VIRGINIA FOOTBALL
Groh runs through options

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   CHARLOTTESVILLE - An injury to ACC rushing leader Wali Lundy has caused Virginia football coach Al Groh to evaluate contingency plans, including the use of redshirt candidate Michael Johnson.

    Johnson, a sophomore who was rated the No.3 tailback in the country before his senior year at Heritage High School in Newport News, has not played in the Cavaliers' first six games.

    "That's always an option," said Groh, whose Cavaliers (4-2, 3-1) host Florida State (5-1, 4-0) at 7:45 p.m. Saturday in a game that will be televised by ESPN. "We'll always play the guys who give us the best chance to win.

    "I don't have any fear about it because I'm looking for the time when Mike Johnson is playing on a full-time basis. If that comes sooner rather than later, I'm sure that will be a positive for the team. If it's not necessary to do this year, then it would also be a positive in the long term for both Michael and us."

    Alvin Pearman, a junior with more than 230 career carries, took over when Lundy was helped from the field in the third quarter Saturday. Pearman scored the tying touchdown with 57 seconds left in regulation of a game Clemson won 30-27 in overtime.

    "I'd say we have 2 1/2 tailbacks prepared to play - Pearman, [Brandon] Isaiah's been training there, and Mike Johnson's available should we plan to use him," Groh said. "It's [the Lundy injury] not going to affect our preparations at all. We're going to go about business the normal way."

    Groh did not include Marquis Weeks, who has not traveled to the last two games because of a knee injury. However, Weeks was walking without the trace of a limp Monday.

    "It's been real hard listening to the games on the radio," Weeks said. "I thought I would be back for Clemson, but I'm definitely farther along now than if I had tried to go Saturday."

    Moreover, Groh did not rule out the possibility that Lundy could be in uniform.

    "Up until last week, for three or four games, he was averaging about 25 carries a week," Groh said. "There's a lot of running backs, who when they carry the ball that much, don't get full reps the week before in practice. They don't practice Monday. They don't practice Thursday. They take a few less reps Tuesday and Wednesday.

    "He's [Lundy] getting a lot of reps against competition every week. The biggest difference is not in running the ball, it's in pass protection. The protection scheme might not change, but the blitzes that teams run are different. That's mostly what they have to learn from week to week."

    UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Coach Al Groh, who said Sunday that he did not believe in sending film clips to the ACC office, said he might make an exception for a third-quarter UVa punt on which a Clemson player or players made contact with Cavaliers punter Tom Hagan. Groh is curious why there was no flag.

    Hagan's 30-yard punt left Clemson with possession at its 43-yard line. The Tigers needed only three plays to score the touchdown that made it 17-10. It was one of five punts of 32 yards or fewer by Hagan, who has fallen to last in the ACC at 35.8 yards per punt, although only seven of his 33 punts have been returned.

    UVa punted three times in Tigers territory "and could have created a tremendously long field for Clemson," Groh said. "We were not as effective in doing that as we had been in the past. I'm more disappointed in those than I am some of the longer-range ones."

    BOOMING 'EM: Junior Kurt Smith, replaced as UVa's place-kicker late in the 2002 season, has kicked off 12 times in the past two games and had eight result in touchbacks. Smith has had more kickoffs result in touchbacks in six games this year (18) than he did in 14 games last year (17).

    "His duties are pretty much limited to being the kickoff man, whether it's onsides kicks or ball location, which he's improved significantly," Groh said. "I don't think there's anybody on the team doing a better job with their responsibilities than Kurt is."

    MILESTONES: Sophomore Heath Miller tied an ACC record for career touchdown receptions by a tight end when he caught an 11-yard pass from Matt Schaub in the third quarter Saturday. Miller's 12th touchdown reception, coming in his 20th game, tied him with ex-Cavaliers Ed Carrington and Bruce McGonnigal, as well as former Clemson tight end John McMakin.

    ODDS 'N' ENDS: Another former UVa tight end, Bobby Neely, will play the part of an athlete accused of rape in a "Judging Amy" episode that will air at 10 tonight. It parallels the case involving basketball star Kobe Bryant. ... Another ex-Cavalier, Sharif Rosales-Webb, has acted in commercials. Rosales-Webb did not letter at UVa, but Neely is a former starter.

Weaver says BCA reneged on season-opening game for Tech
AD blames BCA for LSU delay

The need for a seventh home game in 2004 pushes Tech's trip to Baton Rouge back to 2007.

