1-800-Bowdens: Father, son burning up phone lines
Clemson coach Tommy Bowden shares information on Virginia with dad, Bobby Bowden at FSU.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

A weekly in-season telephone call between Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden and his son Tommy may have involved more business than usual this week
Tommy Bowden is the head coach at Clemson and, for the first time since Florida State joined the ACC in 1992, the Tigers and Seminoles will play Virginia in consecutive weeks.

When asked this week about the restraints the Bowdens observe in situations like that, Bobby Bowden didn't hesitate for a second.

"That's easy to answer," he said. "None."

Clemson upset visiting Virginia 30-27 in overtime last Saturday, and now the Cavaliers (4-2, 3-1 ACC) entertain seventh-ranked Florida State (5-1, 4-0) at 7:45 p.m. in a game that will be televised by ESPN.

"Tommy and I converse continually about who we play and what we see and what we think we can do - stuff like that," the older Bowden said. " But, I've got the film. I can look at the film and see about the same thing.

"There's just not much he can tell me. The only thing he told me was, 'When you check off, they can get your signals.' It's kind of insignificant, but that stands out.

"They're sharp. If you start signaling them, they catch 'em."

UVa defensive tackle Brennan Schmidt rose from his stance on several occasions and signaled to his teammates, although it didn't prevent Clemson from amassing 488 yards - the high against Virginia this season.

The Tigers had a season-high 194 yards on the ground, including a reverse on which wide receiver Derrick Hamilton gained 52 yards on Clemson's third offensive play.

"Coming into the game, Clemson was averaging 2.9 yards per rushing attempt," Groh said. "Discount that one play and what do you think they averaged [3.2]? Unfortunately, no matter how the ball advances, it still counts."

More than 20 percent of Clemson's offense came on two plays, including a 50-yard pass from Charlie Whitehurst to Tony Elliott on which UVa cornerback Jamaine Winborne became disoriented. Aside from a 99-yard touchdown pass by South Carolina, those were the two longest plays allowed by UVa this season.

The Cavaliers are winless in South Carolina, including a 31-7 loss to the Gamecocks, and undefeated outside the Palmetto State.

For the second time in three seasons, both Virginia and Florida State meet following losses. Moreover, both were favored last weekend, with Florida State falling to archrival Miami 22-14.

The conditions and the poor drainage at Doak Campbell Stadium were an issue last Saturday, and UVa coach Al Groh has had his eyes on the weather this week. Temperatures should be in the low 50s at game time tonight at Scott Stadium.

"I start watching [the weather] on Wednesdays every week," Groh said. "It's an issue. If it doesn't affect your game planning, if only to confirm what you've decided to do, then you're not paying attention to all the things that could be a factor."

A factor for Virginia could be the likely absence of ACC rushing leader Wali Lundy, who suffered a sprained ankle against Clemson. His replacement in the starting lineup would be Alvin Pearman, who is sixth in ACC rushing despite slightly more than 10 carries a game.

The availability of junior running back Marquis Weeks, out two weeks with a knee injury, should enable UVa to preserve the redshirt year it has planned for speedster Michael Johnson.

 

Cavs get first visit from big man
Hokies looking at Soroye, others
By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Fridays

Virginia Tech is among the men's basketball programs trying to get a visit out of Tunji Soroye, a 6-11, 205-pound post player from Lagos, Nigeria, who will be making his first official visit of the fall to Virginia this weekend.

Getting the first visit isn't necessarily an advantage for Virginia because Soroye plays for Stu Vetter at Montrose Christian in Kensington, Md. Vetter's players are notorious for not making oral commitments or signing until the spring.

Moreover, Vetter has sent only one player to UVa, Darrick Sims in 1985, despite coaching within approximately 150 miles of Charlottesville for the past 25-30 years.

On the other hand, Virginia clearly has made inroads with Soroye, whose pursuit took UVa assistant Walt Fuller to Greece last summer for the junior world championships.

