Georgia Tech keeps on bowling
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
November 18, 2004

Florida State has been to 22 straight bowl games. Virginia Tech’s current bowl streak stands at 11.

So, which ACC team ranks third among the league’s current members in consecutive bowl appearances? It’s Georgia Tech.

Every year since 1997, the Yellow Jackets have spent the holiday’s preparing for bowl games.

With a 30-10 win on Nov. 13 over Connecticut, Georgia Tech (6-3, 4-3) won its sixth game of the season, guaranteeing that they would be bowl eligible yet again.

“It’s extremely big,” Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey said. “Anytime you can show a certain amount of consistency in a program, then you have an opportunity at some point to be great.”

While the Yellow Jackets have some room for error with back-to-back contests against a pair of Top 20 teams -

No. 18 Virginia and No. 11 Georgia - they know that one or two more wins would go a long way to helping get them in a better bowl.

In the last three years, Georgia Tech has been shipped out to the Humanitarian Bowl (Boise Idaho), the Silicon Valley Football Classic (San Jose, Ca.) and the Seattle Bowl.

The prospects are slim for the Yellow Jackets getting a bid to the Peach Bowl this year, given its upcoming schedule and the current records of Florida State (8-2), Miami (7-2), Virginia (7-2) and Virginia Tech (7-2), but chances remain that Georgia Tech could sneak into the Champs Sports Bowl, formerly known as the Tangerine Bowl.

Gailey is not worried about how the bowls will shake out. Instead, the coach is focusing his thoughts on beating the Cavaliers on Saturday.

“To me, we’re sitting at one level right now and we’re trying to get to that next level,” Gailey said. “If we can find a way to go out and win this week, that will help us take that next step.”

Gailey knows that beating Virginia, a team fighting for a share of the ACC title, will not be easy.

“They are good,” Gailey said. “You don’t get to be 7-2 if you aren’t good. They can run the football and stop the run. They do a good job overall. [Marques] Hagans is the leading percentage passer in the conference. If you look at statistics, they do a lot of things very, very well and that’s why they are a good football team.”

What Virginia does best is run the football.

Virginia enters the game averaging 251 rushing yards per game, the highest average in the ACC and the eighth best in the country.

Georgia Tech, however, is allowing just 107 yards per game on the ground for the season. That ranks the Yellow Jackets No. 14 in the country against the run. Only Florida State

(61.9 ypg) has had better success in the ACC in the category and the Seminoles lead the nation.

“I don’t think [Virginia is] drastically different from as far as schemes go than any team we have played,” Gailey said. “The biggest thing is their offensive line is massive.”

In their past two games combined, the Yellow Jackets have allowed 92 rushing yards on 56 carries. Connecticut gained only 20 yards and N.C. State mustered 72 yards on 32 carries.

“Georgia Tech’s a very good football team. They have tremendous speed on defense from what I saw on tape, and it might have been even more impressive in person,” UConn coach Randy Edsall said after his team’s loss to Georgia Tech. “Give them credit. They’ve done a lot of good things on defense to a lot of good teams this year.”

Offensively, the Yellow Jackets boast one of the most explosive freshman wide receivers in the ACC. Calvin Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 225-pounder from Tyrone, Ga., ranks second in the conference with six touchdown catches and has already shattered the school record for receiving yards (624) by a rookie.

Against UConn, Johnson caught six passes for a career-high 131 yards, including a 45-yard reception on Georgia Tech’s first play from scrimmage.

“He obviously makes very big plays, he had three catches probably over 30 or 40 yards [against UConn],” Gailey said. “He made some amazing catches on top of that. He’s got a unique talent. The thing about it is that he works at it and is a quality guy. That’s what makes it fun for him to be on the team.”

For his performance against UConn, Johnson was named the ACC Rookie of the Week, his third such honor this season.

Cavs face a tough task in Atlanta
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
November 18, 2004

