Take 3 for Virginia's QBs
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
To follow Virginia's football team from a distance, it would be only natural to
believe the Cavaliers have had injury problems at quarterback.
What other team would start three different able-bodied quarterbacks in three
consecutive games?
In the same season, no less.
Barring an 11th-hour change of heart, it's likely to happen tonight, when
Virginia (1-2) visits Georgia Tech (2-1) in a game that will be televised by
ESPN at 7:45 p.m.
Now that Christian Olsen and Kevin McCabe have had their turns, the Cavaliers
will turn to 6-foot-2, 219-pound Jameel Sewell, a redshirt freshman from
Richmond's Hermitage High School.
The last time Virginia started different quarterbacks in three consecutive games
in the same season was in 1981 with Gordie Whitehead, Mike Eck and Todd Kirtley.
Sewell, a left-hander, played the entire second half Saturday in a 17-10 loss to
visiting Western Michigan and completed seven of 10 passes for 51 yards.
"If they do start the freshman, all we've got is the second half of the game
last week," Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey said. "He presents a different set of
problems for us. He's more along the [Marques] Hagans lines than he is the
Schaub line. Those other guys are more in the Matt Schaub line.
"So, now, you've got to prepare two game plans to get ready for the game in a
short week. That's not the easiest thing to do. We've been adjusting back and
forth to attempt to get things done for whoever plays quarterback, and that's
put us in a little bit of a bind."
Virginia fans only wish that Sewell was another Hagans, or that Olsen and McCabe
were facsimiles of Schaub. In three games, the Cavaliers have scored a total of
three touchdowns, only one on a drive of more than 25 yards.
Sewell's advantage over his older rivals is his quick feet, although he was
victimized on two of Western Michigan's three sacks and also suffered an 8-yard
loss when he tripped.
Afterwards, he told himself, "You've got a lot of work to do, Sewell, a whole
lot," he said.
"I wasn't necessarily too pleased with my performance. I knew it was going to be
a little bumpy, a little rocky."
Unlike the previous week, when the quarterbacks learned the morning of the game
that McCabe would be starting, Sewell got more advance notice.
"It was actually a big surprise," Sewell said. "Sunday we came in and went
through a little drill and coach Mike [Groh] told me to go in as the [No.] 1.
Then I talked to him later in the day and he said I'd start the week as the
starter. It's changed a whole lot. I had been getting reps with the second group
sometimes."
And sometimes, apparently, he wasn't getting any reps at all.
Sewell was one of three quarterbacks used by the Cavaliers in a 38-13 loss at
Pittsburgh in the opening game, but he attracted the most attention in the
preseason when he was involved in a bicycle accident and suffered a leg
laceration that required stitches.
"I was getting a decent amount of reps in training camp," he said. "I missed
about three days and probably four practices and that really put me back.
"I gave the Lance Armstrong [routine] up."
The coaching staff may have been a little hesitant to commit to Sewell until he
made up for some early academic difficulty by making two B's and a C in summer
school. It had nothing to do with his talent, but if there is a former UVa QB
whom he resembles physically, it would be Aaron Brooks and not Hagans, who was
listed at 5 feet 10 inches.
Hagans and Brooks were within four passing attempts of each other for their
four-year careers, but Hagans ran for 902 yards, compared to Brooks' 547.
Sewell has "a very good overall package of skills," Groh said. "He's got a lot
of rotation on the ball. He's got a lot of life on the ball. He's got good
athletic ability for the position. This isn't Marques Hagans, but he's got
niftiness in the pocket."
Certainly Georgia Tech will come after Sewell and whoever might follow him at
quarterback for Virginia. Out of 119 Division I-A teams, UVa is 108th in passing
efficiency and 117th in rushing offense, simply a dreadful statistical
combination.
"This is a pretty substantial opponent for a guy to get his first considerable
playing time," Groh said. "But, look, it's going to come sooner or later. You
can't hide in the shadows."
1. Score more than one touchdown. This has become a weekly goal for the
Cavaliers, who have scored exactly one touchdown in each of their first three
games, including one in overtime. Even two touchdowns, without a couple of field
goals, might not be enough.
2. Don't give up any defensive touchdowns. Opponents have returned three
interceptions for scores in the Cavaliers' two losses.
3. Contain Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson. Marcus Hamilton's success
in shutting down Johnson has been instrumental in UVa victories over the Yellow
Jackets in the past two seasons, but Hamilton might not play because of a
shoulder injury.
UVa. versus Georgia Tech
Virginia product Tenuta stamps unit with attacking philosophy
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 21, 2006
If quarterback Jameel Sewell starts as expected tonight for the University of
Virginia's struggling football team, he can expect to see defenders running at
him from virtually every angle at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.
It's nothing personal. If U.Va. coach Al Groh chooses to go with Christian Olsen
or Kevin McCabe at quarterback, Georgia Tech's approach won't change. The
architect of the Yellow Jackets' defense, fifth-year coordinator Jon Tenuta,
isn't much on read-and-react schemes. He wants his charges to attack.
"I don't care who we're playing against," Tenuta, also Tech's associate head
coach, said this week. "I don't think you can sit back and wait for something
good to happen. You've got to make things happen."
He believed that when he was a college defensive back -- Tenuta lettered three
times at Virginia after transferring from the U.S. Military Academy -- and his
philosophy hasn't changed during a coaching career that's taken him from U.Va.
to Maryland to Vanderbilt to Marshall to Kansas State to SMU to Oklahoma to Ohio
State to North Carolina and, now, Georgia Tech.
"In sports, I've always been aggressive," said Tenuta, a 1981 alumnus of U.Va.
who spent two seasons as a graduate assistant there.
Sewell is more mobile than Olsen or McCabe, but the redshirt freshman from
Hermitage High will need help tonight from U.Va.'s beleaguered offensive line,
on which a redshirt freshman, two sophomores and two juniors start.
The pressure those linemen will face from Georgia Tech (2-1) is "dramatic," Groh
said.
"We've dealt with it pretty well in the past," he said, "but we did it with
veteran players, and they could relate it to other things that they've seen.
We've taken that background and information that we've had that's served us well
in the past against this particular team and tried to rely on that and pass that
on to these players in this short time frame, and we'll just see what their
capability is of utilizing that come [tonight]."
Virginia (1-2) is coming off a stunning loss to Western Michigan, which won
17-10 at Scott Stadium on Saturday. Groh used three quarterbacks in that game:
first McCabe, then Olsen and, finally, Sewell. Olsen had started the Wahoos'
first two games.
Asked Tuesday if he's worried about getting pulled if he struggles against the
Jackets, Sewell shook his head.
"You can't go into the game thinking like that," he said. "You've just got to go
in there and play, let it flow. Otherwise you're just going to feel too uptight.
"Mistakes are going to happen. You've just got to correct your mistakes."
The 6-2, 219-pound left-hander completed 7 of 10 passes for 51 yards against
Western Michigan and wasn't intercepted. None of the drives Sewell led, however,
ended in points for Virginia.
