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Another win may not come
 By JERRY RATCLIFFE / Daily Progress sports editor
Nov 1, 2002

 
Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering what the odds are of Virginia becoming bowl eligible …

The Cavaliers need one more win, but here is the scenario: UVa's remaining four opponents have a combined record of 28-5 (.849), which represents the toughest remaining schedule in the entire country. Off this weekend, the Hoos play at Penn State, then return home for dates against N.C. State and Maryland before finishing at Virginia Tech.

Georgia Tech wisely prepared its offensive game plan, which exposed UVa's weakness, an inability to stop a true spread offense. If you will remember, the Cavs were hurt by this earlier in the season.

Tech's no-huddle, up-tempo offense gave Virginia problems.

"[Virginia] was totally off- balance," said Tech wide receiver Kerry Watkins, who had seven catches for 70 yards. "They were tired in the first half."

The Cavs were held to a season-low 15 points and were stopped three times on downs inside the Tech 25.

Tiger tales

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, who is feeling the heat after a lopsided loss to N.C. State last week, apologized to Tiger fans.

"I didn't have the team prepared to win," said Bowden. "I didn't have them prepared to play. That's my job and it didn't get done. [State] had four days. They got it done and we didn't."

Prior to this week's game against Duke, Clemson is reportedly making some offensive changes because the Tigers rank last in the ACC in that department with only 339.2 yards per game.

Clemson's players are feeling the heat but know things can get worse.

"You think it's bad now?" said safety Altroy Bodrick. "If we lose to Duke, it would probably be a lot of chaos around here."

Devil you say

Speaking of Duke, observers are starting to wonder if the Blue Devils will keep coach Carl Franks, who owns a 5-37 overall record, 3-26 in the ACC. Duke has now lost an ACC record 22 straight league games.

"Let's don't start that one right now," said Franks. "I haven't heard. At the appropriate time, I'm sure we'll have that discussion."

Huh?

Heard the song, "Put me in coach." Well in Chapel Hill, there's some new lyrics. Don't put me in coach.

When the Tar Heels lost 37-27 to Virginia a couple of weeks ago, coach John Bunting offered two of his true freshmen defensive ends a chance to play against the Cavaliers. Both declined.

Because of injuries, Bunting was trying to break in some freshmen to help down the stretch and to get some experience for next year. They weren't interested. Disappointed, Bunting said he understood.

"I'm not going to force a guy to burn his redshirt, particularly in the second half of the season," said Bunting.

"It was their decision not to play. So, I'm not going to ask them again."

Upset tummy

It's not over until the fat lady sings? Not in Raleigh. It's not over until T.A. McLendon...barfs.

The sensational freshman running back has this quirk. He doesn't think a game is complete unless his nervous stomach churns to the point where he throws up. He became a local legend in Albemarle, N.C., for his sideline sickness. Now, it's followed him to Raleigh.

"It may be before the game, during the game, or at halftime," said McClendon. "Sooner or later, it's all going to come out."

He threw up on the sidelines during the Texas Tech game, rushing for 150 yards and five TDs. He did the same against UNC, 164 yards and two TDs. Last Thursday night against Clemson, he hunched over in the first quarter and the inevitable happened.

"After I threw up, the guys were like, 'OK, now it's time to play,'" said McClendon.

Shortly afterward, State scored to take a 15-0 lead.

"I came to the sidelines and Coach Amato said, "Good, now go throw up again."

McClendon finished with a career-high 178 yards rushing and two TDs.

 

Short yardage … UVa freshman running back Wali Lundy is on pace to break the ACC record for most pass receptions by a freshman (Lundy already has 43, 15 shy of Frank Wycheck's mark at Maryland in 1990)… Matt Schaub's 41 completions against Georgia Tech tied for the fifth-most in ACC history. …

Last season's ACC Player of the Year, Maryland running back Bruce Perry, made his first appearance in a game this season last week with 19 yards rushing against Duke on the first play of the game. He injured his shoulder on the run. …How about FSU's Chris Rix becoming only the third sophomore in ACC history to throw for 4,000 or more yards and getting benched. …

Wake Forest has six players listed among the ACC's top 20 rushers. …Maryland's defense has given up only seven TD passes all season. …UVa has played the most true freshmen of any team in the league with 13 (representing 31 starts by them). UNC is next with nine (but only two starts).

 

The picks. Last week: 3-2. This week: Florida State 30, Wake Forest 17; Clemson 26, Duke 19; Maryland 42, UNC 20; N.C. State 31, Georgia Tech 24.

 

 

Ex-Cavalier puts in vote for '87 game

Squib kick was unintentional

By DOUG DOUGHTY
 Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays

After undergoing a colonoscopy screening earlier in the day, I was advised Monday not to drive for 12 hours, not to sign any important documents and not to do some other things I have forgotten in my daze.

