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Hagans may be back behind center
By John Galinsky  / Daily Progress staff writer
September 10, 2003
 

Marques Hagans shut off his cell phone last weekend. He didn’t want to talk about Virginia’s loss to South Carolina or his own limited role in the game. If friends wanted to reach him, they could leave a message.
Now, however, it appears UVa coach Al Groh will call upon Hagans at some point during Saturday’s game at Western Michigan. If so, the sophomore would like to send a message of his own: Marques Hagans can still play quarterback.
Why not? “Biscuit,” as his teammates call him, was the backup at that position last year before moving to receiver in the spring. Going back behind center won’t be much of a problem, he figures.
“I’ve been playing football my whole life,” he said. “It’s not like I’m going from football to basketball. … We’ll have to see how it goes. I’m anxious to see what I can do out there.”
Indeed, Hagans has long been what his former coach at Hampton High School, Mike Smith, warmly called “just a great football player, a guy who can make plays wherever you put him.”
Despite his height, generously listed at 5-10, Hagans excelled as a quarterback in high school and at Fork Union Military Academy, and was groomed at that position for two years at UVa.
After switching to wideout, he figured his signal-calling days were over. That is, until senior Matt Schaub separated his right shoulder in the season opener and redshirt freshman Anthony Martinez struggled against the Gamecocks last Saturday.
Groh said Martinez will start against the Broncos (1-1) at Waldo Stadium, but he indicated that Hagans will practice at quarterback this week and probably will take at least a few snaps Saturday.
“I’m very confident if we play Marques there, he’ll play well for us,” Groh said.
Still, Groh warned, no one should expect Hagans to be a savior for Virginia’s offense, which produced just 170 yards and seven first downs against the Gamecocks. It is unrealistic to expect him to run the team like Schaub, the 2002 ACC player of the year.
“I don’t think we’ll be conducting two Heisman Trophy campaigns on this team,” Groh said.
The question is whether he might be more productive than Martinez, who had a dreadful debut as a starter last Saturday. To be fair, Groh pointed out that Hagans was just as ineffective under similar circumstances in his only career start against Florida State last year. Hagans completed just one of seven passes and fumbled twice against the No. 5 Seminoles.
Replaced by Schaub, Hagans played infrequently at quarterback the rest of the season, yet made his mark as a punt returner. Since Groh moved him to receiver — a position that gave him a chance to play regularly — he had not practiced at quarterback until this week.
“I don’t even know when the last time was that I threw a pass; it was probably in the bowl game,” said Hagans, who threw a touchdown pass to Wali Lundy after taking a pitch from Schaub in the Continental Tire Bowl.
Hagans may be a little rusty, but those who know him best believe he’ll make the transition smoothly.
“Marques will be all right. He’s got ice water in his veins,” said Fork Union coach John Shuman. “I think it would be a great move to get him out there for a couple of series. They can do so much with him — run the option, sprint him out, quarterback draw, trick plays, turn cartwheels, you name it.
“I think they want to create some havoc and have some fun. That’s what Marques can do.”
Hagans was limited in practice last week by what he called “just a little soreness,” so he was unable to prepare enough to play quarterback against South Carolina. Instead, he played receiver and punt returner, as usual, catching two passes for five yards and returning three punts for 21 yards.
On Saturday, however, it may take a “Biscuit” behind center to jumpstart Virginia’s offense.
“I hope I get the chance to do it,” he said.