"He likes Virginia a lot," said David Atkins, the varsity assistant at Montrose Christian. "He understands and appreciates the tradition of the school."

Soroye did not start as a junior at Montrose Christian, when he played behind high-school All-American Linas Kleiza, who signed with Missouri. Soroye is a shot-blocker who is not advanced offensively as another UVa post target, Davis Nwanko from Georgetown Prep in North Bethesda, Md., but may have a greater upside.

"He's really a talent," said a coach from a school that is not involved with Soroye. "If you went and saw him in the gym right now, he might look pretty raw, but he's going to be very good."

Atkins said Soroye will go to Clemson next week. Virginia Tech has invited him to campus; others trying to get involved are Colorado, Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth.

Soroye, fluent in English, scored 1,010 on the Scholastic Assessment Test.

OF THE OTHER players Virginia is recruiting, the Cavaliers no longer are in the running for 6-10 Joakim Noah from The Lawrenceville (N.J.) School. Noah, son of former tennis star Yannick Noah, visited UVa earlier in the fall but has committed to Florida.

Another player who had visited Virginia, 6-8 Kevin Langford from Fort Worth, Texas, no longer became a priority for the Cavaliers after they received a commitment from 6-7 Adrian Joseph from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H.

A new name on the Virginia radar screen is 6-9 Trent Plaisted, a power forward from Clark High School in San Antonio, Texas. Plaisted is rated the No. 168 prospect in the country on the most recent list put out by Prep Stars, which has him considering Fl;orida State, Brigham Young, Stanford and Washington State.

VIRGINIA TECH COACH Seth Greenberg has made inquiries about Drew Crank, a 6-9 post player from E.C. Glass in Lynchburg. I vaguely remember seeing Crank play against Patrick Henry of Roanoke last year but did not mention him in my story. Sources say he made considerable progress during the summer.

Higher-rated players who have attracted Tech's interest include 6-6 Roy Bright from Mount Zion Academy in Durham, N.C., and 6-6 Deron Washington from National Christian Academy in Fort Washington, Md.

TECH CLEARLY FLEW under the radar with Justin Holt, a 6-foot-6 forward from Tacoma (Wash.) Community College who committed to the Hokies last week. In its Fall 2003 edition, Prep Stars did not have Tech among seven schools under consideration by Holt, one of 41 junior-college sophomores it rated.

The schools that Prep Stars listed with Holt were Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Kansas, Ohio State, Texas Tech and Washington. Holt is attending classes at Tacoma CC this year but not playing in order to preserve his final three seasons of college eligibility.

BASKETBALL RECRUITING junkies won't want to miss the annual scrimmage between Hargrave Military Academy and Oak Hill Academy next Tuesday, starting between 4-4:15 p.m. at the Hargrave gym in Chatham (64 miles from downtown Roanoke).

The Hargrave-Oak Hill game annually features close to 20 Division I signees. The programs have enjoyed cordial relations, mostly because Oak Hill coach Steve Smith and Hargrave coach Kevin Keatts do not compete for the same players.

"About 90 percent of the calls I get are from postgraduates who don't know we're strictly undergraduate," Oak Hill coach Steve Smith said. "I give them Kevin's number and Fork Union's, too. If there's a good high school kid out there, Kevin knows I'm going to get him."

NORTH CAROLINA HAS taken a commitment from 6-3 Oakland, Calif., combination guard Quentin Thomas -- an indication that the Tar Heels think current point guard Raymond Felton will make himself available for the 2004 NBA Draft. Otherwise, Carolina would not have a scholarship available for Thomas.

IN FOOTBALL: Defensive back Kent Hicks from Culpeper High School told rivals.com that he has narrowed his choices to Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Boston College and Virginia Tech. Hicks will take his official visit to Virginia this weekend. Hicks was rated the No. 2 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times before the season. ... College recruiters say that running back Antwain Carey from Deep Creek High School in Chesapeake is showing no ill effect from the broken foot that caused him to miss the first month of the season and is back to the form that made him one of the state's top 10 juniors. Carey had dropped to No. 14 by the preseason this year. ... Cadillac Harris, coach at Indian River in Chesapeake, told rivals that Tech "certainly" is the leader for running back Brandon Ore, rated No. 9 by The Roanoke Times.
 

