UVa to play in Music City Bowl
Cavaliers face Minnesota in Nashville for Dec. 30 showdown
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
December 5, 2005

After a whirlwind week at the McCue Center, that included the departure of at least two assistant coaches and the potential alive for more, Virginia football coach Al Groh got quite a bit of good news on Sunday.
In addition to reportedly receiving verbal commitments from five recruits - S Rico Bell, LB John Bivens, WR Ras-I Dowling, CB Deandre Filer and CB Trey Womack - the program also found out they would play in a bowl game that many fans could drive to.

Virginia (6-5, 3-5 ACC) was offered and accepted a bid Sunday night to play Minnesota (7-4, 4-4 Big Ten) in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 30 at noon on ESPN.

The Cavaliers will be facing Minnesota for the first time on the gridiron.

It was expected that the Cavaliers would be shipped out west for the second straight year, being forced to play in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco against Utah (6-5), but executives at the Music City Bowl were elated to have UVa.

"A Minnesota and Virginia match-up is sure to be an exciting game on the field for all the fans," Music City Bowl chairman Dale Polley told reporters. "And we think the fact that this represents the only Big Ten/ACC match-up in the postseason will make the Bowl a huge regional draw."

It was Georgia Tech that ended up in San Francisco, marking the fourth time in five years that the Yellow Jackets traveled across the country for the postseason. Georgia Tech played in 2001 in the Seattle Bowl, 2002 in the Silicon Valley Classic (San Jose, Calif.) and in Boise, Idaho in 2003.

To Virginia's credit, they beat Georgia Tech, 27-17, at Scott Stadium on Nov. 12.

It seems only fitting that Virginia got the bid from the Tennessee-based bowl game and not the Yellow Jackets. Last season, due to complications with the exam schedule at UVa, the Cavaliers were unable to accept a bid to the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando.

That bowl took Georgia Tech instead, which left Virginia bound for the blue turf and the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho.

Craig Littlepage, UVa's athletics. director, said Sunday evening that he was pleased with the decision of the Music City Bowl.

"I believe our team has earned a bid to an outstanding bowl game in a great city," Littlepage said via e-mail. "It is good that we'll play closer to the grounds this year, which will allow our fans and the families of the players, band, and cheerleaders to travel to the game much easier."

Virginia was one of eight ACC schools to accept bowl invitations on Sunday. The league entered the season with only six tie-ins, one of which was to the Bowl Championship Series, but with the SEC and Pac-10 saddled with a shortage of bowl-eligible teams (schools must win six games) the door opened for the ACC ink agreements with the Music City and Emerald bowls.

Both the Music City and the Emerald bowls will start four-year agreements with the league next season.

"I think having the opportunity of getting the ACC this year, one year before we start a four-year deal, is a real silver lining for us," said Scott Ramsey, the executive director of the Music City Bowl. "I think we are excited about the future partnership and the opportunity to start it with the league in general, is a great opportunity for us.

"Secondly, UVa has really excited us. Not only from an administration and staff standpoint, but their marketing programs and suggested plans and all that kind of stuff was outstanding. Their fans have been excited about it - calling us and e-mailing us ? and I just think it is going to be a great impression that our community is going to give the ACC and with UVa representing, I know it will be a first-class one."

Florida State, thanks to its upset win over Virginia Tech on Saturday in the ACC Championship game, was awarded a trip to the BCS and the Orange Bowl to play Penn State.

Virginia Tech will play Louisville in the Gator Bowl, while Miami (Peach), Clemson (Champs Sports) and North Carolina State (Meineke Car Care) also received bids.

Virginia's first game against a Big Ten foe since 2001 (they played Penn State and Wisconsin) will not be a walk in the park.

Minnesota has the No. 2 rushing offense in the country, averaging 279.9 yards per game.

Almost half of those yards were gained by running back Laurence Maroney, who averaged a Big Ten-best 135 yards a game.

