November will make or break Cavs’ year
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© October 28, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE — So, here we go.

Four games remain on the Virginia football schedule. Four games that could accurately be described as toss-ups. Four games that will determine bowl eligibility, conference positioning and whether the season ultimately is considered a success or failure.

At 5-3, 3-2 in the ACC, Virginia is one of six conference teams clustered in the middle of the standings. The Cavaliers play three of those teams — N.C. State, Maryland and Georgia Tech — in November, before concluding the regular season against Virginia Tech.

“Everybody is looking at the same thing,” coach Al Groh said Monday. “Most of the teams in this little horse race have a challenging November in front of them.”

Groh’s first strategic move in the coming race was to give his team the day off Monday. It was partially a reward for a 24-0 win over Troy State on Saturday. Mostly, though, it was intended to help players recharge their batteries.

“He wants to make sure we’re rested and fresh for the last four games,” receiver Ottowa Anderson said.

Virginia’s season was made in November last year. After dropping two straight to slip to 6-4, the Cavaliers beat N.C. State and Maryland in consecutive weeks to lock up second place in the conference.

November offers the same possibilities this year. Virginia began the year talking of winning the ACC title. That isn’t likely to happen. Florida State clinched at least a share of the title last week and can sew it up by winning one of its two remaining conference games.

“We have to shoot for the next best thing, and that’s second place,” Anderson said. “Get a good bowl and try to finish the season with 10 wins.”

First up is N.C. State on Saturday. Any discussion of the Wolfpack inevitably begins with quarterback Philip Rivers, who has shredded virtually every team in the ACC at some point in his career — except Virginia.

Rivers has thrown an ACC-record 82 touchdown passes in his career. But he’s never thrown one against Virginia. Last season, the Cavaliers “held” him to 236 passing yards in a 14-9 victory.

“He’s a great quarterback, and you just can’t let him get off to a good start,” cornerback Almondo Curry said. “We have to dictate where we want him to throw the ball, get him to throw the passes we want him to throw.”

Groh and Curry called the N.C. State game last season a turning point for the Virginia defense.

“They came in as a high-powered offense, and we kind of slowed them down and held them to nine points,” Curry said.

The defense has made steady improvement since then. After a shutout win over Troy State last week, the Cavaliers rank 16th nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 16.6 points per game.

The offense, meanwhile, has sputtered the last two weeks. The drop-off in production was understandable against Florida State, which has one of the top-rated defenses in the nation. It was a little more puzzling against Troy State, a team three years removed from Division I-AA.

The good news for Virginia is that tailback Wali Lundy, who has missed most of the last two games with a foot injury, should be back at full speed this week.

Lundy played one series last week and showed no lingering effects from the injury.

In fact, Groh said that when he watched film of the Troy State game Sunday, Lundy looked like the fastest player on the field.

“That had something to do with the fact that he had rested legs,” Groh said.

Lundy will share duties with Alvin Pearman, who has been the most productive player on the offense the past two games.

Pearman caught a school-record 16 passes against Florida State, then ran for a career-high 138 yards against Troy State.

With both backs healthy, Virginia appears well positioned for the stretch run.

Still, Curry said nothing comes easily in November, particularly against teams placing the same importance on these games as the Cavs are.

“Stamina and focus, you have to have that down the road,” Curry said. “A team needs discipline at this point. This is the last go around for a lot guys on this team, and a lot of guys on other teams as well.”
 

Winborne staying put at safety
By Doug Doughty
doug.doughty@roanoke.com
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE - A move born of necessity could become the status quo for Virginia during the last month of the regular season.

UVa coach Al Groh said Monday that senior Jamaine Winborne will remain at safety, the position he played Saturday after making a team-high 27 starts at cornerback.

Winborne's move to a position he played briefly as a freshman has been a topic of speculation since starter Willie Davis was injured Sept.6 against South Carolina, but Groh held off until Davis' replacement, Jay Dorsey, was hurt Oct.18 against Florida State.

Winborne "took to it pretty readily, just like he'd been there forever," Groh said. "He's got a real sharp football mind. He's been in all those meetings. He hasn't listened to them as, 'Hey, I might be a safety one day,' but he's heard all the talk. He's got a pretty good intuition and confidence level."

Dorsey underwent hand surgery last Thursday, although he was in for 28 plays Saturday in a 24-0 triumph over Troy State.

"You probably noticed that his hand was significantly protected," Groh said. "Obviously, that's something he's got to deal with."