By RANDY KING
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Virginia Tech officially announced Monday that its football team won't be traveling to Louisiana State next season.

    Don't blame him, Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said Monday.

    Weaver said anyone wanting to point fingers at who's the culprit for the Hokies being forced to push back their trip to LSU from next Sept.4 to the 2007 season should look at the hierarchy that runs the Black Coaches Association Classic.

    "The BCA, I don't know what they want," Weaver said. "This has been the most frustrating process of my professional life."

    When BCA officials began to renege last spring on a deal that ESPN made two years ago for Tech to face East Carolina in next year's BCA Classic in Blacksburg, Weaver said he was left with no choice but to ask LSU officials to waylay the Hokies' visit to Baton Rouge until 2007 because of budget concerns. No BCA game next year meant that Tech would be left with six home games instead of seven, a move that would rob the athletic department of approximately $1 million that already had been budgeted.

    "East Carolina and us both got a letter from ESPN in July 2001 saying we would host the 2004 BCA game," Weaver said. "That was part of the agreement we had with ESPN when it approached us about the LSU series because we had to give up two games with ECU to work that out."

    In an attempt to appease BCA officials, Weaver said the Hokies offered to go to Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State in order to remain a participant in the preseason game. Tech would have earned $1 million for any of the aforementioned trips.

    "It was going to be a tough way to start the season since we were scheduled to go LSU the next week, but we offered to do it," Weaver said. "Frank [Beamer, Tech coach] and I talked about it. We offered to do that and it has not worked.

    "I think the BCA has a conflict with ESPN. The BCA has a new executive director [Floyd Keith], and he didn't like the fact that ESPN had made a commitment on behalf of his organization. I've been working since last spring to get the BCA game in place and it does not work."

    Keith could not be reached for comment Monday.

    "At some point, you have to pull the trigger in order to give the other team [LSU] a chance to replace our game and for us to find another opponent," Weaver said. "So that's what we've done. The only way I can make the budget is with seven home games. And the only nonconference game I'm on the road in '04 is LSU. That said, my only option was to push the LSU game back and have a seventh home game."

    Who will be the opposition for that contest? Count on it being an I-AA opponent.

    "I've already checked with every I-A team that goes to Hawaii next year, because when you go to Hawaii you're allowed an extra game in that year," Weaver said. "Every one of them, and I know the ADs, are all filled. I checked with San Jose State, Nevada, Tulsa and SMU.

    "The only I-A team I know of that has an opening wants a 2-for-1, and I can't do that. I've got to have a one-shot deal. It's real tough. That's why a decision had to be made because LSU or Virginia Tech can't wait any longer."

    Weaver said anyone harboring a perception that Tech is trying to dodge playing quality competition is totally uninformed.

    "In order to show the LSU people good faith, I agreed to elevate the buyout from $250,000 to $350,000," he said. "That shows we're going to go there, we're not going to buy out of it.

    "That's not our style. Hell, we've just added Texas A&M, we added North Carolina and N.C. State, which now are in our conference [the ACC, which Tech enters next season]. We've added Wisconsin, Auburn, Illinois and Ohio State, and we were already playing Virginia. I don't think we're afraid of playing anybody."

    Weaver said he has been flooded with e-mail messages from angry Tech fans since Thursday, when a report on The Roanoke Times' Web site strongly indicated the LSU game would be pushed back.

    "I can't worry about the fans," Weaver said. "I've got to worry about the fiscal responsibility of this department first."

Eagles expect backlash from rest of Big East
By RANDY KING
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Second-ranked Miami and No.3 Virginia Tech may have lost their status as the co-No.1 public enemies in the declining Big East football neighborhood. Certainly, a convincing argument could be made that Boston College has claimed sole possession of the crown.
In a decision that appears to have painted it as an even more villainous character than summer defectors Miami and Tech, Boston College followed the lead of the Hurricanes and Hokies and quickly accepted an invitation Sunday to flee to the ACC.

After being left out in the ACC's first wave of expansion, BC gave indications it would reunite with its longtime Big East family, but that changed when the ACC came knocking again.

BC becomes the 12th member the ACC so coveted. By adding only Miami and Tech, the league was left with 11 schools, one short of the number necessary to conduct a lucrative conference championship football game.