A national audience on ESPN will watch tonight's game -- the ACC opener for both
teams -- and Sewell will not have the luxury of playing before a home crowd.
That combination could unsettle a rookie, but U.Va. senior wideout Fontel Mines
said he told his longtime friend Sewell to be "confident and play his game."
"That's the reason why he was recruited," said Mines, who preceded Sewell at
Hermitage. "That's the reason why he's here. The coaches are confident in him,
the players, the receivers, we're confident in him. So as long as he has that
confidence level in himself, he'll be fine."
Against Western Michigan, Mines said, U.Va.'s offensive linemen noticed that
Sewell "was very calm and collected in the huddle, and that's very comforting
for other players, seeing a young quarterback like that taking control of the
huddle."
Sewell realizes that tonight's game represents a huge opportunity for him, "but
I'm not trying to take it that way," he said. "I'm just taking it as, just go
out there and win and play hard."
Cavs stuck in a developmental holding pattern
Joey Mancini, Cavalier Daily Columnist
At the beginning of his spring football press conference, Al Groh said that the
Virginia football team had a "significant rebuilding job" in front of it.
Taking that statement as reliable, my first column in August argued that if the
Cavaliers were in fact "rebuilding" in 2006, then Jameel Sewell should be the
starting quarterback.
His upside is tremendous. And as the purported "quarterback of the future," he
could benefit greatly from a year of experience with young teammates.
But we won't go back to that.
There are two quarterbacks on the roster that Virginia could currently be
"rebuilding" around -- Sewell and Kevin McCabe.
Both have remaining eligibility, with the option to return and be a part of next
year's team.
Regardless of who you think should be the starting quarterback, Saturday, Groh
apparently did not create a situation in which either McCabe or Sewell could
stay above water, let alone swim.
Based on his performance against Wyoming, McCabe deserved to be the starting
quarterback against Western Michigan.
But throughout last week, Groh said that a decision about a starting quarterback
would be made in practice.
Instead, McCabe reportedly learned that he would be the starting quarterback at
breakfast Saturday morning, hours before game time.
It is unfair for a quarterback to get the news that he will be starting for the
first time on the morning of a game, regardless of an "every player must be
ready to play" mantra. What is more ridiculous, however, is that the coaching
staff did not know until Saturday morning that McCabe would be the starter.
Groh failed Sewell by focusing on a competition between Olsen and McCabe the
week before, without telling the young talent that he would receive substantial
playing time Saturday.
After the game, Sewell, without hesitation, said that he "didn't expect to play
the entire second half."
Throughout the week, Sewell said he received "not too many" reps in practice.
Without reps in practice, he could never have been prepared to lead a late
comeback.
In fact, Sewell said he wasn't told he would even play in the game until Friday
afternoon when the team got to the hotel.
For the sake of development, Groh must very soon name his player and decide his
vision at the quarterback position.
I have said that my choice would be Sewell.
But whoever it is, that player should know as soon as possible. And once Groh is
comfortable with either McCabe or Sewell, he should name one the starter for the
remainder of the season.
Saturday, Groh failed his quarterbacks by not putting them in a position to
succeed.
McCabe did not know he would be the starter until hours before the game.
Sewell spent the entire second half going back to the sidelines to ask about
plays because he never knew that he would play 30 minutes of football against
Western Michigan.
The entire charade implies that Virginia coach Al Groh doesn't have a vision for
his quarterbacks in this "rebuilding job."
And as long as the Cavaliers move week-to-week wondering who will start, McCabe
and Sewell, and perhaps the entire team, will stand in a developmental holding
pattern.
It is important every week for receivers to know who will be throwing to them,
for running backs to know who will be handing the ball to them and for an
offensive line to know who they are protecting.
It is more important that inexperienced quarterbacks have enough information
from their coach to prepare themselves for game day.
That didn't happen Saturday.
A few Cavalier notions
By Enemy Watchwoman | Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 03:33 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So it’s quite obvious that the ACC reeks of overripe limburger this year, and
just from looking at some of the results and near-misses.
But delving a bit into the numbers, and examining the lack of progress of some
of its supposedly on-the-move programs, reveals that the stench goes deep into
the old pigskin olfactories.
Prime example being the Virginia Cavaliers, the Loyal Opposition for ESPN’s
unslakable Thursday night ACC football thirst against Your Georgia Tech Yellow
Jackets at Bobby Dodd.
Back in the days when The Enemy Watchwoman made regular sojourns up down the
league — when its northerly point was College Park — she used to hear that
George Welsh couldn’t recruit, and the Wahoos would never be a big-time college
football power as a result. Then they went out and slayed Florida State in its
first ACC loss. UVa made a regular habit of participating in fairly decent New
Years Dayish bowl games, including the Atlanta Bowl Formerly Known as the Peach.
Welsh produced a good number of players now competing in the NFL, such as Tiki
and Ronde Barber.
Indeed, the heavenly autumnal visits to Mr. Jefferson’s University in
Charlottesville were occasions to watch good football as well as the magical
changing of the colors in the Blue Ridge. When Coach Welsh was ushered off into
retirement, Al Groh was brought in from the NFL to take the Cavs into FSU-Miami-Virginia
Tech company.
But on Thursday, he’ll start redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell, one of three
quarterbacks he tried in last Saturday’s homecoming loss to — Western Michigan?
Groh’s not happy with any of them. Yes, these would be QBs he recruited. Well,
Al, even the student press isn’t happy with you.
There is a top QB prospect on the UVa roster, cornerback Vic Hall, signed as the
top prep passer in Virginia high school history, more prolific than Michael
Vick, even.
But Groh, who pouted that good Cavaliers fans shouldn’t boo after a loss — even
to a I-AA team — says Hall isn’t an option under center.
While UVa’s decline as a program may be turning heads, the current offensive
woes are being trumped as not much of a surprise.
Yes, Virginia, there are a few teams worse than you in Division I-A in offensive
statistics across the board. But not many.
As Tech fan Dr. Football sez, the Jackets have no excuses not to put on a
command performance. Keep this in mind, however: Tech’s lost 4 of its last 5
Thursday night affairs, including that unfortunate heartbreaker to N.C. State
last season.
Yes, Jackets fans, that was the same Wolfpack team led by the soon-to-be former
N.C. State Chuck Amato, who’s part of the lineup of what’s being referred to as
the Atrocious Coaching Conference.
This take doesn’t hold out much chance for the Cavs to have a decent season,
with apologies to ‘Mr. and Mrs. Wahoo’ out there.
There is a glimmer of hope, however:
“There are still games to be won. The ACC, if you haven’t noticed, isn’t
overflowing with talent.”
As they always say at Duke, and at an increasing number of other campuses now
stringing from Coral Gables to Chestnut Hill, October 15 is only 26 days away.
