Sewell not ready for starting time
Aaron McFarling

ATLANTA -- The plan needs work. This, we know. And if anybody can find the plan -- which is presumably locked away in a drawer in Al Groh's office, guarded by two armed men who never smile -- they should grab the white-out and start revising as quickly as they can.

The new plan needs to inspire hope. The new plan needs to design some sort of running game. The new plan needs to include a provision that keeps veteran players at depth-shy positions from driving down U.S. 29 South and enrolling at Liberty.

And most of all -- all together, everyone -- the new plan needs to include a paragraph or two about quarterback development.

If you didn't feel at least a little sympathy for Jameel Sewell during Virginia's 24-7 loss to Georgia Tech on Thursday night, you might want to have your heart checked.

He was the primary victim of Groh's current plan, whatever it is.

There Sewell was, the freshman UVa quarterback making his first career start on national TV -- and he couldn't have looked less prepared. The first pass went high. The second, released while Sewell was on the run but hardly under duress, skipped to its intended receiver.

Just a few nerves, right?

Well ... it got worse. A sack. A flutterball that slipped out of Sewell's hands. Another skip. A delay-of-game penalty when he lost track of the play clock.

And with each cringe-inducing play, it became more and more clear: Sewell did not belong on the field at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Not yet, anyway.

These were the actions of a callow freshman, which is fine if you are Temple or Duke or Kentucky, a perennially overmatched team looking to build for 2008.

But UVa, which just two years ago was ranked No. 6 in the nation in midseason, should have never been in this situation. Sometime between the beginning of 2005 -- the final season in the fine career of Marques Hagans -- and the opening of the 2006 season, the Cavaliers should have been able to develop at least one quarterback who could be trusted.

Or at the very least, a quarterback Groh could pretend he trusted.

Instead, Groh began the season by giving a lukewarm endorsement to Christian Olsen, who was yanked faster than an Al Weed attack ad. In stepped junior Kevin McCabe, who moved the team better than anybody last week against Western Michigan but made too many mental mistakes to please Groh.

Then in stepped Sewell, who did no better.

All this shuffling means one of two things. Either,

A) Groh has no idea what any of these guys can do; or

B) Groh knows none of them can do anything.

If A is the case, then obviously something needs to change in practice, and Groh needs to make a much better effort to get backups into blowout game situations before their time comes to start. Know how many passing attempts Olsen had coming into this season? Just 23. McCabe had only 14.

If B is the case, then there's absolutely no reason redshirt freshman Vic Hall, the all-time leader for total yardage in the state of Virginia, is confined to playing cornerback and covering punts.

This isn't meant as an attack on Sewell. He battled. When Georgia Tech loosened its defense in the second half, he made some better throws. And he even completed his first touchdown pass, a nice 16-yarder to Kevin Ogletree in the fourth quarter.

But the lasting image came earlier in the half, when a battered and confused Sewell picked himself off the ground after taking another big hit.

He walked a few steps toward the sidelines. Hands on hips, he looked at Groh.

So how about that plan, Coach?
 

Sewell part of plan
UVa coach Al Groh says he's known for a while that the freshman would be starting at some point.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

ATLANTA -- Who knew that redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell would be Virginia's starting quarterback by the fourth game?

Apparently, head coach Al Groh did.

"We knew well back in time that this was what it was going to come to," said Groh after a 24-7 loss at Georgia Tech, "and now we're there and we're going to follow it through."

Sewell, the third different quarterback to start a game for Virginia this season, was the first to play start to finish.

Former starters Christian Olsen and Kevin McCabe never got off the bench.

Sewell was 3-of-13 until completing five straight passes on one third-quarter drive, one of them going to walk-on Mike Robertson from Blacksburg for his first college reception.

Sewell repeatedly threw the ball low or skipped it to receivers in the first half but looked much better on long or intermediate passes.

"It's like some of those guys they bring up to the major leagues," Groh said. "They've got a good fastball but until they mature a little bit, they're not all strikes.

"That's what it was, but we were just determined we were going to give him a chance to play through it. On his best ball, he throws the kind of ball that guys have to be able to throw."

Virginia's only touchdown followed a Jermaine Dias fumble recovery at the Georgia Tech 29 and was aided by a facemask penalty that gave the Cavaliers a first down at the Yellow Jackets' 18.