The people at Roanoke Memorial did everything but take my car keys away, insisting on getting a phone number for a person who could drive me home.

"It would be like driving under the influence," said the anestheloligst, sharing a story about a patient who tried to drive himself to Bonsack and later was discovered asleep on a bed in a Buchanan antique store.

So, here I am, writing under the influence.

That may not be the first time that's happened in this profession.

From there, let me move on to the results of last week's UVa Insider poll, which attracted nearly 300 responses. More than 69 percent agreed that the 1998 Virginia-Virginia Tech game, won by the Cavaliers after trailing 29-7 in the third quarter, was the greatest comeback in school history.

Second for the readers was the 1996 Virginia-North Carolina game, which might have received more consideration if I had referred to it as the Chris Keldorf-Antwan Harris game, and next was UVa's 20-17 victory over Carolina in 1987.

One of the e-mails I received concerning that game was from Kevin Cook, who had the perspective of having played in it. Cook lives in his hometown, Cleveland, and is married with three boys ages 1-5. He is a principal at an equity firm, Brantley Partners, that manages money for financial-service firms, endowments and pensions.

"I was gratified to see that you included the 1987 Carolina game in the top three," Cook wrote, "particularly under the backdrop of the previous season, when we had gone 3-8. As you may recall, we started out the '87 season 0-2, with tough losses to Georgia and Maryland on the road, and were in danger of going 0-3 with Virginia Tech coming to town.

"We edged [the Hokies] 14-13 and were on our way. The Carolina win secured a bowl bid for us and was the combination of a trying season that saw much of the joy from our on-field success tempered by the loss of [cancer-stricken] Craig Fielder, a wonderful friend and teammate.

"As I am sure you are aware, that team began the streak of consecutive seven-win seasons that ended last year [actually, in 2000]."

Older Virginia fans may remember 1987 as the year that UVa scored two touchdowns in the final 2:53 against Carolina, the second a 9-yard touchdown pass from Scott Secules to Keith Mattioli with 30 seconds left. The biggest play may have been a 29-yard completion from Secules to Bruce McGonnigal on a fourth-and-20 play that kept alive the first drive.

Cook's mention of the 1987 UVa-Tech game evoked memories of another dramatic finish. After taking a 14-0 lead, the Cavaliers stopped a two-point play with 1:24 left to preserve a 14-13 win. Then-UVa linebacker Elton Toliver said he made a guess - an educated guess, apparently - that Tech would run tailback Malcom Blacken, with Earnie Jones as his lead blocker.

In looking at the statistics from that game, I was surprised to see that Cook was credited with sacking Tech quarterback Erik Chapman for a 17-yard loss on the final play. When Cook said he couldn't remember, I checked the play-by-play and saw where defensive end Sean Scott should have been credited.

Indeed, in the final stats for that year, Cook was credited with eight interceptions and eight pass break-ups, now known as PBU's, but no sacks.

PBU's? "That's a nice way to put it," said Cook, who had 14 career interceptions, fourth on the Cavaliers' all-time list. "I kind of looked at them as DI's, for dropped interceptions."

ONE OF MY QUESTIONS Saturday after the Virginia touchdown that whittled Georgia Tech's lead to 23-15 with 2:58 remaining concerned the subsequent kickoff, a squibber that Kelley Rhino returned to the Tech 28-yard line while taking eight seconds off the clock.

Why not kick the ball as far as possible and hope for a touchback that would have set the ball at the 20 and not taken any time off the clock? That was the plan, according to UVa coach Al Groh. Redshirt freshman Kurt Smith merely "mis-hit" the ball, another sign of a decline in Smith's confidence.

In addition to missing three kicks from inside 30 yards in the last two games, including an extra point against North Carolina, Smith has lost distance on his kickoffs. Against Duke, five of his kickoffs were not returned and resulted in touchbacks. In four succeeding games, he has yielded one touchback..

The Cavaliers' kickoff-coverage unit was sensational against North Carolina, routinely pinning the Tar Heels inside their 20, but, given a choice, a coach would take a touchback any time. That was definitely the case at Georgia Tech, where neither the kick-coverage or punt-coverage units played up to its previous standards.

ART THOMAS, A FORMER starter who has virtually dropped from sight in recent games, was on the field for 29 plays against Georgia Tech and had a textbook pass break-up in the third quarter. Safety Jay Dorsey took advantage of an injury to Willie Davis and was on the field for 28 plays, the most time he's gotten. ... Groh said that inside linebacker Angelo Crowell lacked some of the burst he enjoyed before spraining both knees, but Crowell was close to peak form against the Yellow Jackets, with 15 tackles. Sophomore Richie Bedesem was on the field for only two plays, according to UVa's stats, but helped make the third-and-1 stop that caused Georgia Tech to punt with 2:15 left. Bedesem will be tough to beat out for one of the starting jobs when Crowell and Merrill Robertson are gone after this season.