The most glaring weakness for the Golden Gophers this season was on defense, where they ranked 87th nationally in total defense (407.6 ypg), 86th in pass defense (247.3 ypg) and 77th in scoring defense (28.7 ppg).

Minnesota's final five opponents combined to score 174 points (34.8 ppg). In that stretch, the Golden Gophers went 2-3, which included losses to Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Ramsey said Sunday evening that Virginia has agreed to buy 10,000 tickets, a requirement that Minnesota and any other ACC school would have had in the Music City Bowl.

"That was not part of this negotiation at all," Ramsey said. "It was a lot more gray than it normally is for us, just because we were coming in as an at-large position towards the end of [the ACC's] process.

"Virginia was one of the teams that we certainly had expressed a lot of interest in and if it worked out we would be elated to have them. And it did and we look forward to working with them the next month and to have them here in late December."

Tickets are currently on sale through the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office and are $65 for club level and $45 for lower level. To inquire about tickets, call the ticket office at (800)542-8821 or check www.virginiasports.com.

COACHING UPDATE: While Virginia's offensive coordinator Ron Prince will become Kansas State's head coach today, defensive coordinator Al Golden continues to ponder his future.

Golden, who like Prince is 36, is expected to make his intentions known to Temple today or Tuesday.

Another one of UVa's assistants, associate head coach Danny Rocco, was named the head coach at Liberty at a press conference Friday morning.

Prince is now the fourth active African-American coach at the Division I-A level. He joins Washington's Tyrone Willingham, Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom and UCLA's Karl Dorrell.

Prince, who is also the youngest Division I-A coach, had been at UVa the past five years, three as the offensive coordinator.

Tim Weiser, the athletic director at KSU, confirmed the hiring for the first time Sunday night.

"The most important thing for Kansas State was to find the right fit," Weiser told reporters. "And though that could be defined in a lot of different ways, we believe that included someone who had familiarity with Kansas State football, the state of Kansas and the unique culture and tradition of the university.

"In our minds, coach Prince clearly meets all of those criteria, among many others."

Prince replaces Bill Snyder, who retired last month after posting a 136-68-1 record in 17 years with KSU.

Prince reportedly wants Texas Tech assistant Ruffin McNeill to become his defensive coordinator.

A SPECIAL SUNDAY: Groh welcomed in eight recruits this weekend and apparently things went well - very well.

According to rivals.com, five of those players gave the head coach verbal commitments. If those reports were accurate, UVa would have 22 commitments for the upcoming season, leaving just three spots open.

The Daily Progress will have full coverage of the verbal commitments throughout the week.

 

A forgettable ACC start
Virginia shoots 27 percent in loss to Ga. Tech
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
December 5, 2005

ATLANTA - Last season, the University of Virginia basketball team lost its first five ACC games. UVa didn't notch its first conference victory until Jan. 22 when it defeated Clemson.
After the Cavaliers' performance Sunday night against Georgia Tech - a team picked to finish ninth in the conference - one has to wonder if this year's Cavs squad will be able to fair any better.

The Cavs fired up bricks all night - they shot 27 percent - and dropped their ACC opener, 63-54, in front of an Alexander Memorial Col-iseum crowd of 9,191.

"I thought Georgia Tech did a much better job than we did in sustaining their effort," said University of Virginia coach Dave Leitao, whose team was 0 for 13 from 3-point range. "[They] controlled the defensive end of the floor and [got] better percentage shots than we did. When you do that, and don't give yourself an opportunity to at least keep the game close because you give up too many easy things on both ends, obviously you pay a price for it."

If any of Sean Singletary's and J.R. Reynolds' family members happened to tape the game, they would be wise to dispose of it -fast. Things don't get much uglier than they did for the Cavs' starting backcourt.

Singletary didn't score his first basket until a few minutes into the second half. Reynolds didn't hit the scoring column until less than six minutes remained in the game.

