Two Virginia players still recovering from injuries
dslater@dailypress.com 247-4641
September 12, 2005
Inside linebacker Ahmad Brooks and running back Wali Lundy participated in limited roles last week during four Virginia football practices. But U.Va. coach Al Groh isn't ready to say whether they'll play in Saturday's game at Syracuse.

"We're operating on a day-to-day basis," Groh said.

Brooks, a preseason All-American, missed the Sept. 3 season opener against Western Michigan as he continued to recover from offseason surgery to regenerate bone growth in his right knee. Lundy, the Cavaliers' No. 1 running back, sprained his left foot in the first quarter against Western Michigan and missed the rest of the game. U.Va. did not play this week. Seniors Mark Miller and Bryan White played in Brooks' spot against Western Michigan, and both made two tackles. But Western Michigan ran the ball 37 times and passed 49 times, so Groh is waiting for a game in which the opponent runs more often to get a better assessment of Miller and White.

"I don't think it's fair to those players to compare what they did to one of the best players in college football," Groh said.

Groh revealed little about Brooks' progress and level of practice participation.

"It depends on a day-to-day basis as far as how he feels," he said. "The results of each day tell us what we're gonna do the next day with him. When those add up, it lets us know when he's game-ready."

After talking with U.Va.'s training staff, Groh said Lundy's injury was unrelated to the sprained right ankle he suffered in 2003. Groh has said that injury was close to ending Lundy's season, though Lundy missed just one game.

"Nobody's been able to offer anything other than (that) he's had this type of circumstance more than the average player does," Groh said.

Brooks is happy for respite, thankful things aren't worse
Aaron Brooks, a Newport News native, is leading a New Orleans Saints team that doesn't have a home and doesn't know when it will be returning to one.
BY NORM WOOD
247-4642
September 12, 2005
CHARLOTTE -- The bags under Aaron Brooks' eyes are nearly as heavy as the Louis Vuitton luggage he has carried for the last two weeks from New Orleans to San Jose to San Antonio to Charlotte.

He has cried. He has worried. He has gone sleepless. Now, he's trying to regain some sense of normalcy in a life that was uprooted, along with millions of others, by Hurricane Katrina.

The magnitude of the devastation in New Orleans still hasn't sunk in for Brooks, a Newport News native and the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. He hasn't been able to visit his home in Jefferson Parish, a suburb of New Orleans located six miles from the heart of the city, since the hurricane. At least he knows it's still standing and it doesn't have any significant damage.

"I was one of the fortunate ones," Brooks said.

Brooks has been told his home isn't flooded, a blessing provided by building on high ground. Looters destroyed a Wal-Mart just a few miles from his house, but all of his cars and property are fine. He was able to get his wife, Tisa, out of town to her family's home in Richmond the day before the hurricane ripped through the coastal region of the Gulf of Mexico.

His life is still intact.

Sunday provided at least a temporary diversion. Brooks, a graduate of old Ferguson High in Newport News and the University of Virginia, helped lead New Orleans to a 23-20 victory against Carolina in the season opener for both teams. He completed 18 of 24 passes for 192 yards.

It was a gratifying season debut for Brooks and his teammates. Carolina's fans abandoned the usual pre-game jeers for the visiting team and rewarded New Orleans with a 20-second ovation when the Saints took the field.

Though he knows the Saints have a lot of new fans this season, Brooks also realizes there's no mercy in his business. This isn't America's new team, according to Brooks.

"We feel the warmth from everybody who wants us to do well, but we also feel we don't want any fan, player, opponent, coach or anybody else to feel sorry for us or the people that got affected by the hurricane," Brooks said. "That's life. We can't do anything but accept that. Everyday we hope that things will get stronger, not only for us, but for everybody."

Brooks said Sunday was a chance for him and his teammates to release some pent up anger, anxiety and frustration. The last two weeks have been grueling.

The team spent five days practicing in San Jose, Calif. during and immediately following the hurricane. On Sept. 1, the Saints picked up and moved their operations to San Antonio, where they are practicing on a high school field. The hardpan field has to be saturated with water everyday to give the players a surface soft enough to practice on. It's an ironic daily scene considering the flooded misery they left behind in New Orleans.

It's difficult getting used to all the moving. "It's pretty hard living in a hotel, I'll tell you that," said Brooks, who left the visiting team locker room Sunday with two bags he's living out of for a while.

There's no telling when the Saints will be able to return to New Orleans. They are a team without a home.