Mann seizes moment
Strip play during loss defines his career with Cavs
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published October 18, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- After four long and occasionally trying years in the program, this was to be Raymond Mann's signature moment.

It was seven days ago, and Virginia was clinging to a 17-10 lead in the fourth quarter at Clemson. As Tigers quarterback Charlie Whitehurst dropped in the pocket, Mann brushed aside a running back's lame attempt at a block and did exactly what he is trained to do in that situation: Strip the ball.

"One of those game-changing plays," Cavaliers coach Al Groh called it.

It almost was. As soon as the ball hit the turf, Duane Coleman, the running back Mann had abused, picked it up on one bounce. Thirteen yards later, Clemson had a first down at the Virginia 30. Three plays later, the game was tied. The Tigers ended up winning in overtime, and Mann's play became merely a footnote.

"I guess he was right behind me," Mann said. "I didn't even see him scoop the ball. I didn't know what happened."

If you believe in fairness, that good things come to those who wait and persevere, it just wasn't right. Mann, a senior outside linebacker from Hampton High, had been waiting for that big play, that chance to make a true difference in the outcome, just like Darryl Blackstock did last year with a fourth-down sack to seal a 38-34 victory at Wake Forest.

Not that his career has gone unfulfilled. Mann has started every game this season and has 30 tackles entering tonight's meeting with seventh-ranked Florida State. In the Cavs' 27-24 win against Wake Forest three weeks ago, Mann teamed with Rich Bedesem for a key fourth-down stop that led to the Cavaliers' tying field goal.

But for every high point, there's been a setback or two. Like last season, when he made eight stops in the opener against Colorado State but sprained his knee a week later. That held him out of the next five games. And when he returned, he wasn't the same player.

After making 13 tackles in his first two games, he had only 15 the rest of the way. He started at Georgia Tech and had seven stops but then got caught up in Groh's overhaul of the defense. He barely played in the final four games.

For a guy who had been named - for the second straight year - the team's most improved defensive player in spring practice, it was frustrating.

"I kept my spirits up," he said. "I still rooted for my teammates. I wasn't mad. It was just part of the game."

Mann also had a little perspective, the kind only a tragedy can bring. Eleven years earlier, he lost his father. Anthony Mann was a Marine who had served in Desert Storm. On May 12, 1991, he died from injuries sustained in a car accident. Raymond was only 9 at the time. So a football injury, and not being able to play, that was nothing.

"Ray's pretty strong, one of the strongest players on the team," Groh said. "And he's equally strong mentally. He's had to deal with a lot of situations personally, academically and in football, and he's always responded. He's one of those guys who can withstand a punch."

With the abundance of returning talent at linebacker (Blackstock, Bedesem and Dennis Haley) and the influx coming in (Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham), Mann seemed to go into the spring as an afterthought. Instead, he was one of the defense's steadier players. With his knee completely healed, Mann added some muscle in the offseason and won the starting job. And he has no plans to give it up.

"Ray is a robot," Blackstock said. "He brings so much to the plate, you know? He never takes a play off and he never gets tired."

To look at Mann is to understand why Blackstock says that. If his football career doesn't pan out, there's always bodybuilding. Mann is a dedicated weightlifter and has the physique to prove it.

"His nickname is Killer Ray," Blackstock said. "Any time you got Killer in front of your name ..."

When will BC start ACC play? Good question
BY AL FEATHERSTON : The Herald-Sun
afeatherston@heraldsun.com; 419-6606
Oct 18, 2003 : 1:18 am ET

GREENSBORO -- A Boston court will decide the timing of Boston College's entry into the ACC.

