Cavs, Jackets open ACC in primetime
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
September 19, 2006

As a part of what has been dubbed “Throwback Thursday,” Georgia Tech has decided to reach into the past.

When the Yellow Jackets (2-1) face Virginia (1-2) at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, they will do so wearing uniforms similar to those donned in the early 1970s. The contest will kickoff at 7:47 p.m. and be televised nationally on ESPN.

“This is big time,” said Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey on Monday. “I told the players [Sunday] night ... national TV, everybody’s watching. You get a chance to go prove what kind of team we are.

“It still is the college version of Monday Night Football, I still believe that. The ACC has about six or seven games on, and that’s great for the conference.”

Turning the clock back might also be a welcome idea at the McCue Center, the home to Virginia’s football office.

Thanks to a measly 10-point offensive outburst on Saturday against Western Michigan, the Cavaliers enter Atlantic Coast Conference play with a losing record for the first time since 2002.

That season, UVa opened 0-2, before winning six straight to salvage the season.

Can Virginia do it again? Just as in 2002, it will likely depend on quarterback play and increased production on the offensive line.

“They are a real big team. Big offensive line, the biggest we go up against,” said Georgia Tech defensive end Adamm Oliver in a press release, referring to Virginia. “They like to run power football, more than the teams we have faced this year. Two tight ends, one back, and run that powerhouse offense right at you.

“It’s a little bit of a change from Troy, Samford and even Notre Dame, this team is different.”

Oliver’s comments might be a little over the top. While Virginia likes to run the ball, it has not happened with consistency thus far.

In fact, with an average of just 51 yards on the ground per game, the Cavaliers rank No. 117 out of 119 I-A schools in rushing offense -only Florida State and Baylor are worse.

To Virginia’s credit, tailback Jason Snelling looked impressive, when healthy, against Western Michigan.

After missing UVa’s game the against Wyoming with a foot injury, the senior carried the ball 17 times for 77 yards. He could have run for more had he not missed time after a hit left him “woozy,” Groh said while pointing out the impact the bruiser had.

“Jason certainly did a real nice job for us,” Groh said. “He averaged over five yards per carry and showed his value to our offense and what his absence does mean.

“It was beneficial for us to be able to get him back in for the day and during the course of the game.”

Game time

The ACC office announced on Monday that Virginia’s road game at Duke on Sept. 30 will kick-off at noon.

Lincoln Financial/Raycom, a group formerly called JP Sports, will broadcast the contest regionally.

 

UVa returns to No. 1 in nation
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
September 19, 2006

Early Monday morning, Virginia men’s soccer coach George Gelnovatch received an e-mail from the school’s media relations department informing him that his team had ascended to No. 1 in this week’s Soccer America poll.

Gelnovatch’s reaction to the news that UVa sat atop the rankings for the first time since 2002?

He immediately grabbed a notepad that was sitting on his desk and scribbled down a theme for his team meeting later in the day.

“I just wrote, ‘Look for pitfalls,’” Gelnovatch said. “It reminded me to look diligently [at the team] when things are going really, really well. [When] you’re optimistic, you just tend to sweep things under the rug and not pay attention to detail.”

Virginia’s last two games are perfect examples. UVa was able to emerge with overtime victories over St. Francis (Pa.) and Boston College, but both contests could have easily resulted in losses.

In each game, Virginia (7-0, 2-0 ACC) exhibited the type of lapses that would kill it come postseason.

This week, UVa will need to bring its “A-game” if it wants to remain No. 1.

Tonight, the Cavaliers, who are off to their best start since 1993, play host to No. 12 West Virginia. On Friday night, they play at No. 8 North Carolina.

Virginia hasn’t played West Virginia since 2003 when it beat the Mountaineers, 2-1.

“We had a hard time with them,” Gelnovatch recalled. “We were losing 1-0 with 12 minutes left in the game and then scored two goals. To be honest, we got a little lucky.”

West Virginia (6-0-2) is led by senior forward Jarrod Smith, who was named Big East Player of the Week on Sept. 11.