The Louisiana Superdome, which serves as the Saints' home field, has two gaping holes in its roof. New Orleans will have to play at least its next two games on the road, against the New York Giants and Minnesota.

"We're playing for ourselves, but in the back of our minds we want to give (the citizens of New Orleans) some type of hope," said Brooks, who added that a small percentage of his teammates sustained property damage. "We have complete faith in what we do, and we always have."

The smiles and laughs Brooks shared with teammates before Sunday's game are rare. The voicemail on his cell phone is overflowing with messages - some supportive, others frantic - from friends and family. There are so many that he hasn't been able to return them all. Still, he knows life could be worse. He makes millions of dollars. He has seen families that lost everything at shelters for hurricane victims in Texas. Saints coach Jim Haslett tried to keep it all in perspective for the team leading up to Sunday's game.

"We talked about it all week," Haslett said. "It really boils down to what you do on the field. Nothing really matters. It's still a game. It's still a kid's game. So, when you go out onto the field, go have fun, enjoy it, because when you get back off the field, reality is back."

The reality for Brooks is that he has a job to do. He's trying to stay focused, regardless of how hard that might be right now.

"We're here trying to play this game for ourselves and the coaches and not for the fans," Brooks said. "Due to the devastation, we do feel some type of obligation to go out and play as hard as we can, but we have to control what we can from (within the team)."

Groh says Lundy, Brooks on a 'day-to-day basis'
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
September 12, 2005

Wali Lundy said during the preseason that he was looking forward to playing a football game in the Carrier Dome.
And why not?
The Carrier Dome, which was opened in 1980, is the only domed stadium in the Northeast. The venue is the biggest structure of its kind on a college campus in the nation.
Lundy’s wish may or may not happen.
Virginia coach Al Groh said on Sunday that Lundy and All-American linebacker Ahmad Brooks were able to take part in a few activities last week during four practice sessions, but he could not say if either would play against the Orange (1-1).
“They’re doing fine,” Groh said. “We’re operating on a day-to-day basis.”
Lundy sprained his left foot in the first quarter of Virginia’s 31-19 win over Western Michigan on Sept. 3.
The senior tailback has 2,648 rushing yards in his career, which ranks seventh in the nation among active Division I-A players.
If Lundy misses the Syracuse game, it will mark only the second time during his four-year career that the New Jersey native has missed a game. The only prior time that Lundy was unable to play came against Florida State in 2003.
Groh has said the current injury is not related in nature to the sprained right ankle he suffered in 2003 against Clemson after making 12 carries. That ankle sprain almost ended Lundy’s season, according to Groh.
“Nobody’s been able to offer anything other than, [Lundy’s] had this type of circumstance more than the average player does,” Groh added.
Groh also said that Brooks, who has been sidelined since undergoing offseason surgery on his right knee, practices in pads when his body permits it.
“It depends on a day-to-day basis as far as how he feels. The results of each day tell us what we’re going to do the next day with him,” Groh added. “When those add up, it lets us know when he’s game-ready.”
Virginia was scheduled to return to practice on Monday after taking the weekend off.

A STARTING TIME: Virginia officials announced on Monday that the Cavaliers’ home game with Duke would not be televised and will kickoff at 3:30 p.m.
The game, however, will be shown as a webcast on ESPN360.com. Fans with a high-speed connection on their computers may watch the game on ESPN360.

STAYING RANKED: Virginia (1-0) slipped two spots in the Associated Press poll this week, moving from No. 23 to No. 25.
The Cavaliers, a 31-19 winner against Western Michigan in the season opener, are one of seven ACC teams that are ranked in the poll.
The others? Virginia Tech is fourth, up three spots from last week, and Florida State climbed three spots to No. 8 after a 62-10 win over The Citadel, a I-AA school from the Southern Conference. Miami (0-1) is the only winless team ranked - 13th overall. Georgia Tech (2-0) is No. 16, Boston College (2-0) is No. 17 and Clemson (2-0) is No. 20.
North Carolina State (0-1) received seven votes in the poll, theoretically making the Wolfpack 37th overall.
Virginia is ranked 20th in the USA Today Top 25 coaches’ poll, the same spot they held after the opening week of play.