Another prime-time drama for Tech
Yellow Jackets, reeling Cavaliers meet in Thursday night ACC opener
By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last year, Georgia Tech rallied from a 10-0 halftime deficit to take a 14-10
lead against N.C. State. Then, one play after Travis Bell missed a 24-yard field
goal that would have stretched the lead to seven, N.C. State completed an
80-yard touchdown pass to go back on top. Tech got first-and-goal at the 2 with
32 seconds left, but Calvin Johnson couldn't hold on to a potential game-winning
touchdown pass, and N.C. State's Garland Heath intercepted.
But if you think those results leave this year's team dreading another Thursday
night game, you don't know the Jackets. Their friends back home and at other
schools will be watching. There's only one other college football game being
played Thursday — Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee Tech — and it's on ESPNU. For
the first time since the season opener against Notre Dame, the nation's college
football audience will focus on Georgia Tech.
"Both teams, no matter if you are home or away, are going to be ready to play
because it is the national game that night," fullback Mike Cox said. "Everybody
in the nation will be watching."
Tech coach Chan Gailey compares ESPN's Thursday night college telecasts to
"Monday Night Football" in the NFL, an opportunity to strut your stuff on a day
when other teams can watch.
"I told the players Sunday night," Gailey said. "National TV, everybody's
watching, you get a chance to go prove what kind of team we are."
JACKETS ARE HUGE FAVORITES
Who would have thought Georgia Tech would be favored by as many points over
Virginia as it was over Troy?
Tech, which would have covered the 17-point spread last week if not for a
touchdown allowed by the second-team defense, would surely be happy with another
15-point victory tonight.
In fact, a one-point victory would probably be considered plenty over a school
none of the current Yellow Jackets has beaten. (Michael Matthews, George Cooper
and Xavier McGuire were redshirting in 2002 when Tech beat Virginia 23-15.)
None of the Jackets is likely to get too overconfident, despite the Cavaliers'
failure to score more than 13 points in any game this season.
"If it's somebody you don't know, thatcan be a tendency," Tech coach Chan Gailey
said of overconfidence, "but when it's a conference game and a division game and
somebody you haven't beaten in a while, I don't think our guys take anybody
lightly that falls into that category."
BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR WINNER
Thursday is the ACC opener for both teams, but the winner will have a leg up in
the race for the Coastal Division championship. The winner joins Virginia Tech
(2-0 ACC) as the only teams in the division without at least one ACC loss.
This could be a wide-open year in the league, a chance for someone other than
the usual suspects to contend for the title. Coastal Division power Miami has
lost four of its last six games overall dating back to last season; Atlantic
Division power Florida State has lost five of its last eight.
At least half the teams on Georgia Tech's ACC schedule appear to be having down
seasons.
Tech coach Chan Gailey said he doesn't mind his players looking at scores from
around the ACC and aiming for a trip to the championship game in Jacksonville.
"There's nothing wrong with being confident and excited and looking at something
that's got a chance to happen, as long as you don't get lackadaisical," Gailey
said. "I always think we're going to compete for the title. I thought so last
year. I think so today."
A DIFFERENT 'D' FOR CAVS
Most college teams play four linemen and three linebackers most of the time.
Virginia plays three linemen and four linebackers.
"It has the opportunity to confuse the offensive line more," said Nate McManus,
one of four current Georgia Tech offensive linemen who started against Virginia
last season. "Now that this group has been together and we've seen it, three
years for some of us, I think we know what to expect. If we were ever to know
what to expect, this would be the year."
The 3-4 can confuse a quarterback, too, because the linebackers can drop into
coverage. Tech coach Chan Gailey said he expects Reggie Ball to be able to
handle it.
"The great thing is, Reggie's been looking at it for three years and has a much
better understanding of it," Gailey said.
Virginia has been much better against the pass than the run this season, and
opponents have stayed with the run knowing they didn't need many points to
outscore the Cavaliers. Something to remember in short-yardage situations
tonight: Virginia opponents are 3-for-3 when running on fourth-and-1 or
fourth-and-2.
SHORT WEEK FOR TECH
Maybe it will show up in the fourth quarter, when fatigue hits a little harder
than usual. Maybe you'll see it in the first quarter, when Georgia Tech or
Virginia looks less than sharp countering the other team's scheme. Maybe it'll
be visible as early as pregame warmups, when a player or two shows he hasn't
recovered from an injury in last week's game.
All of those could be symptoms of the short week these teams had to prepare for
tonight's game. Two days of recovery and preparation time were sacrificed at the
altar of cable television money and exposure for the ACC.
That lack of recovery time could hurt Tech, as All-America receiver Calvin
Johnson tries to come back from a leg bruise suffered against Troy.
Coaches prefer not to play the Saturday before a Thursday night game, and Tech
hasn't had to before its six most recent Thursday night appearances.
"The ACC wants to play these Thursday night games, and ESPN wants us, so you
have to work within the system," Tech coach Chan Gailey said. "Nobody gets
exactly what they want, so you just look to make sure it's even."
Gailey went easy on his players this week in practice to give them a chance to
recover from the Troy game.
If anybody gets an advantage, it's Tech. Both teams played home games on
Saturday; Virginia had to travel to Atlanta.
"The biggest challenge has been on the coaching staff knowing we'd be on the
road all day Wednesday instead of at our desks," Virginia coach Al Groh said
earlier this week. "We wouldn't do much more with our players [if it was a home
game]. In fact, they'll probably get more rest because they'll sleep on the
plane."
VIRGINIA'S REELING
Al Groh's first recruiting class ranked among the nation's 10 best. Two years
later, his young Virginia players appeared to be way ahead of schedule. They won
their first five games to reach No. 6 in the nation, and they were back in the
top 10 two weeks into November.
The Cavaliers are 9-10 since.
Nowadays, Virginia is a lot closer to being 10th in the ACC than 10th in the
nation. Among ACC teams, Virginia ranks:
• Last in total offense.
• Second-to-last in rushing.
• Second-to-last in scoring.
• Last in first downs.
• Second-to-last in third-down conversions.
The Cavaliers left the field Saturday to boos from the homecoming fans following
a 17-10 loss to Western Michigan. Virginia comes to Bobby Dodd Stadium in crisis
mode, with a redshirt freshman likely to get his first start Thursday after
being the third of three quarterbacks to play last week.
"We expect that he will progress along. We are willing to handle whatever goes
with that," Groh said of Jameel Sewell, who played the entire second half
against Western Michigan but didn't lead his team to a single point.
Sewell is more mobile than senior Christian Olsen or junior Kevin McCabe.
"He can hurt you with his legs as easily as he can hurt you with his arm,"
Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey said.
Still, a first-time starter at quarterback, behind an offensive line with two
sophomores and a freshman . . . that sounds like a formula for disaster against
Tech's high-pressure defense.
"We've dealt with it pretty well in the past, but we did it with veteran players
and they could relate it to other things that they've seen," Groh told
reporters. "We've taken that background and information that we've had that's
served us well in the past against this particular team and tried to rely on
that and pass that on to these players. We'll just see what their capability is
of utilizing that come Thursday night."