“They’re mostly juniors and seniors,” Gelnovatch said. “They are a very solid, legitimate top 10, ACC-like opponent. We are going to have our hands full.”

The fact that Gelnovatch’s team is now No. 1 doesn’t make things any easier.

“It is a little more of a target or a bull’s-eye for somebody to put on their web site the next day if they beat us,” Gelnovatch said.

“What I told the team is that we’re 7-0 and everything’s going great and what anybody could expect, but what I’m trying to do a better job of is diligently looking around the corner to make sure nothing sneaks up on us.”

THROW-INS: Virginia is one of six ACC teams ranked in the top 10. The Cavs are ahead of Clemson (2), Duke (4), Maryland (5), Wake Forest (6) and UNC (8). Virginia Tech is No. 16. … Tonight’s game has been dubbed “Battle of the Border.” Admission is $1 and there will be $1 concession items.

 

It's now or never for Yellow Jackets' senior QB
BY BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 19, 2006

ATLANTA The quarterback who keeps people squirming in their seats at Grant Field is a senior now, meaning there are only a few tomorrows left to spruce up his reputation and rescue a career from terminal inconsistency. Reggie Ball is on the clock. Georgia Tech's chances for a breakthrough season are on the line.

Blessed with nimble feet and a whippy-enough arm, Ball has piled up some showy numbers - third all-time at the Flats in passing and total offense, for example - but some grim ones as well. He's sub-50 percent for his career as a passer. He never has finished a year with more touchdowns than interceptions.

He's also 0-5 against his next two opponents, Virginia and Virginia Tech - one reason the Yellow Jackets have maxed out at seven wins and minor bowls each of his first three seasons.

Those finishes have left Georgia Tech rooters unsatisfied and fingering scapegoats. Ball shares top billing in that regard with coach Chan Gailey. He smoothed some rough edges as a junior, took fewer sacks, trimmed his giveaways, improved. Yet his 2005 campaign is remem bered most for the disastrous last-second interceptions he threw against N.C. State and Georgia.

More gnashed teeth. More grumbling. Enduring doubts.

"Everybody's very opinionated," said Matt Rhodes, an offensive guard and one of Ball's protectors. "Being the quarterback on the team, Reggie's going to take more heat than he should. A lot of pressure's been on him since he's been here. You hear the talk all the time. It's not exactly your fairy-book story - how you'd have it planned."

Patrick Nix is the man who's now attempting to co-author a happy ending with Ball. A mid-'90s quarterback at Auburn and the Jackets' offensive coordinator, Nix has taken over play-calling responsibilities from Gailey. He also moonlights as Ball's public defender,

"A lot of what he can do is based on what the supporting cast can do," Nix said. "Either he's had an inexperienced line or inexperienced receivers. He's had to basically deal with those things his whole time here. But rarely is it the supporting cast that's looked at, it's the quarterback."

Nix then cites his own experiences at Auburn, when he was once "booed off the field" upon throwing an interception against Kentucky during a game the Tigers eventually would win.

"It was the same fans who were cheering for you the year before when you were the backup quarterback," said Nix.

Reggie Ball has never been the backup quarterback at Georgia Tech. From nearby Stone Mountain, where he threw for 2,000 yards as a high school senior and had 19 touchdowns and only two interceptions, he was named the Jackets' starter shortly after arriving on campus for his freshman year.

In his third game, the Jackets lost by one point at Florida State. Ball promised they'd go undefeated the rest of the season. Instead, they were crushed 39-3 by Clemson in their next outing. Ball has since been at the controls for major-league wins at Auburn and Miami, but he also has been painfully erratic. His record as a starter: 22-17. His critics: many.

"When you're an 18-year-old coming to college for the first time, you don't know how you're going to be criticized day in and day out, game in and game out," Ball told reporters when preseason workouts began. "I had a good year last season, but people always remember two passes. The bad always outweighs the good. You've got to be thick-skinned in this game. If not, you'll crumble."