THREE IN-STATE RECRUITS with whom UVa seemingly has the inside track are Charlottesville defensive lineman Chris Johnson, Hermitage wide receiver Fontel Mines and Robinson wide receiver Chase Anastasio, although Anastasio may be a tad more undecided than the other two. ... Recruitng analyst Mike Farrell of Rivals.com says that UVa also in the lead for 6-4, 260-pound Allen Billyk, a preseason All-American from New Castle, Pa.

 

 

Trouble Was His Business
Blackstock Grows Up, Makes Instant Impact at U-Va.
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, November 1, 2002; Page D10


CHARLOTTESVILLE

Darryl Blackstock doesn't mince words, so when he says he was a "thug" in high school, that could be blunt honesty. But Blackstock, Virginia's playmaking freshman linebacker, also has demonstrated a knack for youthful braggadocio, so it just as easily could contain a hint of exaggeration.

Blackstock wasn't arrested and didn't beat anyone up at Heritage High School in Newport News. He wasn't expelled or suspended from school. His coach says he wasn't any trouble at all. Essentially, he was an immature and somewhat undisciplined teenager, getting into shouting matches, skipping class on a regular basis.

"Just not being a good kid," he recalled. "Being a luncher. Going to school to eat lunch. That's what I used to call it."

Blackstock, 19, uses the past tense for good reason; he has changed considerably since then. The detour he took through Fork Union Military Academy last year gave him the discipline he knew he needed.

"He's a person who is very easy to root for," Virginia Coach Al Groh said. "He wants to do well, he wants to do right, and he applies himself very hard to both those objectives."

Nine games into his college career, Blackstock stands among the best young pass rushers in the nation and the best of any age in the ACC. With 70 tackles and eight sacks -- a total that ties him for the conference lead and the ACC freshman season record -- he is a major reason Virginia is 6-3 (4-2 ACC) as it enjoys its second and final bye week of the season. (Blackstock also is using the extra week to rest a back injury that likely would have sidelined him if U-Va. had a game this weekend.)

The Cavaliers knew he could get to the quarterback; 51 sacks in the past two seasons attested to that. But in high school, that is all he had to do. Now he is an outside linebacker, thanks to his 6-foot-4, 224-pound frame, and also is learning to play the run and drop into coverage. Every week, he makes more and more "top-shelf linebacker plays," said Groh, who coached linebackers for much of his 13-year NFL career.

Blackstock is "really an impressive player," Georgia Tech Coach Chan Gailey said. "When you're watching film on him, he's always in the picture. He's always around the ball. . . . That's the biggest compliment you can give to any [defensive] player."

Throughout high school, Blackstock's talent was evident on the football field. The academic side of school was more of a challenge, largely because he was doing only as much as he needed to get by. That formula caught up to him in his final semester at Heritage, when he failed a government class and was not allowed to graduate with his class. He also came up 80 points short of the SAT score he needed to enroll at Virginia.

"He had just turned 18 when he [left] high school," said John Quillen, the Heritage coach at the time. "You could tell, too. Some of the things he did, he would show that immaturity."

Forced to delay his college plans for a year, Blackstock enrolled at Fork Union. Aiming to "stop acting like a little kid," he thought he needed "somebody to yell at me for a little bit, because I know I'm not always right."

Fork Union Coach John Shuman said he found little yelling was necessary with Blackstock.

"Before we got him here," Shuman said, "everybody was like, 'You can't take this guy. He'll never fit in. He's got braids and all that. The structure would kill him You're a disciplinarian; he won't be able to take it.'

"He walked in, said, 'Coach, I'll do whatever it takes.' . . . He went all the way to May 24 without a problem at all."

Blackstock got all A's and B's at Fork Union and got the test score he needed in one try. He became a platoon leader in charge of about 20 cadets, making the rare climb from private to lieutenant in one year. He had 22 sacks and established himself alongside Dallas Cowboys linebacker Dexter Coakley, Shuman said, as one of the two best players to play in the powerful Fork Union program.

"I went from a thug to a doggone nice guy, basically," Blackstock said. "The streets are still in me, but I learned how to think before I react, instead of doing stuff just because."

Even now, though, he admits he "really, really, really" does not like school. He would rather consider the football future once he adds bulk to his wiry frame. He plans to include a run at Chris Slade's Virginia and ACC career-record 40 sacks.

"When I get the size I want to be, I think I'll be a very elite player," he said. "I'll be very dominant. I really think so. Because I want to be able to control the linemen. Instead of reacting to them, I want them to react to me. I want to control the line. I want to do my thing."

Yet Blackstock has matured enough to understand he needs to take care of his academic responsibilities while playing football.

"Of course, football is his love, but he knows he's got to go to school," said his mother, Linda Williams. "That comes with it. . . . Going to Fork Union, he proved to himself that he could do it. He did well.

"So far, so good."