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Virginia finds success with halftime talks
 By JERRY RATCLIFFE / Daily Progress sports editor
Oct 20, 2002

 
For the fifth time in the last six weeks, Virginia's football team went into the locker room trailing at halftime. Just like the other times, the Cavaliers came back and won.

Down 21-0 against crusty, old rival North Carolina on Saturday, the Cavs stormed back in the second half, reeling off 37 consecutive points in a 37-27 victory for their sixth straight win. In all six of those triumphs, the Cavs has outscored their opponents in the second half.

Virginia's got it all wrong. It's a classic role reversal. The Cavaliers are Hyde & Jeckyll.

In fact, UVa has outscored its last 11 opponents in the second half, dating back to last season. The Cavs are 8-3 over that span with the losses coming to nationally ranked Virginia Tech, Colorado State and Florida State.

Ignited by a 100-yard kickoff return by sophomore Marquis Weeks and a key fumble recovery by junior cornerback Almondo Curry with the Tar Heels knocking at the door, Virginia scored on six straight possessions in the second half to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Part of the credit must go to coach Al Groh. You want to talk about halftime adjustments?

Let's just call him, "Mr. Intermission."

When a team stages that many comebacks, there has to be some serious coaching going on in the locker room. You've heard about coaches breaking chalkboards, screaming, cursing, yelling, throwing real hissy fits?

Not Groh.

The only person he was mad at Saturday was himself.

"I didn't think I had a very good half," confessed Groh. "The number one thing I wanted to do was get some things corrected and go out and have a better half. Players execute physically but there are things coaches have to execute, too. I was disappointed for the players."

You can't blame Groh for being steamed at himself. The Cavaliers trailed 14-0 late in the second quarter when they squandered back-to-back scoring opportunities.

Most frustrating of the two came on a first-and-goal at the Carolina 8-yard line when Groh's trickeration blew up in his face like an exploding cigar. Successful on several gadget plays this season, this one was a disaster.

Quarterback Matt Schaub shifted from his position behind center and split out to his right as a receiver. Backup quarterback Marques Hagans took the snap from a shotgun position, ran toward the line of scrimmage and at the last second, tried to pass the ball forward, but was intercepted.

After Carolina fumbled the ball right back to Virginia at the Heels' 16, UVa moved to the 7, suffered a delay of game penalty and missed a 29-yard field goal.

Must have been interesting, sitting there in the locker room, down 21-0 in the biggest game of the season for the Cavaliers. A win would put them only one victory away from becoming bowl eligible in a year when doomsayers predicted them to finish eighth in the conference.

Enter, Mr. Intermission.

The Cavs decided to trash the trickery for the second half and do exactly what N.C. State did to the Tar Heels a week earlier after also trailing at the half: Stuff it down Carolina's throats.

Just how much coaching is going on in there at halftime?

"That's a tricky question," Groh said with a smile. "If I say a great deal, then it sounds like a self-serving answer. If I say not very much, that's not accurate."

Losing at the half at Wake Forest a few weeks ago, Groh ditched the game plan, started over from scratch and won the darn thing. On Saturday, it was more subtraction of ideas than addition. What followed was the biggest change since Renee Richards.

The Cavs only put it in the air 11 times the second half, choosing instead to pound it out, running right at the Tar Heels for 142 rushing yards in the second half. Freshman Wali Lundy became the first Wahoos back to rush for more than 50 yards in the last four comebacks by pounding out 108 as the left side of the UVa line punched gaping holes in the Carolina defense.

Groh said it was no time for pulling hair or getting frustrated, but rather communicating with assistants and coaching the players and give them a chance to win.

"We maybe tried to outsmart ourselves [in the first half]," said Groh. "Coaches don't get it right all the time. If our team was going to do better, then the head coach had to do better."

Mark that down. You will never hear a head coach make such an honest admission. But he backed it up with a strong second half.

What we're seeing hear is something special. The rap on Virginia was that it blew these kind of games. Now, they're making miraculous comebacks.

"I've never been associated with a team that's any more remarkable than this one," said Groh, who has helped coach a few teams to Super Bowl championships.

The 55,648 fans in Scott Stadium and a national TV audience could hardly believe their eyes as Virginia rallied to win. North Carolina, which hasn't won on Virginia soil since 1981, must have felt it was truly snakebitten on this side of the border.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers kept on rolling.

A win at Georgia Tech would put Virginia in a bowl game, something no one on this coaching staff figured would happen until next season.

But would it be asking too much to end the drama with a 37-point first half for a change?

 

 

Watson lifts White squad over Blue
 By ANDREW JOYNER / Daily Progress staff writer
Oct 20, 2002

 
The Virginia men's basketball team held its Blue-White scrimmage Saturday morning at University Hall. The intrasquad scrimmage was played with a 20-minute first half and a 10-minute second half.