FLASHBACK
• Last game: Nov. 12, 2005, in Charlottesville
• Score: Virginia 27, Georgia Tech 17
• Star of the game: Deyon Williams caught a career-high 10 passes for a
career-high 107 yards.
• Stat that matters: Virginia's Marques Hagans completed 21 of 29 passes for 205
yards and a touchdown.
• It's history: Tech's Travis Bell kicked what remains a career-long 48-yard
field goal.
• Coachspeak: "I told them, 'Here's the opportunity for you now, fellas. You've
got to be like a shark smelling blood.' And they did. They took the ball, and
they finished it off." — Virginia's Al Groh, on his offense's game-clinching
touchdown drive
• They said it: "I'm thinking we're going to win the game. We were really
stroking at that time, offense and defense. We just couldn't make a play after
that." — Tech strong safety Chris Reis, on what he thought after the Yellow
Jackets rallied from a 17-0 deficit to tie it.
Virginia trying to find a spark
Cavs turn to Sewell versus Yellow Jackets
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
September 21, 2006
They don’t call it “Must see TV” for nothing.
Flip through the channels tonight and you can find medical shows such as “Grey’s
Anatomy,” an elimination program called “Survivor” or an informative piece
titled “Sports Disasters.”
Better yet, watch Virginia (1-2) and Georgia Tech (2-1) open ACC play tonight on
ESPN (7:45 p.m.) and you might just get all the above.
Injury reports may play a part - Georgia Tech wideout Calvin Johnson, an
All-American, missed practice on Monday with a leg bruise and UVa cornerback
Marcus Hamilton is “questionable” with a shoulder injury that sidelined him last
weekend. And while the winner remains unbeaten like Virginia Tech in the ACC’s
Coastal Division, the loser earns a spot in a crowded house of winless teams at
the bottom of the standings.
For Virginia, it is a chance to sweep losses against Pitt and Western Michigan
under the rug on a stage that Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey calls the “Monday
Night Football” of the college game.
“That’s how we look at it too. This is a new season and this is what we are
playing for,” said UVa right guard Ian-Yates Cunningham. “This is why we play,
for big games like this and for the competition.”
History could be on Virginia’s side.
Georgia Tech has struggled mightily on ESPN’s Thursday night games. The Yellow
Jackets, who will be playing their 19th Thursday night game, the most of any
program, recently let what appeared to be two sure wins slip away against
Virginia Tech (2004) and North Carolina State (’05) in the final minutes.
Those games did not, however, come against a redshirt freshman quarterback who
was making his first start under center.
It is expected that Virginia coach Al Groh will send Jameel Sewell into the
Cavaliers’ opening offensive huddle, for better or worse.
“This is a pretty substantial opponent for a guy to get his first considerable
playing time, but it was going to come sooner or later,” Groh said. “You can’t
hide in the shadows, you have to come out sooner or later.”
Sewell, who completed 7 of 11 passes this year for 51 yards and one
interception, knows that facing a blitz-crazy defense such as Georgia Tech’s is
not an ideal situation. Miscues may follow.
“Mistakes are going to happen,” Sewell said. “You’ve just got to correct your
mistakes.”
Should Sewell be pulled, Groh could turn to fifth-year senior Christian Olsen or
junior Kevin McCabe. Both players have started and struggled this season, but
the threat of bringing in either pocket passer has forced Georgia Tech coach
Chan Gailey to alter his scouting report.
“It makes it tough to prepare both ways because you have different types of
guys,” Gailey said while referring to his top two quarterbacks to explain. “It
would be like us playing Taylor [Bennett] and Reggie [Ball] in the same game.
You’d have one game plan for Taylor and one game plan for Reggie.”
Whether that disrupts Georgia Tech’s defense after a short five-day layoff
remains a mystery better suited for an episode of “Law & Order.”
For now, Virginia just wants a chance to turn things around with all eyes
watching.
“This is our first ACC game. We are all even right now,” said UVa wideout Fontel
Mines. “We have to get it started right [tonight]. That’s what we intend to do.”
Every game counts for Coach Groh
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
September 21, 2006
A couple of years ago, Anne Groh was entertaining family at a Virginia football
game. When the game took a turn for the worse, someone very close to her told
her not to worry, that it was “just a game.”
Anne Groh quickly and politely corrected the person, pointing out that it wasn’t
just a game, it was their life. Of course she was referring to her and husband
Al, the head coach.
To fans, media and even the players to a certain extent, it may be just a game.
But to coaches it’s much more.
“For [players], as important as it might be, it’s just a game, just a part of
their life,” Groh said this week. “For the coaches, it is our life. It’s how we
judge ourselves and the results are a lot more meaningful.”
Putting in the time
Groh dedicates about 16 hours a day into trying to put a winning football team
on the field. He doesn’t like to talk about his hours because as he said
recently it always comes out looking like he’s being martyred.
He attempts to put the best player at each position on the field for each game.
This columnist was in Groh’s office one day a few years ago shortly after the
coach had received a call from the father of a player who was involved in a
battle for a key starting position with another closely matched player.
Groh told the player’s father something that we’ve all heard the coach say
before, that he was going to start the player who gave his team its best chance
to win.
No politics. Just prove it in practice and on the playing field.
A work in progress
The Virginia coach has caught heat recently from some disgruntled fans over the
Cavaliers’ poor 1-2 start. The offense has been inept at best because prior to
tonight’s game at Georgia Tech, none of the three quarterbacks have stepped up
the way the coaching staff had hoped and an inexperienced offensive line has not
yet gelled.
That doesn’t mean the line won’t gel. It will take time. It doesn’t mean that
tonight’s starter, Jameel Sewell, a redshirt freshman, won’t get the job done.
It’s a work in progress.
Some fans have not shown patience although they should have seen this coming.
UVa didn’t finish a few points ahead of North Carolina in the media preseason
poll for nothing. It was easy to see this particular team had the potential to
struggle.
Hearing the boos
While the future looks bright - UVa loses only two starters this season, is
redshirting practically the entire 2006 recruiting class, and is enjoying a good
recruiting effort for ’07 - the criticism has been hot and heavy on message
boards and with boos cascading through Scott Stadium.
“[The booing] doesn’t affect me,” Groh said Tuesday. “I noticed that none of it
came from the student body. That section is probably the section that has done
the most to change the climate at the stadium.
“They’ve been great. Their support has been tremendous from start to finish,
from game-to-game, from season-to-season,” said Groh. “We didn’t play very well
and we don’t expect any praise for it. I think any activities of that nature
(booing) are more a commentary on the purported supporters of the team than it
is on players. We don’t need to be told when we didn’t perform well.”
All this stemmed from questions surrounding the surprising reaction to UVa’s 1-2
start, particularly a home loss to Western Michigan, which came on the heels of
a 13-12 overtime victory over visiting Wyoming.
When asked if the Western loss was more damaging than your run-of-the-mill loss
and Groh responded the way fans should have hoped their coach would.