Scattershooting around the ACC, while noting that Virginia never seems to play well in Atlanta, unless it’s a bowl game ...
So, knocking off Georgia Tech this Saturday is an extremely tough assignment. UVa hasn’t won at Tech since 1994 and the fact that the Yellow Jackets are hoping to improve their bowl status with an upset over the Cavaliers will make the task even more challenging.
The Champs Sports Bowl (formerly the Tangerine Bowl) in Orlando has shown a lot of interest in the Yellow Jackets, but Tech must win its seventh game (UVa and rival Georgia remain) to do so. Otherwise, the Jackets could be sent out west for the fourth consecutive year.
Virginia’s offense is going to face another stiff test because Georgia Tech’s defense has gotten better in recent weeks.
The Jackets have held their opponents to one offensive touchdown in four of their last five games and have given up less than 100 yards rushing in four of those outings. Big East leading rusher Cornell Brockington of UConn, who was averaging 111.8 yards per contest, was held to 43 on
18 carries against Tech.
Defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, who was interviewed for the Virginia head coaching job prior to the Cavaliers hiring Al Groh, has emphasized stopping the run. In fact, in his three seasons at Tech, the Jackets have held 17 opponents to less than 100 yards and have posted a 14-3 record in those games.
Quote of the Week
Clemson center Tommy Sharpe on Duke’s defensive linemen:
“They’re smart players, you can tell. They make their calls in Latin, where we make our regular calls. I’d say their SAT average is a little bit higher than ours.”
BCS baloney
Now that not all ACC teams play one another, the conference doesn’t use head-to-head results as a tie-breaker when teams are tied.
Instead, the BCS bid goes to the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings.
Miami is now back in the ACC picture after beating Virginia last weekend and Larry Coker knows what his Hurricanes need to do.
“There’s no doubt we need to win out,” Coker said. “That’s all we can worry about and all we can control. We put ourselves in this situation, but we’re still in the driver’s seat. We’re not driving a Bentley, but we are driving a Mercedes. Or at least a Chevy Impala. The only thing we can control is what we do, and we’ve got to win out. That’s not going to be easy.”
Bedeviled
Clemson players can’t believe that all they had to do was beat Duke to become bowl eligible and were stunningly upset by the Blue Devils. Now, the Tigers must beat rival South Carolina to reach a bowl.
“It don’t even matter that we beat Miami now,” said Travis Pugh, a free safety for the Tigers. “We lost to Duke. Since my four years here, I’ve never lost to Duke. This is shocking to me.”
Nearly 9,000 Clemson fans showed up at Duke to celebrate a sixth win, but alas it did not come. QB Charlie Whitehurst’s killer interception with 1:07 to play did in any chances the Tigers had of a reaper cheater.
Clemson ranks 112th out of 117 teams in Division I-A and the team’s 16 interceptions are the most since 1969 (24). The Tigers are also 109th in total offense with 293.9 yards per game, the Tigers’ worst average since 1994.
“This is definitely as low as we’ve been,” Clemson defensive end Moe Fountain said. “It’s real hard to get success, but it’s real easy to lose it.”

Under the microscope. Big Ralph Friedgen is going to take a close look at everything in the Maryland program after this season to try to figure out what went wrong.
“I’m going to look really hard at myself,” the Fridge said. “I’ll look at everything this winter. There’s probably things I’ve probably gotten complacent with given we’re a staff that has been together. I’ll go back to the basics of everything and analyze everything. I think I’ll get our staff to visit other people and bring back some thoughts and see what other people are doing.”
Friedgen said he scaled back some of the physical practices this season after assistant coaches made that recommendation. As a result, Maryland didn’t suffer as many serious injuries but may have lacked intensity.
“I blame myself,” Friedgen said. “We’re not as fundamentally sound as we should be on the offensive side of the ball. That’s got to be me getting the right stuff in practice. I did let up and changed some things because assistants thought we were having too tough of practices. When I go back and look at what we’ve done in the past, they’ve been way easier than other years. Maybe I let myself get talked into things I won’t do again.”

Puzzling statistic. Take a look at N.C. State’s dilemma. If the Wolfpack compiles more total yardage than East Carolina, it will mean that State has outgained every opponent this season but will still finish with a losing record.
Even in last week’s loss to Florida State, the Wolfies gained 123 net yards to FSU’s 121, thanks to the Seminoles taking a knee on the final two plays.
The Wolfpack has been so desperate to get some offense going that against FSU, Coach Chuck Amato resorted to giving consecutive carries to defensive linemen Raymond Brooks and John McCargo in hopes of picking up short yardage on third and fourth down. Both were stopped short.

Bell ringers. When Duke ended a 13-year losing streak to North Carolina last season, the Blue Devils took possession of the coveted Victory Bell, which goes to the winner of the annual game.
While UNC could become bowl eligible with a win over Duke this weekend, it isn’t the postseason that the Tar Heels are talking about. It’s getting the bell back.
“That bell was over at Carolina for a long, long time,” Carolina coach John Bunting said. “Last year we came out in the first half and laid an egg. I’ll never, ever forget that game for the rest of my life.”
Duke led 23-0 at the half and went on to win 30-22.

