Hagans' play keeps Schaub from rushing
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Efforts to restore injured quarterback Matt Schaub to game conditions lost some of their urgency Saturday with the performance of fill-in Marques Hagans at Western Michigan.

"I'm proceeding as if [Hagans] is going to be the starter for quite some time," UVa head coach Al Groh said. "He's only practiced extensively three times at quarterback and played one game.

"There's a lot to be done. There's a lot he wants to do in terms of his preparation and training. If we miss the opportunity to work him heavily, then I think we miss an excellent chance to bring his game along."

The Cavaliers (2-1) have an open date this week before playing host to Wake Forest on Sept.27 at 3:30 p.m. Schaub, who suffered a separated right shoulder Aug.30 against Duke, has been pointing toward the Wake game for his possible return.

"When he's ready, we're going to play him," said Groh, who moved Hagans from wide receiver to quarterback after a 31-7 loss at South Carolina. "[Rushing] him wasn't going to be an issue, especially after a significant time frame has been invested in getting him healed.

"If we were to play him prematurely and then got him injured because he couldn't take a hit, then we'd be right back where we started."

FUMA FACTOR: Last Saturday's college football action reminded Fork Union Military Academy coaches John Shuman and Mickey Sullivan why they're in the business. At Western Michigan, Hagans threw three touchdown passes, Art Thomas caught a touchdown pass and Muffin Curry returned an interception for a touchdown.

All played for Shuman's postgraduate team, as did three other UVa starters. Shuman listened to the game on radio while driving to VMI, where the Keydets got 130 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Sean Mizzer and two sacks from Mizzer's fellow FUMA graduate, defensive end Charlie Liesfeld. The other starting defensive end, Eric Hall, played at Fork Union after graduating from Marion.

Sullivan, the Fork Union undergraduate coach, coached 1995 Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George before George went to Ohio State. Another of Sullivan's pupils, Chris Perry, has to be considered a Heisman candidate this year after scoring four touchdowns Saturday in Michigan's 38-0 romp over Notre Dame.

WHAT CONTROVERSY? The Sporting News, in the Caught on the Fly section of its Sept.9 edition, rated the Bryan Randall - Marcus Vick competition at Virginia Tech as the No.1 quarterback controversy in the spring.

That's news to the coaches and players at Tech, where Vick played two series in the opener and was suspended for the second game while Randall was completing 35 of 48 passes. Second on the controversy list was Ingle Martin vs. Chris Leak at Florida.

 

ACC NOTES
Sep 18, 2003

BRILLIANT IN DEFEAT: N.C. State's Philip Rivers completed 36 of 52 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns in a triple-overtime loss to Ohio State last weekend, a performance that enhanced his reputation as one of the great quarterbacks to come through the ACC.

Rivers, a senior, is the conference's all-time leader in passing yardage (10,061), touchdown responsibility (85) and completions (839). He needs 639 yards to pass former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton (10,640) and become the ACC's career leader in total offense.

The Wolfpack's games can be heard in the Richmond and Petersburg areas on WARV (100.3) this season.

SECOND-GUESSERS: At those who questioned N.C. State's playcalling on its final possession against Ohio State, coach Chuck Amato fired back at his weekly press conference.

Although Rivers had completed 30 of his previous 40 pass attempts, the Wolfpack ran the ball on first, third and fourth down after advancing to the Buckeyes' 4. Rivers tested the middle twice, and tailback T.A. McLendon was tackled shy of the goal line on the game's final play.

"It's real easy to understand," Amato said. "The same people that called the plays on that drive [also] did for the last 9 minutes and 42 seconds [of regulation] and the first two overtimes and the third overtime to get us there. Did anybody question the playcalling then? I don't think so."

State erased a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime.

CLOSE CALL: Leading 38-10 late in the third quarter, Virginia faced second and 15 from the Western Michigan 18. Offensive coordinator Ron Prince called a trick play, and U.Va. coach Al Groh gave his blessing.

The play worked as designed, with tailback Wali Lundy pulling up on a sweep and tossing an 18-yard TD pass to wideout Ottowa Anderson.

There often comes a point in games when he wouldn't run such a play, Groh said, and he considered vetoing the call Saturday.

"But since I think there might be some byproduct value to it, besides just the [touchdown] itself," Groh said, "I thought it would certainly be worth doing."

Groh didn't elaborate, but opponents presumably have been reminded that Lundy, who also threw a TD pass in 2002, can do more than run and catch. When Lundy gets the ball on a sweep, defenses must be wary of overplaying the run.