 

 

 

Opposing coaches are old cronies
By Jerry Ratcliffe  / Daily Progress sports editor
September 10, 2003
 

When Virginia travels to Kalamazoo to take on Western Michigan on Saturday, Cavaliers coach Al Groh will be hooking up with an old friend.
Gary Darnell, who is entering his seventh season as coach of the Broncos, used to coach alongside Groh, not against him. When Groh coached the outside linebackers for Bill Dooley’s Tar Heels back in 1976 and 1977, Darnell coached the inside backers.
When Groh took over the head coaching job at Wake Forest, Darnell was his defensive coordinator.
“We’ve stayed pretty much in touch ever since then,” Darnell said Tuesday. “Even while Al was in the pros we crossed paths. When I was [defensive coordinator] at Notre Dame, I visited his staff. There’s a lot of mutual ideas between the two of us.”
Three-game series
One of those ideas was this series between the upcoming MAC team and Groh’s Wahoos.
“We needed something and they needed something,” Darnell said. “We needed to play a major program. We both had the same itch and we could scratch it in the same way. Al had a West Coast game he didn’t want to do, and this is our Centennial anniversary. So, it’s a good game for both.”
Virginia ended up with a 2-for-1 deal, playing at Western this year, with the Broncos coming to Charlottesville two times in the future.
Stiff competition
But don’t expect the Cavaliers’ trip to be a stroll in the park. Led by the nation’s leading passer, Chad Munson, Western Michigan played Michigan State tough before losing 26-21 two weeks ago. Last week, the Broncos hammered William & Mary 56-24.
Darnell is proud of what he has built in Kalamazoo, at a school that perhaps many football fans know little about. Western is one of the top half-dozen schools in the country in terms of graduation rates for its football players, including a 94 percentile last year.
Some of Western’s most well known graduates include actor Tim Allen, ESPN/ABC studio host John Saunders and Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski.
“We’ve had about every award a program can have except one,” Darnell said. “We haven’t won the championship yet.”
It hasn’t been easy with Marshall’s run of MAC titles, but Western has been bowl eligible for the past four years in a row. The Broncos have wins over teams from the SEC, Big Ten and Big East.
From the ground up
When he first came to Kalamazoo, the school averaged 9,000 fans per football game. The numbers have grown to 28,000 per game. There has been $38 million worth of construction to football facilities during his tenure.
“Coming here from Texas [where he was defensive coordinator], where we were used to signing a high level of skilled athletes, we’ve been able to carry that over here,” Darnell said. “We have been able to do well in recruiting South Florida and the Midwest. We have stocked ourselves at the skilled positions to
a much higher level than most programs like ours.”
When Northern Illinois upset Maryland two weeks ago, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden commented that you just don’t play games like that. He even questioned why he took his Seminoles to Louisville last year when FSU was upset by the Cardinals.
Groh is hoping this weekend won’t be another example in Scheduling 101.

 

 

 

Pearman remains productive after surgery
Back has grip on rotation

Aside from trouble holding on to the ball against South Carolina, Alvin Pearman has been solid for Virginia.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   CHARLOTTESVILLE - Several weeks have elapsed since somebody has asked Virginia football coach Al Groh about his plans for keeping four tailbacks happy.

    Maybe somebody should ask the tailbacks how they plan to keep Groh happy.

    Nobody on the Cavaliers' offense was spared Groh's wrath Saturday after a 31-7 loss at South Carolina, where UVa was held to 46 yards in the second half.

    Groh said starting tailback Wali Lundy lacked his customary burst, which is why the Cavaliers went to No.2 tailback Alvin Pearman for the second series.

    Pearman carried 17 times for a team-high 91 yards, including a 34-yarder that preceded his 4-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, "but, if you have two fumbles in a game, it's hard to say you had a good game," Groh said.

    Quarterback Anthony Martinez was charged with the fumble that South Carolina recovered and converted into the touchdown that put the Gamecocks ahead 17-7 with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter. Pearman was at least partially responsible for a faulty exchange, though.

    Pearman had fumbled on UVa's previous possession, recovering the ball himself for a 5-yard loss.

    "In this day and age, you have to be able to hold on to the ball," said Pearman, who fumbled five times in 171 carries in his first two seasons, losing the ball twice. "It's a running back's No.1 priority When that's not accomplished, you see what happens. We lose ballgames."

    Fumbling was not an issue with Pearman coming into the season. In fact, his ability to hold on to the ball was uncanny during a period of the 2002 season when he wore a cast on his broken right hand.