LOOKING BACK. Virginia’s one-game average of 440 yards of total offense ranks 28th nationally and first in the ACC. One of the 27 teams with a better average is Toledo - a team fresh off a 56-23 win over Western Michigan.
WMU (0-2) allowed 612 yards of total offense to Toledo on Saturday and allowed the Rockets to convert 12 of their 17 (71 percent) third-down conversions. That was quite different than the 3 of 11 they allowed against UVa in Scott Stadium.
“We played real well against Virginia and the players think they’ve arrived but they haven’t,” WMU coach Bill Cubit told reporters after the game.
Toledo scored on each of their first five possessions and led 35-0 by the time Western Michigan got on the scoreboard.
“We didn’t come out with the same intensity,” said Broncos senior wideout Greg Jennings, who had 16 receptions against UVa. “We definitely didn’t come out ready to play like last week. We came out nonchalant. I don’t know if we were riding the Virginia game too much. I thought we’d come out with a better performance, but we didn’t perform at all. ... I’m not sure what took place.”

 

Forbes to transfer to UMass
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
September 12, 2005

It took Gary Forbes about a minute to decide where he wanted to play basketball next. Fittingly, he’ll be playing for the Minutemen.

Forbes, who announced on Friday that he was transferring from Virginia, is enrolling at the University of Massachusetts. The 6-foot-6 guard/forward, who averaged 9.4 points for UVa last season, said he made the decision late Sunday night.

“It’s a good situation there,” said Forbes, who would have probably started for the Cavs this season. “Travis Ford is a good coach. I’m hoping everything goes well.”

The Minutemen went 16-12 last season. Ford, who starred at Kentucky - he helped lead the Wildcats to the Final Four in 1993 - is in his first year at UMass after five seasons at Eastern Kentucky. Last season, he led the Colonels to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 25 years.

Forbes, who cited family issues and academics as his main reasons for leaving UVa, already knows many of his Minutemen teammates from his AAU days in New York City. They include Dante Milligan, Chris Lowe, Art Bowers and Rashaun Freeman.

Forbes will have two years of eligibility remaining after he sits out this season. He said the best part of his move from Charlottesville is the shorter distance that his family will have to travel to see him play. UMass is about a three-hour drive from the family’s home in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Still, Forbes said the decision to transfer wasn’t easy.

“I’ll miss the friends I made and the atmosphere [at UVa],” Forbes said. “Like I said, I didn’t really want to leave, but sometimes things happen.”

 

Carter joins list of UVa commitments
September 12, 2005

Linebacker Darnell Carter committed to the Virginia football program Monday, according to Mike Farrell at Rivals.com. Farrell assists The Daily Progress with its annual Gold List, the newspaper’s ranking of the top college football prospects in Virginia.

Carter, an Englewood, N.J., product, is the 16th commitment for Virginia, which he selected over Illinois and Delaware. Carter had 80 tackles as a junior.
 

Once upon a time, Orange was golden
Groh provides few clues about game-day status of Lundy and Brooks
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 13, 2005
VIRGINIA AT SYRACUSE
SATURDAY: Noon ON THE AIR: TV ESPN2: radio -- WRVA (1140), 11:30 a.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- His players may not be well-versed in the proud history of Syracuse University football, but Virginia coach Al Groh knows all about the program that produced such legends as Jim Brown and Ernie Davis and Larry Csonka.

When he was growing up in New York, Groh recalled Sunday, when "you talked about major-college football, particularly on the East Coast, you immediately thought of Syracuse."

Groh is from the same Long Island town -- Manhasset -- where Brown spent much of his childhood and attended high school. In November 1954, when Groh was 10, he traveled with a group of boys from Manhasset to New York City, where they watched Brown lead Syracuse to a 20-7 victory over Fordham at the Polo Grounds.

SU's athletic teams were called the Orangemen then. The nickname now is the Orange, and that's not the only change at the Big East school. Only once since 1999 has Syracuse finished better than 6-6, and the team has lost 21 of its past 38 games.

Tasked with turning things around is first-year coach Greg Robinson, who replaced Paul Pasqualoni. Syracuse, which will be playing at the Carrier Dome for the third straight weekend, takes a 1-1 record into its Saturday afternoon game with 25th-ranked Virginia (1-0).

After a wretched performance in a Sept. 3 loss to Big East foe West Virginia, the Orange beat woeful Buffalo 31-0 on Saturday.

"We are a work in progress," Robinson told reporters, "but we're growing, and that game helped us grow, no question about it."

The Cavaliers weren't especially impressive in their Sept. 3 opener, either, though they beat Western Michigan 31-19 at Scott Stadium. Virginia practiced Monday through Thursday last week before getting three days off.

