Close wins open door for Groh
Thursday, Nov 08, 2007 - 12:05 AM
By BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST

Well, kids, another election day has come and gone, and so we turn now to the two biggest questions next to be considered on the political landscape . . .

1. Just who is Ron Paul, anyway?

2. What more does Al Groh need to do to wrap up ACC coach of the year?

And the answers:

1. RuPaul's brother?

2. One more Saturday-night special should nail it.

This has been a bewitching football season for Virginia's Cavaliers, and they haven't needed a single nose twitch from Samantha to make it happen (well, maybe one for that UConn snapper and another for Sam Swank).

The Cavs are 8-2. They're atop the ACC's Coastal Division. Their past three wins each have come by a single point, a couple others by a whopping two points apiece. Take away a 29-24 loss at N.C. State when they couldn't hex Pack wideout Donald Bowens, and they've won all the close ones. They've rallied five times in the fourth quarter. Twice, they've won in the closing 30 seconds.

That's gumption. That's creating a framework for the possible. That's your leader in the polls for ACC coach of the year.

Understand, this wouldn't be a lifetime achievement award. Groh is in his seventh year at U.Va., and his résumé was lumpy heading into 2007. AD Craig Littlepage, who last winter declined to extend Groh's contract beyond its 2010 expiration, will have another tough decision to make at season's end, particularly if U.Va. wobbles to the finish line.

But even if the Cavs falter and drop their next two starts, to Miami and Virginia Tech, they'd still be 8-4 and 5-3 in the ACC, and that's maybe an electable body of work in this league. The Cavs are the only team to beat UConn so far. And they're the only team ever -- repeat: ever -- to win so many times in one season by one or two points.

You can tell me they're lucky. They've also been nicely led.

"When we get down, no one ever puts his head down," kicker Chris Gould said after Saturday's 17-16 squeaker over Wake Forest. "We all look at each other and know if we stick with it, we will pull it out in the end."

It seems like light years since that opening-day 23-3 disaster at Wyoming and the ensuing "Groh Must Go!" paint job on the Beta Bridge in C'ville. Chairman Al was in jeopardy then. He's getting some love now -- a shift that's maybe softened his imperial-coach demeanor a tad. Asked the other day why he ordered a doomed fourth-and-2 pass against Wake instead of an easy field goal that would've put U.Va. on top 13-6, Groh responded with refreshing humility.

"I maybe got a little carried away there in the third quarter," he said. "But the players bailed me out during the course of the day."

His coach-of-the-year competition? Clemson's Tommy Bowden could make a late push (or stage his usual fade), but it boils down at this juncture to BC's Jeff Jagodzinski and N.C. State's Tom O'Brien. Jags inherited a stacked depth chart and the ACC's best quarterback. That'd leave O'Brien, whose squad -- picked last in its division -- has rebounded from 1-5 with three straight victories and would be a vote-beckoning 7-5 if it wins out.

"Mental toughness is a big part of this," O'Brien told reporters after Saturday's win at Miami. "The difference is, they hang in there now. They don't give up."

That's U.Va.'s calling card, too. It has one great player in Chris Long and a bunch of guys. No sure-thing QB. No roadrunner wideouts. No roster oozing with first-round draftees. Just a crew that blends some talent with find-a-way-to-win moxie.

The guy on the sideline has something to do with that.

 

Copper always clued in
No one at UVa doubts that the Roanoke native is as prepared as any of the Cavs' defenders.
Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Every so often, Jon Copper needs a reminder.

Copper spends so much time watching film and studying other teams' tendencies, that he's rarely surprised by anything he sees on a football field.

"He can tell by the formation, 'It's not going to be this,'" Virginia football coach Al Groh said before the season. "If we have a 10-page scouting report on a team, he can eliminate about 812 of those pages as soon as the other team comes out of the huddle."

What concerns Groh is the other 15 percent.

"To use the phrase 'paralysis by analysis,' sometimes a player of his style has to watch out that he doesn't have too much information," Groh said this week. "He's trying to sit there and figure everything out while the whole world is revolving around him.

"We had a couple of issues with that Saturday. It appears we got his attention on that matter."

If the play starts going in a different direction than anticipated, the idea is for Copper to start running and think later.

"That's the one thing, with me playing football, that I need to be careful of," Copper said. "He got on me a little last week. I had regressed a little bit."

Copper, a walk-on linebacker from Northside High School, started for the first time last year as a sophomore and led the Cavaliers in tackles with 81.

This year, he already has 85 tackles and the Cavaliers have two regular-season games and a likely bowl game to follow.

"The number of hours that Jon spends on his own time, either studying himself or studying his opponent, is hard to calculate," Groh said. "He made the evaluation a long time ago that this is what he needs to do to put the whole package together.

"He's shown the willingness to invest whatever time, as well as physical effort, was involved."

Groh gave the Cavaliers a rare off-day Monday, but all that meant was that Copper didn't take the field. He visited the McCue Center for treatment, followed by film study.

"Did I see Jon over there?" Groh asked. "Sure. There aren't any off days for Jon. Sunday was an off-day, too, but John and Chris Long were in there for about three hours, watching tape."

Long is the Cavaliers' marquee player, a certain first-round NFL draft pick, and the acknowledged leader of an overachieving Cavaliers' team that leads the ACC's Coastal Division at 5-1 and carries an 8-2 record into Saturday's game at Miami.

His natural successor is Copper, who turned 23 in September, but is eligible to return for a fifth season in 2008. Copper, who attended Fork Union Military Academy in 2003-2004 and then was redshirted as a freshman at UVa, is the lone married member of the Cavaliers' team.

"It's something I've thought about a little more recently," Copper said. "I think of my role more in terms of encouraging guys and being a role model. That may change in February. Of course, we're going to lose two guys [Long and fellow co-captain Tom Santi] who have been the heart and soul of this team."

Copper has been heavily involved in the spiritual side of student life and has been active in a number of Christian organizations, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Young Life.

As much as he subscribes to the power of prayer, there are some lengths to which he will not go.

In the waning moments of Virginia's 17-16 victory over Wake Forest this past Saturday, Copper couldn't bring himself to pray for the Deacons' Sam Swank to miss a 47-yard field goal on the game's final play.

"I've heard that God's not very interested in those things," Copper said. "It's not like it affects world peace, but it's important to us and it's something that's important to Wake Forest and whoever else we might be playing.

"I don't see a problem with praying for victories and praying for big plays or great execution. But, it's with the understanding that, if the Lord answers that, it was his will for things to go well. That last [Virginia] offensive drive, I was praying quite a bit."
 

U.Va., Tech primed to end woes vs. Sunshine State teams
David Teel
9:32 PM EST, November 7, 2007
 

People love Florida. Disney World, Cape Canaveral, and spring-break debauchery. Key West, the Daytona 500 and spring training baseball.

But pardon college football fans in these parts if the mere mention of the Sunshine State gives them hives. Florida is their true f-word.

The University of Virginia has never won a game in Florida. The Cavaliers are 0-15.

Virginia Tech has never defeated a Florida State squad coached by Bobby Bowden. The Hokies are 0-12.

Both streaks could -- should? -- end Saturday when Virginia visits Miami, and Virginia Tech hosts Florida State.

Now when the ACC added Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech to its membership, most figured the conference's annual championship game would become the Miami-Florida State Invitational. Hasn't happened.

Florida State bested Virginia Tech in 2005; Wake Forest trumped Georgia Tech in '06, and barring locusts, neither Florida school will play in this season's title contest. Conversely, you can virtually bank on either Virginia or Virginia Tech advancing to next month's championship game in Jacksonville, Fla.

So has the conference's balance of power shifted to our commonwealth? Have the Cavaliers and Hokies supplanted the Seminoles and Hurricanes?

Well, let's not get carried away. One, two, or even three years do not a seismic shift make.

That said, Saturday could be a landmark for the state's two Division I-A programs.

Sentiment in Miami says otherwise. After 72 seasons, the Hurricanes are abandoning the historic but decrepit Orange Bowl in Little Havana for the modern amenities of suburban Dolphins Stadium.

Saturday marks the program's final Orange Bowl appearance, and a host of players from Miami's storied past are scheduled to attend. Michael Irvin, Russell Maryland and Bernie Kosar. Gino Torretta, Bennie Blades and Andre Johnson.

But the atmosphere may not be all that daunting in the stadium where Miami won an NCAA-record 58 consecutive home games from 1985-94. The Hurricanes (5-4, 2-3) are not of championship caliber, and consequently their attendance lags.

Even on the heels of a come-from-behind victory at Florida State, Miami drew a paltry 34,621 for last week's home game against North Carolina State. That's less than half the Orange Bowl's capacity of 72,319.

You shouldn't be surprised. South Florida is a dismal college sports market, and the Hurricanes' average home attendance this season is 40,503 with no crowd of 53,000 or better.

Sure, with five national championships in the last 25 years, Miami's Orange Bowl farewell should be a standing-room-only event. But after a 19-16 overtime loss to N.C. State there's no telling.

The defeat hinged on one stat line: Miami's Kirby Freeman completed 1-of-14 passes for 84 yards and three interceptions. And to think: Miami once was known as Quarterback U.

Kyle Wright returns from ankle and knee ailments this week to replace Freeman, and two years ago he passed for 246 yards and a touchdown in a 25-17 victory over Virginia.

That was the Cavaliers' maiden voyage to the Orange Bowl but added to their Florida futility.

Virginia is 0-1 at Miami and the University of Florida, 0-9 at Florida State and 0-4 in Florida postseason games. It's more oddity than anything, but wouldn't it be a relief to erase the bad karma?

After all, the ACC championship game is in Florida, as are three of the conference's partner bowls.

Virginia Tech's Florida phobia revolves around one school, one old man actually. Since Papa Bowden -- he turns 78 today! -- took over Florida State's program in 1976, the Hokies have dropped 12 straight to the Seminoles, including the 1999 national championship game, the Gator Bowl two years later and the inaugural ACC title contest in 2005.

The Hokies (7-2, 4-1) look poised to end that futility against the Seminoles (6-3, 3-3). Except Florida State is fresh off its first conquest of a top-five opponent since 2000: Saturday's 27-17 road upset of No. 2 Boston College.

For once, the Seminoles' talent and athleticism translated to performance, especially on offense, as they were turnover-free for the first time this season. Quarterback Drew Weatherford was far better than Boston College's heralded Matt Ryan, passing for 354 yards and two touchdowns.