By all accounts, Ball has held up well emotionally ("He's not going to show it gets to him," said Rhodes) to not being the people's choice. Georgia Tech fans hoped he'd be the second coming of Joe Hamilton. But while the two share similar run/pass characteristics as quarterbacks, Hamilton sparked Tech to an ACC co-championship in 1998 as a junior and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting as a senior.

Ball is still sized up as Joe Hamilton Lite. His chance to make a statement ebbed in the home opener against Notre Dame when he completed only 4 of 9 passes for 23 yards in the second half of what would become a 14-10 loss. Subsequent success against Samford and Troy hasn't taken him off the hook.

"People are going to gripe unless you're winning 'em all," said Nix. "I think it's the nature of our society now. A lot of guys who don't have a clue of what it's like to take a snap are giving their Monday-morning expertise about it. Look at Alex Rodriguez. The New York fans boo him off the field whenever he goes into a little slump. Everybody wants success right now. They don't want to wait."

Truth is, Ball is impatient, too. Complemented by a solid defense and blessed with having world-class wideout Calvin Johnson for a target, Ball seeks a departure from the past.

"Going 7-5, 7-6 for three straight years is not a good feeling," he said. "It's like being right on the edge of being good, but being right on the edge of being real bad. Being in the city of Atlanta, that's not too good to be right on that edge. A lot of guys are just fed up."

Starting Thursday, eight league games and the windup at Georgia remain for his attention. A legacy hangs in the balance.

 

ACC finds trouble in paradise
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Sep 19, 2006

iwIf misery loves company, Al Groh should be thrilled to have so many lodge brothers to dish with these days. It's ACC football's version of "The View" - with Chuck Amato in the Star Jones role, the Fridge as Rosie the replacement and Mike Tranghese giving John Swofford noogies in the gallery.

Point being: Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis took it on the chin over the weekend (good of Aaron Rouse to apologize, but it was still a nasty play), and so did ACC football.

Maryland? Crushed at West Virginia. Miami? Demolished at Louisville. N.C. State? Routed at, umm, Southern Mississippi. North Carolina? Lucky to beat Furman. Virginia? Dumped by (huh?) Western Michigan at home.

The scorecard for the ACC so far now reads 1-2 against the Mid-American Conference, 2-5 against teams from BCS leagues (if you count Notre Dame in that mix) and 2-4 against the Big East.

You remember the Big East? It's the collective left for dead when ingloriously plundered by the ACC three years ago. Big East boss Tranghese called ACC chief Swofford a ratfink and deleted him from his Rolodex and Christmas-card list. Then he found some replacement parts, asked for benefit-of-the-doubt dispensation from those who'd evict his league from the BCS benefits package - and hoped for better days.

Bingo. West Virginia whipped Georgia in last season's Sugar Bowl. The 'Eers and Louisville are top-eight in the latest AP poll. And beginning opening day (Pitt smacks U.Va., Rutgers zings UNC) and continuing over the weekend (WVU 45, Maryland 24; Louisville 37, Miami 7), the Big East has enjoyed payback at the ACC's expense.

Not that Tranghese (he swears) is counting.

"To me, it doesn't matter," he said yesterday. "Any time we can get a win against any of the teams in one of the BCS conferences, it's good for us. I wanted Louisville to beat Miami not because they were once in our league but because Miami is one of the top programs in the country, and a win over them would be good for us."

Miami. Miami was the supposed crown jewel of the ACC's heist (and Virginia Tech the grudgingly-accepted lump of coal - holy irony, eh?), but the 'Canes are a pale imitation of their former might. Some of them danced on Louisville's midfield logo before Saturday's kickoff. Oooh, that was intimidating. The Cardinals - even without their standout tailback and with their star quarterback injured mid-game - rolled.

The outcome was another blow for UM's Larry Coker, who looks more and more like a dead-duck coach walking. He's 54-11 and won a national championship in his debut. But the 'Canes have been in decline since then, the talent level is down, the boosters are howling, Coker's already churned the staff - and there's only one more head that's a candidate to roll.