"I was very impressed with the energy level that the players brought to practice each day," Groh said. "They really did bring a lot of zip out there. We tried to keep the practices moving along."

Not only should U.Va. be improved, it should be well-rested heading into its game at Syracuse, Groh said. Whether the Wahoos will be at full strength Saturday, however, remains unclear. Groh was non-committal Sunday night -- no surprise there, given his famous reluctance to discuss injuries -- when asked about the status of stars Wali Lundy (tailback) and Ahmad Brooks (inside linebacker).

"We're operating on a day-to-day basis," Groh said.

Lundy, who sprained his left foot in the first quarter against Western Michigan, practiced last week on a "limited" basis, according to Groh, who didn't elaborate. Brooks had knee surgery in March and didn't suit up for the opener. He's been practicing with the team, though, and is expected back this month.

When Brooks, a 6-4, 260-pound junior, will make his 2005 debut will depend largely, Groh said, on "how he feels. We check with him. He's in a rehab circumstance, and he's continuing with that. The results of each day tell us what we're going to do the next day with him, and as those things add up we'll get a better sense of when he's game-ready."

NOTE: U.Va.'s Sept. 24 game against ACC rival Duke at Scott Stadium will start at 3:30 p.m. It will not be televised. The game is sold out, but tickets could become available if Duke returns some of its allotment.

 

U.Va. recruiting: a Garden State of mind
Richmond Times-Dispatch Sep 13, 2005

The University of Virginia football team has received another commitment for 2006. Not surprisingly, it's from a player who calls New Jersey home.

Darnell Carter, a 6-2, 225-pound linebacker from Morrow High in Englewood, committed this week.

He's the sixth player from the Garden State to say he'll sign with the Cavaliers in February.

In all, U.Va. has 16 commitments for 2006.

Carter, who has been timed in the 40-yard dash at 4.65 seconds, also had scholarship offers from Illinois, Connecticut, Purdue and Delaware, Morrow coach Bill Davis said yesterday.

Inside linebackers coach Mark D'Onofrio, a former Rutgers assistant who grew up in Jersey, led U.Va.'s recruitment of Carter.

Carter, who Davis said has a grade-point average of better than 3.0, made 70 tackles last season for a Morrow team that finished 1-9. He also played tight end and caught 19 passes for 338 yards and four touchdowns. -- Jeff White
 

Peerman runs his way up depth chart
Redshirt freshman running back keys game-sealing drive against Western Michigan, finishes with 69 yards on 16 carries
Chris Marsh, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

With Virginia clinging to a slim 24-19 lead, coach Al Groh put the game in the hands of redshirt freshman Cedric Peerman.

The decision paid off for Groh and the rest of the Virginia football team. Peerman carried the ball 10 times on the Cavaliers 12-play, 69-yard drive in the fourth quarter to put away a stubborn Western Michigan team.

"He certainly helped the team out tonight," Groh said of Peerman. "That's a very positive thing for a young player to step up and deal with his first game under those circumstances."

With starter Wali Lundy sidelined early in the first half with a foot injury, Groh initially looked to juniors Michael Johnson and Jason Snelling to fill the void. Despite running for 104 yards on 14 carries, both backs had costly fumbles that killed promising drives for the Cavaliers and opened up the door for Peerman.

Peerman solidified the Cavaliers' running game, finishing the game with 16 carries for 69 yards and one touchdown, and most importantly, no fumbles.

Peerman "ran like he wanted the rock," senior Ottowa Anderson said. "He ran hard. His first game ever playing, he went out there and showed a lot."

Peerman's performance will go a long way to sorting out a crowded Cavalier backfield. Before the Western Michigan game, Peerman sat third on the depth chart.

Nobody could have foreseen the turn of events that put the Cavalier offense square on Peerman's back. Peerman, however, has been preparing for an opportunity like this and was determined to maximize it.

"You always have to be ready," Peerman said. "Coming in I guess I was third or fourth string tailback, so you always have to be ready. One guy goes down, you could be under fire. Coach Poindexter is always telling me that -- just be aware at all times because you could be in the game at anytime."

Peerman credits the offensive line for helping him grind out the yards on the team's final touchdown drive.

"Our offensive line got a great push each play," Peerman said. "We were able to milk the clock. I don't know how much time we took off, but I think we took a considerable amount of time off the clock when we were able to punch it into the end zone."

His performance against the Broncos may result in a reshuffled depth chart.

"He obviously helped his circumstances out a lot," Groh said.