When he could not be assured that Dorsey would play, Groh moved Winborne to safety and gave redshirt freshman cornerback Tony Franklin his first start.

Franklin's chief claim to fame until that point was four kickoff returns of 39 yards or more in back-to-back games against Clemson and Florida State.

"He was really pumped up Saturday," junior safety Jermaine Hardy said. "I had to tell him, 'Calm down, man. Take some deep breaths.' He was really hyper."

Dorsey got most of his playing time in a dime package that included six defensive backs, four of them cornerbacks.

"The field is stretched so much these days, with four- and five-wide receiver sets," said Groh, whose team visits North Carolina State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. "That particularly will be the case this week, when there will be more four and five wide receivers as much as there will be two guys in the backfield."

Harris remembered

St. Louis Rams rookie Arlen Harris, who celebrated his first NFL start by rushing for three touchdowns Sunday, played parts of three seasons at Virginia before transferring to Hofstra. Eligibility issues prevented him from playing for Hofstra, but he was able to make the Rams' roster as a free agent.

"I thought he was a very talented player," said Groh, who coached Harris for one season, in 2001. "It's reinforcing to us that a player who scored three times yesterday - and I'm glad for him that he did - if he were on our roster now, he'd be our third tailback. I wouldn't take [Alvin] Pearman out of the lineup. I wouldn't take [Wali] Lundy out of the lineup."

Harris, who had scored his first NFL touchdown one week earlier, found himself in the right place after injuries to the Rams' top two backs, Marshall Faulk and Lamar Gordon.

Harris suffered a knee injury in the 2000 opener after starting against Brigham Young, then started four games the next year.

By the numbers

Virginia's game at North Carolina State will pit two of the three quarterbacks in Division I-A who have completed more than 70 percent of their passes, the Cavaliers' Matt Schaub (71.0) and the Wolfpack's Philip Rivers (70.8). The third is Central Florida's Ryan Schneider (70.3).

Connor Hughes' miss from 40 yards in the second quarter ended his streak of consecutive field goals at 13, one short of the school record held by Jake McInerney. Hughes later converted a 36-yard attempt that lifted him to 11-for-12 for the season and 16-for-18 in his two seasons.

Odds 'n' ends

Groh said he had reservations about using reserve tailback Marquis Weeks, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in early October, but felt it would help Weeks' spirits. Weeks also caught a 9-yard pass on a fake punt. ... Patrick Estes, sidelined Saturday by a knee injury, was given credit for a reception that subsequently was credited to Kase Luzar.

 

Gillen likes UVa's chances despite prediction
By DOUG DOUGHTY
doug.doughty@roanoke.com
981-3129

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Flanked by his new-look center and two of the ACC's top 15 returning scorers, Virginia men's basketball coach Pete Gillen did not seem fazed Sunday by his team's eighth-place selection in the preseason.

"It's not where we're picked," said Gillen as he waited for a ride to the airport after the ACC's annual Operation Basketball. "It's where we finish."

Virginia has been ranked as low as eighth three other times since the poll began in 1970, including ninth-place selections before Jeff Jones' last year as coach in 1998-99 and Gillen's first year in 1999-2000.

"It doesn't bother me at all," Gillen said. "I think we have a good team. I feel good about our kids. They feel good about themselves. Time will tell. You guys [in the media] are a lot smarter than I was. I went to a school as an experimental admission."

The Cavaliers are coming off a 16-16 season and will be without 2002-03 senior Travis Watson, who was the runner-up to Duke's Chris Duhon in voting for preseason player of the year.

"We have some weaknesses, some holes, but I think we'll shoot the ball better than we did last year and we're quicker," Gillen said. "We don't have a star player, like Travis Watson. He didn't have a great year last year; he had a decent year, but I think we have some very good players."

Gillen said the biggest surprise to date has been 6-foot-9, 205-pound Jason Cain, a May recruit from John Bartram High School in Philadelphia. Gillen said Cain is "much better" than he originally believed.

"He does things that other guys can't do," said Todd Billet, who joined fellow sharpshooter and slimmed-down center Elton Brown in the Cavaliers' delegation. "He's just so long and he's got a lot of bounce. He'll take a shot and miss, you'll look around and there he is, tipping it in."

Redick picked All-ACC

Duke sophomore J.J. Redick from Roanoke received 48 of a possible 55 votes for the preseason ACC team to finish second behind preseason player of the year Raymond Felton from North Carolina and N.C. State's Julius Hodge, both of whom had 54 votes.