Sewell got his first touchdown pass on a 16-yard completion to sophomore Kevin Ogletree on fourth-and-9 with 12:23 left.

Ogletree had dropped a perfectly thrown pass on the previous play and Sewell was undermined throughout the second half by dropped balls.

"There were some plays out there that could have changed the outlook on [Sewell's] performance and our overall performance," Groh said.

Virginia (1-2, 0-1 ACC) went into the game ranked 112th out of 119 Division I-A teams in total offense and did little to improve that position.

The Cavaliers, who had been averaging 225 yards per game, managed only 166 against the Yellow Jackets.

That was their lowest total since Groh's first year, 2001.

Ron Prince, the Cavaliers' offensive coordinator for the past three seasons, resigned to become the Kansas State coach following the 2005 season and was replaced by Mike Groh, son of the head coach.

Virginia played respectably on defense, limiting Georgia Tech (3-1, 1-0) to 335 yards, almost half of it on touchdown receptions of 58 and 66 yards by preseason ACC player of the year Calvin Johnson.

Johnson had a strained quadriceps and his status was left up to a game-time decision.

"It was sore, tight; I wasn't able to run basically," Johnson said of his early week practice efforts. "I wasn't able to run full speed [Wednesday].

"Once my adrenaline started rushing, I didn't have to worry about it. I mean, I didn't feel no pain or nothing like that."

Georgia Tech's senior quarterback Reggie Ball, making his 40th career start, finished 10-of-19 and 205 yards and ran six yards for the Yellow Jackets' first touchdown.

"Their quarterback stepped up and three or four plays in the game that were like the last three years for us," said Groh, whose Cavaliers lost to the Yellow Jackets for the first time in four years.

"Tonight, we got very few points from that spot. Overall, [Sewell] got started. I don't want to say it was a positive start. Quarterbacks are only judged on getting their teams home winning."

The Cavaliers were plagued by an assortment of penalties, including a false start on Zak Stair and a hold against Ian-Yates Cunningham after five straight Sewell completions had taken UVa to the Tech 30 in the third quarter.

"We have what we have," Groh said. "We can't go to the waiver wire. You can only use the 'inexperienced' tag for so long. Jeffrey Fitzgerald's inexperienced, too, and I thought he was pretty good tonight."

Fitzgerald, a redshirt freshman defensive end, was credited with three tackles for loss and a sack.
 

Suspension policy food for thought
‘Ink-stained wretch’ meets fellow legend
Doug Doughty

So there we were, heading down I-85 in anticipation of Aaron McFarling’s first trip to Krystal, when talk turned to Aaron Rouse and Brad Butler and Marcus Vick.

A 13-hour round trip provides an opportunity for many of topics of conversation, as well as stops at the Blacksburg, S.C., Krystal and the Statesboro, N.C., Jack in the Box.

The Jack in the Box got better reviews than the Krystal, where I laid my eyes on the smallest piece of meat I’d ever seen between two buns, but it wouldn’t bother me if either chain came to Roanoke.

“You know what else we could use?” Randy King told me on one of these road trips. “A Steak ‘n’ Shake.”

We put in a call to King during the trip home because I couldn’t remember exactly what happened after Vick after he stomped Louisville defensive end Elvis Dumervill.

King said there was no penalty on the play, which was McFarling’s recollection. McFarling had said that a suspension for as long as three games would have ensued if Vick hadn’t first been dismissed for an unrelated off-field incident. King also said that a suspension would have ensued.

Butler was suspended for one game because of a low blow to Boston College defensive end Mattias Kiwanuka and Vick would have been suspended for his stomp on Dumervill. Rouse was not suspended for his blow to the head of Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis.

What’s the difference?

I suppose you could say that the actions of Butler and Vick were premedidated, while Rouse’s action was instinctual, but I submit there was something else at work.

Butler wasn’t a well-known player, but the player he leveled was. Dummervill wasn’t as well-known as Kiwanuka, but Vick was. On the other hand, who’d ever heard of Thaddeus Lewis.

Let’s say that Tech had been playing Miami and the game was on national TV and Rouse had knocked out Kyle Wright with a similar hit. Or let’s say that Tech had been playing against Notre Dame and the victim had been Brady Quinn. Just imagine the outcry.