Since setting foot on Grounds at the beginning of last year, Peerman has added considerable bulk through the Cavaliers' strength and conditioning program. The muscular Peerman looked a lot like Wali Lundy against the Broncos, pounding out tough yards between the tackles as well as getting to the outside with his speed.

"He's always gonna run people over," senior D'Brickashaw Ferguson said. "I think that was evident in today's showing. I hope he continues to have success."

In the versatile Peerman, Groh said he sees a back that fits his bruising, smash-mouth system while being explosive enough for big gains.

"It clearly looks like he fits into the mix," Groh said.

 

Groh's talent pool runs deep
His Virginia Cavaliers, who play Saturday at SU, are, top to bottom, a solid team.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
By Dave Rahme
Staff writer

The date was Nov. 20, 1954, and the Syracuse University football team and a sophomore running back by the name of Jim Brown were in the Polo Grounds to face Fordham. A .500 record was at stake for SU and its sixth-year head coach, World War II hero BenŐ7GrohŐ Schwartzwalder.

The Police Boys Club in Manhasset, Brown's hometown, piled a bunch of youngsters into a van and drove over to the stadium to join an announced crowd of 10,423 at the game, which SU won 20-7. Among them was Al Groh, then a 10-year-old fan of Brown and SU football.

"I was lucky enough to see one of my first college football games that day," said the University of Virginia head coach, who will bring his No. 25 Cavaliers to the Carrier Dome to face the Orange at noon Saturday. "Field security wasn't too great back then, and I remember being one of 15 or 20 kids to be able to walk on the field afterward."

Like Brown, Groh went on to play football and lacrosse in Manhasset and then in college.

"Yeah, I had a football and a lacrosse stick at one time, just as he did," Groh recalled, "and any comparison ends there. That's as similar as it gets."

Brown was an offensive superstar in football and lacrosse at Syracuse, gaining All-America honors in each sport. Groh lettered as a defensive end in football and a defenseman in lacrosse at Virginia.

Brown went on to star as perhaps the greatest NFL running back of all time with the Cleveland Browns, retired early and became a movie star. Groh's first job out of college was as an assistant football coach at Albermarle High in Charlottesville, Va.

By the time Groh finally reached the NFL, as a tight ends coach for the Atlanta Falcons in 1987, Brown had been a member of the league's Hall of Fame for 16 years.

Yet, Groh owns a piece of jewelry Brown's premature retirement precluded him from winning - a Super Bowl ring. Groh got his as linebackers coach for Bill Parcells and the New York Giants in 1990.

Like SU rookie head coach Greg Robinson, Groh, 61, spent a good chunk of his coaching career as an NFL assistant. He followed Parcells to New England and then to the Jets, where he was promoted to head coach in 2000 when Parcells retired.

Then, following a 9-7 rookie campaign, he shocked the football world by walking away from the elite fraternity to replace retiring George Welsh at his alma mater, becoming part of a steady stream of NFL veterans who have gone back to college over the last several years.

"I would say that is more of a coincidence than anything," Groh said. "I've never been involved in conversations where it's, 'Wow, there is really a trend here.' The good part is I guess you could say each coach who does so is placing himself in what he would say is a very positive situation. That being the case, everything becomes a tradeoff."

For Groh, who already owned a Super Bowl ring, the opportunity to return to his alma mater and build on the foundation Welsh had laid was too inviting to resist.

"Most of us wouldn't have made the decisions we did if there were too many downsides," he said.

One of the first things Groh did upon his arrival was hire Al Golden, a Northeast recruiting wizard, as his defensive coordinator. Then the two of them began to hit their New Jersey/Long Island roots and attract some top high school talent. The sales pitch included the opportunity to play an NFL-style offense and defense while getting a degree from a prestigious school.

Players such as starting tailback Wali Lundy (Willingboro, N.J.), starting nose tackle Kwakou Robinson (Brooklyn), starting linebacker Jermaine Dias (Hackensack, N.J.) and All-America tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Freeport) - all from areas traditionally hit hard by SU recruiters, listened and signed up. Ferguson did so with the knowledge that his school had sent Morlon Greenwood and Clifton Smith to stardom at SU and was about to send Jerry Mackey there, as well.

With such stars complementing a deep talent pool produced in state, Groh began to make noise quickly with the Cavaliers.

Following a 5-7inaugural season, he is 25-14 over the last three seasons and has guided the Cavs to three consecutive postseason bowl appearances. His last three recruiting classes have been rated among the nation's best. Seven of his players were taken in April's NFL Draft, compared to one (offensive tackle Adam Terry) for SU.