Four Big East schools have sued Miami for leaving the Big East to join the ACC. A Connecticut judge dropped the ACC as a defendant in that lawsuit on Friday.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Boston College, its athletic director and four ACC officials - Commissioner John Swofford, President Carolyn Callahan, Vice President Donn Ward and Treasurer Cecil Huey - have been named as defendants in another suit to be filed today in Vernon (Conn.) Superior Court.

"Our claim is that Boston College is part of a continued conspiracy to weaken and destroy the Big East as a competitor for broadcast revenue and other rights," Blumenthal said.

The Eagles' estimated time of arrival in the ACC is yet to be determined.

Eagles coach Tom O'Brien said he expects his team to face a lot of backlash inside the Big East.

"My main concern is how the games are going to be officiated," O'Brien said Monday on the Big East coaches weekly teleconference. "Then there's the business that goes on with fans, I'm sure they'll take precautions that we won't get things thrown at us like we had earlier this year when we played down at Connecticut [which joins the Big East in football next year]."

Tech coach Frank Beamer said he thought the addition of BC was right for the ACC.

"I would suspect you needed a 12th team to get the playoff, and the playoff financially will mean a lot," Beamer said. "Boston College is certainly an excellent football program, an excellent school."

Beamer couldn't help but feel some compassion for the Big East, a league so instrumental in his program's rise to prominence.

"Whatever happens here, I hope the people in the Big East are going to be OK, I really mean that," Beamer said.

 

Big East schools authorize lawsuit against BC, ACC
By MATT APUZZO : Associated Press Writer
Oct 13, 2003 : 9:07 pm ET

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Officials from four Big East football schools approved a lawsuit Monday against Boston College, its athletic director and four Atlantic Coast Conference officials, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.

The suit, to be filed Tuesday in Vernon Superior Court, alleges that the ACC and Boston College conspired to weaken the Big East. Boston College announced Sunday that it would follow the University of Miami and Virginia Tech, which are leaving the Big East to join the ACC.

"We just got off a conference call," Blumenthal said early Monday evening. "All the presidents have authorized this lawsuit."

The suit names Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo, ACC Commissioner John Swofford, ACC President Carolyn Callahan, ACC Vice President Donn Ward and ACC Treasurer Cecil Huey, Blumenthal said.

Connecticut, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and West Virginia already are suing Miami. A judge last week threw out a case against the ACC on jurisdictional grounds.

"I suspect the same will happen to those of us who, by virtue of our rotation, happen to be officers," Ward said. "And I suspect the people of Connecticut want their attorney general to chase far more important issues."

The case against the ACC was thrown out because attorneys could not prove the conference did enough business in Connecticut to warrant a state suit. By suing the conference directors as individuals, Big East schools hope they can get around the jurisdiction issue.

"We are not required to show they are transacting business," Blumenthal said. "If they have violated the law and have damaged Connecticut or its citizens, they can be sued."

Messages seeking comment were left at the homes and offices of the other school and conference officials. Hugh Keefe, an attorney who represented the ACC, did not return a page.

Miami and Virginia Tech will join the ACC next year. Boston College may not change conferences until 2006.

The suit makes several tort claims, including unfair trade practices, civil conspiracy and breach of contract, Blumenthal said. As in the suit against Miami, the Big East schools seek unspecified damages.

The suit singles out DeFilippo for allegedly using his role as a conference director with Big East to manipulate discussions between BC, Miami and the ACC, Blumenthal said.

"One of the key reasons that BC and DeFilippo were able to engage in this secret scheme with Miami and the ACC is that they had access to sensitive and confidential information from the Big East and its member schools," Blumenthal said.

He said Boston College's defection strengthened the case.

"The more we learn, the more appalled and astonished we are by the depth and breadth of the illegality," Blumenthal said.

 

Schaub's Statue of Limitations
Cavs' Heisman Hopeful Playing Well, but Missed Games Hurt
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page D03

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Oct. 13 -- This was supposed to be the week Virginia quarterback Matt Schaub got a big push for the Heisman Trophy.

Saturday night, the Cavaliers will host No. 7 Florida State, the king of ACC football, in a game televised nationally on ESPN. A game that carries with it the opportunity to tie the Seminoles for first place in the conference.

When Virginia's newly formed, eight-person Heisman campaign committee met this summer to toss around promotional ideas, this was the week they circled in red ink as an opportunity to tout Schaub, a fifth-year senior and the reigning ACC player of the year, as a candidate for college football's top honor.

That was the plan.