Then, let’s say that Butler had gone after a more obscure player than Kiwanuka, or it had been Sean Glennon or a current Tech quarterback who had stomped on a less-recognizable player than Dumervill, possibly in retaliation.

There are double standards in this world, but who didn’t know that?

The funny thing about the three incidents is that only Rouse was called for a penalty. If the officials had done their jobs and called penalties on Butler and Vick at the time, maybe even ejecting them, would suspensions have ensued? Maybe not.

If Virginia had not suspended Butler, my impression is that the ACC would have suspended him, although I’m not sure of that. I do know that when Butler left a meeting with head coach Al Groh and athletic director Craig Littlepage, he felt he had their support.

Virginia president John Casteen, not known for savvy decisions when it comes to athletics, is all about political correctness. So, it was at the behest of his office that Butler was suspended.

At no level was the Butler situation handled intelligently. Butler was made available to the media after 2005 Boston College-Virginia game but he offered no apologies and showed little remorse. Nor did UVa coach Al Groh do little to smooth over the situation.

After the Virginia Tech-Duke game, Rouse sought out Duke coach Ted Roof to offer his apology. Did he do it on his own or did somebody make him to do it? Doesn’t matter. What if Butler and/or Groh had sought out B.C. coach Tom O’Brien or Kiwanuka.

He didn’t even have to accept blame, just express regret that the situation had happened. For some time after it was reported that Butler would call Kiwanuka, Kiwanuka said he hadn’t heard from him.

If I’m not mistaken, a second B.C. player – and not Butler or Kiwanuka – was ejected. When I watched the B.C.-Central Michgan game on television this season, I saw officials eject Eagles’ defensive lineman B.J. Raji, who, I believe, missed part of the next game for either fighting or spitting (when I asked Thursday, an ACC official wasn’t sure).

When you have no standards, it makes it easier to have double standards. Establish standards for what merits an ejection, use replay to indentify the offenders beyond a doubt, and maybe you’ll clear up some of the confusion.

ONE OF THE MOST heartwarming moments at the Virginia-Georgia Tech game was the emotional pregame meeting between radio analyst Ulmo Shannon “Sonny” Randle and Halifax County sports editor Tucker McLaughlin.

Randle and McLaughlin’s late father, also named Tucker, were teammates and fellow letter-winners on the 1956 Virginia football team.

“Did you ever see the team picture?” Randle asked his former teammate’s boy.

“No,” young Tucker said.

“Your dad was picking his nose,” Randle said. “It made the student annual.”

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” a nearby reporter chimed in.

Young Tucker, it should be noted, had about 30 ink blots on his khaki pants. Although he was the embodiment of the term “ink-stained wretch” but was resplendent in a new shirt with horizontal stripes that highlighted a not-so-sleek physique.

“Only cost me $11.23 at Wal-Mart,” he said.
 

Sewell takes charge
Groh says the future has come for freshman QB; Williams remains doubtful
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 23, 2006

At halftime Thursday night, University of Virginia coach Al Groh was unhappy. His team trailed ACC rival Georgia Tech 17-0 in Atlanta and had gained a meager 54 yards.

Groh also was curious.

He wanted to see how his quarterback, first-time starter Jameel Sewell, would respond to adversity. Sewell, a redshirt freshman from Hermitage High, could not have looked much worse in the first two quarters, completing only 3 of 9 passes for 22 yards against the Yellow Jackets' pressure-happy defense.

"I'd rather have had 21 points on the board at the half," Groh said last night, "but I thought to myself, 'One of the trademark things of [good] quarterbacks is, they're able to work themselves out of difficult situations. We certainly have that on our hands, and let's see how he handles it.'"

Sewell threw two interceptions late in the second half, with the outcome decided, but he also completed 12 of 22 passes for 93 yards and one touchdown after intermission. And his numbers would have been significantly better had U.Va. receivers not dropped several accurate passes from Sewell.

The Cavaliers totaled only 166 yards - their fewest in six seasons under Groh - and lost 24-7, but they appear to have found a quarterback. Virginia started only three seniors against Georgia Tech (1-0, 3-1) - tailback Jason Snelling, wideout Fontel Mines and cornerback Marcus Hamilton - so the idea of grooming Sewell to lead what could be an excellent 2007 team appeals to the coaching staff.