Short yardage ... Carolina will be missing senior tailback Jacque Lewis against Duke after he broke a bone in his foot in the win over Wake Forest. ... However, Ronnie McGill will be available, coming back from an injury suffered against Utah a month ago. ... Georgia Tech’s All-ACC tailback P.J. Daniels (knee) may be back this week, although backup Chris Woods (hamstring) won’t. ...The Yellow Jackets blocked two punts in their win over UConn last week. ... Miami will be rooting for Florida against FSU and Virginia against Virginia Tech in hopes of getting back into the BCS picture. ... FSU is 4-1 in QB Wyatt Sexton’s five starts. ... How far back do Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer and Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen go? Their first children were born just a day apart and the Friedgens and Beamers attended Lamaze classes together. ... Clemson basketball player Troy Mathis has been suspended and is ineligible to play this season after a Sept. 6 arrest in a campus fight. ... Friedgen closed practices to media this week for the first time in his four years at Maryland and a number of the Terps players are off limits to media. ... Meanwhile, Maryland hoopster James Gist threw down one of the most impressive dunks that Terps fans have seen in years, perhaps a hint of why teammates are now referring to the freshman forward as “The Beast.” ...Wake Forest continues to split time with its two quarterbacks, which might be a clue as to why the Deacons are struggling. We have never seen the two-QB system work. ... How close is future ACC member Boston College (7-2 overall, 3-1 Big East) from being undefeated? The Eagles lost 20-17 in overtime to Pitt, and 17-14 to Wake Forest when BC kicker Ryan Ohliger missed three field goals, all chip shots. ... Still, BC has won 10 of its last 12 games.

The picks. Virginia Tech 28, Maryland 17; Florida 24, Florida State 19; UNC 34, Duke 27; Miami 26, Wake Forest 20; Clemson 24, South Carolina 21; Georgia Tech 31, Virginia 28.

Former walk-on runs with his opportunity
Cavaliers linebacker Jon Thompson has progressed steadily during his five football seasons with Virginia.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - When the possibility of Jon Thompson playing football for Virginia originally was raised, an assistant coach was quick to sound a note of caution.

"You've got to get into school on your own," he said. Obviously, the assistant had not yet viewed Thompson's transcript.

"I told him that I already had been accepted," said Thompson, valedictorian of his graduating class at J.J. Kelly High School in Wise.

The Cavaliers were aware of Thompson, an All-Region D linebacker in 1999, but he wasn't one of the "preferred walk-ons" who get their bios in the UVa media guide. In fact, classes already had begun when he joined the team in 2000.

"I didn't even think about playing college football until my senior year in high school," he said.

Fact is, he probably was better known as a wrestler, winning the 2000 Group A championship at 171 pounds, hardly the optimum weight for a Division I-A linebacker. Hampden-Sydney and Emory&Henry were the schools that pursued him most avidly.

If he wasn't sure he would play college football, Thompson had a good idea he would wind up at Virginia, where his father, Bill, was a 1976 architecture graduate.

The Thompsons had their roots in the Roanoke Valley, where Jon's late grandfather attended Andrew Lewis High School before moving to Wise and forming an architectural and engineering firm, Thompson and Litton, that his son runs today.

"We went to a few football games when my sons were growing up," Bill Thompson said, "I distinctly remember, when he was in the sixth or seventh grade, Jon watched the horse come through the tunnel and Jon said, 'I'm playing.' He was talking about the future. I guess you could call it a premonition."

Jon remembers opening up his Christmas stocking in 1995 and finding tickets to Virginia's game with Georgia in the Peach Bowl.

Now, when the Cavaliers go to bowls, he gets the tickets.

After the Cavaliers played Pitt last year in the Continental Tire Bowl, however, there was reason to believe that Thompson's career was over. Normally, former walk-ons with Thompson's limited playing time are not invited to return for a fifth year.

"I didn't know if I was ready to stop playing," said Thompson, who received an undergraduate degree last year in religious studies. "I went to see Coach [Al] Groh and asked if he could recommend a place where I could play."

Would-be fifth-year players often drop down a level to Division I-AA because it affords instant eligibility.

"I took some time to think about it and I told him, 'I think I know where you can play,'" Groh said. "I said, 'Why don't you stay right here?'"

Thompson took a weekend to think about it but reached the same decision that he had at an earlier turning point, when he elected to return for the 2002 season.

"Just after that, Coach Groh offered me a scholarship," said Thompson, who now plays at 225 pounds, spread over a 6-foot-2 frame. "For somebody in my position, it was validation that you belonged."

There has been one milestone after another. First, he made the team. Then, he played in a game. Then, he got the scholarship. In 2003, he lettered for the first time.

This year, he has played on all of UVa's special teams and has been on the field for 94 snaps, up from 11 last year. He had a pivotal punt block in Virginia's 37-16 victory over Duke and his nine tackles, eight solo, are the high for special teams regulars.

Groh even compared Thompson to Alex Seals, who won the George Welsh Special Teams Award in 2001 and 2002.