The White team prevailed 67-51 as senior forward Travis Watson led the way with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Cal transfer Nick Vander Laan added 15 points for White while Todd Billet chipped in with 14 as the Rutgers transfer connected on four 3-pointers.

Sophomore Elton Brown led the Blue team with 14 points and freshman Derrick Byars had 11.

Neither junior guard Majestic Mapp nor sophomore Devin Smith played in the contest. Both were dressed but are still nursing knee injuries.

Virginia's four walk-ons Greg Harrell-Edge, Rob Williams, Billy Campbell and Robert Lodge all played significant minutes in the game with Lodge scoring eight points for the White team.

Virginia will open its two-game exhibition season on Nov. 10 against the Big Apple stars.


 

 

 

Streaking Cavaliers are lucky and good
 By JOHN GALINSKY / Daily Progress staff writer
Oct 20, 2002

 
If Virginia's current six-game winning streak has been a mixture of good fortune, good attitude and good play, then no one embodied those characteristics better than Almondo "Muffin" Curry on one play during Saturday's 37-27 victory over North Carolina.

With the Cavaliers trailing 21-7 early in the third quarter, UNC receiver Sam Aiken caught a third-down pass near UVa's goal line. Aiken pushed Curry, a junior cornerback, before the reception, drawing an offensive pass-interference flag. So even if Aiken scored, the touchdown would have been called back.

Still, Curry didn't give up on the play. He wanted to cause a turnover.

Good attitude.

"I was thinking, receivers usually don't protect the ball very well. I can get it," Curry said. "He was running a little wiggly, not really wrapping [the ball] up. I went for it when I made the tackle."

Curry was wearing a cast on his right hand, but he knocked the ball free with his left. Then he leaped on the ball, securing it with his cast for his third fumble recovery of the season.

Good play.

"That's Muffin - he always comes up with the ball," said linebacker Merrill Robertson. "He does that all the time in practice, too. He's just a player, man. He makes big plays."

The remarkable part of the play was what happened to the ball after Curry punched it out of Aiken's grasp. Both players were a foot from the sideline and Curry knocked it in that direction. But rather than roll out of bounds, the ball landed on its nose and stuck in the grass.

Good fortune.

"The tip of the ball was an inch from the sideline," Curry said. "That changed the whole game."

Had the ball gone out of bounds, North Carolina would have retained possession and probably kicked a field goal. Instead, the Cavaliers took over at the 2-yard line and marched 98 yards for a touchdown. They ended up scoring 37 straight points after trailing 21-0 at the half, the second-biggest comeback in school history.

"I'm not the first guy that says the ball takes funny bounces," UVa coach Al Groh said of Curry's fumble recovery. "Sometimes the ball bounces to you and sometimes the ball bounces away."

These days, the Cavaliers (6-2, 4-1 ACC) are getting a lot of good bounces, especially in the second half of games. They have outscored their opponents after intermission in every game this season, which has resulted in four comebacks from halftime deficits.

But Virginia also is creating its own breaks by maintaining a positive attitude and playing better from behind. Including a rally from 17 points down against Wake Forest, UVa now has produced two of its three biggest ACC comebacks within a span of four weeks.

The Cavaliers will go for their seventh straight victory Saturday at Georgia Tech (4-3, 1-3 ACC).

"We never give up," said receiver Ottowa Anderson, whose 35-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter gave the Cavaliers a 28-21 lead. "Even when we're down, there's no one on this team who doesn't believe we're going to win. We keep doing it because we believe we're going to do it."

 

 

Tech, U.Va. football fans are genteel

The Virginian-Pilot
© October 21, 2002

The release of the Bowl Championship Series rankings later today ratchets up the level of interest in big-time college football, especially at a few select schools like Virginia Tech, where national title hopes thrive.

That’s good for the Hokies and for football fanatics, including the magpies at ESPN. Fans of the chosen sit back and enjoy the fruits of the computerized formula, while the self-proclaimed experts chew the fat ad nauseam.

For the rest of us, it’s not necessary, much less recommended, that one tries to understand how the BCS works. It’s voodoo, after all. At its heart, it is not so much a formula for determining who deserves to play for the national title, but a hyping tool, one of many employed for the purpose of getting fans worked up over the thought of watching other people’s children play a game.

So ratcheting up the games is as inevitable as it is profitable for schools and TV networks. Sometimes, though, it might be a good idea to ratchet down the game.

Thoughts remain on what happened to Florida State kicker Xavier Beitia, who was abused last weekend for missing the 43-yard field goal that would have beaten No. 1-ranked Miami.