"The future is now," Groh said after the game. "I didn't invent that one, but it still applies. . . . Frankly, we knew well back in time that this is what it was going to come to, and now we're there and we're going to follow it through."

Of his shaky start, Sewell said, "I was not too nervous. I had no fear, but I guess it was kind of a mental thing. But my teammates showed faith in me and boosted me up."

At Bobby Dodd Stadium, Sewell showed that he has not only the quickest feet - he rushed eight times for a team-high 30 yards - but the strongest arm of the three quarterbacks Virginia has played this season.

"All of the up-the-field throws that in the long term a quarterback has to make, he threw all of them very well at least once last night," Groh said of Sewell, who began the season No. 3 on the depth chart behind senior Christian Olsen and junior Kevin McCabe.

U.Va. (0-1, 1-3), off to its worst start since 1986, doesn't play again until next Saturday. In Durham, N.C., the Cavaliers will take on Duke (0-2, 0-3) in a game that's likely to reveal if their season is a lost cause.

Not since 1982, George Welsh's first season as coach, has U.Va. had fewer than two victories after five games. The Wahoos finished 2-9 that year.

Whether Virginia's best wideout, senior Deyon Williams, will be available at Duke isn't clear. Williams, who caught 58 passes for 767 yards and seven touchdowns last season, hasn't played since Aug. 11 surgery on a stress fracture in his right foot.

At Georgia Tech, Williams was in uniform and went through warmups on a limited basis, but he hasn't been cleared to practice or play. When he returns, he'll provide Virginia's offense with a much-needed deep threat.

"When the doctors tell me that it's worth thinking about, then I'll think about it some more," Groh said.

 

Jackets thrive on communal trust
By MATT WINKELJOHN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/23/06

There have been certain flip-flops at Georgia Tech, and if coach Chan Gailey has his way, there'll be a huge change of direction in next Saturday's visit to Blacksburg, Va.

A sound 24-7 win over Virginia on Thursday night — Georgia Tech's first after three losses in a row to the Cavaliers — was by itself not a harbinger of what will happen at No. 11 Virginia Tech (3-0, 2-0 ACC). There have been other signs, some quite intangible, that the Yellow Jackets might be more sound than Gailey's four previous teams.

The Yellow Jackets (3-1, 1-0) have been less erratic except in kickoff coverage, three new starters in the secondary have blended seamlessly into the lineup, and the offensive imagination seems to grow weekly.

Perhaps more important than any blossoms among player personnel or schemes, Georgia Tech seems to move with a dispatch that, while tricky to describe in detail, reads resolute. The Jackets' psyche appears particularly purpose-driven, which any coach will tell you is paramount.

"I think that our mind-set is pretty good right now, but that is the most fluid thing ... where your team is mentally," Gailey said.

On paper this looks cliché: "We trust [the offense], and they trust us," linebacker KaMichael Hall said. "If something bad happens on one side of the ball, we trust the guys going out on the field to do their job. We're like a big family."

Yet there's a temptation to take it as reality rather than rhetoric.

Potentially best of all, the Jackets' psyche might not be tethered to a handful of players, which could make it inherently more fragile. They're going global.

"I think it's a collective effort," Gailey said. "I don't think I can pick out one or two guys [who stand above all others as leaders], and normally if it's just one or two guys, if they have a down day, then it affects your whole team.

"That's why I believe we have more of a collective effort this year than ever before. I think we have a bigger group of people with that kind of mind-set."

There have been changes, and Georgia Tech is looking for more.

In 2005, the Jackets opened with an upset win at Auburn. This year, Tech lost at home to Notre Dame.

In last season's Thursday night game, a late pass bounced from Calvin Johnson's hands in the end zone, cementing an N.C. State win. Against Virginia, Johnson caught six passes for a career-high 165 yards, including touchdowns of 58 and 66 yards in a Thursday night special.

The Jackets feel good, much as they felt last season toting a 3-0 record into Blacksburg. Then, they got smoked, 51-7.

So there's still much to be learned, like whether the Jackets can gird themselves on the road after four consecutive home games. In Blacksburg, there will be a very large bull's-eye on the Jackets' newly forged psyche.

Is it any wonder Gailey hopes Tech keeps running reverses?