Thompson's older brother, Benjamin, is a 2002 UVa architecture graduate, and their 17-year-old sister, Rebecca, is bidding to follow her brothers as J.J. Kelly valedictorian.

"Although she wouldn't tip her hat for a long time, she has, indeed, applied to UVa, too," Bill Thompson said.

Gillen, Cavaliers are wanting more
Virginia has loftier postseason goals than what it has achieved so far under Pete Gillen.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

There was a recurring theme in the late summer and early fall when Virginia entertained the men's basketball prospects who will make up its 2005-2006 freshman class.

"When I got back home, I told my coaches, 'If I counted how many times Coach [Pete] Gillen said national championship and NCAA Tournament, it had to be over 20,'" said Brian Moten, who committed to the Cavaliers but remains unsigned, pending academic improvement. "That's the goal of the program. Anything less is unacceptable."

Gillen's fixation was understandable.

Never mind the national championship. Virginia has been to the NCAA Tournament only once in the last seven years.

It was impossible not to pick up a preseason yearbook this fall and not read that Gillen was "on the hot seat," or some variation of that premise. In The Sporting News' annual, columnist Mike DeCourcy's best bet for the ACC was that Gillen will not survive into next season.

Gillen has not had a losing season since his first season, 1998-99, when UVa went 14-16 with six able-bodied scholarship players. Since then, Virginia has not failed to play in the postseason, averaging 18 victories over the past five seasons.

"Hey, that's not good enough," Gillen said. "We want to do more, [but] if I worried about what everybody said about me, I'd live in a glass house and never come out."

UVa had to win six of its last 10 games to reach 18 victories in 2004-05 and, even when the Cavaliers reached the second round of the National Invitation Tournament, well-placed sources insisted that a decision had been made to buy out the final seven years of Gillen's contract.

Obviously, the decision had not been made, but what appears likely is that athletic director Craig Littlepage had received the necessary support from university officials in case he needed to make a move.

Actually, there was some movement. Before receiving a public vote of confidence, Gillen said that his lawyers had been talking to UVa lawyers, leading to speculation that a buyout clause had been added to the contract.

Littlepage hasn't said that Gillen needs to make the NCAA Tournament in order to return for an eighth season, "but we do have goals; we have goals for our department overall and goals for our program," he said.

"Every year in the ACC or in most conferences, there is one or maybe two teams that emerge and do the unexpected. If you look at last year, I don't think there were many people outside the Georgia Tech program who thought [the Yellow Jackets] would be able to do what they did."

The Yellow Jackets, picked sixth in the preseason, got as far as the NCAA championship game before finishing 28-10. Virginia, which tied for seventh in the ACC last year, is a preseason choice for eighth.

"Based on the ingredients of what we have, the returning players and the addition of some very good newcomers and the progress that was made last year, I think we have a good basketball team," Littlepage said. "If we finished eighth, yeah, I would be disappointed. No mistake about it, I think we have a better team than that."

More than anything, Virginia's lowly position in the preseason rankings is a reflection of the talent elsewhere in the league. When The Associated Press released its preseason national Top 25, three of the top four teams were from the ACC - No.2 Wake Forest, No.3 Georgia Tech and No.4 North Carolina.

An optimistic Virginia fan might point out that during a 17-day span in late February and early March, the Cavaliers beat all three of those teams in Charlottesville.

Two of those three victories came courtesy of last-second shots by senior guard Todd Billet. But Billet was the same guy who went 1-for-14 from the field as Virginia squandered an 11-point second-half lead in the regular-season finale at Maryland.

That was the same Maryland team that, seven days later, won the conference tournament.

So, there is evidence to believe Virginia can compete with the elite ACC teams, including preseason No.11 Duke, No.15 Maryland and No.19 North Carolina State, but will the Cavaliers win enough to save Gillen's job?

"I think it all starts at home," said senior forward Devin Smith, referring to University Hall losses last year to Providence, Duke, Maryland and N.C. State. "We had some good wins, but there were also some games we let get away."

If the Cavaliers can't dominate at home, they won't get much help from a schedule that includes road games at Northwestern, Iowa State and Providence. UVa also plays Arizona, Western Kentucky and Richmond at home, as well as Auburn in Richmond.

Few of UVa's opponents will be as experienced as the Cavaliers, who were lucky to have Smith for 27 of 31 games and an average of 24.1 minutes. A herniated disk kept him out of the first game and the last game and required offseason surgery.

"Sometimes, I'm a little stiff," Smith said, "but, at last, I'm pain free."

The Cavaliers return two double-figure scorers in Smith (12.2) and 6-9, 255-pound center Elton Brown (14.8), but the most impressive player in early workouts was their senior classmate, 6-8, 240-pound Jason Clark. Clark was on academic probation for the first semester last season, missing the first 12 games, and never was in optimum shape.