“They’re all damaging to me,” said Groh. “They all bother me.”
If you’re expecting Groh to put the blame on certain players, forget it. He
doesn’t give up his players in public.
Yes, he did blame himself as part of the problem in the Western loss.
Will he fix it tonight in Atlanta? Probably not. This team may not be good
enough to win right now and maybe it never will, but it should get better as the
weeks progress.
Consider that only one player on the field last weekend had more career starts
in a Virginia uniform than sophomore left guard Branden Albert with 15. That
player was senior Tony Franklin. Two other players on the team that have more
starts than Albert, corner Marcus Hamilton and wide receiver Deyon Williams,
both fifth-year players, were injured and did not play.
Groh reported that the good news after last weekend was a resolve by the
coaching staff and players to work harder and to stick together.
Should Virginia lose to Western Michigan? No. Most years that won’t happen. This
isn’t most years.
One thing is certain. Booing isn’t going to help the situation. Players hear it
and so do recruits.
“Of course you hear it, but you don’t really pay attention to it,” said
offensive lineman Ian-Yates Cunningham. “We’re more disappointed in ourselves
than anything.
“As far as recruits go, I don’t remember going anywhere on my recruiting visits
where the team was booed,” said Cunningham. “Being a 17- or 18-year-old kid, I’m
sure it might have some effect on them. Maybe that’s not the atmosphere they
want to be in.”
Virginia likely will come out of tonight’s nationally televised game on the
losing end, the first of three straight road games. The question is how will the
fan base react as the season progresses?
6 burning questions for the Cavaliers
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
September 21, 2006
1. How well will quarterback Jameel Sewell perform with
his first start coming on the road and in front of a national television
audience?
Ask any player on Virginia’s offense and they will tell ‘Yes.’ They rave about
how the redshirt freshman walked into the huddle in the second half against
Western Michigan and displayed maturity beyond his years.
That was Western Michigan. That was at Scott Stadium. The next chance to make a
second impression comes on ESPN and against Georgia Tech. The opponent, one that
likes to blitz from all angles, is what Virginia coach Al Groh is concerned
with.
"The national television part of it has no bearing whatsoever,” Groh said. “The
Georgia Tech part has a big bearing on it. This is a pretty substantial opponent
for a guy to get his first considerable playing time in, but it's going to come
sooner or later. You can’t hide in the shadows. You’ve just got to go out and
play.”
2. With Sewell’s mobility, can the quarterback make up for the slow progression
of Virginia’s offensive line as Georgia Tech blitzes over and over?
The duties of the line remain the same. Block. Buy time. Block. And when you
think you have blocked enough, just keep blocking. Virginia found that out last
year as former QB Marques Hagans often scrambled left and then right, only to go
back to his left.
“[Hagans and Sewell] kind of have a similar kind of style, but it is still just
the West Coast offense,” said offensive lineman Ian-Yates Cunningham. “That is
what we run. Sewell knows it and we know it, so his ability to do different
things benefits us. We just have to hold blocks.”
Given the inability for Kevin McCabe and Christian Olsen to get outside the
pocket in previous games, Groh pointed out that added mobility “would be a
desired trait for any of our quarterbacks right now, probably a required trait
to be effective.” Georgia Tech features three linebackers with speed and UVa
alumnus Jon Tenuta, the Yellow Jackets’ defensive coordinator, will turn them
loose. Jackets linebacker Philip Wheeler leads the team in tackles (21) and
sacks (2).
3. Can Virginia stop the 1-2 combo of Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball and
All-American wide receiver Calvin Johnson?
Many have tried. Many have failed. When Ball has time to look downfield for
Johnson, touchdowns seem to follow. Two years ago, former UVa outside linebacker
Darryl Blackstock and current cornerback Marcus Hamilton made life miserable for
Ball. Blackstock now plays for the Arizona Cardinals and Hamilton is battling a
shoulder injury. Groh said this week that Georgia Tech has tweaked its offense
to complement Ball and Johnson, who is not 100 percent, and for obvious reasons.
“The ball is with one of those two guys most of the time,” Groh said. “There has
also been some sweeping changes in their style of play. They are certainly the
most wide-open, most diverse, most multiple team that we have played thus far
this year. There are probably some things within the program, they were ready
for some of these changes, but some appear to be changes that are directed to
take advantage of the unique skills of both [Ball and Johnson].”
If Hamilton can’t play, look for sophomore Chris Cook and a wide array of
defensive backs to crowd the space around Johnson in the secondary.
4. How will Virginia control the all-too-precious battle of field position
against a dangerous Georgia Tech offense?
Virginia punter Chris Gould has been great, if not exceptional, with his punting
chores thus far this season. Ironically, it was at Georgia Tech two years ago
when Coach Groh burned Gould’s redshirt to shore up the punting game.
Gould is just one man. Virginia must also get better production from its kickoff
return and coverage units, respectively, to force Ball and company into longer
drives. While Gould ranks second in the league in
punting at 43.3 yards per kick, Georgia Tech’s punter, Durant Brooks, ranks
ahead of him by almost a full yard per attempt. Virginia sophomore Cedric
Peerman and senior Michael Johnson have yet to break a long kickoff return. No
time would be better than the present.
5. Can Western Michigan beat Virginia in Atlanta?
Sounds weird, right? Ask any coach and they will tell you differently. The
Virginia players heard the boobirds as they left Scott Stadium last week and
that was not what they expected when they signed up to play college football. A
lot of talk was made about Georgia Tech before the Western Michigan game, and,
while the players admitted that they were not looking ahead, it is Coach Groh’s
job now to make sure the program is not looking back.
“We addressed a number of issues with them Sunday, as we always do, and tried to
show them where we are at present, where we’ve been, where we’re going, how
we’re going to get there,” Groh said. “The first meeting with the team following
every game is one of the most important meetings of every week. We don’t just
walk in and slap the tape on and start critiquing techniques. There’s a great
deal of input taken and then a great deal of thought into how the team’s going
to be addressed because all of it is designed to [see] ‘How are we going to get
the team to play better?’ If you’re 7-0, you still go into that meeting with the
approach of ‘How are we going to get the team to play better?’ That’s our
function.”
6. With a 1-2 record, will the Cavaliers play well with their backs against the
wall?
The Cavaliers had better. Starting the season 1-3 with a brutal November finish
that includes Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech could force fans to shift
the focus to the 2007 season. That’s never a good thing to think about in the
opening month.
Having been in this situation before, Virginia has delivered. In fact, just last
year against Georgia Tech the Cavaliers lost three players to suspension and
didn’t miss a beat.
And don’t forget, it was in that very game that safety Nate Lyles was carted off
the field with a neck injury. The Cavaliers still found a way to deliver a win,
just like they did in Nashville during a bowl game against Minnesota only days
after two coordinators left to take Division I-A coaching jobs.
Is another miracle in the making? We shall see.
Big East recovers nicely
David Teel
September 21 2006
Three conferences monopolize college football's top 10 this week.