"He needs to invent other shots," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who expects other teams to have Redick well-scouted after his third-team All-ACC season in 2002-03. "He can get better and he is better. And, he'll continue to get better because he wants to be better. He's a great kid to coach."

Coaching ranks stacked

Almost every head coach had observations about Roy Williams, entering his first year at North Carolina after a celebrated 15-year career at Kansas.

"We coached in the World University Games together under P.J. Carlesimo," Gillen said. "Roy was the head assistant and I was in charge of towels and beer. It was a good job for me, I'm an Irish guy and the beer was cold and I kept the towels clean. I don't want to exaggerate my role, but I did get a medal."

Williams is one of two ACC coaching newcomers, along with Oliver Purnell, who takes over at Clemson after stints at Radford, Old Dominion and Dayton.

"Roy is very passionate, a great competitor who learned from one of the best in Dean Smith," Gillen said. "He's a hall-of-fame coach. We've got a lot of hall-of-fame coaches in this league. Gary Williams, Krzyzewski and Roy Williams. At least three. Skip Prosser, my former assistant, could be in the Hall of Fame one day.

"Me. I'm in the hall of shame."

 

Groh: Rivers is Schaub in a mirror
Published October 28, 2003
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
CHARLOTTESVILLE

One has a classic throwing motion, the other looks more like he's heaving it in a particular direction. But Matt Schaub and Philip Rivers both get the job done, and that's what Virginia coach Al Groh sees as the bottom line.

"Fifteen minutes ago I had a brief conversation with a scout, who I know well," Groh said Monday afternoon in speaking of the quarterbacks will meet Saturday when the Cavaliers play N.C. State at Raleigh.

"I was answering some of his questions about Matt, and the comparison between the two of them came up. I told him I thought they were both pretty much the same player.

"Some people are going to say the delivery is little bit different, but when the ball is in the air. ... Both get the ball away in a hurry, they make all the throws, they throw from one hashmark to the sideline, they throw in cuts, they throw quickly against the blitz and they both have comparable accuracy percentages over the last two years. Both are vital to the success of their team. There certainly are a great number of things they have in common."

Accuracy heads that list. Schaub has the nation's highest completion percentage at 71.0; Rivers is No. 2 at 70.8.

Rivers' stats are better with 2,908 yards and 21 touchdowns to Schaub's 1,532 and nine. Schaub has played three fewer games - four, really, since he was in for only 11 plays in the season opener before separating his shoulder.

LUNDY BACK. Maybe he's spinning it as well as he can, but Groh believes Wali Lundy's sprained ankle - which caused him to miss nearly nine full quarters - could turn out to be a good thing.

Since being injuredearly in the third quarter against Clemson on Oct. 11, Lundy has been in for 10 plays, all last week against Troy State. Alvin Pearman has filled in nicely, catching a school-record 16 passes against Florida State and rushing for a career-high 138 yards Saturday.

Now, with the Cavaliers eyeing a four-game stretch that will define their season, Lundy is healthy and rested.

"It looked like he had a good burst," Groh said. "That's kind of a good news, bad news situation. When your running back misses time, you don't have him for a period of time. But when you get him back to full health, he usually has a bounce and spurt that the guys who had been going every week don't have.

"We've been able to get excellent, excellent play from Alvin. With Wali back, that may turn out to be a positive in the long run. We won't have to overdo Alvin and ... he'll be able to be fresh, too."

DAY OFF. Monday is normally a practice day for Virginia, but Groh told his players to get some rest instead.

"We're trying to keep the team fresh," Groh said. "Everything is aimed toward Saturday and having more energy."

Naturally, it was a hit with the players. "We definitely appreciate this day off," cornerback Almondo Curry said. "We need the rest with these games coming up. But it's not just a day off. We need more time watching film, and that's what I hope everybody on the team is doing right now."

SHORTS. Virginia didn't have to go far for its 12th recruiting commitment. Linebacker Devonta Brown (6-feet-2, 235 pounds) who plays at Charlottesville High, which is only a couple of miles from U.Va.'s campus, committed last weekend. ...

Linebacker Ahmad Brooks is second nationally among freshmen in tackles with 8.5 per game. Western Michigan's Paul Tithof is averaging 8.8. ...

Groh on those who have booed punter Tom Hagan, who is last in the ACC with an average of 34.3 yards a kick: "If they think they can do better, let them come out on Wednesday afternoon and face a full rush. And if they don't do any better, we're going to let the whole team stand there and boo."