Clark is the team's best shot-blocker, a willing defender and a promising rebounder who knows his role on a team with plenty of scorers. Guard J.R. Reynolds of Roanoke Catholic and swingman Gary Forbes were the No.3 and 4 scorers as freshmen, and there is also firepower in the freshman class.

Freshman point guard Sean Singletary was the second-leading vote-getter for ACC rookie of the year.

"It's the best talent, one through 11, that we've had since I've been here," Brown said.

While Gillen's job status has the potential to be a distraction, scrutiny couldn't be as intense as it was last year, when the Cavaliers played their best when the glare was the brightest.

"You don't worry about the negatives; the negatives are always going to be there," Gillen said. "When you're at an ACC school, playing against the best teams in the country and against the best coaches, you're always on the hot seat. You're always a step away from the street."

Knights getting close-up of Hall
UVa-bound Vic Hall will lead Gretna against Cave Spring in the first round of the playoffs.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

GRETNA - In this age of self-promotion when professionals tend to look at the football field as their stage, Vic Hall has never been one to choreograph his end-zone celebrations.

With 46 touchdowns to his credit this year, that would be a full-time job. "I've heard it said that people come to watch me play," said Hall, in his fourth season as the quarterback at Group AA Division III power Gretna. "I've never looked at is as trying to put on a show."

Maybe that's why the Hawks have been so successful. With its gifted but unassuming quarterback leading the way, Gretna (10-0) takes a 24-game winning streak into its first-round playoff game Friday night against visiting Cave Spring (7-3).

Nobody from Gretna can remember the last time the Hawks played a team from Roanoke.

"To these kids, Roanoke is like the other side of the world," third-year Gretna coach Rob Senseney said. "When they want to go somewhere, they go to Lynchburg or Danville."

To the kids from Cave Spring, Hall is out of this world. The Knights' fans are almost as excited about watching him play as they are about supporting their team.

Hall, who committed to Virginia early in his junior year at Gretna, has accounted for 12,248 yards in total offense in his Hawks' career and stands seventh on the all-time list for high schools.

"I actually just found out about that," said Hall, who needs 68 yards to move into fifth place ahead of former Shannon, Miss., and University of Mississippi quarterback Romaro Miller.

This year, Hall already has accounted for 3,330 yards and 46 touchdowns, 29 passing and 17 rushing. He has been the model of consistency, rushing for more than 1,000 yards in three straight seasons and passing for at least 2,000 yards for three years in a row.

He has not missed a start in his 48-game career, a span over which the Hawks have gone 43-5 - this from a team that set a state record by losing 44 consecutive games between 1991-96.

Hall surmises that he was at many of those losses, dreaming of playing for the Hawks but not realizing how hapless they were. He first started playing football when he was 7 - "He was seven and I was six," said current and longtime teammate Horace Hubbard - and was a running back until the eighth grade.

"When I was smaller, basketball was my game," he said.

He isn't large now, standing 5-foot-10 and weighing 175 pounds. When Virginia became the first school to offer him a scholarship, many other college coaches were questioning whether Hall could play quarterback at the Division I-A level.

It was more than coincidence when the Cavaliers made their offer to Hall in the weeks following a 59-16 victory over Western Michigan that was engineered by emergency starter Marques Hagans.

"We're the same-type players, except he's much bigger," Hall said.

Actually, Hall can look Hagans straight in the eye, but, at 5-10 and a listed 211 pounds, Hagans is stockier.

Hall, a strong-armed center fielder in baseball, will give up basketball and baseball this year in order to build up his body and concentrate on graduating.

That second goal shouldn't be a problem, given his 3.1 grade-point average. Hall already has met Division I-A standardized-test requirements, but he's a no-nonsense guy.

"You wouldn't know he's in the classroom; you wouldn't know he's in the cafeteria, you wouldn't know he's in the hall," assistant principal and athletic director Tim Hahn said. "He came in my office the other day and said, 'Here on the application, it says Virginia needs the SAT 2.' He likes to stay on top of things."

Only Hall's mother, Rochelle, persists in calling him by his given name, Vicqual, pronounced Vic-HALE, and then only occasionally. In addition to Vic, he also goes by "Kale."

Continued brilliance could lead to some new nicknames, but Hall only wants to think about the present.

"It's just hit me that I'm a senior," he said. "These last four years have kind of flown by, but hopefully we'll have four more games before it ends."