The Southeastern Conference: In other shocking news, Auburn's linemen feasted on
barbecue and hushpuppies yesterday.
The Big Ten: Woody Hayes' ghost stuffed the ballot box.
The Big East: Excuse me?
Yes, the Bowl Championship Series conference that suffered most during the
expansion mania of 2003 and '04 has two teams among the top 10. That's two more
than the ACC, which pillaged the Big East in hopes of creating a football
uberpower.
Moreover, Big East teams are 4-2 against the ACC this season entering Saturday's
interconference game between Virginia Tech and Cincinnati. The Big East boasts
seven victories against teams from fellow BCS leagues, five more than the ACC.
Enjoy the irony. Chuckle even. Also understand that conferences rise and fall
like Wall Street, and while the ACC's expansion tactics - Gordon Gekko would
have approved - were troubling, its long-term football prospects appear secure.
So, too, the Big East's, a startling revelation for the masses who ticketed the
league for football irrelevance.
The Big East's revival began immediately after its pillars - Miami and Virginia
Tech, followed soon thereafter by Boston College - bailed for the ACC. Remaining
Big East schools, in concert with commissioner Mike Tranghese, added Louisville,
Cincinnati and South Florida, each of which began league play last season.
Not an equitable swap by any measure. And when an average Pittsburgh squad
earned the Big East's BCS bid in 2004, and lost to Utah by 28 points in the
Fiesta Bowl, college football's chattering class pounced.
"The hard thing was when we were looking to reconfigure, a lot of people were
saying we wouldn't survive," Tranghese said during a phone interview Wednesday.
"We got bashed pretty good that first year (2004) and we didn't even have our
league together. All I kept telling people was, 'Give us some time. Give us a
chance.' "
Preaching patience? To fans and media? Tranghese knew words were more futile
than an end-zone Hail Mary. He knew only results mattered.
Thanks to Louisville and West Virginia, he looks downright prescient.
Despite injuries to all-conference quarterback Brian Brohm and running back
Michael Bush, Louisville humbled Miami 31-7 last week and jumped to eighth in
the Associated Press poll. Last season the Cardinals finished 9-3 and ranked
19th.
Like Louisville, No. 4 West Virginia embarrassed an ACC outfit last week,
routing Maryland 45-24. A home loss to Virginia Tech was the Mountaineers' only
blemish last season, and they gave the Big East instant credibility with a Sugar
Bowl victory over Georgia, in the Georgia Dome no less, an upset that elevated
them to fifth in the final polls.
"It wiped out all the negativity," Tranghese said of the Sugar Bowl. "People
took a step back."
Including the power brokers at ABC and ESPN, who last month agreed to televise
Big East football games through 2013. Such stability was unimaginable two years
ago.
"They're taking a chance on us," Tranghese said of the networks.
He's convinced the chance is not spinach-salad risky. He believes West Virginia
and Louisville - the Mountaineers and Cardinals collide Nov. 2 in a game that
could match 7-0 teams - are committed to retaining their first-rate head
coaches, Rich Rodriguez and Bobby Petrino. He's proud of Rutgers' progress (the
Knights earned their first bowl bid since 1978 last season and are 3-0 this),
envisions renewals at Pitt and Syracuse, and thinks South Florida's location and
financial commitment will create a first-rate program.
But Tranghese is nothing if not practical. He understands that while the Big
East's 16-team basketball alignment always will rate nationally, its eight-team
football league won't have Keith Jackson yelling, "Oh, Nellie" from the
retirement porch.
After all, there sit the Big Ten's Ohio State and Michigan in the top 10. Not to
mention the SEC's Auburn, Florida, Georgia and Louisiana State.
Indeed, even for all the ACC's travails this season and the coaching turnover
that may follow (a subject for another day), let's not forget that ACC teams
were 7-2 against the Big East last season, with the ACC 5-3 in bowls to the Big
East's 1-3.
"I've never engaged in the conference debate," Tranghese said. "We want to be a
part of the BCS and have the chance to compete for the national championship. We
are not the ACC or SEC, with 12 teams and a championship game. All we want to do
is carve out a niche and win some games."
Big East teams are carving, winning, and then some. Given the expansion
nastiness, good for them.
Duke sports idea roils professors
Faculty-team link scorned by some
Jane Stancill, Staff Writer
In the ongoing debate about athletics at Duke University, a new idea has
emerged: Why not assign professors to sports teams to improve communication and
understanding?
The proposal to pair faculty associates to sports teams is drawing cheers and
sneers on a campus divided on the role of sports.
The program is the brainchild of Paul Haagen, head of Duke's Academic Council
and a law professor who teaches sports law. About 80 faculty members have
expressed interest, he said.
"Duke invests a lot in athletics," Haagen said Wednesday. "It's probably a good
idea if you know about athletics."
The idea, Haagen said, is "to put a human face" on interaction between coaches
and professors. It would be an informal first step toward fostering more
meaningful interaction between the athletic and academic sides of campus, he
said.
A professor would be assigned to a sport but would not be expected to monitor or
report on a team. Faculty members could attend practices, travel with the team
occasionally and get to know athletes and coaches.
The proposal, scheduled for discussion today, has elicited scorn from professors
who think Duke should de-emphasize sports in the aftermath of the men's lacrosse
scandal.
A parody of the proposal is circulating, calling for a reciprocal effort titled
"Coaches Academic Associates Program." The parody suggests that coaches attend
classes, labs and faculty meetings to ensure "that there will be some coaches
with an informed understanding of the experience of student scholars at Duke."
Paula McClain, a professor of political science, chuckled at the document, which
she said she did not write.
So far, of colleagues she has encountered, "people are just aghast that it's
being considered," she said of the idea.
Haagen said he realized that some faculty would view it as a public relations
stunt or a boosterish program. But, he said, there would be safeguards to ensure
that faculty associates would not become too close to a team.
The assignment of faculty volunteers to teams would be left to faculty leaders,
not coaches. And people would be rotated periodically among teams, unlike
programs at some Ivy League campuses that match professors to teams
indefinitely, Haagen said.
Coaches are generally supportive, Haagen said. Kerstin Kimel, coach of the
women's lacrosse team, said it's a great idea.
"There isn't a real tremendous understanding from a faculty standpoint about
what our athletes and coaches do day to day," Kimel said. She added that
dialogue would inevitably improve between the academic and athletic sides of
Duke.
"There's been a continuous drumbeat to divide these two groups," she said.
"There's just a lot of misperception."
Haagen cited examples of other such programs at Princeton University and Trinity
College in Connecticut. In some cases, he said, professors become advocates of
sports.
"I'm not interested in that," he said. "I'm interested in people knowing each
other and being informed."
Duke's sports ambitions have been criticized by some since three men's lacrosse
players were charged with raping an escort service dancer at a party in March.
The players, awaiting trial, maintain their innocence.
About 50 professors signed a letter to Duke President Richard Brodhead in June,
calling for increased scrutiny of athletics and greater faculty oversight.