Then Schaub separated his throwing shoulder on the season's 14th play. He missed the rest of the opener and the next two games. Since returning Sept. 27 against Wake Forest, he has regained his place among the conference's best quarterbacks, but he trails the national leaders by wide margins in the counting stats -- passing yards, touchdown passes -- that so enrapture Heisman voters.

And so Virginia will wait until next Tuesday to send Schaub postcards to media members throughout the country, giving him the chance to boost his national profile with a star outing against the Seminoles. If he and the Cavaliers -- who have bounced into and out of the top 25 twice this season -- can draw more attention with their play on the field, the promotional tools are in place to ratchet up the Heisman campaign as well.

"I said last year that I thought there probably was no player in the country who was any more valuable to what his team achieved than Matt Schaub was last year," Cavaliers Coach Al Groh said. "And in [three games] of his senior season, he's certainly lived up to that. So if that's a criteria, he'll be as good a player as whoever wins it, I know that."

Schaub, who has completed 72 percent of his passes for 965 yards and six touchdowns, already has gone through a few rounds of promotions. In the spring he spent half a day posing in a tuxedo for the photo that adorns the cover of the Cavaliers' media guide. A summer evening went to shooting one of the television commercials Virginia put together to promote the program in general. And earlier this season, he agreed to allow a writer from USA Today follow him around for a day.

"Just being part of it's enjoyable," said Schaub, who usually spends a half hour each Tuesday speaking via phone with out-of-town reporters. "None of it's a hassle. It's all stuff that you only go through once in your life if you're fortunate enough to do it. I'm definitely willing and able to go through it."

Schaub's relatively light load of graduate school classes -- he earned his undergraduate economics degree in May -- also helps him accommodate most requests for his time.

"He's been very good about any kind of interviews or anything we need him to do," said Cathy Bongiovi, the assistant media relations director coordinating the campaign.

This morning his public relations duties included the first live chat on his promotional Web site, schaub4heisman.com. Fans sent in more than 85 questions, Bongiovi said, and Schaub answered 15 or 20 of them in the half-hour session. In the first week after its July launch, 10,000 users visited the site, which also features biographical information, stats and photos from Schaub's childhood.

Yet as accommodating as he's been, Schaub doesn't think much about winning postseason awards.

"Truthfully, I don't remember him [mentioning] it one time," wide receiver Ottowa Anderson said. "He talked about . . . all the stuff around it -- the pictures he had to take and all -- but he's never really talked about [the Heisman] being what he wants to get. His goal was just like everybody else: to win the ACC this year."

It's easy to focus on team goals when you're ranked 78th in the nation in passing yards, making Schaub among the darkest of dark horses in the Heisman race.

"You got to win games and play well and then those type of things can come about," he said. "But it's been a good experience. It's a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing."
 

Syracuse Tries to Look Ahead
By Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page D04

Two weeks ago, Syracuse Chancellor Kenneth Shaw believed the Big East -- which had lost Miami and Virginia Tech -- was going to reshape itself and survive. Boston College President William Leahy had met with the remaining Big East presidents, and had pledged, Shaw said, to move forward.

Sunday, though, Boston College accepted an invitation to join the ACC, completing that conference at 12 teams, and leaving the Big East scrambling once again.

"I think that's the biggest disappointment," Shaw said in a telephone interview yesterday. "Because I felt, and I continue to feel, that we had made substantial progress toward reshaping our league. We were weeks -- maybe, at most, a month and a half -- away from making an announcement [about a new format]. Now we have to push forward again."

Perhaps more than any other school, Syracuse has been rocked by the ACC's expansion process. The Orangemen -- along with Miami and BC -- were originally pursued when the ACC's expansion desires became public in April. ACC officials visited Syracuse in May and an invitation seemed likely.

But the Orangemen were left out twice, in essence swapped for Virginia Tech, which will join in 2004, along with Miami. Syracuse officials, most notably Shaw and Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel, felt betrayed.

"Boston College leaving is more disappointing than being left out the first time," Shaw said. "I think there were some of us who felt that they had been eager to move on long before anything was offered. But probably the first time they stated anything like that was 10 days ago. That hurt, because it stopped our progress."

Crouthamel said he had been assured by ACC Commissioner John Swofford that the ACC would pursue changes in NCAA legislation that would allow the ACC, with 11 teams, to stage a conference championship football game. The NCAA mandates that a league have 12 members to hold such a game, which the ACC deems important for generating revenue.