If he allows himself a celebration, rest assured it will be tasteful.Flying high

with the HawksHow Vic Hall ranks all time nationally in total offense during his high school career:1. Ben Mauk 19,628 2. Chris Leak 16,590 3. J.R. House 14,710 4. Ken Hall 14,558 5. Romaro Miller 12,315 6. Ernest Tinnin 12,310 7. Vic Hall 12,248 8. Josh Booty 12,105 9. Dave Garcia 11,604 10. Ron Cuccia 11,451has accounted for 12,248 yards in total offense in his Hawks' career and stands seventh on the all-time list for high schools

Daniels doubtful for Virginia game
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/18/04

All-ACC running back P.J. Daniels (knee) looks more and more doubtful for Saturday's game against Virginia.

"He tried to run around a little bit and wasn't successful," Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey said of Daniels' attempt to practice on Wednesday. "He won't start if he plays."

Daniels has not played in the past two games, both victories, due to a bruised knee. Daniels' backup, Chris Woods, is out with a bad hamstring. That means freshman Rashaun Grant likely will start for the Jackets.

Cavs' road load
Big games away from Scott Stadium have been burden for U.Va.
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Nov 18, 2004

VIRGINIA AT GA. TECH
SATURDAY: 1 p.m. ON THE AIR: TV - ABC. Radio - WRVA (1140), 12:30 p.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - To earn a share of the ACC title, the University of Virginia football team will have to close the regular season with victories over Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets (4-3, 6-3) already are bowl-eligible, as are the Hokies (4-1, 7-2), and beat- ing either team at Scott Stadium would be a challenge for the 18th-ranked Cavaliers (4-2, 7-2). Both games are on the road, where U.Va. often has struggled during Al Groh's four seasons as its coach.

"We're definitely going to be faced with [a significant challenge] these last two weeks, and that just kind of adds to how difficult finishing the season is going to be," senior tailback Alvin Pearman said. "But it was never going to be easy, and whatever it is, we're going to be ready."

Under Groh, the Cavs' record at Scott Stadium is 20-6. They're 2-0 in bowl games, both in Charlotte, N.C. They're 7-13 in road games, with only two victories over bowl-bound opponents.
Building Quality Homes

In 2001, the Cavaliers rallied to win 26-24 at No. 19 Clemson. A year later, they stormed back to beat Wake Forest 38-34 at Groves Stadium, where many of the 25,883 fans were pulling for the visitors.

Virginia has won 16 of its past 18 games at Scott Stadium. The Cavaliers must learn, though, that the venue "should make a difference and it shouldn't make a difference," Groh said.

"That is, if it makes that big a difference - and we've talked a little bit with the team about this - if you get all jacked up and say, 'Boy, we're going to have a great crowd here, it's going to hard to play here, this is a hard place to come and play and so on and so forth,' then what you're really saying is you're going to accept being 6-5 every year.

"You have to recognize the re- ality of the fact that [playing at home] can give you a boost, but you also have to learn that you have to be able to play without that."

U.Va. has played three road games this season, winning at Temple and Duke and losing at Florida State. Groh believes numbers don't always tell the whole story.

"As a team's road record improves, people are going to say, 'Well, you've really learned to win on the road,'" he said. "No, what you've done is you've gotten increasingly better personnel so you can win any place . . . You've got an advantage because you've got better players, and if you get them better prepared and they've got a collective idea of what has to be done and they're hungry to win every week, then you ought to have the advantage no matter where the game is."

The Cavaliers' talent level has risen steadily since Groh returned to his alma mater. That should help them, he believes, on their upcoming road trips.

"I think it's a better team [than its predecessors]," Groh said yesterday.

 

Pieces could be in place for Gillen's best team at Virginia
J.D. Moss, Cavalier Daily Columnist

Does anyone realize that college basketball started? And that the nation's 10th-best team, Arizona, is coming to Charlottesville on Sunday to give the Cavaliers their toughest November game under Pete Gillen.

That, of course, isn't saying much, considering last year's slate consisted of Mount St. Mary's, Virginia Tech and High Point. But Arizona provides a legitimate test, something the Cavs are unaccustomed to before the New Year.

My final season here begins with mixed emotions. I came to Charlottesville when Virginia was a basketball school. I camped out for a week in 2002 for the fateful Maryland game, the one where then-No. 8 Virginia blew a nine-point lead with 3:22 left against the third-ranked Terps. It started the freefall in which Virginia lost 10 of their last 14, a freefall that has yet to stop.

The good news is that this will be the best team that Gillen has produced in four years. This team has all of the necessary pieces to earn an NCAA bid.

Freshman Sean Singletary will be an immediate star, challenging for ACC Rookie of the Year honors while giving Gillen the point guard he has lacked since God Shammgod at Providence. Singletary is a natural leader á la Chris Paul, a consummate playmaker who just wants the ball in his hands. He instantly solves the point guard question that has riddled Gillen.