Weatherford has shared the position with Xavier Lee this season, but with Lee suspended two games -- Boston College and Virginia Tech -- for academic transgressions, Weatherford appeared unburdened. He knew he wouldn't be benched at the first signs of trouble.

Virginia Tech understands the revolving quarterback thing. Ineffectiveness and injury prompted a Sean Glennon-Tyrod Taylor-Glennon shuffle that might have ended with Glennon's 296-yard, two-touchdown performance at Georgia Tech last week.

"You look at this Florida State crowd and I'd say we're getting them at the wrong time," Hokies coach Frank Beamer said.

Maybe he's right. Maybe the Seminoles are peaking. But it shouldn't matter.

This should be Virginia Tech's time. And Virginia's.

 

UM seniors ready for OB finale
With the Orange Bowl's days coming to an end, Saturday's home finale will be an emotional day for several seniors.
Posted on Thu, Nov. 08, 2007Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN
sdegnan@MiamiHerald.com

More than one quarter of Glenn Sharpe's life has been spent as a Miami Hurricane.

So when he runs through the Orange Bowl smoke for the last time Saturday in UM's final game in the Orange Bowl, he'll have a lump in his throat to go with the adrenaline in his veins.

''I've been here the longest,'' said Sharpe, 23, a sixth-year senior who was granted the extra year of eligiblity after he tore the anterior cruciate ligaments of both knees during separate seasons. ``But when you look back on it, my career went fast.

``I've come to respect the game more because at any moment it can be taken away. I don't feel like I really reached my potential because of my injuries, but I'm still blessed and wouldn't have it any other way. I learned a lot and it has made me a better person because of all the things I've been through.''

Sharpe is the only current UM player who competed against Ohio State in the 2002 season's double-overtime Fiesta Bowl -- the game in which Sharpe was called for pass interference after UM initially believed it had won. He will be one of 21 seniors who run through the smoke for the last time in a 7:15 p.m. game against Virginia (8-2, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) that would qualify UM (5-4, 2-3) for a bowl with a victory.

Amid the other ceremonies planned for the final game, UM's seniors will be joined on the field by their parents and siblings.

SENIOR DAY

''It's unique to be part of this,'' said walk-on kicker Grant Brown, a senior from North Versailles, Pa., who has never played in a game. ``It's a shame to see the Orange Bowl go after 70 years, but it will be special to be a senior in the last game there.

``It's not just about my five years here, but I think back to when I started playing sports at age 4. Now I'm about to turn 23 and this is the end of my long sports run.''

Quarterback Kyle Wright, another fifth-year senior, will start his last home game despite a sprained left ankle and knee he's still treating.

''For all the guys you get to know that you see move on, it has always been an emotional day for them and their families,'' Wright said. ``Now that my day has come, I don't think it has really hit me yet. It definitely will be a special moment, because my class has been through so much.''

Wright said he still recalls his first game as a true freshman in 2003.

``One of my favorite moments [as a Hurricane] was running out into the Orange Bowl for the first time against Florida. It's an adrenaline rush you really can't describe unless you've been through it. I can't believe it's over.''

Except for Sharpe, most of these seniors have been part of the class that first played in the Orange Bowl after the 2003 season (16-14 win against Florida State) or in the 2004 Peach Bowl (27-10 win against Florida), and subsequently in the 40-3 losing effort against Louisiana State in 2005 and last year's 21-20 victory against Nevada in the MPC Computers Bowl.

ENCOURAGING WORDS

''I've been trying to give the younger guys something positive to look back on, some encouragement'' linebacker Tavares Gooden said. ``I'm trying to teach them how to win and be successful.

``Ever since I was a freshman I've seen guys on Senior Day and wondered what it would be like. My parents will be on that field, and I've graduated. I'm just grateful for everything.''

Added guard Derrick Morse: 'Coach [Jeff] Stoutland keeps saying every week, `Your time is running out.' And it's true. You just have to make the most of it.''

Morse's neighbor on the offensive line, center John Rochford, acknowledged the journey has been more arduous than anyone expected. ''We expected to win more games,'' he said. ``But we battled through a lot of adversity and I'm proud of all the guys on this team.

``I know how special it's going to be that last time running out onto the field. This is the best time in our lives right now, playing college football here, so it's going to be real important to play well.''

 

UM's Freeman keeps N.C. State loss in perspective
Posted on Thu, Nov. 08, 2007Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN
sdegnan@MiamiHerald.com
 
Coping with the aftermath of a 1-of-14 performance (with one touchdown and three interceptions) in Miami's loss to North Carolina State has been anything but easy for quarterback Kirby Freeman. But he said his family has helped him gain perspective.

''I talked to my dad on Sunday,'' Freeman said. ''He said, 'You need to realize you're human, and as much as you guys get treated inhumanely and things are the way they are, let me ask you a question: Did the sun come up this morning?'

''I said, `Yes, Sir. It sure did.'

'He said, `Did you pick up a ball and run it in the end zone the wrong direction?' I said, `No. I didn't do that.'

'He said, `Have you had any other problems -- serious problems -- in any other aspects of your life?' I said, 'No, Sir.' He said, `You need to understand that even though things happened the way they did, you're truly blessed in a lot of other ways and you need to realize that.'

''I don't have family out here, so it was nice. It hit home when I heard it.''

Usual starter Kyle Wright, who is still recovering from a sprained left ankle and knee, will be back at quarterback against Virginia on Saturday in the last UM game in the Orange Bowl.

''I was pretty sore [Tuesday] and I got a ton of treatment again [Wednesday] and it felt better,'' Wright said. ``I was able to do some rollouts and bootlegs and it didn't bother me.''



 

Freshman cornerback qucikly making an impact for Cavs
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
November 7, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - You see Ras-I Dowling make a play for the ball and wonder why every cornerback doesn't do that. You watch as he breaks up multiple passes in the same game and ask if that's an inherent or learned skill. You see him pick off his second pass in as many weeks and marvel at how prepared this kid is this early in his career.
So you ask Dowling, Virginia's soft-spoken yet highly confident true freshman cornerback, just where his aggressive approach came from. He answers like he's never known any other way.

"My old coach and my father said, 'When the ball's in the air, it's yours,'" Dowling said. "So I try to go after it like it's mine, like it's for me."

In two games at cornerback, Dowling has already given the Cavaliers hope that they've got a star in the making. In limited paying time, the freshman has more pass break-ups (8) and interceptions (2) than anybody in UVa's secondary.

Yes, he got beat several times at N.C. State two weeks ago, the victim of a string of on-the-money passes by Daniel Evans to Donald Bowens, but he didn't beat himself up about it.

Unaffected, he made his first career start against Wake Forest in place of an injured Chris Cook last week, finishing with five tackles and an interception, his second in as many games.

"Even the coverage illiterate can see he's picking balls off in practice every day," UVa defensive end Chris Long said. "He's around the ball. He's making plays on the ball. ? He's definitely ahead of the curve. He's a playmaker."

That's always been the case. Ras-I, whose father named him after a boxer, played defensive back, wide receiver and some quarterback at Deep Creek High in Chesapeake, a Hokie haven that produced Virginia Tech standouts Darryl Tapp and DeAngelo Hall, the latter having grown up in the same neighborhood as Dowling.

Largely unheralded by recruiting Web sites (two stars coming out of high school in 2006 by Rivals), the 6-foot-2 athlete quickly caught the eye of the Virginia coaching staff for his variety of skills. Though Tech offered first, he chose UVa, and went to Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham to prep.

It was there that his football mentality was reinforced. Hargrave coach Robert Prunty doesn't believe in zone defenses.

His cornerbacks are strong, physical types who thrive on making aggressive plays on the ball - traits prized by every Division I coach.

The results speak for themselves. In 2003, Prunty's secondary included Brandon Flowers and D.J. Parker of Virginia Tech, second-team all-SEC safety Jonathan Hefney of Tennessee and Virginia's Philip Brown, who displaced Marcus Hamilton as the starter for three games during his freshman season in 2004 before academic problems cut short his UVa career.

Last year, Hargrave's corners were Dowling and current Tennessee starter Brent Vinson, a pair of rangy athletes, rare in their 6-foot-2 size.

"The way the game is with these big receivers, that's a diamond to have a guy like that," said Prunty, who thinks both could be All-Americans.

At Hargrave, they clearly benefited from being left alone on the outside.

"(You know) if you get beat, it's on you," said Dowling, who left Hargrave rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals. "You're on an island by yourself. You have to go out and play every down like it's your last, because if you don't, you get beat for a touchdown. You don't want to look bad out there."

Dowling showed such promise early in UVa's training camp that coaches felt compelled to get him on the field in some capacity, starting him out on special teams in the second week.

He responded with 16 tackles in his first five games.

"I played special teams for a whole year and thought I had a pretty good year. I think I made six tackles," UVa linebacker Jon Copper said. "He did that in his first game."

Dowling has continued to impress at corner, which could be one of Virginia's deepest positions in the future, with Cook, Vic Hall, Mike Brown, Mike Parker and Dowling all expected to be in the mix next season.

At 6-foot-2, Dowling has the size and athletic ability to switch to safety, but Virginia coach Al Groh isn't quick to move a cornerback of that unique mold to another position, especially when that player has had such early success at his current spot.

"It's pretty unusual to see true freshmen corners playing," Groh said, "but he's had an unusual year for us."


 

Cavs feeling good karma
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
November 8, 2007

With 11 ticks left on the clock, Jaron Fairman snuck back into the back of the end zone, collecting a game-tying touchdown pass.

Had the referees noticed - or had there been instant replay - Fresno State’s receiver would have been ruled ineligible for the catch on the fourth-down play.

In turn, Virginia would have won the 2004 MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, finished 9-3 overall and in the top 15 in the season-ending poll. Instead, the Cavaliers lost in overtime.

On that particular day, the most important “break” did not go Virginia’s way. The same could also have been said on other instances during the seven-year Al Groh era.

Never once, however, did Groh approach a podium afterwards and point out how fate worked against his team.

Now, with a national record for winning close games to prove it, the common public sentiment is that Virginia has been “lucky” en route to establishing an 8-2 overall record.

Groh is not buying into that theory.

“I didn’t hear anybody in the past saying, ‘That was an unlucky loss, so it’s OK,’” Groh said. “When you lose, they just tell you that you lost. It’s an interesting phenomenon - when you win they tell you what’s tainted about the win.

“You either get more than the other guys, that’s all that counts.”

Having been in the program since 2004, defensive end Chris Long has been on both ends of the spectrum.