The not-so-dynamic duo combined to shoot 4 of 30. They had 10 turnovers and just six assists.

Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said he tried to put taller defenders on Singletary.

"We didn't put Zam Fredrick on him," Singletary said. "We put Mario West, D'Andre Bell, Lewis Clinch on him - guys we thought were a little bigger, and then basically told everyone else that they had to see him at all times."

Given Singletary's and Reynolds' woes, the Cavs could have been blown out of the gym, but solid performances from Jason Cain, Mamadi Diane and Laurynas Mikalauskas kept UVa close.

The Cavs (3-2) looked completely out it from the opening whistle. They only mustered one point before the game's first television timeout. They had five points at the second one and 11 at the third.

The Cavs were able to stay in the game because of the inside play of Cain. Buoyed by a solid second half against Northwestern on Wednesday, he scored 10 points - all in the paint - before the break. Cain finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Cain said his performance will be a confidence-booster.

"I'm feeling better," he said, "but I feel I should have been doing this stuff in the beginning of the year, so my teammates and coaches would have more confidence in me."

Freshman Mamadi Diane chipped in with 14 points. Mikalauskas had four points and eight rebounds.

A nice baseline drive and score by Mikalauskas brought the Cavs to within 13-11, but then the Yellow Jackets went on a 16-6 run to take a 29-17 lead at the half.

Many of the Jackets' buckets came off put-backs in the paint or Cavs turnovers. A Mario West dunk off a fast break got the crowd into the game.

Reynolds, who was 0 for 3 in the first half with four turnovers, seemed dazed. Leitao yanked him out of the game on numerous occasions after mistakes and scolded the co-captain on the sideline.

Leitao was so frustrated with Reynolds' play that he put in junior point guard T.J. Bannister, who he had said on Friday was still a week to two weeks from being ready to play because of his sports hernia injury. Reynolds finished with just five points.

A microcosm of the Cavs' stupor occurred near the end of the first half when Singletary had no idea the shot clock was running down. That resulted in a shot-clock violation and one of the team's 12 turnovers. For the game, the Cavs finished with 18.

"I turned he ball over and other guys turned the ball over," said Singletary, who finished 3 of 23 from the field for 10 points. "It gave them confidence.

"We made a lot of mistakes, and when you don't have any energy and you're not making shots, there's no way you're going to win."

The Yellow Jackets (3-2, 1-0), who were led by Jeremis Smith's 17 points, were never able to put the game away - despite UVa's 27 percent shooting (0-13 from 3-point range). For the game, they shot 40 percent, doing most of their damage on put-back hoops in the paint. They were just 1 of 7 from 3-point range.

Georgia Tech led by as many as 18 in the second half. The Cavs went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to four with just under five minutes remaining, but that was as close as they would get.


DUNKS. Former UVa standout Ralph Sampson was at the game. He sat behind the Cavs' bench ? The Cavs' Billy Campbell, playing in his hometown, had a nice drive to the hoop in the second half. He finished with four points and an assist in 13 minutes ? Leitao didn't play Adrian Joseph in the second half ? Leitao on playing Bannister, who scored two points in two minutes of action: "I probably shouldn't have even played him. I don't know that he is quite ready ? I was just looking for other options."? The Cavs outrebounded the Yellow Jackets 52-41, but that may have been more a product of missing over 70 percent of their shots ? The loudest boos came late in the game when it was announced to the crowd that the Georgia Tech football team would be playing in the Emerald Bowl. The Yellow Jackets had been hoping for the Music City ?

The Cavs host Fordham Wednesday night.

 

An expected result in a tough gym
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
December 5, 2005

ATLANTA
Different year. Different coach. Different players. Same old result.

"There's just something about this gym," said Virginia sophomore point guard Sean Singletary, after the Cavaliers dropped their early ACC basketball opener, 63-54, at Georgia Tech on Sunday night.