Happy Miami fans taunted him. Angry Florida State fans awarded him a dubious achievement award, the one that goes to Seminoles’ kickers who commit the unpardonable sin of missing a last-second field goal against Miami.

The discussion last week centered on whether kicking a 19-year-old kicker when he’s down is tantamount to emotional abuse. But widen the discussion to include big-time college football as a whole, and the response to Beitia’s miss says less about his kicking ability than the mentality of the extreme fan.

Dan Mowrey, a former FSU fall guy who 10 years ago went through what Beitia is now after kicking wide right against Miami, said last week, “You know what it’s like to have some fat guy sitting on a couch, a guy who can’t kick a ball five feet, tell me I suck?”

Here’s the thing, though: When college football is ratcheted up like it is in Florida, the out-of-whack guys on the couch set the emotional agenda for a sport that features, if you’ll pardon the expression, college students.

But that’s just Florida, right? Guess again. After his Longhorns lost once more to Oklahoma, does Texas quarterback Chris Simms dare open his e-mail?

And what about Nebraska? What Cornhuskers fans are saying about coach Frank Solich would peel the paint off the walls of a silo.

Obnoxious, impatient, insufferable boosters are as plentiful as those foam-rubber No. 1 fingers. The programs that invest millions in the sport couldn’t thrive without the jerks on the couch, sad to say.

Though it’s hard to prove (or disprove), I’ve always thought the commonwealth of Virginia took a healthier approach to football than most states. Not as a result of a conscious effort. But because, perhaps, of the population’s traditional reticence in all areas of life, combined with the fact that Virginia Tech and U.Va. only relatively recently garnered national attention.

Football isn’t religion in Virginia like it is some places. Or am I behind the times? I don’t think so. Tech fans may be more strident than ever, but Hokies football isn’t yet a state-wide obsession.

As for U.Va., the Cavaliers’ fans enjoyment of a winner runs smack up against their trademark reserve. It’s hard to cheer too loudly or complain excessively while wearing a bow tie.

Not that the media or athletic directors don’t hear, via phone or e-mail, from Tech and U.Va. ranters. I’d just like to think the Hokies and Cavaliers have fewer than Florida’s big football factories.

Don’t tell me I’m wrong. With college sports these days, it’s getting harder to believe in something.

 

 

Thumb down for Durant
UNC QB Darian Durant is out for the rest of the regular season with a broken bone in his right thumb
By BARRY SVRLUGA, Staff Writer

North Carolina quarterback Darian Durant, who was on pace to break nearly every single-season passing record for the Tar Heels, is out for the remainder of the regular season with a broken bone in his right thumb.

Durant, a redshirt sophomore, suffered the injury in the third quarter of Saturday's 37-27 loss at Virginia. He returned to the game, but the injury was too painful for him to stay. He had X-rays taken Sunday morning that revealed the fracture, which resulted from a tendon pulling a piece of bone off the back of his thumb.

"He was in a position where he couldn't extend his thumb out," said Dan Hooker, UNC's head athletic trainer for football.

Durant will have surgery this morning, and the recovery will take "at least six weeks, possibly longer," Hooker said. The Tar Heels (2-5, 0-3 ACC) have just five games remaining, and they would have to win four of those five to be eligible for a bowl bid.

Durant will be replaced by junior C.J. Stephens, a 6-foot-3, 216-pound transfer from Florida who battled with Durant for the starting job in preseason training camp.

Stephens has never started a college game and has appeared in just three contests for the Tar Heels, completing 14 of 30 passes for 189 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

"If Darian's hurt, I'll be ready," Stephens said Saturday. "You don't want anyone to get hurt, but this is why you practice and prepare the way we do."

Even after Durant beat him out for the starting job, Stephens worked with the first team some in practice each week.

"C.J., he's got all the tools, and now it's time to play," UNC coach John Bunting said. "I think he'll enjoy this challenge."

Durant's injury comes with the Heels on a two-game losing streak headed into Saturday's game at Wake Forest. Before he was injured -- Durant said Saturday he thinks he hit his hand on another player's helmet -- he had completed 14 of 18 throws for 226 yards and three touchdowns against Virginia.

In seven games this season, Durant was 126 of 213 for 1,861 yards and 15 touchdowns with eight interceptions. He was on pace to break UNC single-season records for completions, attempts, passing yards and touchdown passes. In just 18 regular- season games he has thrown for 32 touchdowns, just three shy of Chris Keldorf's school mark of 35 for a career. Durant also led the ACC in passing yards per game (265.9) and total offense (285.9) this season.

"It's hard to beat what he's done, with the exception of a few plays at the beginning of the year," Bunting said. "He's been exceptional."