“In the past, I think, sometimes the ball didn’t bounce our way. I am not going to complain if it doesn’t,” Long said. “We put ourselves in whatever situations we put ourselves in and you get out what you put in.

“There is probably a reason for that. It is football … one thing changes in a lot of these games and it is a totally different story. Then again, in the past when we have been 5-7 and with a couple of bounces of the ball and we could be 8-and-whatever.”

Jeffrey Fitzgerald, a sophomore, has been in fewer games than his counterpart but has a similar outlook.

“We had a lot of games like this last year and now we are just able to pull them out as one-point wins,” Fitzgerald said. “Last year at this point, we were losing those games. It is just the resiliency of the team, that never-give-up attitude that we have.

“We just go there and luckily we can pull them off.”

Virginia 23, North Carolina 21

The Cavaliers’ good fortunes started at UNC on Sept. 15.

With 1:57 left, reserve nose tackle Nate Collins batted down a pass on a potential game-tying two-point conversion.

Virginia 28, Georgia Tech 23

A week after the heroics in Chapel Hill, N.C., Georgia Tech fumbled a fourth-quarter punt, setting up an unlikely 26-yard TD pass from UVa quarterback Jameel Sewell to walk-on wideout Staton Jobe.

Virginia 23, Middle Tennessee 21

After dismantling Pittsburgh, Virginia received a favorable spot following a third-down play that forced Middle Tennessee State to punt. Sewell marched Virginia into field-goal range and senior Chris Gould got redemption for a missed PAT with a 34-yard field goal with 8 seconds left.

Virginia 17, Connecticut 16

The Cavaliers’ lone second-half scoring drive led to a 19-yard field goal by Gould and mishaps snapping the ball in shotgun formation late in the game led to the Huskies’ first loss.

Virginia 18, Maryland 17

Mikell Simpson, a week after seeing the field for one play, accounted for 271 yards of total offense for the Cavs. More importantly, Simpson successfully lunged for the first-down marker on a fourth-down reception and went airborne to score on a 1-yard, game-winning TD run. Virginia survived two instant-replay reviews and the Terps.

Virginia 17, Wake Forest 16

Sewell led the Cavaliers on their only scoring drive of the second half on their final possession. It took a fourth-down conversion, but the game’s most dramatic play was one that was not made - Wake placekicker Sam Swank missed a game-winning 47-yard field goal as time expired.

In unison, the wacky and wild events have Virginia in position to compete for the ACC’s Coastal Division title, but also have reinforced the beauty of football, Groh said.

“That’s why they put a scoreboard up there,” the coach said. "The other team had equal opportunity to be lucky. So whether we’re luckier than them or a little bit better than them is irrelevant.

“We’ve won more of them. That’s all that really counts.”

 

Coaching legends prepare for battle
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
November 8, 2007

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering how many times down the road we’ll witness matchups between coaches with more than 500 wins combined ...

That’s exactly what we’ve got in Blacksburg this Saturday when Florida State comes to town.

FSU coach Bobby Bowden has more wins than any coach in major college football history with 372 and Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer ranks fourth on the active list with 205 career wins. Enjoy them while they last.

Bowden, who celebrates his 78th birthday today, said he doesn’t believe there will be coaching matchups such as Saturday’s once the current older generation of coaches retire.

“Coaches aren’t staying in it as long,” Saint Bobby said. “They’re either going into pro ball or getting out of college because of the pressure that is now presented. I don’t think you’ll see as much of it.”

Bowden said he doesn’t feel like Beamer fits into the old coach category.

“Not as much as me and Joe Paterno,” Bowden chuckled. “That’s two old men when me and Joe get together. This Saturday will be one old man and one coming along.”

Beamer, 61, is in his 21st season at Tech. Only Bowden and Paterno have been at their respective schools longer than the Hokies’ coach.

He’s not sure if he’ll stick around in the business as long as Bowden.

“This is a good business if you’re winning, but it’s a hard, hard business if you’re not,” Beamer said Wednesday. “Coach Bowden has always won. That has a lot to say about whether you hang around or not.”

He noted that the more money involved with coaching salaries have made fans less patient for quicker results.

“It’s going to be tougher for people to hang around for a long time,” Beamer said.

Would he consider coaching into his 70s?

“I think we’ll see how the health goes and how the wins go,” Beamer said.

Tough to buy for

Bobby Bowden’s son, Tommy, the head coach at Clemson, was asked on Wednesday what do you give a father who has everything for his birthday. After all, the senior Bowden already has two national titles, 300-plus wins and a statue.

“He’s got everything and doesn’t need anything,” Tommy said. “I usually call him and send a card. But there ain’t nothing in that card.

I ain’t putting a check in it.”

Bobby has already given Tommy a present when his Seminoles knocked off Atlantic Division-leading Boston College last weekend, giving Tommy’s Clemson team a chance to still win that league.

Clemson, 4-2 in the Atlantic, slightly trails BC, 4-1. But get this. The Tigers host Wake Forest (4-2) and BC the next two weekends. If they sweep, then Clemson goes to the ACC Championship game.

Stat of the Week

81-7: That’s how much Miami has outscored its six opponents in the first half in games played at the Orange Bowl so far this season.

Quote of the Week

“That was unreal. I told somebody that I felt like I was in ‘Angels in the Outfield’ or something after the game.”

- Virginia linebacker Jon Copper on the Cavaliers winning another squeaker last week when Wake Forest kicker Sam Swank missed two field goals and lost to UVa, 17-16.

ACC in NFL

Have you wondered where Virginia ranks in supplying players to the NFL?

Here’s your answer.

The Cavaliers had 19 players on opening day NFL rosters, which tied for the 25th-most of any school in the country.

Only four ACC schools had more than the Hoos: Miami, which was No. 1 on the list with 46; Florida State with 41, Maryland 22, and North Carolina 21.

Ain’t no sunshine

Even though it is mathematically possible for Virginia to lose at Miami this weekend and still play for a right to go to Jacksonville, Fla., there’s even more to play for.

By beating Miami, the Cavaliers can put themselves in position for a better bowl trip even if they don’t win the division. No longer can another ACC team with two more losses than Virginia be picked ahead of the Cavaliers by the bowls.

The ACC didn’t have that policy in previous years when the Cavs were passed over for a team with more losses that would bring more fans.

A win over Miami would assure the Cavs of having at least two more (conference) wins than Miami, Georgia Tech, the loser of the N.C. State-UNC game, and even Florida State, if the Noles lose to Virginia Tech.

Another good reason for winning in Miami is stopping the Oh-for-Forever drought in the Sunshine State. Virginia has never won a game in the state of Florida, either regular season or postseason, in 16 tries.

Hurricane force

Miami has invited back all its former players for Saturday’s game, the program’s last ever in the Orange Bowl (This columnist will reminisce about the Orange Bowl in Friday’s edition).

The players and coaches will be recognized during a halftime ceremony. Here are some of the names you’ll recognize who will be on hand:

George Mira, Sr., Pete Banaczak, Ottis Anderson, Benny Blades, Bernie Kosar, Michael Irvin, Russell Maryland, Gino Torretta and Andre Johnson.

What about Wright?

The quarterback Miami and Virginia will be most concerned with on Saturday night will be current Hurricanes signal-caller Kyle Wright, who missed last week’s home loss to N.C. State due to injury.

On Wednesday, Canes coach Randy Shannon declared Wright at 95 percent.

“We’ve told Kyle that he has to execute and don’t do anything above and beyond the call of duty,” Shannon said. “He shouldn’t feel like he has to win the game, but he should take a shot when he gets it, and when he doesn’t, then get the ball to the tight ends and we’ll move the stakes.”

Shannon said he was well aware of UVa’s best pass rusher, Chris Long, who leads the ACC in sacks with 12.

“Chris plays the game hard,” Shannon said. “I really respect him. He plays nasty and with tenaciousness. On pass-rush situations, he really gets after it.”

Sonny a Deac?

Former Virginia head coach Sonny Randle probably caught some grief last Saturday after being spotted on the Wake Forest sidelines of the UVa game. Randle was wearing a Wake Forest cap, probably hoping to go unrecognized by the Wahoo home crowd.

Wake coach Jim Grobe chuckled when the topic was brought up on the ACC coaches teleconference on Wednesday.

“Coach Randle loves the University of Virginia, but he also supports me,” Grobe said.

Grobe played for Randle at Virginia and worked as a grad assistant for Sonny here, then as a full-time assistant for him at Marshall. They have remained close through the years and talk regularly on the phone.

“[Randle] had mixed feelings for the game,” Grobe said. “It makes me feel good that he feels that way for me. He stayed safe. He stayed on our side, out of the line of fire. He’s pretty smart. He was supporting Virginia and Wake Forest.”

The picks

Last week: 3-3. To date: 53-23. This week: Boston College 30, Maryland 17; Clemson 27, Wake Forest 24; Georgia Tech 24, Duke 19; N.C. State 20, UNC 17; Virginia Tech 23, Florida State 20; Miami 21, Virginia 20.

 

That Philly swagger
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
November 8, 2007

Sean Singletary and Sharnee Zoll can close their eyes and conjure up warm memories of their hometown Philadelphia: cheesesteaks, pizza, pretzels, grandma’s house and the playgrounds.

Ah yes, the basketball playgrounds of Philly, where you had better bring more than game. You better pack your chutzpah.

While their paths rarely crossed growing up in the City of Brotherly Love, the two Virginia point guards share common ground. Both felt the lure of Charlottesville to hone their hoop dreams and both have goals of leading their respective Cavalier teams to college basketball’s Promised Land.

By the time the two seniors finish their careers at UVa, they will have made their mark and carved their own notch in Cavalier lore.

Both trace their success back to the same places: Philly’s basketball playgrounds, no place for the feint of heart.

Virginia women’s coach Debbie Ryan and men’s coach Dave Leitao often speak of their two leaders, Zoll and Singletary, brimming over with a “Philly swagger.”

“Sharnee has that about her, that you are not going to take anything from her, you are not going to be able to keep her from getting to where she wants to go,” Ryan said.

The brand of toughness and determination that Ryan referred to was ingrained in both guards from their youth. Those characteristics were necessary for survival where Zoll and Singletary came from.

“I guess that swagger is just confidence,” Zoll said. “Some people might say it comes off as cockiness, but you have to have it. If you step on a playground anywhere in Philly, they sense fear. It’s like a shark smelling blood. If you’re scared or nervous, people are going to attack you.”

