 or 12 and avoid the hiccups that have foiled national title runs each of the last three years.

The table, once again, is set to run. All the presumably tough games -- Ohio State, Oregon, Arizona State, California, Notre Dame -- are at home.

USC should handle Virginia in Charlottesville and then gets two weeks to prepare for Ohio State.

The glitter games, though, haven't always been the ones that trip the Trojans. So watch out for Oregon State in Corvallis on a Thursday night, Sept. 25.

It was the Beavers who, two years ago, claimed one of those nine Pac-10 wins against Carroll.

Oregon and Arizona State are good-looking home games on the USC season-ticket plan, but the games after that are at Washington State and at Arizona.

USC barely escaped Pullman only two years ago while Arizona, under Mike Stoops, has played the Trojans tighter than stretch pants.

Last year, the week after the Stanford debacle, a raging-mad USC was supposed to kick Arizona's A, only it didn't happen. Instead, with Mark Sanchez at the helm, the Trojans wiped a collective brow after escaping with a seven-point home win.

Stoops might have even more incentive this year -- keeping his job.

The Trojans are home for Washington and California but away Nov. 15 against Stanford, 1-0 against USC last year and already 1-0 in the Pac-10 this year.

The season ends with Notre Dame and UCLA, the Trojans' two biggest rivals, but those might be more comfortable pencil-ins than Oregon State or Arizona.

Dream big this year, USC, but don't take a cat nap.

Think title but also think Tucson.

The big BCS bowl USC wants to play in may go through the regular-season Rose, on Dec. 6, where UCLA and its marketing department await.

Fordham once had its "Seven Blocks of Granite."

UCLA, for now, has its "Five Columns of Ad Type."

You have to start somewhere

What the heck, it's only monopoly money.
 

Mark Sanchez ready for his big day
Quarterback is more experienced that his three predecessors were when they took over the starting job.
By Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 30, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Carson Palmer phoned a few days ago. Matt Leinart text-messaged the same day. John David Booty also checked in.

The former USC quarterbacks offered Mark Sanchez similar advice for today's season opener against Virginia:

Soak it up. Live it up. Remember this game and the ones that follow because these will be some of the best times of your life.

Oh, and one other thing.

"Don't get nervous," Sanchez says, recalling the message from the men who led the Trojans to six consecutive Bowl Championship Series bowl games. "Just prepare."


Sanchez, a fourth-year junior, might be more seasoned than his predecessors were to take over as starter. And he is hoping that gives him a head start on furthering their legacy.

Palmer was not even a year out of high school when he started the ninth game of his freshman season in 1998 under Coach Paul Hackett. Leinart never threw a college pass before he started the 2003 opener at Auburn as a third-year sophomore. Booty was a mop-up man for Leinart until he started the 2006 opener at Arkansas as a fourth-year junior.

Sanchez, 21, is a veteran by comparison. He started three midseason games in place of Booty last year, pulling out a victory over Arizona, picking apart Notre Dame and nearly engineering a comeback victory at Oregon.

The audition eliminates much of the uncertainty that accompanied the transitions from Palmer to Leinart and from Leinart to Booty.

"It just feels a little different," Coach Pete Carroll says. "We had a couple big battles with Mark, big games. He handled those."

Not that Sanchez's debut lacks intrigue.

Three weeks ago, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Sanchez suffered a dislocated left kneecap and crumpled to the ground during warmups for practice. He has recovered to start against the Cavaliers, but can he sustain a hit? Will the knee hold up in what could be soggy conditions at Scott Stadium?

"I'm not even thinking about it," he says.

Although Carroll said Sanchez will wear a knee brace today, he was without one during a light workout Friday for the first time since his injury. And he moved smoothly, even leaping to dunk a ball over the goal post crossbar.

Sanchez is focused on starting the same way Leinart and Booty did under Carroll -- with an efficient performance and a victory.

"I don't feel nervous like I did for the three games last year," he says. "Just more excited. A different kind of nerves."

Sanchez will release some of the tension through a more animated leadership style than was shown by Palmer, Leinart or Booty.

Not much is hidden, good or bad, when Sanchez is on the field.

"I can't go through it with a frown," he says. "It's too much fun."

Teammates apparently appreciate Sanchez's style. Last week, he was elected one of four team captains, the same honor Leinart and Booty earned as juniors.

Defensive players warm to Sanchez because he plays with passion.

"I like the way he's vocal," senior safety Kevin Ellison says. "I like his fire."

So do Carroll and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.

But both coaches put a premium on a quarterback's efficiency running the offense, so they will monitor Sanchez's demonstrativeness. They do not want to diminish his enthusiasm, "We just want to make sure we do a nice job of tempering it so that it works for him and everybody," Carroll says.

Sanchez is expected to unsettle opposing defensive coordinators with mobility that allows him to find open receivers or scramble for yardage. Booty was highly accurate from the pocket but struggled to make plays on the run.