Despite those losses, college football insiders were impressed enough with the talent base to make the Cavaliers a preseason contender for the ACC title and a top-25 team in many preseason polls.

"He's got players," Robinson said as the Orange began game-week preparations for UVA.

Some of them, such as Lundy and junior linebacker Ahmad Brooks - a Butkus finalist as one of best linebackers in the nation as a sophomore - are nicked up and listed as "day-to-day" by Groh, but the lineup from top to bottom is strong even without them.

"I think the talent base has improved," Groh said. "It's solidified. That was my first objective, to get the talent base at a level that would improve the play-making skill of the team. That is the key thing."

It is where Robinson is today at SU. Groh, in his fifth season at UVA, is four steps ahead of him.

"The establishment now is more on a longer-term basis, the philosophy of our offensive and defensive systems," Groh said. "You know, how we want to play, the culture of our team."

The culture of the ACC has changed in Groh's five years, with heavyweights Miami and Virginia Tech joining last season and top-25 team Boston College coming in this season. He knows his ultimate goal of reaching the national title game got a lot harder with the additions.

Yet, the talent pipeline is open, his system is in place and Groh is comfortable with the direction his team is headed.

Its next stop is Syracuse, a team Groh followed as a child. The Carrier Dome is a far cry from the Polo Ground, and Groh's Cavaliers will be a far cry from Fordham.

 

Robinson upbeat but wary as Orange prepare for No. 25 Virginia
9/12/2005, 4:48 p.m. ET
By JOHN KEKIS
The Associated Press

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Greg Robinson has the first win of his head coaching career, and he's pleased with the progress his Syracuse Orange appear to be making.

The Syracuse (1-1) offense showed marked improvement in a 31-0 win over Buffalo on Saturday. After gaining only 103 yards in total offense in their season-opening 15-7 loss to West Virginia, the Orange had 338 yards rushing and 487 yards overall against an opponent that lost its 16th straight road game and suffered its third straight shutout.

Senior tailback Damien Rhodes made the biggest impact, rushing for 236 yards and four touchdowns behind an offensive line that excelled despite starting tackle Kurt Falke's knee injury early in the game.

"Damien would be first to tell you there were a couple of holes I could have run through," Robinson said Monday.

Robinson also was happy to see the Orange notch their first shutout since 1997, because he's also the defensive coordinator. The unit has not allowed a touchdown this season.

"I liked what I saw, but they still have a lot of work ahead of them," he said.

Such as containing the quarterback. West Virginia's Adam Bednarik, in his first career start, gained 28 yards on one play, and Stewart Sampsel, a first-year starter at Buffalo, got outside Syracuse defensive end James Wyche for a 25-yard run on Saturday.

Wyche (10 tackles and one sack) and his counterpart at the other end, Ryan LaCasse (12 tackles and three sacks), thrive on using their speed to create pressure.

It's something they'll have to keep in check when the Orange host No. 25 Virginia (1-0) this week.

Cavaliers quarterback Marques Hagans burned them last year, getting outside the rush and running 59 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter to shift the momentum in a game Virginia won 31-10.

"Yeah, it's an issue, no doubt about it," Robinson said of keeping Hagans in the pocket. "There's a fine line there. You want your guys to be aggressive, you don't want to water them down so much. At the same time, this guy can hurt you."

Syracuse sputtered offensively against West Virginia in part because of 11 penalties that placed them in long yardage (10 yards or more) seven times on third down.

Junior quarterback Perry Patterson, still trying to get comfortable running the Orange's West Coast offense, threw two interceptions in that game and failed to convert any of the 15 third-down situations he faced.

Against Buffalo, Syracuse had seven penalties and converted five of 16 third downs. Patterson faced only four third downs of 10 yards or more over the first three quarters, while the starters were still in the game.

Patterson, who is 25-for-51 (49 percent) with no touchdown passes in two games, had a fast start. He ran for 11 yards on a third-and-7 play on the Orange's first possession, and that gave him a boost.

"That third-down run was the first time I ran the ball, and it gave me my confidence back," said Patterson, who lost 33 yards rushing in the opener. "I said to myself, 'OK, now I'm in the game again.'"

___

Notes: Rhodes was named Big East offensive player of the week for his performance against Buffalo. ... Robinson said Falke's status for Virginia was day-to-day and reported no other injuries. ... Virginia was off last weekend after opening the season with a 31-19 win over Western Michigan.