Singletary believes that if you don’t carry that confidence you’ve got no chance in such a setting.

“I definitely think it’s tougher to play out there on the Philadelphia playgrounds than to play college basketball in the ACC,” Singletary said. “For me, basketball was a struggle because so many people are trying you. When you go onto a playground, everybody’s going to try you. Just walking up and down the street, anybody will try you. I don’t miss it, but I appreciate that when you come out of Philadelphia, I think you’ve pretty much made something of yourself and you’ve had to work to do it.”

Both hit those playground courts at early ages and discovered an undying passion for a sport that changed their lives, earned them college scholarships, stardom, and potentially lucrative futures as professional players.

Both became keenly aware of Philadelphia’s rich basketball history by the time they hit their teens. The Sixers, Temple, Penn, St. Joe’s, Drexel, LaSalle, the Palestra, and on and on.

Singletary grew up 10 minutes tops from his idol, Doug Overton, a former LaSalle point guard who enjoyed 11 years in the NBA and now coaches at St. Joe’s.

Overton used to run a camp on the playgrounds near Singletary’s grandma’s house, in what the UVa guard describes as one of the tougher parts of the city.

“I went to [Overton’s] camps when he played for the Bullets,” the two-time, first-team All-ACC point guard said. “He taught me a lot, like always work on your game, keep a level head and he told me I had talent, that the sky was the limit for me and I appreciated that.”

Singletary began watching the 76ers when he was 5 years old and began his journey into Philadelphia’s basketball tradition.

“Everybody plays basketball, that’s what they do,” he said. “It’s an outlet for a lot of people and I was fortunate enough to use it to get to college.”

All the basketball people in Philly are acquainted in a close-knit hoops community. In the summers, NBA, college, and high school players show up at the playgrounds to test their mettle. Even girls.

Like Singletary, Zoll began playing basketball when she was 5, took it to another level when she became a 9-year-old point guard for an 11-year-old girls AAU team. She was on a national championship team on her 13th birthday.

Her dad, Tony, had played semi-pro basketball overseas and schooled his daughter on the game and its history from the time she could do a crossover.

Right there at 59th and Chester, next to her grandma’s house, was her first taste of Philly playground basketball.

“It would always be a little scary for my parents,” Zoll confessed. “I wasn’t a Barbie doll or dollhouse kind of girl. My mom always tried to make me into a little girlie-girl with gymnastics and things like that, but that’s not what I was into.”

Instead, at age 12, she hit the playgrounds and they often hit back.

“I’d get roughed up a little playing with the guys, but I think that’s where having a lot of heart, being ruthless, and never stopping and being competitive really came from because they wouldn’t take it easy on me,” Zoll said. “They didn’t want to get shown up by a girl, so I had to play as hard as I could.”

At first, the guys - sometimes her own age or a little older, sometimes grown-ups - didn’t like the idea of a girl on their turf. She was so little (Zoll is 5-foot-7 now), they didn’t find her intimidating until she whipped a rocket-like pass by their ears. Then they began to take her seriously.

“The men weren’t killing me. They would be a little lenient, but they still pushed me to where they wouldn’t give me anything easy,” she said. “If they had let me get layups or let me win, it wouldn’t have helped me at all.”

Those were lessons that became part of who Zoll is and how she lives her life, especially on the courts of the ACC.

“Now, I don’t take anyone lightly. I don’t give anybody anything because nobody gave me anything,” she said. “It helped me become competitive and helped me get through adversity because there were a lot of times I had to face people that I shouldn’t.”

Zoll had her own idol, too, Virginia’s Dawn Staley, an All-American point guard from Philly’s playgrounds that led the Cavaliers to three consecutive Final Four appearances. Staley, who now coaches Temple, recently retired from the WNBA and led the United States to Olympic gold in the sport.

“She was definitely my idol,” Zoll said.

Staley is the reason Zoll came to Virginia and wears No. 5 (Staley’s number in the pros). She studied Staley, went to watch her play for the Philadelphia Rage of the old ABL.

Last season, when Staley brought her Temple team to Charlottesville, Zoll met her idol briefly before tipoff and posed for a quick photograph.

“I’m not a shy person, but that’s one of the few times in my life that I was speechless,” Zoll said.

It is noteworthy that when Zoll was a freshman at UVa, she wrote “729” on her sneakers, Staley’s assist record. Entering her final year as a Cavalier, she is on pace to break her idol’s mark.

“It’s really humbling for me to be mentioned in the same sentence as Dawn Staley,” Zoll said. “To maybe break her record seems surreal to me. I can’t fathom it happening.”

Meanwhile, Singletary is on his own quest. His reputation as “the savior of Virginia basketball” preceded him. He was thrust into the spotlight early and has worn it well.

The star guard, a candidate for awards such as the Wooden, Rupp, Cousy and others, is likely to be the next men’s player to see his jersey ascend to the rafters of John Paul Jones Arena.

“I look up to the rafters when I walk into the gym, but I’m not really looking too much ahead,” he said. “My legacy will matter to me after my career, but I don’t think about it. I just try to go out there and give it my all, which is what I’ve tried to do all my life, both on and off the court.”

Who knows? Maybe there’s a little girl and a little boy on those mean streets back home that want to become the next Sean Singletary and Sharnee Zoll.

“That would make me feel good about myself, that I’m doing something right and would inspire me to work harder,” Singletary said.

“I hope so,” Zoll said when pondering the notion of being someone else’s idol. “Little girls anywhere. I just hope that maybe I can change somebody’s life and help them play basketball like Dawn made me want to play. I can dream.”

And just look what dreams can do.

 

UVa doesn't mind lack of respect
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
November 8, 2007

North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough had a quizzical look on his face. The All-American looked truly befuddled.
Amid a hoard of reporters at the recent Media Day in Greensboro, N.C., Hansbrough had just been asked about Virginia.
Not about his team’s latest crop of McDonald’s All-Americans. Not about rival Duke. Not about his future NBA career
“Um, I haven’t really looked at them,” Hansbrough said. “I know that last year they were good.”
Actually, Virginia was really good. The Cavaliers and Tar Heels were co-ACC champions - something not a lot of people outside of Charlottesville seem to remember.
However, flying under the radar suits UVa just fine. Surpassing expectations has been a hallmark of the Dave Leitao era.
In 2006, Virginia was picked last in the 12-team conference and finished tied for seventh. Last season, UVa was picked eighth.
So who cares if Dick Vitale hasn’t worked a game in Charlottesville since Leitao came aboard, right?
“I’m not really one to buy into hype or anything like that,” said Virginia All-ACC guard Sean Singletary. “We’re never picked to do well in the league anyway. Overlook us if you want. We don’t care.”
This season, Virginia was picked fifth - behind UNC, Duke, N.C. State and Clemson.
“Whatever. Who cares?” said UVa senior Adrian Joseph. “We prove them wrong every time. We always feel like we have something to prove.”
Whether Virginia can make pundits look silly again will hinge largely on how well it can fill the void left by the departures of J.R. Reynolds and Jason Cain.
Reynolds was the team’s second-leading scorer, Cain the leading rebounder. In addition, they both provided big-time intangibles.
“I think we have some talent,” said Leitao, last season’s ACC Coach of the Year, “but how it comes together, and do we have the wherewithal to pull out close games and all of those kinds of things have yet to be answered.
“We’ve seen that having all the talent doesn’t get you to where you want to go.”
Mamadi Diane will be counted on to pick up much of the scoring slack. Last year he got off to a promising start, scoring 25 points in the season-opening upset of Arizona. But in the finale against Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament, Diane didn’t score in 33 minutes of action.
The two games are a microcosm of his career. This season, the junior must shed his inconsistent rep.
Joseph is another player capable of increasing his scoring output (he averaged 7.2 last season). In the game against Tennessee, Joseph showed what he can do when he doesn’t fall in love with his 3-point shot and takes the ball to the basket. One of the most athletic players on the team, Joseph must get to the free-throw line more often. In the exhibition win over Carson-Newman on Sunday, Joseph hit five free throws, one shy of his entire total from last season.
Meanwhile, Will Harris and Jamil Tucker, who flashed glimpses of being solid ACC players as freshmen, look to take the next step.
Both forwards have the bodies to mix it up with anybody on the inside. Harris will likely play more on the blocks this season, while Tucker, one of the team’s best shooters, can be multi-dimensional.
Trying to make up for Cain’s tenacity on the glass will be seniors Tunji Soroye and Ryan Pettinella and junior Lars Mikalauskas.
Freshman Mike Scott could make an impact if he puts a nagging ankle injury behind him.
Singletary believes this year’s freshmen class - which also includes Jeff Jones, Mustapha Farrakhan and Sammy Zeglinski - is the best since he’s been at Virginia.
“These new guys really can score and are really good and can play defense, which is the biggest thing,” Singletary said. “Each of the guys was like the guy on their high school team. They play with that sense of aggressiveness. They’re hungry.”
Of course, Virginia still has the ACC’s leading scorer, who decided to put his NBA dreams on hold and return for his senior year.
“I expect to be as good as I was last year - and then some,” said Singletary, who averaged 19 points last season.
That’s scary news for the opposition.
“He’s one of the best guards in the country,” said Florida State guard Toney Douglas. “What he did for his team last year - I think he should have gotten a lot more recognition.”
Scarier news: For the first time in his college career, Singletary was healthy in the summer. That gave him a chance to fine-tune his game.
“He can break you off the dribble, then if you back off too much he can make the open shot,” said Miami guard Jack McClinton. “He’s a great leader and overall player.”
This season, one of Singletary’s charges will be to make people around him better - the telltale sign of a great player.
“The NBA people didn’t have to sugarcoat anything. They were brutally honest in talking about what areas he needed to improve on,” Leitao said. “I think it’s helped him understand, ‘Hey, I’ve got to get better at this, or I’ve got to get better at that if I’m going to continue to grow as a player.’”
Overall, Leitao likes what the program has achieved in two years. However, he’s the first to realize that plenty of work lies ahead.
“I think we’ve created a little bit of a buzz that we can continue to capitalize on - not only to play well each and every time we’re on the court - but to create a program that is on par with anybody in America,” he said. “That’s our goal and we need to continue to work hard every day in order to achieve it.”
In Greensboro last month, Singletary just shrugged his shoulders as media members swarmed the tables where Hansbrough and Duke’s DeMarcus Nelson were sitting.
“They’re the traditional powers,” he said. “They’ve obviously been doing something right. We just have to keep grinding it out. Eventually this will be a program that will be reckoned with and we will get the attention that the North Carolinas and Dukes get.”