Crouthamel said yesterday he took Swofford's remarks to mean the ACC would abandon the pursuit of another Big East team. But in announcing the addition of BC, Swofford said the ACC would continue to pursue the change. "We're going to see it through to the end," ACC spokesman Brian Morrison said. "We just feel it's important to college athletics."

It's likely BC won't join until 2005, leaving the ACC with 11 members next year. Should the change in legislation fail, ACC presidents and chancellors have approved a championship game when BC joins.

The feelings at Syracuse run deeper than Swofford's conversation with Crouthamel. Even in the spring, the Orangemen seemed reluctant to join the ACC, driven more by following Miami.

Yesterday, Crouthamel charged that taking BC shows the ACC was after more than just Miami's nationally prominent football program.

"It would appear that there is another motive," Crouthamel said. "That motive seems very apparent to me to be one of destroy."

The future of the BCS -- which has a TV contract with ABC through the 2005 season -- will be determined in the next 18 months. A weakened Big East -- with Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia thrust into position as the marquee programs -- may not have an automatic entrée into a new format. The Big East had planned to pursue Louisville and Cincinnati as football-playing members, sources said, but Boston College's departure leaves another spot. That could go to Central Florida or South Florida.

Shaw and the other Big East chief executives will meet with Commissioner Mike Tranghese Nov. 4 in Philadelphia.

There are, however, still issues to be dealt with this season -- and possibly next. BC will play Saturday at Syracuse.

"I'm going to be honest: The whole scenario for me was uncomfortable from the beginning, even when we actually were [pursued]," Syracuse Coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "In my heart, from an integrity standpoint, I wasn't convinced it was the right thing to do, considering we were in a league and had made those commitments."
 

Lundy May Be Out
Foot Injury Could Keep Lundy Out
Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page D04

A foot injury might keep Virginia starting tailback Wali Lundy out of Saturday's game against seventh-ranked Florida State.

But junior reserve Marquis Weeks likely will return from a knee injury, giving Alvin Pearman at least one other tailback to help carry the rushing load. The Cavaliers had to rely solely on Pearman once Lundy, the ACC's leading rusher, went down with a foot sprain early in the second half last Saturday at Clemson.

Sophomore Michael Johnson, whom Virginia hopes to redshirt this season, began warming up on an exercise bike in case he was needed. He wasn't, and he likely won't be against the Seminoles.

"I'm definitely playing," said Weeks, who practiced twice last week but discovered his knee wasn't fully healthy yet. "I'll spare Mike."

Coach Al Groh, who declined to specifically address Lundy's injury, noted that fullback Brandon Isaiah also could play tailback in an emergency. . . .

Junior inside linebacker Rich Bedesem should be "zipping around pretty much like normal" against FSU, Groh said, after playing only a few goal-line snaps at Clemson in his first game back from a knee injury. Redshirt freshman Kai Parham started his second straight game in Bedesem's place and made 14 tackles.

"We'll probably be back in a three-man rotation like we've had in the past," Groh said. "Obviously, Kai has earned more playing time. He played very well the other day."

Freshman Ahmad Brooks (Hylton) has started all six games at the other inside linebacker spot. He is tied for first among the nation's freshmen with 47 tackles this season, including 11 on Saturday.
 

This move may not be so appealing after all
By Mark Blaudschun, Globe Columnist, 10/13/2003

Boston College in the Big East . . . R.I.P. BC yesterday got what it has wanted for the last year when the invitation came from the Atlantic Coast Conference to become the 12th member of a proud and prestigious league.

The Eagles were all smiles as they announced their marriage with the ACC, after a courtship that turned sour last spring when the ACC backed out. But Ben and J. Lo still are together after their "the wedding is off" scene a few weeks ago, so why not these two?

Well, maybe the Eagles should have been more careful of what they asked for. As attractive as many elements of joining the ACC may be, particularly in the academic community, there are more than a few things on the athletic side that after first blush might not be quite so appealing.

Let's start with the football issue. BC coach Tom O'Brien was matter-of-fact yesterday when he talked about the possibility of the Eagles joining the ACC. "We'll play where they tell us, and against the teams they tell us to play," said O'Brien, who like everyone else at The Heights had made no secret of wanting to stay as close to Miami as possible.

But being close to Miami is not necessarily a good thing athletically. Miami is the No. 2 football team in the country this morning, Virginia Tech is No. 3. Between them, they have won nine of the 12 Big East football crowns (those two and Syracuse tied in 1996).