The Jesuit school from Chestnut Hill, Mass., accepted an offer to become the league's 12th member last weekend. However, even though the ACC and BC officials gathered at the Grandover Resort Friday to celebrate the move, it's still not clear when the Eagles will be able to play an ACC schedule.

Next fall? In time for the 2005 football season?

"The latest date is July 1 of '06 ... and it could be before that," Boston College athletics director Gene DeFilippo said.

Boston College president William P. Leahy explained that the school was locked in a dispute with the Big East over that league's new exit rules.

"BC has gone into a court in Boston, asking for a declaratory judgment to sort out what is that exit fee requirement in the Big East Conference," Leahy said. "Whether it's going to be 27 months, $5 million or is it going to be one year and $1 million?

"That has to get sorted out. Whatever the lawyers determine is certainly what Boston College will do."

The problem is the ACC's erratic expansion process. Boston College was supposed to join the league last summer, along with Miami and Syracuse. But wrangling by the ACC presidents limited July's additions to Miami and Virginia Tech. Syracuse and Boston College were left in limbo.

"Expansion has not been an easy process," Virginia president John Casteen admitted Friday.

The ACC's indecision made it tougher. If Boston College had been invited last summer, the Eagles would be playing a full ACC schedule in 2004-5, along with Miami and Virginia Tech. But in the last three months, the Big East -- stung by the defection of its two strongest football schools -- has acted to toughen its exit requirements.

President Leahy was part of those discussions. Reportedly, he believed the new rules were not to go into effect until Nov. 1 -- hence, Boston College's sudden re-emergence as an ACC candidate.

"We've really only been talking about this in the last five days," DeFilippo said.

ACC officials, who insisted in July that the league could operate smoothly with just 11th members, changed their minds after finding resistance to changing NCAA rules to allow leagues with less than 12 members to hold conference football championship games.

"The pieces of the final vote came together very quickly when it became clear that there was going to be a significant national issue involving whether conference football championship games could be played with 11-team conferences," Casteen said.

League commissioner John Swofford refused to give up on the rule change, especially since the ACC may have to function as an 11-team league for the next one or two seasons.

"We will continue to pursue it," Swofford said. "I think it's hard to gauge what kind of chance it has. I think it has more legs under it now than it did initially."

It's possible that Boston College's exit from the Big East may be negotiated before the court can act. If that happens, look for BC to join the ACC for the 2005-06 season. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese told the Boston Herald that his league needs the Eagles to stay at least one more season.

"We need Boston College to be a part of what we're doing next year," Tranghese said Sunday. "Sure it will be a little uncomfortable for everybody, but I don't know what the alternative is. The practicality of it for '04-'05 is a hurdle that couldn't be overcome."

ACC officials, who set up schedules for next season at a meeting two weeks ago in Charlottesville, Va., would have to scramble to add Boston College next season, but Swofford said it was not too late to accommodate the Eagles for 2004-05.

"We're ready to move to a 12-game schedule very quickly," he said.

To prove it, Swofford released a revised divisional breakdown for football that has Boston College in a six-team division with Maryland, Clemson, N.C. State, Wake Forest and Florida State. The other division will feature Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Miami and Virginia Tech.

Casteen, who emphasized the academics benefits of Boston College's admission to the league, suggested that the ACC might want to go beyond 12 schools.

"I think a lot of us believe the conferences could be somewhat larger again," Casteen said. "One should not say that there's a perfect number, whether it's 11 or nine or 12 or whatever it might be."

But the Virginia president admitted that he's in the minority on that issue.

"Generally when we discuss that, I'm the only one talking, so it's not exactly a groundswell," he said. "It's a matter of concept, not a matter of strategy."

Swofford quickly added, "I think it's a concept that doesn't have legs in our conference at this point in time. I wouldn't be rushing out to write the ACC is going to move beyond 12 anytime soon. My guess is that we'll be solid at that number for a good while."