Same could be said at State, where Amato was reduced to whining about Akron's unsubstantiated academic leeway after a home loss to the Zips - this from the guy who presides over the lone ACC program not to be recognized by the coaches association for superior graduation rates at least once during his six seasons in Raleigh.

Meanwhile, Groh is one missed extra point by Wyoming from maybe being 0-3, UNC's John Bunting hasn't posted a winner since his 2001 break-in, Maryland's Ralph Friedgen keeps wobbling two-plus seasons after a splashy three-year run with another guy's material and Bobby Bowden and offensive coordinator/son Jeff still can't get Florida State's attack out of second gear (204 yards against Clemson - sheesh).

Their only salvation is they mostly play each other from here on out. It might not be pretty.

 

ACC coaches facing time crunch
Short weeks a necessary evil as NCAA mandates 12 games in 13 weeks
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 19, 2006

For the football staffs at the University of Virginia and Georgia Tech, sleep doesn't figure prominently in the game plan this week. These coaches must cram a week's preparation into five days.

Welcome to the new order in Division I-A football. The NCAA this year adopted a schedule that gives teams 13 weeks in which to play 12 regular-season games. In seasons past, teams that played a Thursday night game typically were idle the previous weekend, but five-day turnarounds will be common this season.

The new format isn't ideal, U.Va. coach Al Groh said, "but it's here to stay now."

Groh's Cavaliers (1-2) and Georgia Tech (2-1) open ACC play Thursday night in Atlanta. Each team played Saturday. The Yellow Jackets beat Samford, and U.Va. lost to Western Michigan.

Afterward, Groh and his assistants left Scott Stadium and reconvened at the McCue Center to break down videotape of the game. The Cavaliers, who usually have Sundays off, practiced the day after the game.

Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey and his staff have altered their regular schedule, too. His players usually have Mondays off but practiced yesterday.

"It's very difficult," Gailey said last week. "You try to do some work in the summer, hoping that some of the same things remain true after you watch the tape from this year. But if [the opponent has] changed some things, you've got a short period of time to turn around and get your game plan and get things in place to show your players exactly what needs to be done that week."

Would Gailey like to see the season start earlier, so a team has 14 weeks in each to play 12 games?

"No," he said. "I'd like to see us go back to 11 games."

Boston College closes the regular season Nov. 23 against Miami at the Orange Bowl. Five days earlier, the Eagles entertain Maryland. The Hurricanes play on Nov. 18, too, at Virginia.

"It's not anything, I think, that any coach would like to do," BC's Tom O'Brien said.

The solution, O'Brien said, is simple. "Go back to 11 games. Then you can manage it better."

Does he believe that will ever happen?

"Never," O'Brien said.

And so coaches in Charlottesville and Atlanta are logging more time in their offices -- and even less than usual with their families -- this week.

"I don't really like to talk about my hours, because somehow it always reads like it's martyrdom," Groh said. "I just do what I have to do. But I added a little bit on the beginning and a little bit on the end."


 

Nix reflects on Friedgen's record
By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/19/06

Patrick Nix couldn't help himself. He'd heard so much Ralph Friedgen this and Ralph Friedgen that, he just had to look.

At the start of Friedgen's first stint as Georgia Tech's offensive coordinator, Tech averaged 18.1 points per game in 1987, 18.2 in 1988, 24.1 in 1989. Tech averaged 25.4 points per game in 1997 to start the second stint by Friedgen, who became Maryland's coach after the 2000 season.

Nix, in the first season running his offense at Tech, said it's unrealistic of fans to expect the offense to be perfect from the get-go. After putting 10 points on the board against Notre Dame in the opener, Tech has scored 35 and 38 points in its past two games (although the defense scored two of the five touchdowns against Samford).

"For whatever reason, going in, everybody thought we were going to be scoring 38 points a game. It was going to be great and wonderful and all that stuff," Nix said. "I probably shouldn't do this, but I went back and looked at what Ralph had his first three years here. They didn't average over 24, 25 points a game his first three years.