Haagen won't push the "associates" program if too many faculty members oppose
it, he said.
It might be a tough sell among professors who want to apply the brakes to
big-time sports at Duke. The parody jabs at Duke's sports culture, suggesting
that all coaches are welcome to learn about academics, "although it is hoped
that most of the participating coaches will come from among those who coach
pre-professional athletes and winning teams."
Look on the bright side, folks
Caulton Tudor, Staff Writer
Chins up all you long-suffering ACC football fans. There is finally a glimpse of
light at the end of this long, dark, varmint-infested cave.
The worst should be over now that we've reached the fourth weekend in September.
The majority of those cutthroats from the I-AAville -- not to mention the
Mid-American Conference, Conference USA and Big East -- are finally in the
rear-view mirror.
Starting tonight -- Virginia at Georgia Tech -- ACC teams will play mostly
conference games to the finish line. From now until Thanksgiving dinner, it'll
be largely us against us.
In other words: "PILLOW FIGHT!"
And thank goodness. This year, the calendar can't turn fast enough.
Just look at N.C. State's light workload ahead: After Boston College on
Saturday, the Wolfpack's next four opponents are Florida State (can't run), Wake
Forest (should have lost to Duke), Maryland (can't defend) and Virginia (can't
win).
It's not as though Boston College is packing the Fluties and Hasselbecks this
season, either. The Eagles can be beaten. If you're a football team with an
"ACC" logo stitched on your uniform, you can lose even on your best day.
That goes for Virginia Tech, too. The Hokies look like the best team in the
league, but that's after games against Northeastern, North Carolina and Duke. If
you're capable of counting to three, you can go 3-0 against that crowd.
I know, I know. I hear the Wake Forest fans yelling. I know you're 3-0 and
leading the Big East. But get back to me after these next two games against
Mississippi and Liberty. Particularly Liberty. Jerry Falwell may attend that
game, and he'll be praying for an upset.
The Deacons can't really start feeling fat and happy until Oct. 7, when Clemson
arrives. By that time, the Tigers should be down to no healthy linebackers and
will be the first team in football history to employ the 7-0-4 defensive
alignment.
At North Carolina, John Bunting can't figure out what's up with his defense, but
it's really very simple.
The defense was awful against Rutgers, then pretty good against Virginia Tech,
then awful against Furman. That means the defense will be pretty good this
weekend at Clemson, then awful at Miami on Oct. 7, then pretty good against
South Florida on Oct. 14, then awful at Virginia (Oct. 19) and so on forever.
On the other side, the Tar Heels' offense was pretty good against Rutgers and
Furman, but terrible against Virginia Tech, meaning the offense will have good
games against Miami, Virginia, Notre Dame and N.C. State, but flat as a summer
sandal against Clemson, South Florida, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Duke.
A big part of the ACC's problem this season -- as it was last season -- is
youth.
Almost all of the coaches point to the youth factor, and they're right. I went
through a long, exhaustive review of all 12 ACC rosters, and guess what? Almost
every player in the entire league is younger than 22 or 23 years old.
No wonder these players don't know how to act old yet. But when you constantly
bring in kids just out of high school, what do you expect? You would think the
coaches would catch on, figure out why their teams are always so blasted young
and then get out there and sign some 28-year-olds.
Oh, well. It is what it is, as Herb Sendek used to say.
ACC football can still be fun this season. Even if every team in the league
finishes 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the conference, we'll still have the conference
championship game on Dec. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla., when the winner of the Pooh
Division takes on the champion from the Winnie Division.
You can throw the records out the window for that one.
Thrown for a lossACC STRUGGLING IN SEASON'S OPENING WEEKS
Three weeks into the year, other leagues are leaving the ACC in the gridiron
dust.
By Mark Berman
981-3125
When the ACC expanded two years ago, some folks in the league felt they were now
part of the best football conference in the land.
That's certainly not the case this season.
The ACC has plenty of reason to be red-faced.
There have been humbling losses to teams from the Big East, Conference USA,
Mid-American Conference and Division I-AA. Traditional national heavyweights
Miami and Florida State are sputtering.
There isn't a single ACC team in the top 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll,
and the league is ranked just fifth among conferences in the Sagarin computer
ratings, which are part of the formula for the Bowl Championship Series
rankings.
The ACC finished second out of 11 I-A conferences in the Sagarin ratings last
year, and was tops in 2003 and 2004. This week, the ACC is behind the
Pacific-10, Big Ten, SEC and Big 12. The Big East is sixth with 75.60 points,
less than one point behind the ACC (75.28).
The ACC has never gotten two teams into the BCS in one season, and its unlikely
to happen this year, either, even with a fifth bowl being added to the BCS.
Contenders for the BCS national title game are also limited.
The Southeastern Conference has four teams in the AP top 10, and the Big Ten and
Big East have two apiece. The ACC's highest-ranked team is No. 11 Virginia Tech.
Florida State has dropped to 18th in the AP poll. The Seminoles had to rally in
the fourth quarter to beat Sun Belt member Troy 24-17 and are coming off their
first home loss to Clemson since 1989. The Seminoles have lost five of their
last eight games dating back to last season.
"Parity has affected every program in the United States," FSU coach Bobby Bowden
said Wednesday.
Miami's streak of 107 straight weeks in the AP poll ended this week after
Saturday's 31-7 loss at Louisville. Miami has lost four of its last six games
dating back to last season.
"People are really making a commitment to their programs, and maybe [teams] that
haven't been traditionally football powers, ... they've got a chance to step up
and step up pretty quickly," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "Scholarship
limitations, academics and all those things figured in, it makes it a much more
even playing field.
"It may be hard, certainly hard for our fans to understand, but it's hard for
any traditional power's fans to understand, but it's going to be difficult to go
through the season unscathed."
After the ACC raided the Big East, many observers and fans felt the Big East was
no longer worthy of its automatic BCS bid. But so far this year, the Big East is
getting the last laugh.
The Big East is 4-2 against the ACC this season, boasting a Pittsburgh win over
Virginia; a Rutgers win at North Carolina; Louisville's win over Miami; and West
Virginia's rout of Maryland last week.
"The Big East is better now than it's been in a couple years," West Virginia
coach Rich Rodriguez said. "Some of the Big East bashing certainly should
subside. ... Look at the results of the last several weeks, and you cannot say
that the Big East is not worthy of the BCS."
One reason the ACC is having a subpar year is that this has not been a banner
year for quarterbacks in the league. UVa, Duke, UNC and North Carolina State
have already changed starting quarterbacks this month, and Bowden said this week
he might eventually do the same if sophomore Drew Weatherford doesn't improve.
"It's always nice to have a quarterback that you can rely upon," said UNC coach
John Bunting, who has replaced Nebraska transfer Joe Dailey with redshirt
freshman Cam Sexton. "We've got two quarterbacks now that are playing for us
that are brand new to a new [offensive] system in addition to being first-time [UNC]
players."