"Resiliency is an important factor on any football team," he said. "You really don't have to do anything for veteran players [before the first road game]. They understand, and they'll do a great job of explaining to the young guys what to anticipate. And let's be honest: going to Blacksburg and going to Durham are two different away games."

 

Only way to go is up for Sewell
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
September 23, 2006

Anthony Martinez, you are officially off the hot seat.

It took awhile, but the quarterback-turned-minor league baseball player is no longer responsible for the lowest offensive performance, at least in yards, during the Al Groh era.

That unfortunate honor is now attached to Jameel Sewell’s name thanks to Virginia’s 24-7 setback at Georgia Tech on Thursday in which UVa put up a meager 166 yards of total offense.

But unlike the events that followed Martinez’s rough start at South Carolina in 2003 - the Cavs totaled 170 yards of offense that game - Sewell gets another chance.

Luckily for Sewell, Virginia (1-3) does not have a Marques Hagans-type player waiting in the wings as it prepares to play at Duke (0-3, 0-2 ACC) on

Sept. 30. The Cavaliers also lack the luxury of scanning the injury report in hopes of getting a Matt Schaub-like signal-caller back for a stretch run for a fifth-straight bowl bid like they did in ’03.

For better or worse, the Jameel Sewell quarterback story is being written. It appears to be headed toward a novel rather than a short story and will likely continue down that path until the day that prized recruit Peter Lalich proves otherwise.

“The future is now. I didn’t invent that one, right? It still applies,” Groh said. “Overall, [Sewell] got started. I don’t want to say it was a positive start because quarterbacks are only judged on bringing their teams home winning, but it got the process started.

“We knew well back in time that this was what it was going to come to, and we’re going to follow it through.”

Sewell, who was uncomfortable early (he completed 3 for 9 passes in the opening half against Georgia Tech), has the reins and an endorsement from his teammates and coaching staff.

And from a look at the stats - Sewell finished 15 of 31 for 115 yards against the Yellow Jackets in his first career start - the left-handed-throwing rookie has no place to go but up.

“Just from the consistency factor, sometimes he’s low, sometimes he’s high, sometimes he’s right on the mark,” Groh said. “Like some of those guys they bring up in the Major Leagues, they’ve got a good fastball, but, until they mature a little bit, they’re not all strikes. That’s what it was; but we were just determined we were going to give him a chance to play through it and he did a nice job.”

Sewell impressed Groh with his ability to be “unflustered by his lack of success.” In the second half, the signal-caller completed 12 passes for 93 yards.

“Quarterbacks have to have a short memory,” Groh added. “He came back and played his best as the game evolved. There are quite a few things for him to learn, but he is not going to learn those lurking over there on the bench.”

Sewell said he was not nervous making his first career start on ESPN and in front of 51,081 screaming Georgia Tech fans.

“I had no fear,” Sewell said.

For the time being, Sewell would like to think that he is Virginia’s only quarterback.

“I can be,” the Richmond native said. “I would like think so, but we still have people … everybody is competing. We compete for jobs every day. We will take it from here.”

While Groh expects Sewell to progress, the expectations span even further inside a program that has lost five of its last seven games.

“There are a lot of areas where we need to step up. It’s not just at the quarterback position where the production needs to improve to where it needs to be,” Groh said. “We still have quite a few things to do to get through this process of getting a number of these players up to playing and performing like college football players.”

Making do

Virginia cornerback Marcus Hamilton returned to the starting lineup against Georgia Tech and made a tackle on the very first play from scrimmage.

Hamilton, a senior, missed Virginia’s game against Western Michigan with a shoulder injury.

When asked if Hamilton played through some pain, Groh shifted gears.

“I thought he did what a football player is supposed to do: show up and play,” Groh said.

Hamilton finished with five tackles and broke up one pass.

Not everything was positive, however. In the third quarter, Georgia Tech wideout Calvin Johnson faked his way past Hamilton and reeled in a pass from quarterback Reggie Ball and scooted untouched into the end zone for a 66-yard touchdown.

“Unfortunately, Marcus probably has one there that he would like to have back,” Groh said.

No rest for the weary

Groh said his team was scheduled to practice on Friday.

“I don’t have any off days,” the coach pointed out.