Singletary was speaking of ancient Alexander Memorial Coliseum, better known in these parts as the "Thrillerdome," where the Cavaliers have won only five times in 26 visits over the span of four UVa coaches. This was Tech's 10th win in the last 11 collisions here with the Wahoos, which happened to be coach Dave Leitao's first visit.

But Leitao wasn't using excuses about the location. He doesn't believe in hexes and all that bunk. Instead, he pointed the finger in many directions as to why his young team stunk up the joint for much of the afternoon.

List of complaints

l Bad shots. Forget for a moment that Virginia went 0h for 13 from 3-point range (the first time since Jan. 31 last year the Cavs didn't make a trey). Forget that UVa's backcourt of J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary combined to shoot 4 of 30 from the field. It was more about poor shot selection and shooting too early in the shot clock than Leitao's cold stares and foot stomps.

l Turnovers. The Cavs turned it over 18 times, something that the coach described as "at an alarming rate."

l No stops when it counted most. When Virginia did return to the court in the second half with seemingly more energy than its host, and the Cavs cut the lead to four points with about five minutes to play, that's where it stopped. Leitao emphasized that's where his team needed a couple of defensive stops but didn't get them.

We could go on, but by now you get the point.

Any positives?

Even though his team did make a charge in the second half and cut an 18-point deficit to only four, and even though the Cavs outrebounded Tech 52-41, the Virginia coach couldn't find any silver linings to a loss that made his team 3-2 overall and 0-1 in the league.

"I don't think that you take very much away from losses," Leitao said. "You can't pick and choose who you throw bouquets to after losses. It's a team loss. We didn't do a very good job."

It wasn't all Virginia's ineptitude. Georgia Tech had a little something to do with it. First of all, the Jackets are tough to beat in this place. Secondly, some of their strategies seemed to pay dividends until Leitao lit up his team at halftime.

Singletary, who experienced probably the worst shooting night of his career in a 3-for-23 performance, was the focus of the Yellow Jackets' defense. Coach Paul Hewitt, well aware of the damage that both Singletary and Reynolds could do if unchecked, assigned bigger defenders on the duo throughout the game, hoping to get them out of rhythm.

While the strategy appeared to work, Singletary wouldn't confirm so. He simply said it didn't matter how big the defenders were.

"We had a poor night on offense and a poor night on defense. It didn't matter who they had on us," Singletary said. "Our team attitude stunk."

Tech's Zam Fredrick debated his opponent's statement about the strategy thing though.

"We wanted to stop their guards from scoring and getting penetration and it worked out well," Fredrick said. "We tried to put pressure on them early, take the ball out of certain people's hands and make other people bring it up. Give people help on the drives and make other people take shots, even though [Singletary] took a lot of shots. He wasn't making them because we had a lot of pressure on him."

There were some bright spots in that Jason Cain's linescore in the game was pretty impressive as the oft-maligned forward made 6-of-11 shots (all in the paint), had 11 rebounds and 15 points in 31 minutes. Freshman Mamadi Diane turned in a second straight solid performance (14 points, 7 rebounds), perhaps showing signs of life as the third scorer that this team desperately needs.

While Leitao didn't discover any rainbows in this visit to Hotlanta, Singletary seemed to uncover a positive or two.

"We were down, but not ever really out of the game in the second half," Singletary said.

Some of his predecessors couldn't walk out of the Thrillerdome with their self-respect still intact.

Take last year's 92-69 drubbing here, for example. Or 75-57 in '04, or, let's say the 80-60 decision in '03.

Leitao explored just about every avenue available in trying to find five guys who could simultaneously give him the effort he was looking for. He was desperate enough to jerk walk-ons Billy Campbell, whose father was the former mayor of Atlanta, and Drew Shiembob (no, you don't know him, but you probably know his hair) off the bench.

He even stunned T.J. Bannister, sending in the backup guard even though he has not fully recuperated from a sports hernia, for two minutes.