VIRGINIA MEN'S HOOPS
1 Jeff Jones
6-foot-4 l 193 l Freshman l Guard
22.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.0 apg
l Jones, who originally committed to Maryland, is the highest-rated recruit of the Dave Leitao era.
l He scored 1,923 points at Monsignor Bonner High, breaking a Philadelphia Catholic School League record that had stood for nearly 30 years.

2 Mustapha Farrakhan
6-foot-4 l 175 l Freshman l Guard
20.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.7 apg
l Farrakhan, who chose Virginia over Illinois, was a 2007 Chicago Sun-Times All-Area selection.
l The combo guard, who has drawn rave reviews with his shooting during preseason, is the grandson of Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader.

4 Calvin Baker
6-foot-2 l 186 l Sophomore l Guard
11.6 ppg, 3.6 apg, 2.7 rpg, 1.5 stls
l This will be Baker’s first season at Virginia. The transfer from William & Mary sat out last season, per NCAA rules.
l As a freshman, Baker led the Tribe in scoring. He’ll be trying to earn a scholarship this year.

11 Lars Mikalauskas
6-foot-8 l 246 l Junior l Forward
3.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 12.3 mpg
l “The pride of Lithuania is back,” Mikalauskas proclaimed during the preseason. After an injury-plagued 2006-07 season, UVa fans hope so.
l When healthy, the fan favorite is one of the team’s best low-post players.

12 Jamil Tucker
6-foot-8 l 241 l Sophomore l Forward
3.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 10.0 mpg
l Tucker came on toward the end of last season as his confidence grew. His best game of the year was an 11-point, five-rebound effort at Miami.
l His unique blend of size and 3-point-shooting ability could give teams headaches.

13 Sammy Zeglinski
6-foot l 175 l Freshman l Guard
18.9 ppg
l The prototypical pass-first point guard was a high school teammate of Sean Singletary at William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia.
l The Philadelphia Daily News second-team All-City selection was Leitao’s first-ever committment.

21 Tunji Soroye
6-foot-11 l 252 l Senior l Center
2.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 0.9 blks
l Soroye hasn’t developed much offensively, but the Nigerian remains the team’s best shot blocker.
l “Tunji Time” occurred in the win over Maryland last season when Soroye had a career-high 11 boards. With Jason Cain gone, UVa needs similar efforts.

24 Mamadi Diane
6-foot-5 l 201 l Junior l G/F
9.6 ppg, 3.5 rebs, 44% FG, 75% FT
l With J.R. Reynolds now playing pro ball in Italy, Diane will be counted on to pick up the slack.
l Consistency is the key for Diane, who scored 25 in the season opener vs. Arizona, but didn’t score in the NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee.

30 Adrian Joseph
6-foot-7 l 201 l Senior l Forward
7.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 34.7 3FG%
l Became a much better defender last season.
l Must get to the line more often. Joseph attempted 199 field goals but only eight free throws.
l Leitao is counting on Joseph to be a leader, whether he starts or comes off the bench.

31 Andy Burns
6-foot-8 l 212 l Sophomore l Forward
0.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg
l The walk-on with the huge red afro quickly became a JPJ favorite last season.
l Burns’ highlight was nailing a 3-pointer against Longwood.
l Faces an uphill battle for minutes.

32 Mike Scott
6-foot-8 l 233 l Freshman l Forward
18.5 ppg, 8 rpg, 5 apg
l Scott, who took a postgraduate year at Hargrave Military Academy, is potentially a better version of the recently graduated Jason Cain.
l Has been battling an ankle injury. When healthy, an explosive leaper who can score inside and out.

34 Ryan Pettinella
6-foot-9 l 249 l Senior l F/C
2.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 10.0 mpg
l Was temporarily slowed by a leg injury that he suffered in the San Juan Shootout, but worked hard to become a contributor down the stretch.
l Just a 24-percent shooter from the charity stripe, but hit a key FT that propelled Cavs to win over Duke.

43 Will Harris
6-foot-6 l 245 l Sophomore l F/G
3.6 rpg, 3.2 rpg
l Has beefed up and will likely log more minutes down low this season. A candidate to replace Jason Cain in the starting lineup.
l Scored 14 points in ACC opener against N.C. State, but didn’t hit double figures rest of the way.

44 Sean Singletary
6-foot l 185 l Senior l Guard
19.0 ppg, 4.7 apg, 4.6 rpg, 40 FG%, 38.9 3FG%
l First-Team All-ACC pick last two seasons.
l First Virginia player since Ralph Sampson to earn first-, second- or third-team All-American honors. He was named an NABC third-team pick.
l National Player of the Year candidate.

45 Solomon Tat
6-foot-5 l 223 l Sophomore l G/F
2.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 8.3 mpg
l Never got into any kind of rhythm during an injury-plagued season.
l Spent all offseason rehabbing from sports hernia surgery, but is still not 100 percent.
l Tat’s best contributions will be his ‘D’ and leadership.

55 Jerome Meyinsse
6-foot-8 l 245 l Sophomore l F/C
1.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 6.7 mpg
l At 17, he was the youngest player on the team last season. A year of offseason strength work has helped his game, though he could still be a year away from being a serious factor.
l Had season-high 9 points vs. MD-Eastern Shore.

 

Casting call for Cavs
UVa has some options in its search for a new secondary scorer as it tries to share the ACC regular-season title again, but defense is also a focus.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- If there hadn't been so much anxiety over Sean Singletary's return to the Virginia men's basketball program, perhaps there would have been greater despair over J.R. Reynolds' departure.

Once Singletary had removed his name from consideration for the NBA Draft and the celebration had died, Virginia faced the sobering reality of replacing his backcourt partner of three seasons.

Reynolds, now playing professionally in Italy, was a second-team All-ACC selection who scored 18.4 points per game in 2006-2007.

In Singletary and Reynolds, Virginia had the Nos. 3 and 5 scorers in the ACC last year, riding them to a 21-11 record and a regular-season co-championship. Wake Forest was the only other ACC team with as few as two double-figure scorers.

UVa enters this season with 17 players, including four walk-ons, so the Cavaliers will have plenty of options in their search for a second primary scorer -- if that's what they want.

"If anybody wants minutes, significant minutes, 25 [or] 30 minutes a game, well, be the best rebounder on the team," third-year UVa coach Dave Leitao said. "Get a dozen or 15 rebounds. Or, become a defensive force.

"If you really want to play, that'll surely get you on the court."

Leitao has said that Reynolds and fellow senior Jason Cain were the Cavaliers' best perimeter and post defenders, respectively. Behind Cain, who averaged a team-high 6.3 rebounds, Virginia's second-leading rebounder -- gulp -- was Singletary, who stretches to reach 6 feet.

The No. 3 rebounder was Reynolds.

As a result, Leitao faces a dilemma with returning forwards Mamadi Diane and Adrian Joseph. Both have started in the past, but rarely at the same time, because they are middling rebounders.

As a sophomore in 2005-2006, Joseph started 19 of 30 games and scored 9.4 points per game. Last year, Diane started all 32 games and average 9.6 points.

In both cases, their scoring averages remained above double figures until the final weeks of the season.

Diane, who was scoreless in Virginia's 77-74 second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee, played 33 minutes against the Volunteers because of his improved defensive play. Next on his to-do list is the ability to attack off of the dribble.

When Virginia scrimmaged Carson-Newman this past Sunday, Joseph, a 6-7, 201-pound senior, was the power forward. Diane, a 6-5, 201-pound junior, was the small forward.

It would be risky to read too much into that. Three of the other candidates for the power-forward slot were not in uniform -- Laurynas Mikalaukas because of a disciplinary matter, and Will Harris and Mike Scott because of injuries.

Jeff Jones, a 6-5 freshman who is the leading all-time scorer in Philadelphia's Catholic League, started at shooting guard.

"Jeff's asset coming into college was, he's a scorer, and he's maintained that," Leitao said. "He's got a knack and nose for where the rim is. I'm hoping that as time goes on -- and it may not happen this year -- that Jeff will be a front-line primary scorer.

"Jeff has played well so far in the preseason, so it's not by default that he's in [the starting lineup]. It's by him earning it."

Of Virginia's four signees, three are guards, including Mustapha Farrakhan and Sammy Zeglinski. Another newcomer, transfer Calvin Baker, was the Colonial Athletic Association freshman of the year for William and Mary in 2005-2006.

Zeglinski, who comes from the same Penn Charter School program as Singletary, is a pure point guard. Baker, who led William and Mary in points and assists as a freshman, is more of a "combo" guard. Farrakhan is a shooting guard.

"What I've noticed from him is that he can really, really shoot the basketball," Leitao said. "I mean really shoot the basketball. As much as I thought we could shoot the ball last year, we have the potential to be as good or better this year."

Jamil Tucker (6-8, 241) connected on 21 of 43 3-point attempts last year and came off the bench to score 16 points in 16 minutes against Carson-Newman.

"Like most of our guys, he's a bigger version of himself," Leitao said. "He's shown more potential to rebound the ball; he's more conscientious defending, although he's got to get a lot better. And, he's trying to put the ball on the floor a little bit. He's going to be pretty important to us."

Leitao's first team in 2005-2006 frequently got in trouble because it had only three post players -- Cain, Mikalauskas and Tunji Soroye -- and all were prone to foul trouble. Soroye and Mikalauskas have been joined since by Ryan Pettinella and sophomore Jerome Meyinsse, now weighing 245 pounds, so fouls shouldn't be an issue.

Nevertheless, Leitao doesn't want any of his players to think they're just taking up space, even if Singletary sometimes appears capable of winning games on his own.

"[Singletary's] a smart guy," Leitao said. "He knows he's not going to do it alone. He knows he hasn't done it alone in the past. He knows, if we're going to be successful, it's not because he's a one-man wrecking crew."
 

Cavs must build supporting cast
Sean Singletary will be Virginia's leader. After him, there are a lot of question marks.
By Melinda Waldrop | 247-4630
 

CHARLOTTESVILLE - — Few questions remain about Virginia senior guard Sean Singletary's heart, ability and desire. But there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding him as the Cavaliers open the 2007-08 season on Sunday against Vermont at John Paul Jones Arena.

Singletary led Virginia with 19 points and 4.7 assists per game last year, earning first-team all-ACC honors for the second straight season, and is on several preseason award watch lists.