Since it is a non-evaluation period in recruiting, Groh said he and his staff were focusing on Duke and not traveling this weekend.

 

Groh seems ready to stay with Sewell
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
September 23, 2006

ATLANTA -- Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering if Virginia can get to 3-3 in the next two weeks should the offensive line get its act together ...

Meanwhile, it’s going to be the Jameel Sewell Show. The redshirt freshman quarterback is here to stay, or so it would seem by Coach Al Groh’s remarks after the Cavaliers’ loss at Georgia Tech on Thursday night when Sewell played the entire way.

“It got the process started (Thursday night),” Groh said. “We knew well back in time that this was what it was going to come to, and we’re going to follow it through.”

My only question is, if Virginia’s coaches knew this ‘well back in time,’ what took so long to implement the move?

The Cavs might have at least salvaged the Western Michigan game and stand 2-2 today, rather than 1-3 heading into games at Duke and East Carolina in the next two outings.

When Virginia started Sewell against Georgia Tech, it was the eighth ACC quarterback to make their first career starts. No. 9 will be Daniel Evans, who will replace Marcus Stone as N.C. State’s starter today against Boston College.

Where Eagles soar

Former Virginia offensive coordinator Tom O’Brien became Boston College’s all-time winningest coach with another wild, double-overtime win over BYU last Saturday.

Obie, as he was known in Wahoo circles, deflected talk about the milestone all week, but finally relented after the win, moments after the BC players hoisted the coach onto their shoulders for a victory ride off the field.

“I have great coaches,” said O’Brien, who won his 69th game in 10 seasons at BC. “I think I have the best coaches in this conference. I wouldn’t have won a game if these kids didn’t play the way they did out there today.”

Bobby the Prophet

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden has insisted for the past couple of years that the rest of the ACC has steadily caught up to his program. Well, at last he may be right.

The Seminoles have lost five of their past eight games dating back to last season’s loss to N.C. State. Not only that, but FSU, which lost to Clemson last weekend, has gone nine straight games without leading at halftime. Bowden’s team is ranked 105th in the NCAA in total offense, which is a stat that no Seminoles fan ever thought they would see.

Tar Heel trouble

Meanwhile, it’s defensive problems that are the buzz in Chapel Hill. Coach John Bunting was contemplating shaking up the starting assignments in his secondary for today’s game at Clemson.

What’s sticking in Bunting’s crawl?

In last week’s 45-42 win over Division I-AA Furman, the Tar Heels surrendered 521 yards of offense and 310 of that came through the air from an opponent that had averaged a mere 86.5 yards passing and had thrown for only 38 yards in its previous win over West Georgia.

Break up the Deacs

Wake Forest is 3-0 for the first time since 1987 and for only the second time since 1979.

While ESPN analyst and former coach Lou Holtz proclaimed the Deacs a BCS contender last week (let’s not get carried away here), it is nice to see the Deacs, led by former Virginia player Jim Grobe (he played for Sonny Randle) get off to a good start.

Plagued by injuries early on, Wake is halfway there to qualifying for bowl eligibility. The Deacs haven’t gone bowling since 2002. They have one more stone cold lock in a Sept. 30 home game against I-AA Liberty.

But some reality may set in this weekend with a trip to Ole Miss, which isn’t exactly a juggernaut but should hole up at home against a Wake team hit by injuries.

Short yardage ...

...When Clemson defeated FSU last weekend, it marked the first ACC senior class to claim three wins over the Seminoles in a four-year period. It also proved to the Tigers they could win a big road game. Previously, Clemson had lost its last seven times in Tallahassee by a collective score of 299-63.

... After making 51 of 53 PATs the last two seasons, Clemson kicker Jad Dean has had two blocked and missed one this season. The reason? Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said that “he is extremely, extremely slow” in getting off the kick and is considering a replacement.

... Georgia Tech’s defense held Virginia to 166 yards of total offense, which was the fourth-lowest for a Tech foe since defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta (also a former UVa football player) took over the program.

The picks

This week: 1-0. Last week: 7-3. To date: 23-8.

Clemson 38, UNC 17; Virginia Tech 42, Cincinnati 12; Florida State 50, Rice 10; Maryland 35, Florida International (no, it’s not an airport) 10; Ole Miss 27, Wake Forest 19; Boston College 28, N.C. State 17.