The ACC was hit hard by the NFL Draft last April, said Coker. The ACC had 12
players taken in the first round, the most by any league in the draft's history.
Florida State had four first-round picks and State three. The ACC had 51 players
taken in the draft, which was the league's highest total ever.
"The better program you got, the more pros you got, the more kids that come out
a year early, so you lose that advantage," Bowden said.
Coaches point to reduced scholarship limits as one reason for the parity in
college football. At the 1991 NCAA convention, the maximum number of
scholarships in Division I-A was cut from 95 to 85.
"Used to [be] you could sign 35, 40 boys [a year]. Now you can't, so those 15
extra kids are now going somewhere else and you end up playing against them,"
Bowden said.
N.C. State lost at home to MAC member Akron and fell last weekend at Conference
USA member Southern Mississippi. UVa lost at home to MAC member Western Michigan
last weekend.
The MAC is 2-1 against the ACC this year. The wins over the ACC mean a lot to
the MAC, said Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit.
"With the scholarship limits, we've got good players too," Cubit said. "We're
not going to have the five-stars [when it comes to recruits], but I've seen a
lot of three-stars and two-stars end up being really good players."
Division I-A teams still have 22 more scholarships than I-AA teams. But Duke
opened with a 13-0 loss to Richmond -- its first loss ever to a I-AA team. North
Carolina had to rally in the fourth quarter last weekend to beat I-AA Furman
45-42.
Woeful ACC: Virginia Tech is the only team in the league that's
ranked among the nation's elite
By Lenox Rawlings
JOURNAL COLUMNIST
All that expansion talk about the ACC becoming America's best football
conference was just talk. The sizzle came first, followed by the financial
steak. Now that everyone seated around the expansion banquet table has consumed
the lavish feast, the dessert tray arrives in the form of competitive reality.
Just desserts, you might say.
That's what some folks would call the present mess - folks who preferred a
recognizable conference over an unwieldy sports corporation, folks who preferred
a round-robin basketball schedule rather than an unbalanced hodgepodge littered
with one-shot deals, folks who preferred annual football games between
century-old rivals (such as Duke vs. N.C. State).
Duke would love that right now, another chance to stay close until halftime.
State would love that right now, a rare Division I-A team it could handle.
Maybe.
Instead, three weeks into the 2006 season, the ACC has just one team on the
extreme fringe of national contention, 11th-ranked Virginia Tech.
The Hokies were the expansion wild card, an accident of political history. The
ACC wanted Miami for BCS impact and insurance against the Florida State slide,
which continues. The other original candidates, Boston College and Syracuse,
pushed the number to 12 schools, the minimum needed to stage a lucrative league
title game. But Virginia political pressures, the Duke-Carolina axis of
opposition and the whims of N.C. State's transient chancellor altered the mix.
Syracuse took the hit, and the ACC lucked into Virginia Tech's football
consistency. Miami's decline has gathered steam this season, accentuating the
ACC's predicament. After a flood of nonconference showdowns, the ACC has won two
games against opponents from other BCS leagues.
Wake Forest defeated Syracuse 20-10. Wake Forest defeated Connecticut 24-13,
busting open a one-point game in the fourth quarter. No other Big Four team has
beaten a I-A school.
Syracuse and UConn dwell in the Big East's bottom half, but that doesn't change
the numbers. The Deacons are 3-0 with Mississippi next (the same Mississippi
blown out 34-7 by Missouri and 31-14 by Kentucky). Then comes Liberty of
Lynchburg, a win-by-contract hire.
If you blink three times, the Deacons could become the first ACC team eligible
for a bowl. They need to meet only the six-win standard of the NCAA's bloated
12-game schedule.
The logical next question: Can the ACC qualify eight teams to fulfill all those
bowl contracts? It might require bizarre internal parity to make the quota
because the outside action isn't turning out very well.
ACC teams are 6-1 against I-AA opponents (Richmond dominated Duke 13-0) and 9-8
against I-A opponents. If you subtract four wins over Sun Belt teams, the ACC is
5-8 in other I-A games.
That includes 1-2 against the Mid-American (BC beat Central Michigan 31-24, N.C.
State lost to Akron 20-14 on a dubious overtime touchdown and Western Michigan
beat Virginia 17-10). The league is 2-0 against the Mountain West (Virginia won
14-13 in OT when Wyoming flubbed an extra point and BC scraped past Brigham
Young in double OT).
Other than Wake Forest, the ACC is 0-4 against Big East II, the version created
in the riptide of defections. The margins suggest that Big East II turned out
far better than the doomsday predictions: Pitt over Virginia 38-13, West
Virginia over Maryland 45-21, Louisville over Miami 31-7 without its quarterback
and tailback.
Ralph Friedgen, the Maryland coach, suffered the indignity of ESPN's Thursday
night audience repeatedly hearing how he rescinded a scholarship offer to Steve
Slaton, who insisted on running the ball. Slaton wound up leading West
Virginia's romp and nominating himself for Heisman consideration, gaining 149 of
his 195 yards in the first quarter.
Miami suffered the indignity of self-exposure. The Hurricanes stomped on the
Louisville logo at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, and Louisville turned the
'Canes into baked anchovies. Athletics Director Paul Dee urged the alumni lynch
mob to let him take care of Coach Larry Coker after the season rather than
before sunrise. Quarterback Kyle Wright urged his teammates to grow up.
"You never win on swagger," Wright said in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "It's
all nice to jump at midfield on the logo, but if you don't go out and take care
of business, it's nothing. It's fake hype, and I'm tired of it."
Most everyone else is weary of Miami's adolescent silliness, which encourages
parodies of the ACC. When Southern Miss drills N.C. State 37-17, when the most
impressive intersectional showing is Georgia Tech's 14-10 loss at home to
overrated Notre Dame, those boasts of national power sound quite empty.
The reasons behind the free-fall begin with talent. The NFL drafted 51 players
off ACC rosters last spring, 12 in the first round, and skimmed the cream from a
league that didn't produce a national contender anyway.
Through departures and injuries, the quarterbacking fleet has been reduced
mainly to a bunch of golf carts congregating around the first tee. On Saturday,
Daniel Evans will replace Marcus Stone for N.C. State and could become the 10th
quarterback making his first ACC start this season. Jameel Sewell could become
Virginia's third quarterback starter tonight.
Cavalier No. 4 might be in the oven warming up. Coach Al Groh let redshirt
freshman Vic Hall (nominally a cornerback but Virginia's No. 1 all-time prep
passer) imitate Georgia Tech's Reggie Ball in practice. Groh can fire
quarterbacks at will. The reflex move - firing the offensive coordinator - might
cause family issues. The coordinator is son Mike Groh, who grew up throwing
passes in Forsyth County.
Eventually, the donors and administrators will get around to blaming head
coaches who fall short of expectations.
Right now, five head coaches occupy the hypothetical hot seat. The number is
rising - or expanding, if you look at things a certain way.