NOTES -- Swofford pointed out that Boston College is actually closer to Maryland's campus than new member Miami is to Florida State. He also cited figures that showed that the ACC's newest member is closer to Greensboro (in the middle of the ACC region) than Miami. ... Boston College's addition gives the ACC six members of the U.S. News and World Report's top 40 national universities. ... DeFilippo said that Boston College sponsors 31 sports, including men's and women's ice hockey, skiing and sailing. He expects BC to participate in full ACC schedules in almost every sport the ACC sponsors. The one exception at the moment is men's lacrosse.

 

Eagles worth wait
BY FRANK DASCENZO : The Herald-Sun
fdascenzo@heraldsun.com
Oct 18, 2003 : 1:19 am ET

Sometimes it's wise to be careful what you wish for.

The ACC yearned for expansion to a dozen teams that would include a more impressive football posture among the nation's other strong conferences.

By the time ACC commissioner John Swofford and an entourage of league athletics officials had gone on tour of three potential targets last spring, nobody really had a clue how this thing would end. Certainly not the now-angry people at Syracuse and clearly not the now-happy people at Virginia Tech.

On Friday, at a scene fitting for handshakes and backslaps, Swofford sat with officials from Boston College and, finally, won a battle that undoubtedly angered some traditionalists in the ACC.

The ACC will eventually have two six-team divisions in football.

Never mind geography and that Chestnut Hill, Mass., is not conveniently nestled along one of North Carolina's interstates, like Duke or N.C. State or UNC or Wake Forest. As was no doubt planned to be pointed out by Swofford, it's longer from Tallahassee to Coral Gables than it is from College Park to Chestnut Hill. Just don't bother asking if that's air miles or highway miles.

John Casteen, Virginia's articulate president who rekindled the time he spent in New England, raved about what BC will ultimately bring to the ACC's new expanded table. Strong academics, an athletics program that is solid -- the Eagles have been to four consecutive bowls and won three of them -- and a cultural environment that might be near the Charles River but also harbors a global image that should enhance the ACC's visiting teams no matter if they're revenue-producing or Olympic sports.

"This was," Casteen emphasized, "a process that was not easy but essential for the long-term financial commitment."

May we assume that means for the future of college athletics, with its staggering business structure where television markets are vital and high-paying championship and bowl games mean as much as anything else?

There they were -- Casteen, BC athletics director Gene DeFilippo, Rev. William Leahy of BC, Swofford and N.C. State's athletics director Lee Fowler, all sounding as if the puzzle is solved and one of these days the Eagles will be held in the same Southern breath with the Blue Devils, Tar Heels and Demon Deacons.

Catholics. Baptists. Methodists. Swofford said he wasn't used to Catholic schools in the ACC but will get used to it now.

"Boston College will be a superb member of the ACC," Swofford predicted. "Tradition meets opportunity."

Better put, 11 plus 1 equals 12 which equals somewhere between $6-8 million in a college football championship game.

"I don't think one could have predicted a better outcome," Casteen said. "All three [Miami and Virginia Tech being the obvious other two] are impressive nationally in academics and athletics."

What this is all about is gaining 12 teams to have a football championship game. Divisions are set for football only. Basketball -- oddly enough a backburner issue in all this -- will be discussed eventually. Listen carefully and you might hear a basketball coach or two wondering who's side Swofford is really on in all this.

Oh, Casteen came prepared. He called BC a "legend in our country ? achieving in academics and in athletics . . . a perennial bowl game team."

Well, that might have been fitting for that other Catholic school, Notre Dame, but what the heck. It sounded awfully good and, by now, those who linked up with Swofford's tour last spring are likely more weary over all of this than the guy who buys end zone tickets at Death Valley.

"We saw BC as an ideal member of the ACC," Casteen said.

What the ACC saw was a chance to latch onto a 12th team, and didn't want to pass up the opportunity while the Big East has all but fallen to its knees with this Swofford raid.

"We needed another [school] and I was pleasantly surprised we could get Boston College in," Casteen said. "Back in June we were laying the foundations and it all fell together in the right way."