"You'd think that offense of Georgia Tech was just this high-powered 40 points a game. It was [that way] when [quarterback] Joe Hamilton was going and when he was in his prime and [quarterback] George Godsey's last year, but early on they had some issues and had to get it going and had to get the right personnel. Our guys are learning it, and they're going to get there."

Said fullback Mike Cox: "We've definitely come along pretty far. We have a greater understanding. We're very confident."

Cavs get extra attention

Tech made a slight exception to its "one game at a time" philosophy for Thursday night's ACC opener against Virginia. Because the Cavaliers play a 3-4 defense and the Jackets' other opponents don't, Tech coach Chan Gailey set aside three preseason practices for his team to focus on Virginia.

"I don't know if we've ever taken a fourth game [of the schedule] in the preseason and worked at it like this," Gailey said.

Monday not an off day

Tech usually doesn't practice on Mondays but did because of the short week to prepare for Thursday night's game. Calvin Johnson (bruised leg) didn't practice because of a class conflict. "We'll see how he is [today] and Wednesday," Gailey said. Free safety Djay Jones (thigh) and punt returner Andrew Smith (ankle) both practiced.

Game with Hokies on ABC

Tech's game next week against Virginia Tech will be at 3:30 p.m. on ABC, the ACC announced Monday.

 

Third string QB to get second chance Thursday
Despite failing to put a single point on the scoreboard, redshirt freshman Sewell will take field first against Georgia Tech
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
 

After Saturday's game that featured all three Cavalier quarterbacks, Jameel Sewell is slated to start for Thursday's game against Georgia Tech entering practice this week.

"I think we will probably start the week in the order in which we finished the game and see how it progresses from there," Virginia coach Al Groh said.

That would put the order on the depth chart as Sewell, Christian Olsen, Kevin McCabe.

Sewell, a redshirt freshman, played the entire second half against Western Michigan in the first appearance of his career. He completed seven passes on 10 attempts for 51 yards in the 17-10 loss.

The Cavaliers failed to score with Sewell under center, despite the fact that they started two drives from beyond their own 40-yard line. Kicker Chris Gould was unable to convert the only scoring opportunity in the second half, a 41-yard field goal attempt with 8:38 left in the fourth quarter.

"He's getting his opportunity to get some playing time," Groh said. "We expect that he'll progress along and we're willing to handle whatever goes along with that."

Sewell came in after a first half in which McCabe and Olsen threw for a total of 138 yards. McCabe, the starter, accounted for 111 of those yards, but threw two interceptions before being replaced by Olsen.

Sophomore wide receiver Kevin Ogletree insisted that the quarterback controversy is not causing any problems for the team.

"We work with all three of them every day in practice," Ogletree said. "The rotation is pretty steady so we're not uncomfortable or worried about which QB is in. It's not going to have that much of a difference on the offense as a whole."

However, there is no denying that the offense needs a boost.

The offense was "a little sloppy," Sewell said. "We needed a lot more enthusiasm. Just mentally we weren't there."

Sewell is in his second year with the Cavaliers, after redshirting his first year. As a senior at Hermitage High School in Richmond, he earned Second-team All-State honors while leading the region in passing with 106 completions for 2,001 yards and 27 touchdowns.

When Sewell entered the game Saturday, he had only one thought on his mind. "Just win," Sewell said. "I was thinking just win."

Sewell is a threat both with his arm and with his feet. He was rated by Rivals.com as the nation's number-20 "dual threat" quarterback. He showed glimpses of this versatility against Western Michigan. On the Cavaliers' last offensive play, a desperate 4th and 20 from the Cavaliers own 31 yard-line, Sewell nearly got a first down with an 18-yard run.

Even with Sewell's talent, Groh said patience is the key for his young quarterback.

"As I pointed out to [Sewell] last week, when your chance comes, I have a lot of confidence in you and expect that you'll do well," Groh said. "Peyton Manning had 24 interceptions his first season and Tom Brady was inactive for 16 games. So even guys playing at that high level didn't get off to a roaring start."