BREAKTHROUGH: Duke, which struggled in close games last season, beat Rice 27-24 in overtime last weekend. That victory, Blue Devils coach Carl Franks said, will pay dividends for his team.

"I really believe that we'll be in another one somewhere down the road," Franks told reporters, "and instead of you guys asking all our players, 'Did you think, God, here we go again?' now hopefully our players will be saying, 'We've been in a close game before, we've had success and we know that we can win those close games.'"

Duke (2-1), which entertains Northwestern (1-2) on Saturday, has won two consecutive for the first time in Franks' five seasons.

THE HARD WAY: Florida State (3-0) may have the nation's toughest nonconference schedule this season. The 10th-ranked Seminoles face Colorado this weekend, and still to come are dates with Miami (Fla.), Notre Dame and Florida.

"You know your odds [of a national title] are cut down," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said, "but you also know that if you happen to win with that schedule, you're going to end up No.1."

HAVING A BALL: Quarterback Reggie Ball, a true freshman, nearly led Georgia Tech to a stunning upset of homestanding Florida State last weekend. The Seminoles needed two late TDs to win 14-13. The legendary coach spoke to the precocious freshman afterward.

"I told him, 'You're going to try to retire me, aren't you?'" Bowden said. "I was really amazed at his poise, and at the great arm he's got. Boy, he rips that ball in there."

SWISS CHEESE: Out of the 117 teams in Division I-A, North Carolina (0-2) ranks last in total defense, having allowed an average 535 yards per game. The Tar Heels rate slightly better - 116th - in scoring defense (43 ppg).

ROAD TO RECOVERY: Bobby Blizzard's health continues to improve, North Carolina coach John Bunting said.

Blizzard, an all-ACC candidate from Hampton High, was hospitalized with what school officials called a "severe viral illness" and missed UNC's Sept. 7 game against Syracuse. The Tar Heels were off last weekend, and Blizzard won't play Saturday at Wisconsin.

"I told his mom, all I care about right now is to see Bobby Blizzard smile," Bunting said. "I do not think about Bobby playing football right now. All I care about is him getting well. I think he is starting to get well, and when he does, we'll start to talk about football." - Jeff White

 

Cavalier redshirts represent future firepower
More on the French Inquisition and Hurricane Henri
By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays

If you were Chris Olsen, you had to feel pretty good about your future after watching Virginia lose in its second game of the season, 31-7, at South Carolina.
Olsen probably didn't know what to think after listening to the Cavaliers' game this past Saturday at Western Michigan, where UVa romped 59-16.

Fill-in Marques Hagans demonstrated all the poise of a quarterback making his 40th career start and can't be dismissed as one of the options when UVa tries to find a full-time successor for Matt Schaub in the spring.

"This one will be a little tricky," coach Al Groh conceded earlier this week on his Monday call-in radio show.

Groh actually was referring to the dilemma of preparing Hagans to play quarterback while continuing his development as a wide receiver, but he could just as easily could have been referring to the spring.
Almost certainly, Hagans will have the best track record of a 2004 crop of quarterbacks that will include Olsen, Game 2 starter Anthony Martinez, freshman Kevin McCabe and recruit Scott Deke.

McCabe, by the way, did not dress for the Cavaliers' game at Western Michigan. Almost certainly, he will be redshirted.

IN ADDITION TO the 14 true freshman who remain eligible for a redshirt year, UVa has an impressive array of upperclassmen who are sitting out this season. They include Olsen, wide receiver Michael McGrew, running back Michael Johnson and fullback Jason Snelling.

You would have the nucleus of a pretty good offense just from the upperclassmen who are sitting out. Snelling, McGrew and Johnson had a combined 63 receptions last year and Olsen was the offensive MVP of Notre Dame's spring game.

Johnson, by the way, was rated the No. 3 running back in the country by SuperPrep in the summer of 2001, before his senior year at Heritage High School in Newport. The seventh-rated player on that list was Maurice Clarett from Warren (Ohio) Harding High School.

At Fork Union Military Academy, coach John Shuman reports that 2002 UVa signee James Terry, who last week reaffirmed his commitment to the Cavaliers, has been a dominant linebacker and evoked memories of another Fork Union product now at UVa, Darryl Blackstock.

Shuman, flushed with pride over the performance of Fork Union players at Virginia and VMI last weekend, said this week would have been a perfect time to bring his team to Charlottesville for a game with a Virginia JV team, if the Cavaliers had been able to assemble one.