Let the truth be known. Money talks and the ACC's new alignment will eventually settle in so nicely all those traditionalists who better craved the days of the old eight-team league are likely to come around. Or, better yet, hook up to the future.

Eleven wasn't a good number. Ten might have made some basketball people happy but this wasn't about basketball. This was all about securing 12 teams and Casteen is right. BC looks ideal for the future of the ACC.

 

Cavs Have Game Plan Covered
They Know Florida State Will Come Out Throwing
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, October 18, 2003; Page D01

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Oct. 17 -- Florida State represents the Virginia secondary's stiffest challenge this season. With blazing speed at wide receiver and big-play potential at quarterback, the No. 7 Seminoles are expected to go to the air -- and deep -- early and often Saturday night against Cavaliers defensive backs who know they're coming.

"I think they're going to throw the ball deep on us a lot, just give us an explosive attack to kind of try to knock us out of our rhythm," Virginia senior cornerback Almondo Curry said of an offense that averages 13 yards per completion. "They don't want to play the short field; they want to take their long shots and get down the field."

Through six games this season, the Cavs have held opponents to 5.9 yards per pass, the second-best mark in the ACC. They rank third in opponents' passing efficiency.

But on Saturday night they will have to deal with one of the ACC's most dangerous passing games. Led by quarterback Chris Rix and wide receivers P.K. Sam and Craphonso Thorpe, the Seminoles (5-1, 4-0) keep defenses under constant pressure with their speed, athletic ability and eagerness to throw the ball deep.

"It's certainly the most severe test that we've faced," said Cavaliers Coach Al Groh, whose team can tie FSU for the conference lead with a victory.

The Cavaliers (4-2, 3-1) will counter with Curry and Jamaine Winborne, senior cornerbacks who have started since midway through their sophomore seasons. The Virginia defense also is faster overall this season with the additions of safety Jermaine Hardy and linebackers Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham.

"For the coverages we run, we've seen all the different types of ways" offenses can attack, Winborne said. "You know what you're looking for. It's not a surprise."

Virginia's base coverage is "Cover 2," which requires the cornerbacks to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage and then play short zones while the safeties take over deep coverage. If that remains the plan Saturday night, the Seminoles could have a favorable deep matchup against the Cavaliers' relatively inexperienced safeties.

Thorpe is especially dangerous on vertical routes, as evidenced by his average of 18 yards per catch, the second highest in the conference. This spring at the ACC outdoor track and field championships, he was named performer of the year after winning the 100- and 200-meter races.

Sam, who at 6 feet 3 is an inch taller than Thorpe, leads the team with 30 catches. Both players have helped make the Florida State passing game "more dramatic" than it was last season, Groh said.

"That type of height-and-speed receivers is really the hallmark of the Florida State vertical passing game," Groh added. "Got the speed to run over the top and the athletic ability to just outduel the defender for the ball. Those type of guys are fairly rare to find. The advantage of them is quite obvious."

Running the show for the third straight season is Rix, the Seminoles' talented but star-crossed quarterback. The junior is second in the ACC in passing efficiency and third in passing yards but is coming off his shakiest performance of the season, in which he completed less than 50 percent of his passes, threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles in a 22-14 loss to second-ranked Miami.

"I don't think I've ever had a quarterback criticized so much . . . and yet I never see him hanging his head," Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said. "It's kind of like he knows this is a position where you're highly criticized. He accepts it and it doesn't seem to get to him."

Physically, Groh said, Rix has all the necessary tools, including a quick delivery and the strong arm necessary for Florida State's vertical passing game. He also has more than adequate scrambling ability.

"If it was just playing against the receivers and the passing game, that would be one thing, but he has to be accounted for on pass plays, because . . . if everybody's covered and the guy runs for 17 yards, it's still a first down," Groh said.

The Cavaliers likely will leave that defensive responsibility to their speedy linebackers.