Sanchez gives the Trojans "a little bit more variety of second-chance opportunities," Carroll says, adding, "Mark's a little bit of a gambler -- he's going to take a shot at stuff more like Leinart. And I'm hoping that he'll do it well and do it in a timely fashion."

For Sanchez, the time is now.

Palmer, Leinart and Booty all left their marks as starting quarterbacks for the Trojans during the Carroll era. Sanchez is ready to add his name to the continuum. "It's exciting," he says, "to know I'll have my own little piece in there."

Trojans are great unknown
By Steve Dilbeck, columnist
Article Last Updated: 08/29/2008 11:19:59 PM PDT

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- They're a monster. They will destroy your team. Pulverize it into small pieces and then sneer at the laughable remains.

Right?

USC begins its new season today on the muggy campus designed by "The Sage of Monticello," as a whopping 19-point favorite over Virginia.

Send condolences to the Cavaliers?

The Trojans are ranked second or third in the polls. A popular pick to appear in the BCS title game. An indestructible college football force.

Must it be true if everybody keeps saying it's so?

Alas, nobody - not cable talking heads, expert columnists or Pete Carroll himself - knows exactly how good this USC team is.

That it is being held in such high national regard is more recognition that Carroll has built college football's preeminent program than some keen insight into this particular team.

"I think it's probably the longstanding success," Carroll said. "We have been doing pretty well for some time and people give us credit. That really doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean a darn thing to us."

Maybe the Trojans will be exactly as good as everyone suspects they are. Maybe they'll only be really good. Maybe - we're saying maybe here - they'll just be kinda good.

The Trojans annually have such excellent recruiting classes, the assumption is they'll just plug in a new superstar for the one who graduated or left early for the NFL. Apipeline of superior talent. The envy of every program in the country.
But this year there is a wealth of unknowns, particularly on offense, particularly for a team everyone seems so determined to love. Or they're just used to it.

Seven Trojans were taken in the first two rounds of the 2008 NFL draft. USC returns only four starters on offense.

The Trojans have to replace their starting quarterback (John David Booty), tailback (Chauncey Washington) and leading receiver (tight end Fred Davis). Their wideouts were disappointing last year. They return only one starting offensive lineman.

And they're practically an automatic national title contender?

"The fact that somebody likes us off the bat, it's a little bit of a popularity contest, you know," Carroll said.

It has something to do with six consecutive top-four finishes, two national titles, and narrowly missing a third bid last season.

And let's face it, although every college team is something of an unknown going into its opener, it isn't like no one's ever heard of the new guys.

Quarterback Mark Sanchez is a former Parade Magazine National Player of the Year who started three games last season for an injured Booty. He has star written all over him.

Washington is gone, but USC was a tailback-by-committee operation last season and the rest of the committee - C.J. Gable, Joe McKnight, Stafon Johnson, Allen Bradford - returns, aided the by the addition of redshirt freshmen Marc Tyler and Broderick Green. All were Parade All-Americans.

"We are excited about our team," Carroll said. "We've recruited players to be in featured roles and featured responsibilities, and these guys are ready for it.

"You hate seeing the guys leave, but then you love the fact that the other guys get to come and step to the front and take over. Our focus has not been on what's departing but what's surfacing, what's arising out of the opportunity, and it's been really fun and they have been a great group."

USC should at least have a stalwart defense to rely on while the personality and stars of the offense surface. The Trojans return seven defensive starters, led by Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing. They figure to have one of the best linebacking corps in the country. And they probably do have its best defensive backfield, with three returning starters (Taylor Mays, Kevin Ellison, Cary Harris, plus Shareece Wright) and veteran backups.

This is being advertised as one of Carroll's quickest overall teams, which is saying something. And certainly on defense, speed is everywhere.

The pieces have to fit, of course. The O-line has to jell quickly. A tailback or two needs to step forward. Sanchez has to live up to the hype. The defensive line has to make up for the losses of Lawrence Jackson and Sedrick Ellis.

The assumption everywhere is that USC will do all that, with the potential for more. At USC these days, it is always about more.

Carroll has a preseason feel about every team he takes into an opener, but the answers begin to come today.

"You have a feel for it, but you don't know it until you actually see it," Carroll said. "There have been a lot of years when we didn't know. We had to find out once the game started."

Carroll is confident he has another top team, at least in the making. If it's actually BCS-title-game material, it requires that the new guys look a lot like the old guys, but a little better.

"We have a really good team," Carroll said. "I don't know how many games we can win, but we have a lot of players with good background in our style. We have good health.

"We have to play well. The best players don't win, the ones who play well do. If we do that, we have a chance to be hard to beat, and we'll see how far we'll take it."

So many unknowns, so much pillaging to begin?