Sophomore J.R. Reynolds finally gives Virginia someone who can create his own shot. Reynolds is deadly from beyond the arc, plays aggressive defense and will emerge as an All-ACC caliber player this season. Senior Devin Smith averaged 11.6 points while never practicing last year because of a nagging back injury; he's finally healthy, and the ACC will see what that means.

Inside, Jason Clark will have a full season this year, and no one does the dirty things -- rebound, block shots, take charges and hustle -- better than he does. Elton Brown seems to have turned another corner and vows to join Clark in doing dirty work, but Brown also has the best post moves in the ACC when his head is in the game and not on the nightly Snickers he treats himself to.

The bench stretches deep too, with athletic wings Gary Forbes and Adrian Joseph (think Adam Hall with a shot) providing instant energy on both ends of the floor. T.J. Bannister is a serviceable floor general and Donte Minter can score inside.

So, you ask, what is holding back the Cavaliers? Well, there are the usual internal holes and a killer ACC slate.

First, Virginia has to overcome the defensive deficiencies that plagued the team over the last two years when they finished eighth and ninth in scoring defense. The Rod Jensen experiment may be behind Gillen, but his team must demonstrate the ability to stop someone before anyone talks of success.

I think they should be better this year. Todd Billet was a great leader who gave everything he had on both ends of the floor, but his limited athletic ability hampered him defensively.

The Cavs plan to use more, high-pressure defense, as they should with a healthy Smith and lightning-quick Singletary.

With a trio of athletic wings and more minutes for Clark, this team certainly can play defense. Will they?

Second, rebounding, in which the Cavs ranked ninth on the defensive glass last season. It starts with Brown, a full season of Clark and Smith. Rebounding is all about desire, but that's always a Pandora's Box inside of University Hall. Who knows if Brown will back up his words?

Third, free throws. The Cavs have finished eighth and seventh in the ACC in the last two years. No signs of improvement, as Virginia went just 20 of 36 from the line last week.

Fourth, home court advantage this year will be mitigated by the SHOTS system, which requires students to request tickets online. In addition to fewer students that will come, the atmosphere will be hurt by the general public being allowed to sit in the lower bowl. This will take the students almost entirely out of the game with families sitting down around them five rows from the court. A student ID should be required to get into the lower bowl of the student section. That's it.

On top of those challenges, the ACC this year will be the best conference college basketball has ever seen. Six ACC teams start the season in the top 19. Three are in the top four, with Duke and Maryland not among them. It should make for quite an ACC season, but will be extremely tough going.

One would figure that the Cavs would need eight ACC wins. Quick math reveals four likely wins (two games against Virginia Tech, Miami and Clemson) and six likely losses (games at Duke, Georgia Tech, UNC, Wake, N.C. State and Maryland). That means that Virginia needs to get four wins somehow between a home-and-home with FSU and home bouts with UNC, Wake, N.C. State and Maryland. At the least, a bid requires two home wins over top-20 teams and two more road wins. Gillen, however, is 2-14 in road games the last two years and is 10-38 at Virginia.

Gillen may have the luck of the Irish, and a tourney bid is certainly possible, but my time here has taught me that I should be in no rush to buy a pair of dancing shoes.

Then again, I would love nothing more than for Gillen to prove me wrong. I've been saving up moves for four years.

Georgia Tech run wall readies to battle Cavs
Yellow Jacket rush defense allowing 107 yards per contest faces eighth-ranked Virginia running game Saturday
Sara Gilliam, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

It's crunch time. Last Saturday's decisive loss to Miami knocked No. 18 Virginia (7-2, 4-2) out of first place in the ACC. The Cavaliers can still tie for first in the ACC if they win their last two games of the season beginning with this week's test at Georgia Tech.

The Cavaliers' have come to depend on their offensive line which not only has size but also agility. Virginia's rushing offense is ranked eighth in the country with 258 yards per game and 28 touchdowns, and 5.29 yards per carry.

The Cavaliers "have a massive offensive line and those guys can all move, so we're definitely going to have our work cut out for us this week," Georgia Tech defensive lineman Joe Anoai said.

The Yellow Jackets' defensive line may just be the match for Virginia's rush attack. Georgia Tech's run defense is ranked 14th in the nation and second in the ACC, allowing 107.0 yards per game, nine total touchdowns and 3.22 yards per carry average.

"Like most of these top run defenses, they do everything they can to crowd the point of attack," Virginia Coach Al Groh said. "They're going to get as many people to that area as they can. It looks like a New York City subway station. That's been the case on many other occasions too. Each team's got their own little way in getting a lot of guys there, but they all really all have the same motive in what they're trying to do on defense."

With experience from playing as a true freshman last year, sophomore Anoai has been able to make big plays for the defensive line this season. According to Anoai, opposing offensive players are intimidated by junior defensive end Travis Parker, allowing him to step in and make the tackle.