But with the graduation of J.R. Reynolds, Singletary's backcourt mate who averaged 18.4 points, U.Va.'s leading returning scorer is junior swingman Mamadi Diane, who averaged 9.6 points last season.

"I'm not really worried about everything being on my shoulders," Singletary said. "I have 100 percent confidence in my team."

Apparently, Singletary doesn't have much company. The Cavaliers tied for the ACC regular-season title last year, but are absent from this season's Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today preseason polls, and were picked to finish fifth in the ACC.

It's not that Virginia lacks experience, or depth. Senior forward Adrian Joseph, senior center Tunji Soroye, and junior forward Lars Mikalauskas all played significant minutes and roles last year, while an infusion of freshman talent gives the Cavs 17 bodies. But meshing those players is still a work in progress.

"The first-year guys are trying to figure out, 'When's practice over?' " said third-season U.Va. coach Dave Leitao, the reigning ACC coach of the year after guiding Virginia to a 21-11 record (11-5 in the ACC) and its first NCAA tournament win since 1995.

"The second-year guys are trying to figure out, 'Where do I fit into practice now?' I think until we get past that point and start to figure ourselves out and get prepared for the season — at that point we'll start talking about goals, because we don't know roles yet, nevermind goals."

The veteran players know they'll have to do more without Reynolds and graduated big man Jason Cain, who led the Cavs with 6.3 rebounds a game.

"I'm looking forward to taking a lot more shots, making a lot more shots, and just contributing in all parts of the game," said Joseph, who averaged 7.2 points and 3.5 rebounds last year.

But Leitao wants to see how that want-to translates onto the court, where Singletary is hands-down the Cavs' most vocal, expressive player.

"The older guys, they're an introverted group — Tunji, Lars, Adrian, Mo (Diane)," Leitao said.

"Stepping outside of your box becomes important for us, but more important for them. Adrian has realized that and I think it's important that he continues to work at that, in the same way a guy would have to work at his jump shot. Make a concerted effort to integrate your personality on the team, in the locker room — different things that really matter as far as showing, especially the young guys, that 'This is some level of ownership that I have.' "

The young guys looking for leadership include sophomore guard Will Harris, who averaged 3.6 points in 14 minutes per game last season, and freshman guard Sammy Zeglinski, a product of the same Philadelphia school (William Penn Charter) as Singletary, who averaged 18.9 points per game as a high school senior.

Freshman guard Mustapha Farrakhan, who averaged 20.3 points as a senior at Thornton Township (Ill.) High School, and sophomore guard Calvin Baker, a Woodside High product who transferred after leading William and Mary with 11.6 points per game in 2005-06, are also waiting to see how they fit in.

"It's still kind of early. I'm figuring that out," Leitao said.

"Talent is relative. I think we have some talent, but how it comes together — do we have the wherewithal and all those other things to win enough games, to pull out close games, to be stable on the road — all those kinds of things are yet to be answered."

 

Miami Set to Bid Farewell to Orange Bowl
By TIM REYNOLDS : AP Sports Writer
Nov 7, 2007 : 4:41 pm ET

MIAMI -- As pregame tradition dictates, a cannon will boom and white smoke will pour from a tunnel leading out of the locker room. The Miami Hurricanes will emerge and run east into the night, traipsing across ground where John F. Kennedy spoke, Joe Namath made good on his Super Bowl guarantee and the Miami Dolphins were perfect.

A rusty old building, nothing but steel and concrete and ghosts, will shake in delight.

And an era will end.

For 70 years, the Hurricanes called this place home. The Orange Bowl, now an exquisite eyesore, hosted everything from Super Bowls to the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, from Hollywood movies to hurricane evacuees.

And, by the way, some of the finest college football games were played there, including 11 that decided national championships.

On Saturday night, the Hurricanes will play there for the 468th time.

The final time.

"I guess the old girl had to be retired at some point, since we couldn't get enough money to get her built up the right way," said Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Warren Sapp, a 1994 All-American at Miami. "She goes out the greatest stadium in America, in my mind."

At the beginning, she was.

Billed at its opening as "the largest and most modern steel stadium in the nation," the Orange Bowl -- or Roddy Burdine Stadium, as it was originally known, a nod to the department store magnate who got it built -- was beyond compare.

"A beautiful structure without peer in beauty and adaptability," wrote Jack Bell in the Miami Daily News on Dec. 10, 1937, the night the place was dedicated.

Times change.

The Orange Bowl's best days were decades ago. More than a few seats are falling apart. The scoreboard is as modern as bellbottoms. It's not uncommon to see something fall off the structure during games. Some visitors make the sign of the cross as they enter the elevators. There's drips from the ceilings, rust on all corners, puddles in the concourses and evidence of decay almost everywhere.

"Not the prettiest place on earth," said former Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey, who led the Hurricanes to the 2001 national championship. "But it was our home."

A cherished home, too.

The Hurricanes won three national titles on their home field, all when the Orange Bowl game was played in the Orange Bowl stadium. They won a record 58 straight games there during one stretch, were victimized by plays forever known as the "Florida Flop" and "Hail Flutie," and put a historic 58-7 beating on Notre Dame there in 1985, the worst loss in Fighting Irish history.

Namath's Jets won the 1969 Super Bowl there over the Baltimore Colts, the one the quarterback guaranteed he'd win. Flipper, a dolphin that swam in a tank behind the east end zone during Dolphins games, was a star attraction for years. Dan Marino's Hall of Fame career started at the Orange Bowl in record-setting fashion.

But the night perhaps most fondly remembered by Miami football fans was Jan. 1, 1984.

Nebraska vs. Miami, Orange Bowl, national championship game. The Cornhuskers closed within 31-30 in the final minute and coach Tom Osborne simply didn't want the game to end in a tie, so he went for a 2-point conversion with the title on the line.

Ken Calhoun deflected Turner Gill's pass, and Miami prevailed.

After more than a half-century of often-mediocre football, the Hurricanes had won it all.

"I had suffered all those years with Miami since I came here in '56," said Edwin Pope, the longtime Miami Herald sports columnist. "I went home that night and my wife was all atwitter and I said, 'You know, I'm going to get a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator and sit here and think.' I sat there sipping on the wine for two or three hours, having a great time remembering all the bad times. And that was the arrival of the good times."

Sure enough, four more titles would follow, and Miami football was never the same.

But long before the night that Howard Schnellenberger coached that '83 team to a title and led Miami on its first trip to college football's mountaintop, the Hurricanes' future at the Orange Bowl was a hot topic.

In one meeting filled with powerful Miami officials, Mayor Jack Orr stood against saving the Orange Bowl.

"Decent place to play football," Orr said, "but the Orange Bowl is antiquated."

The significance of that statement?

Orr said those words Nov. 19, 1973.

Yes, the debate about the Orange Bowl has raged for that long in South Florida.

The Dolphins moved in 1986 to what was first known as Joe Robbie Stadium and is now called Dolphin Stadium. The Hurricanes will follow next fall, sharing the facility with the NFL club and enjoying luxuries the Orange Bowl cannot offer, including massive replay screens, luxury suites and high-end concessions.

"I can't believe there isn't going to be any more football in the Orange Bowl," said former Dolphins coach Don Shula, the mastermind behind Miami's perfect 17-0 season in 1972.

Actually, there's still some football left to be played.

Florida International is playing its home games at the Orange Bowl this season while its own on-campus stadium gets rebuilt. The Golden Panthers will open a season-ending three-game homestand at the Orange Bowl on Nov. 17, and won't be shy about aggressively marketing their Dec. 1 matchup with North Texas as the actual farewell event.

"What an honor that will be," said FIU coach and South Florida native Mario Cristobal, a former Miami player and assistant coach who still salutes the Orange Bowl whenever he drives by. "It's something I already know I'll never forget."

The building is slated for demolition; city officials stopped taking bids for that project Tuesday. But since FIU still has three games left, Miami administrators and coaches are imploring fans not to help tear the place apart quite yet.

More than 300 police officers, roughly double the usual security force, will be at the Orange Bowl for Saturday night's game against Virginia, ready to arrest anyone who storms the field or tries to take a souvenir from the stands. A few seats were unscrewed and smuggled out in recent weeks.

"I was thinking the other day that it'd be cool to go back someday and watch a game in the stands," said Miami quarterback Kyle Wright. "And then it hit me: It's going to be shut down."

Indeed, the final hours have arrived for this seven-decade-long chapter of Miami football.

With a 5-4 record this season, there's no time for this year's Hurricanes to be truly nostalgic. They need one more win to become bowl-eligible, and many are vowing not to let the Orange Bowl era end with a three-game slide on their watch.

They crave the perfect ending, the one Mike Sullivan got nearly two decades ago.

Sullivan was an offensive lineman at Miami from 1986-1991. He helped the Hurricanes win two national titles, and his teams never lost a game at the Orange Bowl.

In the week leading up to his farewell home game, Sullivan told a TV reporter he wanted to sneak a six-pack of beer into the Orange Bowl for a postgame celebration.

He wasn't entirely serious.

Problem was, devout Miami fans didn't know that.

"We were getting ready to come out of the locker room for that last game and the security guards came in with one of those huge plastic bags," Sullivan said. "People were bringing in six-packs and dropping them off at the gate for us. So we snuck our way back in that night, with our parents and sat right at the 50, a beer in everybody's hand, taking in that pretty good view of the city and enjoying the moon over Miami."

They toasted Miami football that night.

Now the Hurricanes will raise that proverbial glass to the Orange Bowl one final time.

"The crowd, the energy, the atmosphere, I've been part of a lot of things at the Orange Bowl," said Miami coach Randy Shannon, a star Hurricanes linebacker two decades ago. "You'll miss those things. But like I've told people, when this is over with, we have to start a new era. And I look forward to that."

 

Singletary eyes final title run
November 8, 2007 12:36 am
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.

CHARLOTTESVILLE--Sean Singletary fell awkwardly at a recent Virginia men's basketball practice. The preseason All-American tweaked his back and briefly visited the training room.

While his absence didn't last long, it gave third-year head coach Dave Leitao a scary glimpse of what his 2007-08 team would look like if the star point guard didn't return for his senior season.

Leitao wasn't particularly confident in what he saw: a collection of solid players, but no true leader.

"That was the time I realized how happy I am that he's here," Leitao said. "Not only because he's a terrific player, but he adds so much to our existence as a program right now. If we did not have his presence, obviously we'd be a whole different team."

Testing the waters

There was a chance Singletary wouldn't come back for his senior season.