 

If this isn't rock bottom, I don't know what is
Jeremy Root, Cavalier Daily Columnist

I hoped it would never come to this. Watching Western Michigan cel-ebrate on our V-sabre at midfield after pulling off the 17-10 upset Saturday left me with one of the worst tastes in my mouth following a Virginia football game.

I can deal with the home losses to Florida State and Miami. Heck, if Virginia Tech's mascot wasn't a turkey, I might even be able to sleep at night after succumbing to them.

What is just unacceptable at a university with the proud football tradition built by the legendary George Welsh is a home defeat to a school from the MAC -- on our own Homecoming weekend, for Pete's sake!

Who even knows what the MAC stands for? Mid-major Athletics Consortium? Middle Appalachian Conference? (It's Mid-American Conference for those college football junkies).

Western Michigan is from Kalamazoo. That's right, Kalamazoo. If we hadn't played them my first year and last season, I would have bet no such city existed in the entire North American continent.

This is how dreadful this defeat is: Before Western Michigan we were undefeated versus schools from the MAC, 8-0-1, and had outscored Mid-Appalachian Consortium opponents 335-113 during the last two decades before Saturday. That's an average of 48-16. Our offense couldn't score 48 points right now if we were playing 11 on 10, no matter who's behind center.

(By the way, who should we expect to start next week? Maybe Al will scrap all convention and put his son and offensive coordinator, Mike Groh, at the helm. It was only 11 years ago when the younger Groh led us to the Peach Bowl and a share of the ACC title. Can somebody check if he has any eligibility left?).

I think what scares me most is that I look at the rest of the schedule and wonder where we're going to get any more victories if we can't beat the Broncos on our home turf on Homecomings. Maybe Duke in Durham or North Carolina at home on a Thursday night, but I don't think any game is a given right now.

To be fair, I think even the modest expectations this season were overrated considering the talent lost over the past two years. In 2005, Virginia's seven players drafted by the NFL placed them tied for third most in the country. Included in that mix were first rounder Heath Miller, Chris Canty and Alvin Pearman. Last May, five Wahoos were tabbed by the NFL including No. 4 overall pick D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Marques Hagans and the ACC's career touchdown leader, Wali Lundy. Those are high-profile names, but a bigger impact might have been the departure of the guys in the trenches: men such as Elton Brown, Brennan Schmidt, Andrew Hoffman and Brad Butler.

If you're not a perennial powerhouse with recruits forever knocking at your door like USC, Notre Dame or Miami, when you lose that much fire power over two seasons, it's extremely difficult to improve and build year-to-year.

That's where recruiting comes in; this was the elder Groh's strength when he came to Charlottesville five years ago. Twelve players from Groh's first two recruiting classes were drafted by the NFL and the ball coach's inaugural '02 class was ranked in the top 10 nationally.

Recently, however, the recruiting classes have not met these standards. U.Va has tons to offer as an academically strong institution with beautiful Grounds and rich history. The school sells itself. Recruits, especially those in-state, should be lining up at McCue for the chance to play in front of 60,000-plus at Scott Stadium.

Yet in 2006, 13 of the top 15 Virginia prospects as ranked by Rivals.com left the Commonwealth. Included in that group was the country's No. 1 recruit, wide receiver Percy Harvin.

Ask Christian Olsen, Kevin McCabe or Jameel Seweel if they'd like someone like Harvin to throw to. Harvin, FYI, has eight catches for 145 yards (18.1 yards per catch) and has rushed the ball seven times for 81 yards (11.6 yards per rush) in just three games with the Florida Gators.

In the meantime, Virginia's pass efficiency and total offense is last in the conference.

I guess the only place to go from here is up. As Redskin wide-out Leslie Sheppard told the Washington Post after the Skins started the 1998 NFL campaign 0-4, "It's rock bottom ... we've got to get out of it."

So at least it couldn't get any worse. Right?

Three weeks later the Redskins lost 41-7 at Minnesota to fall to 0-7 and Sheppard had this to say: "It's rock bottom. I know I say that every week, but it gets worse and worse."

To top it off, with three straight away contests I now must cope for a month without Cavman.

Who's got a shovel?