While he pooh-poohed the thought of getting anything out of a loss, even Leitao might begrudgingly acknowledge that his team never stopped fighting. Somewhere deep inside he has to be pleased about that facet even though sloppiness and bad decisions put them in a hole that was difficult to claw out of.

His answer to the whole mess is a standard one. Getting back in the gym and working out all the mistakes. It's a trademark that means something to Leitao, a proven way of making things better.

 

Cavs' can't find range
Coach Dave Leitao loses his ACC opener when UVa shoots 27.5 percent from the floor.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

ATLANTA -- Moments after an official had whistled a foul elsewhere on the floor, J.R. Reynolds attempted a 3-pointer with 16.9 seconds left Sunday that swished from 22 feet.

It was the only 3-pointer Virginia made all afternoon and it didn't count.

That was the story of head coach Dave Leitao's first Atlantic Coast Conference game, a 63-54 loss at Georgia Tech.

Virginia (3-2) shot 27.5 percent from the field and missed all 13 of its 3-point attempts.

"We were concerned about them being able to shoot [3-pointers]," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "That's why we didn't play more than five possessions of zone all night.

"I didn't want to give them any open looks, but some of that is luck. They shoot too good to shoot 0-for-13."

The Cavaliers opened the game by missing seven shots from the field before reserve Jason Cain converted a follow shot. Then, they missed seven more shots before Cain hit another rebound basket.

At one point in the first half, Cain was 5-for-7 from the field and his teammates were 1-for-20. Cain, a 6-foot-10 junior, finished with career highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds -- his first double-double at UVa.

"You can't pick or choose who you throw bouquets to after losses," Leitao said. "It's a team loss. We didn't do a very good job."

Georgia Tech (3-2) shot only 40 percent from the field, but the Yellow Jackets led 29-17 at the half and twice got their lead as high as 18 points in the second half.

The Yellow Jackets appeared to be in no trouble, up 48-35 with 7:39 left, but the Cavaliers went on a 9-0 run that trimmed the deficit to 48-44 with 5:13 remaining.

As poorly as they were shooting, the Cavaliers were fortunate not to be down by 30, "but, when you're not scoring, 13 can seem like 33," Leitao said. "We were shooting too early in the shot clock. For a lot of the game, we continued to take shots that we really didn't have any business taking."

That didn't change when the Cavaliers cut the deficit to four. They made two field goals in the final five minutes.

UVa's touted backcourt of Reynolds and Sean Singletary were a combined 4-for-30, including a 3-for-23 performance by Singletary, who persisted in taking inside shots against Georgia Tech's post players.

"We tried to put bigger defenders on him," Hewitt said. "We didn't put [point guard] Zam Fredrick on him. I'm not going to take any credit away from [Virginia's] effort on the offensive glass, but we were so conscious of helping on him and, when you help, you give up offensive rebounding lanes."

Virginia had 28 offensive rebounds and outrebounded Georgia Tech 52-41.

That was with 6-11 Tunji Soroye playing only 17 minutes, partly due to foul problems and partly due to the intensity of Cain and freshman Laurynas Mikalauskas, who got five of his eight rebounds at the offensive end.

"I feel like I'm building towards something," Cain said, "but, it's still wrong because I should have been contributing since the beginning of the year and not surprise them the way I did today."

Reynolds had a career-high six turnovers, missed four of seven free throws and was pulled from the game on enough occasions that he played only 26 minutes.

"The truth is, I wanted to give somebody else an opportunity," Leitao said, "but he had plenty of company."

Adrian Joseph, averaging double-figure points as the Cavaliers' sixth man, did not hustle after a loose ball in the first half and did not play in the second half. Late in the first half, Leitao inserted T.J. Bannister, who is rehabbing from a hernia operation and wasn't expected to play for 1-2 more weeks.