"We can't pay attention to Rix," Curry said of the defensive backs. "We have to stay with our man when we're playing a team like Florida State. . . . We can't give up the big pass. That's one of the things that we try to emphasize this year."

Curry paused and smiled.

"I think Brooks can run him down," he added.
 

'Noles wary of Virginia trap
By Josh Robbins | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 18, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- All the ingredients for a recipe for disaster are present tonight for No. 7 Florida State.

The opponent, Virginia, will play on its home field, and the Seminoles can expect the Scott Stadium faithful to fill the air with noise. Matt Schaub, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, quarterbacks the Cavaliers, and he rarely commits silly turnovers. The Seminoles a week ago played -- and lost -- an emotional game against archrival Miami. And Virginia Coach Al Groh has assembled an impressive array of talent in his three seasons in Charlottesville.

"You could look at this game before the season started and you'd say this is one of the high tasks out there," FSU Coach Bobby Bowden said.

The Seminoles (5-1 overall, 4-0 in the ACC) are the only team unbeaten in league play. Indeed, Maryland and Virginia are the only other league teams without at least two conference losses. Because FSU already has beaten the Terrapins, a victory tonight probably sews up the league title.

If the Seminoles beat the Cavs, the only way they won't win the ACC title is if Maryland wins out and they lose two of their three remaining conference games.

Like FSU, the Cavaliers (4-2, 3-1) lost a heartbreaker last weekend, falling to Clemson 30-27 in overtime.

"There's a great sense of urgency," Schaub said. "We don't like to lose around here, and it's not something that we can accept."

But Florida State players insist they will enter tonight's game every bit as hungry as the Cavaliers.

"They're young but they're playmakers over there," quarterback Chris Rix said of the Cavaliers. "They've got a lot of talent. They're fast and they're strong, so in no way is this game a pushover. They're very capable of beating us if we don't play the way we're supposed to play."

Rix said Bowden this week relayed a quote made famous by former Florida A&M Coach Jake Gaither. After a loss, Gaither would say, "Somebody's got to pay."

"That's the approach we're taking to Virginia," Rix said.

Virginia is one of three ACC teams to have beaten the Seminoles since they joined the league in 1992, winning 33-28 in Charlottesville in 1995.

Cavs tailback Alvin Pearman said FSU doesn't have the same aura as it did in '95, in part because the Seminoles have lost a combined 10 games since the start of the 2001 season. But Cavs players still realize FSU is the league's team to beat.

"I kind of get excited just knowing that these are supposed to be the best guys in our conference, the best team in our conference," defensive end Chris Canty said. "I enjoy playing against the best."

For Cavs, '95 stunner still fresh
By Hank Kurz Jr.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Seminoles visit sparks memories of Cavs' improbable 1995 victory

Virginia's football history against Florida State did little to help the Cavaliers' rise to prominence during the George Welsh years.

The series began in 1992, two years after Shawn Moore-led Virginia rose to No.1 for the only time in its history, and is marked more by mismatches than by competition.

In 11 meetings, the Seminoles have outscored the Cavaliers 400-165. But for Virginia, there will always be 1995, the night Anthony Poindexter and Adrian Burnim stopped Warrick Dunn inches from the goal line on the final play, preserving a 33-28 Cavaliers victory and setting off bedlam in Charlottesville.

The fans, once dubbed a "wine and cheese crowd" by Cavaliers quarterback Mike Groh, stormed the field and ripped both goal posts down, parading them through downtown in a rowdy all-night tribute.

Virginia was the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to beat FSU in the Seminoles' four seasons in the ACC, and even shared the conference title that year.

In Virginia's 115 years of football, no victory has been bigger.

A repeat when the teams meet tonight at Scott Stadium wouldn't be as big, or as surprising, but FSU week invariably sparks talk of that magical night.

Cavaliers coach Al Groh, then an assistant coach with the NFL's New England Patriots, recalls adjusting his long hours all week to carve out time to watch son Mike lead Virginia.