Banged up Pack gears up for tough finish
BY AL FEATHERSTON : The Herald-Sun
afeatherston@heraldsun.com
Oct 27, 2003 : 7:47 pm ET

RALEIGH -- N.C. State coach Chuck Amato can see the end of the 2003 season on the horizon.

He just hopes that his battered Wolfpack football team can get there in one piece.

"I hope I never have to go one of these seasons again like this with a) the expectations and then the number of impact players, the issues we've had with them with injuries," Amato said Monday. "But they've never quit."

That why N.C. State (6-3, 3-2 ACC) still is in position to salvage a season that appeared ruined by three early losses. The Pack has won five of its last six games heading into Saturday's matchup with Virginia. Amato's team still could finish second in the ACC -- which would be the team's best league finish since 1994 -- and earn a return trip to the Gator Bowl.

"That's how I get through every day, through all the mat drills and all the meetings," senior Jerricho Cotchery said. "It's knowing that we're still in position to go to a great bowl."

Of course, three straight losses to close the season would mean the Pack's worst season under Amato and a dismal end to the career of Philip Rivers, probably the greatest quarterback in school history. And with Virginia, Florida State and Maryland coming up, nothing is guaranteed.

"As a team, the way we play [in our last three game] will determine which bowl we go to," sophomore linebacker Manny Lawson said. "Even though we had three losses early on, our main goal right now is to win out."

Amato would feel better about the Pack's chances of doing that if his team was intact. But tailback T.A. McLendon still is a question mark this week, and gifted young wide receiver Richard Washington is out indefinitely with two cracked ribs. Starting cornerback Lamont Reid might be back this week after missing two games with a separated shoulder, but he's still wearing a pink jersey in practice -- emblematic of a player who can't be hit.

Throw in cornerback Greg Golden (toe), offensive guard Ricky Fowler (knee), backup tailback Josh Brown (hip and stomach) -- not to mention preseason starters OT Chris Colmer and WR Sterling Hicks, who have been out long-term -- and it's easy to see why Amato is worried.

"Our injury report is about as tall as me," Cotchery said after last Saturday's win at Duke.

It could be taller. Junior safety Andre Maddox suffered a bruised knee against the Devils, but doesn't appear on the injury report. And Rivers, who hurt his left (non-throwing) shoulder at Ohio State, hasn't been on the list either.

"If all the kids were as tough as [Maddox] and as tough as Philip, I wouldn't be worrying about the injury list," Amato said.

McLendon's long struggle to get healthy has been at the heart of the Pack's problems. The talented running back hasn't gone through a game without an injury since the opening win over Western Carolina. He's missed four games entirely, including last week's trip to Duke, and has played parts of four others.

His sore knee was scoped a week ago Friday, then again last Wednesday night.

"He's gone six days without another operation," Amato joked. "I just hope that there's not another doctor who wants a vacation."

Then Amato got serious.

"He has to be doubtful [for the Virginia game]," the Wolfpack coach said. "But I would have to say there's a chance, but it's wait a see."

Amato said that freshman Reggie Davis, who rushed for 55 yards in his collegiate debut against Duke, will start at tailback against Virginia, no matter the status of McLendon or his backup, Brown.

"I was very, very pleased with what [Davis] did," Amato said. "He will continue to play, no matter what. He's going to be the starter. He's earned that."

But the Pack coach also said that if McLendon can play, he will.

"We have three games left," Amato said. "If he can play in one of them to help us win, you want to do it. If he can play in two of them, three of them ... we're not conceding anything there."

He'll call on everybody that's ready to play against the Cavs.

"We've been doing this all year long," Amato said. "We've been playing with Band-Aids and everything else. But nobody's going to send us a sympathy card."

NOTES -- N.C. State is averaging 89.6 yards a game on the ground, on pace to be the lowest for the Pack since 1986. But N.C. State is also averaging 332.3 passing yards a game, which is 23 yards better than the school record set in 1998. n N.C. State, which dropped out of the polls after its loss at Ohio State, received votes in the coaches' poll this week for the first time since its loss at Georgia Tech. The Pack got four votes -- still a long way from the 136 votes that No. 25 Louisville earned. n Amato has 32 wins in his first four seasons at State. Just three coaches in ACC history have had more in the first four years: Lou Holtz (33), Bobby Ross (34) and Danny Ford (35).