"I probably shouldn't have played him," Leitao said. "He has only been at practice for two or three days and the rate and speed that a conference game is played at, I don't know that he was ready. I was just looking for other options."

 

Too little, too late for U.Va.
Cavaliers cut 18-point deficit to 4, but Yellow Jackets hold on for win
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 5, 2005

ATLANTA -- Miss followed miss, turnover followed turnover, defensive lapse followed defensive lapse.

In Dave Leitao's first ACC game asUniversity of Virginia men's basketball coach, his team could not have played much worse for the first 30 minutes last night.

But the Cavaliers, who trailed Georgia Tech by 18 early in the second half, never quit. A 10-1 run pulled Virginia to 49-45 with 4:33 left, and the home fans at Alexander Memorial Coliseum grew anxious.

They need not have worried. Virginia got no closer. The Yellow Jackets made 7 of 8 free throws in the final 2 minutes and posted a 63-54 victory last night before an announced crowd of 9,191.

The Cavaliers' flaws were many, but poor shooting topped the list. Virginia made only 19 of 69 field-goal attempts overall (27.5 percent) and was 0 for 13 from 3-point range. Not since Jan. 31, 2004, against Wake Forest, had the Cavaliers failed to hit at least one trey.

"There's definitions for what good shots are or are not," Leitao said, "and we took many, many more than our share of what I wouldn't consider good shots."

Guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds, U.Va.'s top two scorers, were a combined 4 of 30 from the field last night and combined for 15 points. Singletary, harrassed throughout by bigger defenders, missed 20 of 23 attempts, including five from outside the arc. Reynolds had a career-high six turnovers.

"Today was just a rough day for everybody," said junior forward Jason Cain, who came off the bench to contribute 15 points and 11 rebounds, both career highs.

Singletary and Reynolds are "great players," Cain said, "and we've got great coaches. Little by little we're going to make this right."

Virginia totaled 28 offensive re- bounds and whipped Georgia Tech (1-0, 3-2) 52-41 on the boards. Nonetheless, the Jackets never trailed. They led 29-17 at the break, the first time in more than seven years that U.Va. had scored fewer than 20 points in the first half.

At that point Singletary was scoreless, and Reynolds had one point. Adrian Joseph had none. Only the energy of Cain had kept U.Va. from getting blown out.

"Cain really set the tone for them," Jackets coach Paul Hewitt said.

No such fire was evident in Joseph, who came in averaging 10.3 points. Leitao didn't play the 6-7 sophomore in the second half.

"He wasn't giving us the kind of basketball that we need," Leitao said, "especially when we're playing on the road."

U.Va. started two freshmen, and both played hard, if not always well. Swingman Mamadi Diane scored 14 points -- 12 in the second half -- and pulled down seven rebounds. Power forward Laurynas Mikalauskas grabbed eight boards.

But Leitao declined to single out Diane or Mikalauskas -- or even Cain -- for praise afterward.

"It's a team loss," Leitao said.

 

Barber helps trim Saints
Cornerback answers call with 3 picks
Chris Harry | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted December 4, 2005, 11:21 PM EST

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Ronde Barber dropped a potential game-changing interception deep in Chicago territory in the first quarter of last week's game against the Bears. Tampa Bay went on to lose a close one, and Buccaneers Coach Jon Gruden -- as he is wont to do -- made a point to remind his star defensive back about it.

More than once, in fact.

"Catch a ball for me this week, huh?" Gruden mumbled when passing Barber in hallways at team headquarters last week.

So when Barber intercepted Aaron Brooks in the first quarter of Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints, the All-Pro cornerback made a beeline for his coach and had a little something to say.

When Barber got his second interception in the second quarter, he was back in Gruden's mug for more.

"And after the third one," Gruden said, "I ran for cover."

The Bucs, in turn, ran for the locker room, as Barber's third pick of the afternoon sealed a 10-3 victory over the Saints that ended a NFL afternoon virtually void of atmosphere for the crowd of 34,411 inside LSU's Tiger Stadium.