Although he repeatedly said he would be a four-year player, the 6-foot Philadelphia native decided to test the NBA draft waters last spring. Singletary declared for the draft, but didn't sign with an agent, leaving the door open for his return.

After working out for several NBA scouts and attending the Orlando pre-draft camp in June, Singletary decided it would be in his best interest to return for his senior season.

"I think he got an understanding of what that side of the fence is all about," Leitao said. "I think he learned some things about himself. I think he learned some things about his game that he can work on.

"He got it from people that anyone would respect: coaches, scouting personnel, general managers."

Singletary said scouts didn't detail many specific weaknesses, but one glaring need for improvement was on the defensive end. He also struggled with shot selection and game management in Orlando.

Singletary likely wouldn't have been one of 30 first-round draft choices, the only rookies to receive guaranteed contracts. Still, Singletary said he strongly considered leaving school.

"I was pretty close to staying in the draft, but I had a long talk with my parents and important people around me," he said recently. "I feel as though this was the best decision, so I'm sticking with it. I believe 100 percent that the best thing I could've done is come back to school."

Finally healthy

Now that he's back, Singletary has pledged to work on the things that hindered him in NBA workouts. He said for the first time he's completely healthy.

He said he'll be able to practice every day, play better defense and have more stamina because he was able to perform leg exercises for the first time in the offseason.

Singletary had surgery in every offseason in his career, including a hip operation before last year.

"Whatever I accomplished last year, I want to do that plus," Singletary said. "I feel as thought the sky's the limit for me now that I have my legs under me."

Leitao is certainly glad Singletary is healthy.

Last season, the two-time all-ACC performer averaged 19.0 points per game, shot 88 percent from the free throw line and led the Cavaliers (21-11) to a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference title and their first NCAA tournament victory since 1995.

The Cavaliers lost 77-74 to Tennessee in a South Regional second-round game. Singletary missed a game-tying 3-pointer at the end of that contest, leaving him badly wanting another shot at the tournament.

"That's the goal for all 300-plus teams in Division I," Singletary said. "I expect to get back there. I just have to bring it every day, keep in constant communication with my teammates and let them know that's where we need to be. That's where we have the talent to be."

A lasting legacy

Singletary's talent was evident from his first big game at Virginia. As a freshman, he scored 15 points, dished out eight assists and had six steals in the Cavaliers' upset victory over Arizona in 2004.

That seems so long ago for Singletary.

Now he has a chance to become just the fifth player in Virginia history to score more than 2,000 points in his career. His 1,426 career points leave him tied for 18th in school history, but Singletary has a good chance at moving into fifth all-time when the season ends.

That would ensure a lasting legacy at Virginia, and possibly Singletary's No. 44 being retired alongside Cavaliers' greats Ralph Sampson, Bryant Stith, Buzzy Wilkinson, Barry Parkhill, Wally Walker and Jeff Lamp in John Paul Jones Arena.

"Of course it matters to me, but I don't think about it," Singletary said. "I just try to go out there and give it my all. That's what I've been doing my whole life on and off the court."

The season at hand

On the court, Singletary will guide a Virginia team that lost second-team all-ACC shooting guard J.R. Reynolds to graduation.

Leitao is still searching for a running mate for Singletary to replace Reynolds, who led the team in scoring in 16 games last season.

Singletary may play shooting guard some this year, with 6-foot freshman Sammy Zeglinski moving into the point position.

Holdover swingmen Mamadi Diane and Adrian Joseph should continue to be secondary scoring threats for the Cavaliers, and freshmen guards Jeff Jones and Mustapha Farrakhan could emerge into similar roles.

"If we're going to be successful it's not going to be because [Singletary's] a one-man wrecking crew," Leitao said.

The Cavaliers have solid scoring options, but Singletary provides the star power. He'll also help bridge the gap between last season and 2008-09, when Leitao welcomes a strong recruiting class that includes two of the top 70 players in the country.

"He just takes us to another level," Joseph said of Singletary.

Even with more depth than the Cavaliers have had in several years, it's no secret who will take the big shot when the game is on the line.

Singletary's teammates are just glad he's still an option. The Cavaliers open their season Sunday by hosting Vermont at 2 p.m.

"I think we get a lot more confidence because [Singletary] takes a lot of the load," sophomore forward Will Harris said. "He's strong enough to do that. He's a great player, and he's able to handle the pressure."

 

With Singletary back, UVa an ACC basketball contender
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
November 7, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The Cavaliers had been in the gym as a team for less than a week when Sean Singletary fell awkwardly and had to go to the trainer's room with a stiff back.
Coach Dave Leitao got a fleeting glimpse of what life might have been like had his All-American point guard not withdrawn his name from consideration for last summer's NBA draft.

"That was probably the time I realized how happy I am that he's here," Leitao said.

"Not only because he's here but because he adds so much to our existence as a program right now."

Without Singletary, a two-time all-ACC first-team selection who is a safe bet to become the fifth player in UVa history to top 2,000 career points, the Cavaliers would have been in a rebuilding mode, a year after returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.

With him, Virginia is a legitimate threat to win the ACC and make some noise in the NCAA Tournament.

"It's a big, big, big relief," sophomore Will Harris said of having Singletary back.

Singletary, whose 19.0 points per game is tops among returning ACC players, is primed to have the best season of his career. For the first time he didn't have offseason surgery, allowing him to participate fully in the team's summer conditioning program.

"The sky's the limit for me now that I have my legs under me," he said.

He will need some help. The Cavaliers lost two starters from last year's 21-11 team that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament - shooting guard J.R. Reynolds and forward Jason Cain.

Reynolds, a second-team all-ACC selection who averaged 18.4 points a game, leaves a gaping scoring hole that will likely be filled by more than one player.

Junior Mamadi Diane (9.6 ppg) and senior Adrian Joseph (7.2 ppg) will be the prime candidates to pick up the slack, but freshmen guards Jeff Jones and Mustapha Farrakhan have both shown glimpses of being capable scorers. Jamil Tucker, a 6-foot-8 forward, also showed some range last year in limited playing time, shooting 48 percent on 3-pointers.

Singletary remains an option at shooting guard as well, with freshman Sam Zeglinski and William & Mary transfer Calvin Baker available to play the point.

"I find as much as I thought that we could shoot the ball last year that we have the potential to be as good, if not better, (this year)," Leitao said.

Leitao's concerns lie elsewhere. Reynolds and Cain were two of the teams best defenders and rebounders. Of Virginia's primary frontcourt players - Tunji Soroye, Lars Mikalauskas and Ryan Pettinella - none averaged more than 3.2 rebounds per game.

"(If) we continue to defend the hell out of the ball and we continue to rebound the ball, we'll be fine," Singletary said.

The X-factor could be Harris, a 6-foot-6, 245-pounder without a position, just the way he likes it. He's strong enough to bang in the post with bigger players but quick enough to play on the perimeter.

"I feel like when I place myself in a position, I'm limiting myself," said Harris, who averaged 3.6 points and 3.2 rebounds in just under 14 minutes a game last year. "I think that I can do a lot of different things well. I don't want to be a small forward or a power forward. I just want to be a player."

Last year's team set the bar high. Virginia hadn't won a share of the ACC's regular season crown or won an NCAA Tournament game since 1995. Following it up won't be easy.

"There are so many things that go into not being a one-hit wonder," Leitao said. "Obviously what you do on the court is important, but so is how you run your program, what you do on a day-to-day basis, how you do your planning and your recruiting. ?

"You're not measured by just one game or even one season. You're measured by what the program is all about and the direction that it's moving."

Thanks to Singletary's return, that direction is forward.


 

Fourth down for the Orange Bowl
By Bill Whitehead (Contact)
Thursday, November 8, 2007

The Orange Bowl has seen many memorable moments since it opened in 1937. Another chapter in the storied history of the stadium closes Saturday when Miami plays its last game in the stadium before moving to Dolphin Stadium next season.

At a little before midnight this Saturday, the clock will strike 12 on the University of Miami's storied relationship with the Orange Bowl.

Starting next September, the Hurricanes will trek farther north for its home games, moving in to the recently refurbished Dolphin Stadium in northern Dade County. And the home schedule will be a good one, featuring Florida State, Virginia Tech and 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference champion Wake Forest.

Miami will become the fifth college team to share its home facility with a professional football team. The University of South Florida (Raymond James Stadium), Pittsburgh (Heinz Field), Minnesota (Metrodome) and Tulane (Superdome) also play in NFL stadiums.

As has been the case many times, a big game will take place for the Hurricanes in its last time in the venerable OB, hosting the Virginia Cavaliers (8-2) in an important ACC contest.

A win by the Hurricanes (5-4) makes the team bowl-eligible. A loss would force Miami to win one of two tough road games left on the schedule — at Virginia Tech next week or at Boston College in the season finale.

First-year head coach Randy Shannon, a national champion as a linebacker at UM in 1987 and as defensive coordinator in 2001, has watched his team peak and fall over the last month.

On Oct. 13, Miami was pushed around by Georgia Tech in a disappointing 17-14 home loss. Then the team shocked Florida State by scoring two touchdowns in the final two minutes a week later in Tallahassee in a 37-29 win over the rival Seminoles.

Last Saturday, the Hurricanes squandered a lead and lost 19-16 in overtime to an injury-riddled North Carolina State squad, leaving the team with a two-game home losing streak in the same stadium where they once 58 consecutive, and also left Miami's bowl season in jeopardy.

THE ORANGE BOWL - BY THE NUMBERS

2: Heisman Trophy winners (Vinny Testaverde-1986, Gino Torretta-1992)

3: Miami national championships won at the OB

6: Most touchdowns in a game (Willis McGahee, 2002)

14: National championships crowned at the OB

58: Miami's NCAA record home winning streak (1985-1994)

299: Single-game rushing record (Edgerrin James, 1998)

485: Single-game passing record (Gino Torretta, 1991)

1937: Year the OB opened

81,927: Largest home crowd (Florida State, 2002)

TOP MIAMI WINS IN THE ORANGE BOWL

Jan. 1, 1984: No. 1 Nebraska trimmed No. 5 Miami's lead to 31-30 with under a minute to play in the Orange Bowl Classic. Coach Tom Osborne decided to go for the two-point conversion, but quarterback Turner Gill's pass was deflected by UM defensive back Kenny Calhoun to salvage the win and give Miami its first national championship.