Anoai may derive his natural athletic ability from a family of professional athletes; both his brother and cousin wrestle for the WWE.

For now Anoai has decided to pursue football, but he has given some thought to following his relatives' footsteps.

"I've always thought about my character more than what I'd wear," Anoai said. "I wouldn't want to run out there in a thong like my cousin does. I'd go more standard like the Rock, boots and stuff. Bigger underwear at least."

Anoai is just one of several players that make up the successful Georgia Tech defensive line. Darryl Richard may follow Anoai's lead at 6-foot-4-inch, 300 lbs by making an impact as a true freshman on the defensive line.

"I think [Defensive Coordinator Jon] Tenuta and his staff are some of the best in the nation at getting people in a position to use their talent," Georgia Tech coach Chan Gaily said. "They do a good job mixing it up [with the blitz] so people can't get a good read on it."

The coaching staff and the defensive lineman at Georgia Tech have proved to be a winning combination this season, but the Cavaliers cannot let their rush attack suffer if they want to seal the victory this Saturday and become one step closer to regaining their spot at the top of the ACC.

Virginia guards set to run floor with evolving fast-paced offense
Singletary adds speed joining Bannister at point guard, Gillen ready to run up-tempo style led by young backcourt
Joey Mancini, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

At the end of last season, Virginia achieved remarkable upsets against three ranked conference opponents -- Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Wake Forest. In three losses to these teams earlier in the year, the Cavaliers had lost by an average margin of nearly 17 points.

Question: What caused this transformation in Virginia last season, from decisive defeats to three two-point victories?

Answer: The Cavaliers began to run a three-guard lineup featuring T.J. Bannister, J.R. Reynolds and Todd Billet. From then on, Virginia was able to push the ball up the court at a fast-paced tempo led by quick guards.

In 2004-2005, the Cavaliers once again intend to push the cadence of every game using their backcourt. While they may not frequently run the three-guard set because of rebounding difficulty, the team now has speed across the board to drive the break while still hammering the glass.

The key to Virginia's new speed is highly-touted freshman guard Sean Singletary -- the team's first pure point guard since Donald Hand graduated in 2001. During exhibition season, Singletary has shown varying success as a young defender, but has without a doubt driven the offense in an entirely new style.

Sophomore T.J. Bannister returns to compete for the starting point guard position after a 2003-2004 season, which ended in vastly increased minutes running the offense. Against Marymount University in last week's exhibition contest, he accumulated seven assists in just 16 minutes of playing time.

The combination of Bannister and Singletary gives Virginia coach Pete Gillen options at the point, but also the possibility of situations where the two spark plugs could play at the same time.

"We could play both of the point guards together at times," Gillen said. "Each game is different. Sometimes playing two little guys who can get quick helps us, sometimes maybe they might get overpowered because they are not rebounding enough."

At shooting guard the Cavaliers return 6-foot-2-inch sophomore J.R. Reynolds, a three-point threat who may be on the verge of a breakout season after posting a rookie year in which he was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team. Gillen has complimented Reynolds on spending extra time in the gym and shooting on the court, especially following a 23-point performance against Marymount.

To fill out the wings, Virginia once again has options, especially for fresh legs late in each contest.

Sophomore Gary Forbes, standing at 6 feet 6 inches tall, brings the dynamic combination of defense and broad spectrum of shooting range. Forbes can play both shooting guard and small forward. The Brooklyn, N.Y. native received the "Mr. Hustle" award last year from his teammates, a testament to the speed and effort he brings to the court.

"I'm going to do whatever the coach says," Forbes said. "Whether I come off the bench or I start, if the coach needs me to score, I can score. If he needs me to rebound or play defense, I can do that. It is whatever coach needs."

Outside of Bannister, Singletary, Reynolds and Forbes, Virginia sports several athletic big men who can keep up with an up-tempo offense set by the backcourt in a smaller lineup.

The key for Gillen in the backcourt is that he now has options -- competition at point guard, versatility off the bench and the speed to run an up-tempo style offense. This year, Gillen will attempt a blast from his own past through a return to the speedy, push-the-break backcourts that defined many of his teams at Xavier and Providence.

"We're going to push it, but we're not going to press for the whole game," Gillen said. "We'll turn it on and turn it off. We'll press more [than last year]. We're quicker than last year."

Virginia fans should no longer have to scream late in games for their coach to "push the ball" and beat the defense before they can set themselves up. In any conference but the 2004-2005 ACC, this game plan and blend of athletes would be a recipe for success.

If the Cavaliers can control the game at their own fast tempo, then fans should be able to save their voices for a different type of cheering late in the game.