GROH SAID WEDNESDAY on the ACC coaches’ teleconference that junior offensive lineman Mark Farrington resumed workouts Tuesday and presumably will be available for the Cavaliers’ game Sept. 27 against Wake Forest.

"By his performance, we need a sign from him what he’s up to and we need to figure out where he slots into this deal," Groh said. "Is he a guard? Is he a center? Is he a swing guard and center? Is he a back-up tackle."

Farrington, who tore up his knee in a skiing mishap last winter, came to UVa from Spring, Texas, as a center but started the first two games of the 2002 season at left guard. He injured a knee in the same game, against Florida State in Week 2, as did starting center Kevin Bailey.

"To get Mark and Kevin [Bailey] back in this 10-day time span will add up to more than getting two players back for us," Groh said.

UVa has been playing with six offensive linemen: the starters and true freshman Ian-Yates Cunningham, although another true freshman, Gordie Sammis, got his first game action at Western Michigan. Between Bailey and Farrington, every spot on the offensive line will be covered.

PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS asking what it's like to cover Groh. Some people think he's over the top, but the best part is, there's never a lack of material. The bad part is, you can't use it all.

Some of his best lines of the year were uttered in his Monday news conference after the South Carolina game.

Groh on possible lineup changes: "No. This isn’t the French Inquisition here. You know, 'Off with his head.' I don't think that we're really in a circumstance at very many positions where lineup changes are a viable thing.

"We've got seven offensive linemen to play. To blow in there like Hurricane Henri in the offensive-line room and scatter everything around, you probably weaken the team."

Groh on the team's reaction to the loss: "I think the principal reaction was on the part of myself. I wasn't asking questions so much. This wasn't a couch session. You know, like 'How you guys feel?' "
 

Grobe says schedule is reason for injuries

? Coach Jim Grobe of Wake Forest attributed the rash of injuries his team has suffered this season partly to the strength of the Deacons' early-season schedule. All three of Wake Forest's opponents, Boston College, N.C. State and Purdue, have reasonable expectations of a winning season and a bowl berth.

'We really need some rest right now,' Grobe said. 'We've played three teams that very possibly could be ranked in the Top 25 at the end of the year.

'There are a lot of teams out there whose only wins are against I-AA teams right now. A lot of teams get healthy on a weak schedule. We don't have that luxury. We've played one of the tougher schedules in the country so far, and it's not going to get any better.

'From my perspective as a football coach, I'm proud of our kids right now. We need to get healthy.'

? The injury that has sidelined running back Dominic Anderson of Wake Forest, originally reported as a torn anterior cruciate ligament, was actually a fractured left tibia. Anderson, who was hurt in the first half against Boston College, is not expected to return this season.

The hope of the coaching staff is that Anderson can be recovered in time to participate in spring practice.

Grobe said this week that the hobbled physical condition of his running back corps may force him to play a freshman this season. Sophomores Chris Barclay and Cornelius Birgs have played all three games on sprained ankles, though both have improved since last Saturday's 16-10 loss to Purdue.

The most likely candidate to pay dividends this season is D'Angelo Bryant, a freshman from New Ellenton, S.C., who has impressed the coaching staff since preseason practices with his explosiveness and power. Though listed at 6-2, 212 pounds, Bryant actually weighs around 230 pounds. His nickname is 'The Bus.'

Another candidate is Micah Andrews of Duluth, Ga., whose father, William Andrews, was a standout running back at Auburn and with the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL.

? The Wake Forest offense has been successful this season at finishing what it starts. The Deacons scored on their first eight trips inside the opponents' 20-yard line, until finally being stopped on their final drive against Purdue.

The Deacons have now scored six touchdowns and two field goals on their nine forays into the red zone.

? Punter Ryan Plackemeier leads the ACC, and ranks third in the nation, with an average of 48.4 yards a punt. Matt Prater of Central Florida leads the nation with 52.4 yards a punt.

Plackemeier's leg strength actually worked against Wake Forest against Purdue, when a punt from the Deacons' 48 sailed into the end zone for a touch back.

'The problem is, for most punters, you're in a pooch situation when you're across the 40,' Grobe said. 'This guy might be 60 yards out and be in a pooch situation.

'The first thing (assistant coach) Billy Mitchell said to him, he grabbed him coming off the field and said 'Did you pooch kick that?' And Ryan said 'Yeah.' He just hit it sweet and it took off. It just jumped.'

Plackemeier has put three of his 14 punts inside the opponent's 20.