Both are headed to the ACC, which leaves the Big East and its BCS title slot for the next two years (and probably the next eight) without its two most powerful teams.

The Big East will readjust; and for BC, which probably will play one more season in the league, a new era has begun.

But why wouldn't BC want to compete in the Big East, where it has a legitimate chance to earn a BCS slot every year? Why join the ACC and have to fight for a bowl berth with 11 other teams, with almost all of them even or better than the Eagles?

Why go from being a big fish in a pond you have lived in all your life to a smaller fish in a pond where you are not even sure of the depth?

And that's not only in football. The other sports also pose new challenges.

Basketball will be a struggle, with Duke, North Carolina, and Maryland the primary ACC sharks. But with Big East expansion plans including Cincinnati, Marquette, and Louisville, and with the league having such strong members as Syracuse, UConn, and Pittsburgh already, that's a push at best.

And what about the non-revenue sports? BC will have to increase its budget significantly for the added travel and to become competitive in sports such as baseball, where teams such as Miami and Florida State are among the elite in the country.

And then there are the natural rivals O'Brien talks about wanting to play. Does BC-Maryland grab you? Or BC-Clemson?

Those are all issues that will have to be worked out, and Eagles athletic director Gene DeFilippo no doubt will do a fine job and put the best possible spin on it.

DeFilippo said yesterday he wants to do what is right for BC and for the Big East.

"We'll work this out so it's the best it can possibly be for everybody," said DeFilippo, who is well aware a lawsuit may be filed by the remaining Big East schools against the Eagles, just as a suit was filed against Miami.

But here's the bottom line: Whatever BC does, it always will be the Northern dinner guest at a party in a Southern household. Its voice will be tolerated but hardly listened to, and the decisions that will be made hardly will take BC's wishes into consideration.

The axis of power still will hover around Tobacco Road. And whether that is a good thing for BC has yet to be determined.

 

Divisional play awaits BC in ACC
Proposed framework set to separate schools
By Mark Blaudschun, Globe Staff, 10/14/2003

With Boston College's decision to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC and Big East yesterday began planning for the future.

Although the Eagles are not likely to switch from the Big East to the ACC before the start of the 2005 football season, a tentative alignment involving 11 teams already had been set up by the ACC, and there was sentiment, according to ACC sources, to drop BC into a slot reserved for a 12th team.

Under that arrangement, BC would join one division with Clemson, Florida State, Wake Forest, Maryland, and North Carolina State, while Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami, and Virginia Tech would be in the other division.

The schools in the same division would play each other, for a total of five games, and one team from the other division would be designated a "permanent rival" for a sixth conference game. Two or three more conference games would be played each year with schools in the other division, on a rotating basis. In the plan, Virginia Tech would be Boston College's permanent rival.

BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo said yesterday he had not heard of any specific divisional plans. "I think they are still working on those," he said. The Big East was working to get another team, or possibly two, in place in its plan for a 16- or 17-team super conference.

The target date of Nov. 4 for getting the new teams in place still seems feasible, as does the plan of extending invitations to Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, and DePaul, with Cincinnati and Louisville also joining the Big East in football.

But with BC's defection, the football league needs a member, and South Florida and Central Florida remain primary targets.

As expected, officials from four Big East football schools approved a lawsuit against BC, DeFilippo, and four ACC officials, Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal said. The suit will be filed today in Vernon Superior Court, and makes several tort claims, including unfair trade practices, civil conspiracy, and breach of contract.

 

Bowden sticks with Rix at QB
FSU coach: 'There's no question on it'
By BRENT KALLESTAD, The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Bobby Bowden was emphatic: Chris Rix is his quarterback, period.

Unlike last year when Rix was benched midway through the season, Bowden made it clear Sunday that his mistake-prone junior quarterback gives the Seminoles their best chance of winning regardless of how many turnovers he makes.

"There's no question on it," Bowden said Sunday.

Rix had four turnovers in the first half of a 22-14 loss to Miami that dropped the Seminoles (5-1, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) from fifth to seventh in The Associated Press poll.

Bowden said Rix's speed and mobility give him a big edge over backups Fabian Walker and Wyatt Sexton. Walker, who started in the Sugar Bowl loss to Georgia and is the No. 2 quarterback, has thrown 23 passes this season and Sexton five.

"What's the difference between our quarterback and anybody that lost yesterday?" asked Bowden, now 11-17 at Florida State against the Hurricanes.