    The big issue with Pearman was the condition of his right knee, injured last year at Penn State. Pearman underwent surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament and missed spring practice.

    Groh fielded numerous questions on the advisability of redshirting Pearman, who led the Cavaliers in rushing in 2001 as a freshman, but that was not a serious consideration.

    Pearman said he may be faster now than he was before the operation.

    "Whatever rustiness there was in his game, it wasn't with that," Groh said. "It was more timing and cuts and pass protection. He had that [speed] back pretty quick, a little quicker than lots of guys do in that circumstance."

    Ultimately, Groh did make a decision to redshirt one of his tailbacks, but it was Michael Johnson, a former high school All-American who had 26 carries in limited playing time last season. Johnson was in uniform Saturday at South Carolina but there are no plans to use him.

    "I'm tempted to use him every week," said Groh, who wants Johnson to have a chance to get 200 carries in a season. "I'm anxious to put him in the game. If I'm impatient right now, at a point in time, he and I will both be sorry."

    Groh used three tailbacks Saturday, although the third one, Marquis Weeks, started at fullback and frequently was in the game with Lundy or Pearman.

    "It doubles up our opportunity to get him in the game," said Groh, who saw Weeks rush for 129 yards last year against North Carolina State. "On top of that, he's on four of six special teams, so he's a very important guy in our rotation."

    Oddly, of the two principal tailbacks, Pearman is the healthier. Lundy experienced tightness in his right hamstring in Virginia's opening game against Duke and couldn't stretch it in early action Saturday.

    "He's one of my favorite players on the team," Pearman said of Lundy. "I love to watch him run. We've got a lot of talented guys and the moment you screw up, that's somebody else's opportunity, but we support each other. As competitive as we are, we have each other's back."

    Originally recruited by the staff of former UVa coach George Welsh, Pearman quickly became a Groh convert and was pleased when his younger brother, Andrew, committed to the Cavaliers this summer. Andrew Pearman, also a running back, has the kind of speed sometimes associated with the horses he likes to ride.

    "That's just him," Alvin said. "When he was little, he liked cowboys and Indians. I always had to have a ball in my hands."

    His priorities haven't changed.

 

 

 

A new game plan
Schedules topic of ACC meeting
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 10, 2003

When the Atlantic Coast Conference holds its regularly scheduled fall meetings Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Charlottesville, Virginia Tech and Miami will take part.

Only current members of the ACC, however, will convene today in Greensboro, N.C., for a meeting that was called to discuss issues related to expansion. Virginia Tech and Miami will join the ACC next summer, giving the league 11 members.

Each of the ACC's current nine schools will send its athletic director and faculty representative today to Greensboro, where the conference is based.

"It's just to get everybody together and sift out some of the details of expansion," said Mike Finn, an ACC assistant commissioner.

Craig Littlepage, Virginia's athletic director, said he expected the meeting to last about four hours. Scheduling for an 11-school league will be the main topic, Littlepage said, "and I think football and basketball scheduling right now are the biggest hurdles we're going to have to cross because of TV considerations."

Currently, each ACC team plays a 16-game conference schedule in basketball. To keep that double round-robin format once it expands to 11, the ACC would have to adopt a 20-game conference schedule for each team. That would mean each ACC team could schedule only seven games outside the league, four fewer than under the current arrangement.

The 20-game conference schedule is one model under consideration, but there seems to be little support for it among coaches and ADs.

"Right now, I'm not persuaded that that's the best thing," Littlepage said. "The obvious concern is that it further limits the option to put together a nonconference schedule that meets your particular program's needs and priorities."

Littlepage said playing as many as 18 conference games might work, but "I just think that 20 may be stretching it a little bit too far."

In the Big Ten, which has 11 members, each team plays a 16-game conference schedule in hoops. Every team plays a home-and-home series with six of its counterparts and one game against each of the remaining four.