"That was ugly out there, man," Tampa Bay offensive tackle Kenyatta Walker said. "But an ugly win is a lot better than an ugly loss."

Barber's three interceptions -- plus a fourth from free safety Dexter Jackson -- made for a particularly homely afternoon for Brooks but a satisfying outcome for the Bucs (8-4), who took sole possession of second place in the NFC South Division heading into next Sunday's trip to face front-running Carolina (9-3).

"You have to be able to make plays in December," Barber said. "We made a bunch of them today."

His were the flashy ones. The rest were workmanlike plays that a team needs to grind out a road win the NFL.

Wide receiver Joey Galloway remained on his 2005 tear, catching a 30-yard touchdown pass from Chris Simms to give the Bucs a 7-0 lead in the second period. The Bucs never trailed, despite their defense yielding seven third-down conversions on the first 11 attempts, as New Orleans managed just a 26-yard field goal by John Carney along the way.

When Tampa Bay needed a stop, Barber and friends were usually there.

"I thought we played well enough to win," Saints Coach Jim Haslett said after falling to 3-8. "But that's a good team over there."

It was a virtually error-free team, too. The Bucs played their first road game without a turnover this season and got enough production from their rushing attack -- 133 yards, including 96 on 22 carries from rookie tailback Carnell Williams -- to keep a rhythm and nearly match the Saints in time of possession.

The turnovers were the difference.

"It goes back to what we've been saying the last three or four weeks now," said Simms, who went 12-of-21 for 123 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and was sacked just once. "It hasn't been pretty, but we've made plays when we had to."

The last came with 1:20 to go, after the Saints had driven from their 20 to the Bucs' 25 and threatened to tie the game late. That was until Brooks tried to jam yet another throw through Barber, who was blanketed all over wideout Joe Horn down the seam of Tampa Bay's cover-two defense.

Barber turned just in time to see the ball, catch it at the goal line and return it 26 yards, so the Bucs could run out the clock.

Then, it was off to see his coach again.

"Jon has a high expectation level for his teams," Barber said. "He expects a lot of everybody, especially his big players. And I think he thinks I'm one of those guys."

He's not the only one.

UVa accepts invite to bowl in Nashville
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
December 5, 2005

The Cavaliers are westward bound for their bowl game, just not as far as they first thought.

On Sunday, Virginia accepted an invitation to play against Minnesota in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn. The game, played at The Coliseum, is Dec. 30 at noon on ESPN.

“We’ve heard great things about the bowl and we know a lot about how great a city Nashville is,” UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage said in a release. “This is a good way for our team to finish the 2005 season, playing a quality opponent in a quality bowl.”

For the last week, it had been assumed that the Cavaliers (6-5) would end up in San Francisco in the Emerald Bowl against Utah, but Virginia made a push that was received favorably by the Music City Bowl committee.

“In the end, they just impressed us in the last week and a half or two weeks,” Music City Bowl executive director Scott Ramsey said. “Craig Littlepage had a comprehensive marketing plan. We had fans e-mailing and calling to the tune of several hundred. There was a lot of energy for the program coming to Nashville.”

Ramsey said the interest coming from Virginia was far greater than any other school.

“It was aggressive across the board,” he said, “from staff to media to fans.”

Negotiations for the bowl intensified early Sunday evening between Ramsey, Littlepage and ACC officials. Ramsey said the committee was not presented a list of teams from which to pick. The bowl, which began its partnership with the ACC a year early because the SEC did not have enough eligible teams, does not have a specific designation in the ACC’s pecking order.

“It was more of a give and take,” Ramsey said. “Who do you think would fit well and where?”

N.C. State (6-5) went to the Meineke Car Care Bowl to play South Florida, Boston College (8-3) to the MPC Computers Bowl to play Boise State and Georgia Tech (7-4) to the Emerald Bowl to play Utah.