Rix, who completed 20 of 42 passes for 235 yards against Miami, was also sacked three times. He is now 19-8 as a starter at Florida State, including 0-3 against Miami.

Rix has outstanding statistics for the season, with a quarterback efficiency rating of 138.71. He has completed 114 of 191 passes for 1,523 yards and 10 touchdowns with five interceptions.

After a midseason loss to Notre Dame last year when Rix had three turnovers, Bowden benched him in favor of Adrian McPherson, whose career ended four games later after he found himself in the middle of gambling allegations.

Bowden also defended a decision to run Greg Jones three straight times into the middle of Miami's line in an aborted scoring drive midway through the fourth quarter. Jones hadn't gained more than 3 yards on a single carry all day and finished with 15 yards on 13 attempts.

Bowden said that Miami's secondary was just too good to risk a pass into the end zone at that stage of the game.

Rix has had little luck playing in rainy conditions like those in Saturday's game. He was 14-for-33 for 173 yards and threw an interception in overtime that set up a game-winning touchdown by Louisville under similar playing conditions a year ago.

"We had a plan," Bowden said. "The plan was based on normal conditions."

While Bowden lamented the drizzly conditions, which negated some offense options, he didn't criticize school officials responsible for a playing surface he had described a day earlier as the worst he had ever seen.

"I've never seen the field like that as long as we've been here," Bowden said Sunday, noting that the drainage plan "didn't work."

The offensive line also remains a concern for Florida State. Guard Bobby Meeks continues to suffer from asthma, leaving him questionable, and his backup, Eric Broe, could be out for the season.

Bowden, now in his 28th season at Florida State, also missed a chance to tie Penn State's Joe Paterno with the most career wins in Division I-A at 338.

Florida State returns to ACC action, playing at Virginia on Saturday.


 

Bowden: Do not blame Rix for loss
By Josh Robbins | Sentinel Staff Writer

Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden on Monday told people gathered for his weekly Seminole Boosters luncheon that he believes the news media has been too tough on Seminoles QB Chris Rix, who threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles in a 22-14 loss to the Miami Hurricanes.

"Again, I, [I] guess, complain a little bit about the press that is so intent on finding something wrong, finding some dissension," Bowden said.

"So many of 'em think, 'Oh, you don't lose games. You throw 'em away. Who can we blame it on? We've got to blame in on somebody.'

"And, of course, who usually catches that blame? Usually, the quarterback. Usually, the quarterback. It comes with the territory."

Bowden added that while Rix threw some balls "that got away from him," Rix also made at least one play that could have resulted in a touchdown.

Bowden was referring to FSU's third possession of the second half, when WR Dominic Robinson dropped a pass near Miami's goal line.

Reid to play

Offensive coordinator and receivers coach Jeff Bowden said he intends to make sure that Willie Reid sees more action at receiver from now on. Reid made an acrobatic touchdown catch with 4:51 left in the third quarter against Miami, but he hadn't played a single down before that. Bowden said receivers basically rotate in and out of the game on their own accord.

"We had a rotation for Willie to get in at split end, and he did not get in the game as much as I wanted him to," Bowden said. "They control their rotation, and they know what it is."

Kidding around

The elder Bowden turned in some zingers at his luncheon.

After audience members asked questions that centered around the Miami game, one fan decided to lighten the mood.

He said, "Coach, trying to find the positive with the negative, Tommy [Bowden] had a big win on Saturday," referring to Clemson's 30-27 upset of Virginia in overtime.

"So what?" Bowden responded, pausing for several seconds as the audience erupted in laughter. "All that did was make [wife] Ann [Bowden] happy.

"No, that does help, boy, I'll tell you. Don't think that don't help. When you're in a family and you get beat and that other guy gets beat, boy, there ain't no happiness around our house, I'll tell you that. But that helped a little bit."

Reserve arrested

Reserve RB Ryan Reynolds is facing a charge of fighting in a public place after being allegedly involved in a nightclub brawl, The Associated Press reported. Reynolds was arrested Saturday, hours after FSU lost to Miami. He and three other men, none of them football players, were arrested after police were called to a fight at the Late Night Library, located three blocks from Doak Campbell Stadium.

FSU puts blame on rain, line injuries
By Steve Ellis
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

There was nothing wrong with the game plan. And media and fans are incorrect in placing much of the blame for Florida State's 22-14 loss to Miami on quarterback Chris Rix.

That's what offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden concluded after watching tape of a lackluster offensive effort that has FSU fans questioning decisions by both him and Rix, who committed four turnovers.