The ACC is expected to adopt a format under which each team would play its 10 counterparts at least once every season. Under one model for a 16-game conference schedule, a team - North Carolina, for example - would have two "permanent partners" with which it would play a home-and-home series every season. Of the other eight schools, four would play a home-and-home series with UNC, and the remaining four would face the Tar Heels once.

The following year, the positions of the schools that aren't North Carolina's "permanent partners" would be switched. Thus, in a two-year period, UNC would play its "permanent partners" four times apiece and each of the other teams in the ACC three times.

Under this model, U.Va.'s "permanent partners" probably would be Virginia Tech and Maryland.

In football, each ACC team will continue to play eight conference games every year. The 11 teams would be split into two divisions, possibly as early as 2004, if the NCAA were to approve the ACC's request to lower from 12 to 10 the number of schools a conference needs to stage a championship game in football.

The NCAA won't rule on the ACC's request until late April, but conference officials are expected to discuss potential divisional groupings today in Greensboro.

What's not on the agenda, Littlepage said, is discussion about the possibility of the ACC's adding a 12th school.

"That, in my opinion, is probably a daylong meeting in itself," he said.

 

 

 

ACC favors 16 games
By CAULTON TUDOR, Staff Writer

Don't expect wall-to-wall conference games with the addition of Virginia Tech and Miami to the ACC basketball mix in the 2004-05 season.
When the ACC athletics directors meet Wednesday in Greensboro for a business and planning session, there's a strong chance that they'll keep the regular season at 16 conference games per team.

With two more teams set to join the ACC, there had been much discussion about extending the conference schedule to 20 games apiece, thus maintaining the traditional home-and-away series among all members.

But the idea generated very little support from the coaches. Virtually all of them favored keeping the schedule at 16, which would allow each team to play 11 non-conference games.

The coaches felt that playing so many league games could hurt the ACC's national power rating and make it more difficult for members to earn NCAA Tournament bids.

On Wednesday, the ADs probably will approve a format that designates two "primary rivals" that each team would face home and away for at least two seasons. The remaining 12 games would be played against the eight other conference opponents -- four of them twice and the other four once.

In the second season, the teams that had met once would play twice.

Each team would play all 10 league foes at least once per season.

North Carolina's primary rivals almost certainly would be Duke and N.C. State. Duke's would be Carolina and Maryland. State's would be UNC and Wake Forest.

Maryland's rivals probably would be Duke and Virginia. Wake's second rival, in addition to NCSU, could be Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech.

The rivalry designations for the remaining teams will be addressed Wednesday, but the complete schedules won't be announced until next July or August.

Achieving balance will be tricky.

Duke and Carolina can expect to face more difficult ACC schedules than the other nine teams. Traditionally weaker programs such as Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Miami probably will draw softer conference cards.

After the 2005-06 season, the rivalries could be revised.

Regardless of how the schedules are set, there is little interest among the basketball coaches and ADs in divisional play .

A decision on divisions for football could be reached when the ADs meet again Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Charlottesville, Va.

But ACC Commissioner John Swofford and some ADs have said there is no certainty that divisional football play would begin in 2004. The timing probably won't be finalized until the league hears from the NCAA on its request to lower the membership requirement for holding a conference championship game in football.

Leagues with fewer than 12 members now are prohibited from staging title games. The ACC has asked that the threshold be lowered to 10, but the NCAA isn't expected to rule on the motion until midspring.

If the ACC's request is denied, the league wouldn't go to divisional football play until a 12th member is added. Potential expansion targets are not expected to be discussed Wednesday.

The final part of the 11-team puzzle to fall into place likely will be the pairings format for the basketball tournament. Several recommendations are being considered, but staging a tournament for 11 teams would be much more difficult than it would be for 12. Tournament options will be discussed Wednesday, but a resolution isn't likely.

The bottom six teams in the standings probably will play a three-game, first-round session to begin the annual tournament . The Thursday winners then would join the top five regular-season finishers in Friday's quarterfinals .