Hooker said Durant shouldn't have any lingering problems from the injury once it heals. He will wear a splint for two or three weeks.

"For next year, he's going to be fine," Hooker said.

Bunting was told Durant was lost for the season at his 2:15 p.m. Sunday staff meeting, and later relayed the news to the team. He had not met privately with either Durant or Stephens early Sunday evening. But he said he would refuse to let the injury bring down a team that was already struggling.

"I'm ready to fight even harder now," he said.

Bunting pointed out that, when he was an assistant coach with the NFL's St. Louis Rams in 1999 the team's starting quarterback, Trent Green, went down with an injury in the preseason. The team rallied behind the backup, Kurt Warner, and won the Super Bowl.

Also Saturday, defensive end Will Chapman broke his right wrist. He will be re-evaluated today.

"Hey, we've got to go on," Bunting said. "C.J. Stephens has got to play. I think he can play. We're all going to rally around him."

 

 

Nothing comes easy for Cavs So what is it that prevents Virginia from doing things the easy way?


Published October 21, 2002

The Cavaliers could have started better Saturday against North Carolina, making what turned out to be the second-best comeback in school history unnecessary. Then again, that would have been boring.

"It's fun this way," tailback Alvin Pearman smiled. "We like to keep it fun."

But there's a flip side, and that's the danger of living dangerously. Virginia's offense hasn't scored a first-half touchdown since an Oct. 5 victory over Duke. In their last two victories - 22-17 over Clemson on Oct. 12 and 37-27 over North Carolina- the Cavaliers have combined for 216 yards, 13 first downs and six points in the first half. And 495 yards, 30 first downs and 53 points after halftime.

Interesting numbers. But Virginia coach Al Groh says that's all they are.

"I don't look at it as halves," he said. "I look at it - and I think the team does, too - that the game lasts for 60 minutes and we're going to play the whole 60 minutes.

"I mean, I can understand the fascination with it. But this is a much bigger issue with a lot of other people than it is with me. And with the team, there's no cry of, 'It's the second half.' "
 

 

 

UNC Monday Morning QB

 
By NEIL AMATO : The Herald-Sun
namato@heraldsun.com
Oct 20, 2002 : 11:24 pm ET

REWIND

Virginia scored 37 second-half points — the most allowed by the Tar Heels in a half in school history— to win 37-27 in Charlottesville. UNC, which led 21-0 at halftime, outgained the Cavaliers 451-423 but was shut out in the second half until 61 seconds remained.

COMMENTARY

John Bunting could only chuckle when he went for takeout at his favorite Chinese restaurant Saturday night. He was hours removed from watching his team blow a three-touchdown lead at Virginia, and the restaurant owner thought it was awful that he had to give Bunting his change in one-dollar bills.

"I told him that was the least of my problems," Bunting said Sunday. "That was before I came to work this morning."

In the morning, Bunting woke up to the realization that he’s stuck with this defense for the rest of the season. It’s reality, not some cruel nightmare, that the former linebacker is in charge of a team that can’t stop anybody, even it looks like it can for a half.

A few hours later, Bunting became more aware of how bad it can get in his second season. Quarterback Darian Durant is out for the season with a broken thumb, meaning the Tar Heels’ dependable offense becomes an unknown quantity. Sure, Sam Aiken and the receivers still are there, Jeb Terry and others still are blocking, but no one knows what backup C.J. Stephens can do as the starter.

Stephens hasn’t played poorly when he’s been in the game, though the opponents were in prevent defenses most of the time. Stephens, a transfer from Florida, hasn’t been the starter since his senior season at Buchholz High in Gainesville, Fla., in the fall of 1998.

Even if Stephens can lead the offense to, say, 28 points a game, that may not be enough for the Tar Heels to win another game. UNC has given up 34 or more points four times in the past five games and ranks near the bottom of Division I-A in rushing defense.

Wake Forest, which had 522 yards in a loss Saturday to Clemson, must be salivating.

Bunting said Sunday that the only way Durant plays again this year is if UNC makes it to a bowl game. Bowl game? Right now, the Tar Heels are hoping to win a game.

NOTES

In addition to Durant’s injury, the Tar Heels suffered two injuries to regulars on defense. Starting defensive end Will Chapman suffered a broken wrist against Virginia and will be evaluated further today. Also, reserve linebacker Clay Roberson dislocated his right thumb, and offensive lineman Willie McNeill suffered a concussion. ? Stephens was 9 of 15 for 103 yards, a touchdown and an interception against the Cavaliers. ??Bunting said now that freshman tailback Mahlon Carey was not being redshirted that he would be a regular in the lineup, even when starter Jacque Lewis returns from the bruised calf he suffered against N.C. State. Lewis played only on special teams against Virginia.