September 27, 1986: No. 2 Miami, sparked by a dazzling sideline-to-sideline run by quarterback Vinny Testaverde, knocked off No. 1 Oklahoma and high-profile linebacker Brian Bosworth 28-16. Testaverde went on to win the Heisman Trophy, but the Hurricanes were upset by Penn State in the national title game in the Fiesta Bowl.

October 3, 1992: With the No. 2 Hurricanes holding a 19-16 lead over No. 3 Florida State, Seminole kicker Dan Mowrey's 39-yard field goal faded wide right with just eight seconds remaining. Miami had won at Tallahassee the year before in similar fashion, prompting the 1992 classic to be referred to as "Wide Right II."

December 5, 1998: In a game delayed three months because of a scheduling conflict of a hurricane-postponed game, UM's Edgerrin James rushed for 299 yards as the Hurricanes denied No. 3 UCLA a chance at a national title. Miami gained a team-record 689 yards in the 49-45 upset.

October 7, 2000: After No. 1 Florida State rallied to take a late 24-20 lead, UM sophomore Ken Dorsey drove the No.7 Hurricanes to paydirt, going 6-for-7 for 73 yards on the final drive and finishing the 27-24 comeback win with a 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeremy Shockey with 46 seconds remaining. FSU kicker Matt Munyon's last-second 49-yard field goal was pushed — you guessed it — wide right.

PAINFUL MIAMI LOSSES IN THE ORANGE BOWL

November 10, 1984: Trailing Miami 31-0 at halftime, Maryland replaced starting quarterback Stan Gelbaugh with backup Frank Reich. The Terrapins rebounded to outscore Bernie Kosar and the Hurricanes 42-9 in the second half to go on to a then-NCAA record 42-40 comeback victory.

November 23, 1984: Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie avoided Miami defender Jerome Brown and heaved a pass over 50 yards to wide receiver Gerard Phelan as time expired as the Eagles defeated Miami 47-45 in the famous "Hail Flutie" miracle. The play overshadowed a five-touchdown performance by UM running back Melvin Bratton.

Jan. 1, 1995: In its quest for a fifth national championship, the No. 3 Hurricanes dropped a 24-17 decision to top-ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl Classic. UM and a defense led by All-American Warren Sapp held a 17-9 lead over the Cornhuskers by stopping Nebraska's vaunted running game for three quarters, but starting quarterback Tommie Frazier led a pair of drives that ended with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns from fullback Corey Schlesinger.

BEATING NO. 1

The Hurricanes have a great tradition of beating college football's best in the Orange Bowl. Since the AP began voting in 1936, the Hurricanes have faced the top-ranked team nine times in the Orange Bowl. Miami is 7-2 in those games, losing only to Oklahoma 20-17 in 1975 and Nebraska 24-17 in the 1995 Orange Bowl Classic.

 

Canes Put Stamp On Orange Bowl
Skip directly to the full story.
Published: Nov 8, 2007

Layer by layer, the Orange Bowl has unraveled.

The Miami Dolphins fled after the 1986 season.

Even the Orange Bowl game itself packed up following the 1995 contest on New Year's Day.

Those memories have faded.

Saturday night, it becomes sobering reality - and sobering finality. That's when the Miami Hurricanes turn out the lights at 1501 NW Third St. The Orange Bowl stadium, built in 1937, hosts its final UM game when Miami, a non-vintage 5-4 team just hoping for a bowl bid, faces the Virginia Cavaliers. (Although very technically, there is a Florida Atlantic-Florida International game Nov. 24, but will anybody shed tears after that one?)

You can write sonnets about the 17-0 Dolphins, Lynn Swann's great catches, Kellen Winslow's singular effort and, of course, Joe Willie Namath. But the stadium's NFL games are long gone. The Orange Bowl, more than ever before, is about the Canes, a brash team running through the pregame smoke, the huge games, the whole joint rocking on a Saturday night and the three UM national championships clinched on that field.

The Hurricanes may be getting a new house - Dolphin Stadium - but they are abandoning a historic home. Yes, it became a dump beyond repair, but it also endured as one of the great big-game venues in all of sports.

Here are some of UM's most memorable moments at the Orange Bowl:

1. THE MIRACLE IN MIAMI
Miami 31, Nebraska 30 (Jan. 2, 1984): UM's first national title. With 48 seconds remaining, Coach Tom Osborne went for two. Turner Gill's pass was batted away by Kenny Calhoun. Howard Schnellenberger's Hurricanes were No. 1. And the unbeatable Cornhuskers had somehow been beaten in the season's final bowl game.

2. HAIL FLUTIE
Boston College 47, Miami 45 (Nov. 23, 1984): One day after Thanksgiving, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie sent up a prayer on the game's final play. His arching spiral flew deep into the night, through winds that were gusting up to 30 mph, and incredibly, into the arms of wide receiver Gerard Phelan for a 48-yard touchdown. Flutie, the Heisman Trophy winner, had 472 yards passing.

3. HISTORIC COLLAPSE
Maryland 42, Miami 40 (Nov. 10, 1984): The No. 6-ranked Hurricanes had to feel safe with a 31-0 halftime lead against the unranked Maryland Terrapins. Oops. Maryland quarterback Frank Reich led what was then the greatest comeback in NCAA history.

4. WIDE RIGHT III
Miami 27, Florida State 24 (Oct. 7, 2000): The Hurricanes ended a five-game losing streak at the hands of rival Florida State. Miami sophomore quarterback Ken Dorsey led a 73-yard drive that culminated with a 13-yard pass to tight end Jeremy Shockey. The Seminoles rallied into position for a tying 49-yard field-goal attempt by Matt Munyon on the final play of regulation, but the kick sailed wide right (just as two other FSU kicks had done in game-winning or game-tying situations in the previous decade).

5. WIDE LEFT
Miami 28, Florida State 27 (Oct. 12, 2002): The defending national champion Hurricanes carried a 27-game winning streak into the game, but needed a furious fourth-quarter rally. And even then, it was left for a final-play field-goal attempt by Florida State's Xavier Beitia, who misfired from 43 yards. This time, it was wide left.

6. THE FLORIDA FLOP
Florida 45, Miami 16 (Nov. 27, 1971): Florida led 45-8 with 1:20 left, but Gators QB John Reaves needed 14 yards to break Jim Plunkett's all-time NCAA career passing record. Under orders from Gators coach Doug Dickey, all Florida defenders (except for defensive end John Clifford) dropped to their bellies and allowed Miami quarterback John Hornibrook to score. The Gators recovered an onside kick by Miami, now determined to halt the record attempt, and Reaves completed a 15-yard pass to Carlos Alvarez, giving him a total of 7,549 yards.

7. THIRD-AND-FOREVER
Miami 27, Notre Dame 10 (Nov. 25, 1989): The Hurricanes, clinging to a 17-10 lead against the No. 1-ranked Fighting Irish, were faced with third-and-44 on their 3-yard line. Craig Erickson's sideline bomb to Randal Hill gained … 44 yards. It spurred a 22-play TD drive that required 10 minutes, 47 seconds. ND was finished. Miami was on its way to another national title.

8. BEATING THE BOZ
Miami 28, Oklahoma 16 (Sept. 27, 1986): In one of this generation's most hyped showdown games, the No. 2-ranked Hurricanes, behind QB Vinny Testaverde, shut down the No. 1 Sooners, led by flamboyant LB Brian Bosworth. UM strolled to an 11-0 regular season, but lost to heavy underdog Penn State at the Fiesta Bowl.

9. THE STREAK ENDS
Washington 38, Miami 20 (Sept. 24, 1994): UM's NCAA-record streak of 58 consecutive home victories comes crashing down as the Hurricanes taste Orange Bowl defeat for the first time since the 1985 opener against Florida.

10. MAKING A STATEMENT
Miami 31, Florida State 0 (Sept. 3, 1988): With the atmosphere at its rollicking best, and the freshly minted No. 1-ranked Seminoles seeking revenge for a one-point defeat at Tallahassee in the previous season, the Canes put down the hammer - decisively.

 

Miami Hurricanes can't let Virginia's Chris Long run wild
BY CRAIG HANDEL
FLORIDA TODAY ADVERTISEMENT

CORAL GABLES - Even if Chris Long wasn't one of the best defensive linemen in the country, University of Miami football players would know him well.

But now that they do, the Hurricanes need to figure out a way to stop him, or at least contain him. Long and the No. 21 Cavaliers will visit Miami on Saturday in the 'Canes' final game at the Orange Bowl.

The son of former Oakland Raiders star and Fox analyst Howie Long, Chris Long has created his own identity. He was named Wednesday as one of 15 semifinalists for the 2007 Chuck Bednarik Award, presented annually to the outstanding defensive player of the year. Monday, he was named one of four finalists for the Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation's top lineman.

The 6-foot-4, 284-pound senior has 12 sacks, which ranks him fifth in the country with 1.2 per game. He also has 65 tackles, 16 for loss, 21 quarterback hurries, seven pass deflections, an interception, a forced fumble and a blocked kick. For the second time in three weeks Saturday, he earned Atlantic Coast Conference honors after he had a career-high 10 tackles against Wake Forest, including two for loss. He also had a sack and three quarterback pressures.

"As good as Chris is, he is so bent on being really good at what he does," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "He's always improving. He had a fast start and continues to improve on the season."

Miami players have gotten to know Long, who has visited South Florida. He's buddies with former Miami tight end Greg Olsen, whose brother Chris played at Virginia.

"We're good friends," Miami junior defensive end Calais Campbell added. "We met at some All-American things and the ACC kickoff. He's a pretty cool guy."

In comparing the two, the 6-foot-8, 280-pound Campbell said they are physical and hustle but have different body types and different styles, particularly when they line up.

"(Long) plays with a passion," Miami offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland said. "He just doesn't stop. The word swarm, he lives by it. This kid goes sideline to sideline. He's in great physical shape and never gets tired. Some players can never play with that type of intensity because they're not in top physical shape."

Stoutland's linemen seem well prepared to stop him. They've given up just 13 sacks this season. Groh said the Hurricanes not only work well together, but have great individual size and footwork.

"I think it all starts with chemistry," Stoutland said. "Any time a coach has five guys up front, the No. 1 thing is to bring them all together. They have to like and love being around each other. We do things to have fun. My wife makes ice-cream cakes they cut into pieces. After meetings, guys play trivia and watch movies. That started in the spring, and even to this day, on Thursday nights, we do things.

"When you're playing next to guys and are in the heat of battle, if you like who you're with, you might give a little more every single time."

That teamwork will be key against one of the best players in the country.