"I wouldn't have done one thing different," Bowden said. "We had a great game plan. We had great preparation. ... I don't think there is concern in here that there is outside the program (about Rix). He can't and shouldn't shoulder all that, and you shouldn't allow that to happen. ... He's clearly the best quarterback we have, by far, and our best chance to win."

That Monday-afternoon assessment left soggy conditions and injuries on the offensive line as the main culprits in FSU's first loss of the season - at least from Bowden's viewpoint. The game was played in a downpour and Bowden was without starting offensive linemen David Castillo and Bobby Meeks for much of the game.

"Not to make excuses ... how much bad could happen to you? Well, let's pick this and this, and it all happened and (was) thrust upon us that night," Bowden said. "...You want to have a rainy night, you want to miss a center and guard and you want to give your quarterback a lot of third and (long) - that's ingredients for failure right there."

Bowden, in his third year as FSU's offensive coordinator, said injuries and weather came together to deliver a damaging blow to FSU in the second half with FSU trailing 19-0.

"My point of frustration came first play of the second half," Bowden said.

Miami tackled tailback Leon Washington. His subsequent fumble that was recovered by FSU didn't lead to a turnover. But it did deliver a message to Bowden that it would be difficult carrying out his game plan in the second half. Rix later fumbled on the drive and Miami parlayed it into a field goal and a 22-0 lead.

"I wasn't discouraged at halftime," Bowden said. "... Lining up in the I-formation, we were getting some looks that we wanted to throw the football. Throw or catch, doesn't matter, we weren't quite sharp in the first half.

"So at halftime we said we got to be patient. We cannot give up on running. I wanted to get in another formation that was going to give us some good looks. It was one-back, two tights, two wides and it was a pretty consistent look (against) them going into this ballgame. But you needed to (successfully) run the ball to show you are going to run the ball. We missed two blocks at the point of the attack, and now you're sitting with a second-and-12."

With the exception of a 48-yard pass to Craphonso Thorpe early, FSU was not able to connect for the deep, big plays that looked possible. The running game sloshed to a halt with just 61 yards, the fewest rushing yards by FSU since 1994.

"The weather affected the game plan more than the injuries," Bowden said. "We still spread the field a lot, which most of the time I would have been hesitant to do with two young linemen in there. But I was not going to let that be a reason to hold back on what we did. (The game plan) gave us a chance to make big plays - put more skill out on the field.

"... We had 10-12 pretty good calls we thought were good under these conditions. What I didn't foresee was them allowing us to have that throw out wide. (But) that was the one we couldn't make, and we couldn't allow (Rix) to make after the pick (by Sean Taylor for a touchdown). The ball was too wet. ... We quit trying to make it and basically it shut our passing game to play one-third of the field."

But FSU was unable to consistently succeed underneath with the type of routes that Miami used to give the Seminole defense problems. Rix overlooked a wide open P.K. Sam and instead ran and fumbled the football. To Rix's credit he found players underneath twice early, but Dominic Robinson dropped a pass that was a potential touchdown.

"We had that shorter, inside stuff we had for them," Jeff Bowden said. "We started the third play of the game hitting the tight end. A lot of motion; had a guy coming inside instead of throwing way out there. That's good stuff for the weather."

The only play Bowden would do over was a third-and-2 situation on a late FSU drive trailing 22-7. His father wanted to go with his gut and call a sweep. If used, FSU could have walked in for the touchdown. Instead, the play Jeff called sent Greg Jones into the teeth of Miami's defense. Bowden said Rix's first interception - high over Chris Davis and intercepted by Taylor for his first pick - was not a bad decision but just a wild throw attributed to the weather.

Even before the newest injuries, the lack of contact in practices leading to the Miami game significantly hindered offensive linemen Castillo and Meeks as well as tailbacks Leon Washington and Lorenzo Booker, Jeff Bowden said. Castillo played 23 plays before he had to leave the game with a re-injured foot. Two plays later, Meeks went out with a shoulder injury.

"It really hurt them in that you don't go play a team like Miami without the contact," Bowden said. "David Castillo's and Bobby Meeks' effort and assignments were as good as they could be but they were not effective. They tried as hard as they could.

"We just lost any continuity we had inside. We had troubles at times protecting in (pass) protection. ... And it just threw things out of whack in a lot of ways. I think that's one of the unseen things as you watched. That hurt as much as anything."