 

Sene, Tat miss trip
Saturday, Aug 30, 2008 - 12:07 AM
 
The University of Virginia men's basketball team left yesterday for Canada without two of its international players: freshman center Assane Sene and junior swingman Solomon Tat.

Early yesterday afternoon, U.Va. announced that Sene would not make the trip "due to pending clarification of his initial eligibility status." The release said Tat would not travel with the team "pending clarification of his visa status."

The Cavaliers will play three exhibition games in Montreal: two today and one tomorrow.

Despite an administrative delay, U.Va. expects the NCAA Clearinghouse to rule Sene eligible to play as a freshman.

Tat, a native of Nigeria, graduated from high school in Stockbridge, Ga. But not until the 11th hour, after he married a Georgia woman, did Tat obtain the visa he needed to stay in the United States and enroll at U.Va. in the summer of 2006. -- Jeff White
 

To tell or not to tell?
The quarterback dilemma
By Doug Doughty

Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer doesn’t have a reputation for taking shots at rival schools or coaches, but I found his comments interesting this week in light of Virginia’s reluctance to designate a No. 1 quarterback.

More than a week before the first game, the Hokies announced that sophomore Tyrod Taylor would be redshirted and fifth-year senior Sean Glennon would start the season.

“When you settle on a quarterback, I like to have things going in a direction, so you know exactly where you’re going and not you ‘may do this’ or you ‘may do that,’ “ Beamer said Tuesday in the ACC’s first teleconference of the season.

“I think, having done this, it gives your football team a direction and it’s full speed ahead.”

Again, I don’t think he was taking a dig at Virginia, but the Cavaliers and Florida State were the last two teams to announce a No. 1 quarterback, and the Seminoles still had a week to go before their opener with Western Carolina.

Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden, who has turned over the selection process to offensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher, has a history of naming a starting quarterback as quickly as possible.

“I think Jimbo would, too,” Bowden said. “He wants the team to know as soon as he’s positive.”

Most observers have conceded the FSU quarterback job to senior Drew Weatherford, “but it’s not cut and dried as some people think,” said Bowden, who is also taking a look at sophomore Christian Ponder.

“The quarterback battle is a lot closer than expected.”

Regarding the Virginia situation, it was interesting to see that sophomore quarterback Peter Lalich was listed as “probable” on the Cavaliers’ injury report made available Thursday night.

I’m still not convinced that Lalich isn’t on some kind of probation stemming from his midsummer arrest for underage alcohol possession. I’m not saying he doesn’t have some kind of nagging injury, but I think there’s been some hesitation in designating him as a starter until he shows he can behave himself (see Thursday’s UVa Insider).

ONE REASON I was surprised by Tech’s plans to redshirt sophomore quarterback Tyrod Taylor was the effect it might have on the recruiting of Hargrave Military Academy quarterback Kevin Newsome.

Newsome, who left Western Branch High School in Chesapeake after his junior year, committed to Michigan last spring but subsequently changed his mind. Many observers looked at Tech as the new frontrunner for Newsome, a recruiting target of Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring since early in his Western Branch career.

We stop here momentarily to report that Stinespring, after backing out of a 50-yard swimming challenge, had the gall to don USA swimming apparel in a photo made available to Notebook Plus. We are currently investigating Stinespring’s claims that he was a lifeguard in high school.

But, back to Newsome. If Taylor had played this season, which would have left him with two years of college eligibility, would Newsome have been any more inclined to consider the Hokies? In that case, there would have been as little as one year’s overlap between Taylor and Newsome, if Taylor were to play and Newsome to redshirt in 2010.

Of course, that’s assuming that Tech has become Newsome’s favorite now that he has decommitted to Michigan, and that may be jumping to conclusions, based on my conversation with Hargrave coach Robert Prunty.

Next time I speak with Prunty, I’ll be interested to hear if Virginia has inquired about Newsome, who is a good student, by the way. The Cavaliers already are filling up and they’ve taken a commitment from Sherando High quarterback Ross Metheny, whom they like, but Newsome is ranked among the top 10 quarterbacks in the country.

ON THE SUBJECT of quarterbacks, it will be interesting to see if N.C. State is forced to revisit its decision on redshirting freshman quarterback Mike Glennon, brother of Virginia Tech’s fifth-year quarterback.

Starting quarterback Russell Wilson, a redshirt freshman from Richmond’s Collegiate School, suffered a concussion that forced him to be taken from the field on a stretcher Thursday night at South Carolina. He was replaced by veteran Daniel Evans, who was 4-of-12 for 37 yards and was intercepted twice in a 34-0 loss to the Gamecocks.

Wilson was diagnosed with a Grade III concussion, which is the most serious level. The Wolfpack already has lost one other quarterback, Justin Burke from Lexington, Ky., who transferred to Louisville in the preseason. State’s options for next Saturday’s home opener against William and Mary would include Evans and Harrison Beck, who began his career at Nebraska, unless Glennon re-enters the mix.