 

 


Advantage at QB may be Broncos'
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
BY PAUL D. BOWKER
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE

Quick, snap your fingers. That's how quickly the University of Virginia has disappeared from college football's radar screen.

Matt Schaub, last year's Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year and an early Heisman Trophy candidate, is on the sidelines nursing a separated shoulder.

His replacement, freshman Anthony Martinez, threw for 54 yards and was intercepted twice in a 31-7 loss at South Carolina last Saturday. Starting safety Willie Davis has his left arm in a sling this week.

Sunday, Virginia fell from a 15th national ranking and completely out of both polls.

So, while the Broncos test themselves against a Bowl Championship Series team Saturday at Waldo Stadium, imagine how big this game is for the Cavaliers.

"I'm interested in how the team responds collectively and what their resolve is as a result of it," Virginia head coach Al Groh said.

After entering the season with 19 returning starters -- trailing only defending national champion Ohio State, with 21 -- the Cavaliers (1-1) are bruised and hurting. Already, nine freshmen have played for the Cavaliers, who began the season with a 27-0 rout of Duke.

The big question is, will Schaub play this week? Groh isn't saying, Martinez is being prepared for another game as starter and former quarterback Marques Hagans, moved to wide receiver during the offseason, may get pulled back to quarterback.

But none of this has convinced WMU head coach Gary Darnell that the Cavaliers are that ripe for the picking. As a former coaching colleague of Groh at the University of North Carolina and Wake Forest, he knows better.

"Their focus is going to be on themselves," Darnell said. "They're not going to come in here with any kind of a chip on their shoulders."

At least two things caught Groh's attention last week: A 99-yard pass play that South Carolina ran for a touchdown vs. the Cavaliers, and WMU quarterback Chad Munson's 450-yard passing game vs. William & Mary.
 

 

 


Broncos prepare for 'both' Virginias
Tuesday, September 9, 2003
BY SCOTT JUNGMAN
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE

Virginia is no longer ranked among the nation's top-25 and the Cavaliers may be without their Heisman Trophy candidate -- quarterback Matt Schaub -- when they arrive at Waldo Stadium Saturday to face Western Michigan University.

But having a BCS school from the Atlantic Coast Conference in Kalamazoo still gives the Broncos a prime chance to make some waves on the national scene.

"This is a big game for us, as far as building up our program," WMU senior quarterback Chad Munson said. "Coach Darnell has done a great job of getting our facilities up there and now we need to win a big game. We need to start acting like a big program and this is a game where we need to come out on top."

"It's going to be exciting to have an ACC school coming to our house," senior safety Jason Feldpausch said. "They have so many stars back from last year and they're going to be a phenomenal team."

However, Virginia may be without the ACC's offensive MVP, Schaub, who separated his shoulder in the Cavaliers' opening 27-0 win over Duke. The junior, who set or tied as many as 10 single-season school records last year and led the ACC in every quarterback category, is currently absent from the depth chart.

"I'm not even going to venture to guess whether he'll play or not," WMU head coach Gary Darnell said. "We have to prepare, basically, for both styles of offense they showed in the first two games."

The Broncos hope it's the style that led the Cavaliers to a 31-7 loss last Saturday at South Carolina. Back-up quarterback Anthony Martinez completed 10 of 20 passes for just 54 yards and two interceptions against the Gamecocks.

Darnell plans to get some hints from acquaintances on the South Carolina coaching staff on how to provide a repeat performance.

"Coaches are the biggest bunch of pirates and thieves in the world, outside of the Caribbean," Darnell quipped.

The Broncos, meanwhile, will look to build on the momentum created by last Saturday's 56-24 victory over William & Mary at Waldo Stadium.

"It's going to be a big support having our hometown crowd behind us," Feldpausch said. "We had an exceptional crowd at the game last Saturday. The place was loud and it's just a great feeling to play in front of that."
 

 

 


Bronco bust? Despite visit from Bowl Championship Series team, WMU ticket sales slow
Tuesday, September 9, 2003
BY PAUL D. BOWKER
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE

Western Michigan University has what many midmajor schools will never get -- home football games against Bowl Championship Series schools in consecutive years.