"I remember trying to start every day a half hour or 40 minutes earlier than usual," said Groh, now the Cavaliers coach with his son as an offensive assistant.

"I got home like 30 seconds before the kickoff and paced around the floor in front of the television set for most of the next three hours," he said. "Pretty exciting."
 

U.Va. measuring stick for FSU
Must-win game for Cavaliers provides Seminoles' Bowden gauge on his team's progress
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 18, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The Florida State Seminoles lost to Miami last weekend, which means they're not invincible. But to read too much into that setback would be foolhardy.

As Bobby Bowden pointed out Wednesday, he's coached numerous teams at FSU that stumbled against the Hurricanes and still finished among the nation's elite.

In 1987, for example, Florida State went 11-1, with the lone loss to Miami. The same thing happened in 1988 and again in'92. In'94, the Seminoles lost to Miami in early October but rebounded to finish 10-1-1 and win the Sugar Bowl.

That said, FSU suffered through disappointing seasons in 2001 and'02, and Bowden isn't sure what to make of his latest group. Asked if the'Noles had regained their form of the'90s, Bowden answered, "I wish that was correct. I don't know yet."

He'll have a better read on his 28th FSU team by about 11 o'clock tonight. At 7:45, in a game matching the ACC's first- and second-place teams, seventh-ranked Florida State (4-0, 5-1) meets Virginia (3-1, 4-2) at sold-out Scott Stadium. In 11 games with FSU, U.Va. has prevailed only once, in 1995 at Scott.

Like the Seminoles, the Cavaliers are coming off a loss. U.Va. fell 30-27 in overtime to Clemson in Death Valley. Had FSU and Vir- ginia won last weekend, their showdown tonight would have considerably more luster. Still, it remains significant.

"Everyone on this campus who's a football player knows this is an absolute must-win game," Virginia cornerback Almondo Curry said. "We know our goal this year is to win the ACC title, and we know what's at stake this weekend."

Junior wideout Ottowa Anderson said: "We're not out of the race yet. The Saturday loss puts a mark in our loss column, that's all it does. It doesn't cancel our season, it doesn't cancel our goals. We still want to go and win the ACC, and we can still do that."

To stay in the championship race, the Cavaliers probably need to pull off the upset tonight. With a loss, U.Va. would fall behind Maryland (2-1, 5-2), which already has played FSU. Moreover, if the Seminoles win tonight, they're not likely to lose two of their final three ACC games.

"Somebody's got to beat them," Virginia coach Al Groh said, "or they're going to win it again. Most people aren't going to beat them. If you have designs on finishing ahead of them, somebody's got to beat them."

U.Va. isn't likely to have the services of sophomore tailback Wali Lundy, the ACC's leading rusher. Lundy hurt his right foot against Clemson and is sidelined indefinitely. Even after an anemic effort against the Tigers, Virginia ranks second among ACC teams in rushing offense (162.3 yards per game). But they've yet to face a defense as stout as Florida State's.

The Seminoles rank first nationally in scoring defense (9.8 ppg) and seventh in total defense (265.7 yards per game). They've recorded 22 sacks.

"They're fast, they're physical, they're in your face," U.Va. quarterback Matt Schaub said. "They challenge you every play to try to beat them man to man, across the line."

Schaub started 13 of the Cavaliers' 14 games last season. The exception was U.Va.'s late-summer visit to Florida State. Nine days earlier, Schaub had struggled in the opener - a loss to Colorado State - and Marques Hagans replaced him as the starter against FSU. But the 'Noles bolted to a commanding lead, and Schaub relieved Hagans late in the first half.

U.Va. rallied for three fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 40-19 loss. Schaub completed 19 of 25 passes for 247 yards and three TDs and wasn't intercepted. He went on to capture the ACC's player-of-the-year award.

"I think it was a turning point," Schaub said of his performance against FSU. "That's when things started to come together for our offense and me personally. . . . I started to see the field better and make my reads better."