But as the days count down on Western's much ballyhooed Centennial Celebration game Saturday against Virginia of the Atlantic Coast Conference at Waldo Stadium, the "sold out" sign is definitely not lit. Instead, you might see a "Please buy tickets" sign go up any day now along Stadium Drive.

The Centennial Game is turning into a Centennial Bust. Less than 2,000 single-game tickets have been sold and 10,000 tickets in all remain to be sold.

The numbers are so low it could cause a change in Western's scheduling strategy, which brought fifth-ranked Virginia Tech to town last year and will bring Connecticut of the Big East to Kalamazoo next year. Why play in front of empty seats when a road game to a BCS team can bring in nearly a half-million dollars?

"If it doesn't work, we're going to have to take a look at re-evaluating our scheduling philosophy," said Kathy Beauregard, WMU's director of athletics.

As of this morning, 10,700 tickets remained for Saturday's game. Aside from the 4,597 season tickets and 4,000 tickets ($15 apiece) distributed in association with the Southwest Fest corporate tent party, Western has sold just 1,600 single-game tickets to the Virginia game, according to Don Beyer, director of ticket operations.

Two days after Western's 56-24 win over William and Mary in the annual CommUniverCity Game at Waldo, the reward Monday in the ticket office was silence instead of ringing telephones.

"This is a strange phenomenon," Beyer said.

Empty seats not only are costing WMU money, but also are producing considerable frustration, if not confusion, among WMU athletic officials. Western's two-year search for a Centennial opponent ended last year when WMU head coach Gary Darnell helped arrange a three-game deal with Virginia, coached by Al Groh, who worked with Darnell at the University of North Carolina.

"We were asked, as a part of this centennial, to do whatever we could to add to the excitement," Beauregard said. "We could go someplace else and get a big paycheck. ...

"We've been listening to alumni and fans about their wanting teams like this in Kalamazoo."

"Our goal is always to get Kalamazoo involved in our athletics program and understand we are Division I football," said David Corstange, senior associate athletic director. "We tried to bring in better opponents, Virginia Tech, Virginia."

Yet the two biggest crowds in Waldo Stadium history came against lower Division I-AA teams on CommUniverCity nights. The Broncos drew a school-record 36,361 for a game against Indiana State in 2000 and 35,874 for Youngstown State in 1999. Both crowds set Mid-American Conference attendance records, but WMU has been passed since then by Toledo. Last Saturday's CommUniverCity crowd of 25,316 was the smallest home-opening attendance in six years.

Adding to the dilemma is fifth-ranked Michigan's game against Notre Dame at 3:30 Saturday afternoon, meaning many are either headed over to Michigan Stadium or will sit at home and watch it on TV.

Western's student crowds are almost as strong as ever, despite the distaste many students have for a new policy at the student recreation center parking lot that prohibits beer kegs.

Beyer said 6,000 seats are reserved for students, who are admitted to the game free and do not get tickets in advance. Almost 7,000 students attended Saturday's opener.

"For the Virginia game, there won't be any empty seats in the student section," said Paul Jackiewicz, a senior from Grand Rapids.

"It was so convenient to tailgate (at the rec center lot) and just walk to the game," said Jen Schoder, a senior who went to every home game her first two years but just one last year when the rec center parking lot policies changed.

WMU, which received criticism for raising the price of tickets for the Virginia Tech game last year, kept the Virginia game tickets at the same levels as all other games, with a high price of $22. As a comparison, a ticket to the WMU game at Michigan State two weeks ago cost $42.

Each 1,000 unsold tickets will cost WMU a minimum of $18,000. As part of its three-game contract with Virginia, WMU must pay out $150,000. When WMU played at Michigan State, it received a $400,000 payout.

"It's so critical for us that the students and community and everybody comes out and supports this game," Beauregard said. "We have a lot to celebrate here, 100 years of history."