This marks the fourth straight year the Cavaliers will participate in a bowl, matching the longest streak in school history.

Virginia lost to Fresno State 37-34 in overtime of last year’s MPC Computers Bowl in Boise. The two years before that, the Cavaliers went to the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, beating West Virginia 48-22 in 2002 and Pittsburgh 23-16 in 2003.

The Gophers (7-4) finished in seventh place in the Big Ten, going 4-4 in conference play. This is their third Music City Bowl berth in the last four years.

They beat Alabama 20-16 last year and Arkansas 29-14 in 2002. Like Virginia, Minnesota is playing in a bowl for the fourth straight year. In 2003, they beat Oregon 31-30 in the Sun Bowl.
 

Emerald Bowl no jewel to Jackets
By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/05/05

With 2 minutes, 56 seconds left in Georgia Tech's men's basketball victory over Virginia on Sunday night, the public address announcer told Tech fans their football team will play in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.

The fans booed. Loudly.

Their Yellow Jackets are heading west for the fourth time in five postseasons, while ACC teams with inferior records play closer to home. Tech (7-4, 5-3) was jumped over by N.C. State and Virginia (both 6-5, 3-5).

"I think we got screwed," said football season ticket holder Sam Schwartz of Sandy Springs, who had made hotel reservations for the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, which picked N.C.ÊState, and the Music City Bowl in Nashville, which picked Virginia.

"How did Virginia get ahead of us?" Schwartz asked. "We got out-politicked. That's terrible."

Tech, which will make its ninth consecutive bowl appearance, plays Utah (6-5), which tied for fourth in the Mountain West Conference, Dec. 29 at 4:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

Yellow Jackets captains Gerris Wilkinson and Chris Reis said players had hoped for a berth in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. They would have gotten their wish if Virginia Tech had beaten Florida State in the ACC championship game, Peach president Gary Stokan said. But Virginia Tech's loss bumped Miami from the Gator Bowl, and Stokan said the Peach couldn't resist the chance to match two top-10 teams, LSU and Miami.

And so Tech's fall began. Like Atlantic Division co-champion Boston College (8-3, 5-3), which fell all the way to the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, the Yellow Jackets were passed over in favor of teams they had outperformed on the field.

Music City executive director Scott Ramsey said his bowl needed a team that would sell tickets, and Virginia looked like the better bet.

"That was probably the feeling of the committee," Ramsey said. "Virginia did as good as anybody selling us on their program and their fan base. They really impressed us the last week and a half to two weeks. Virginia was probably the most organized and prepared. Their organization, preparation and consistency made it a good feel for us."

The Virginia athletics department sent the Music City a marketing program that included newspaper, TV and radio ads, a postcard mailing to season-ticket holders, an e-mail campaign and a dedicated bowl Web site. But it wasn't just the athletics department that made an impression, Ramsey said. Several hundred Virginia fans e-mailed and called the Music City expressing their enthusiasm about the possibility of coming to Nashville.

Georgia Tech athletics director Dave Braine wasn't buying Ramsey's explanation.

"We have the Web sites, and we have the postcards, and we have everything else," Braine said. "It comes down to one school outbidding another school. When you have a 7-4 record which is better than Virginia's, and when you have a 5-3 conference record which is better than Virginia's, you shouldn't have to buy a game.

"Until the ACC does something about bowls taking schools because of the number of tickets they'll sell and fans they'll bring, we'll have this situation."

Braine said he told Ramsey Tech would buy 20,000 tickets and bring 10,000-12,000 fans.

"Scott Ramsey from Day 1 gave every indication to us that he would take Virginia. None of us believed the conference would let him do that." ACC officials could not be reached Sunday night.

Tech coach Chan Gailey was on the road recruiting and unavailable for comment.

"We're happy to go [to the Emerald Bowl]," Gailey said in a statement released by Georgia Tech. "It's a good bowl, and I'm sure our kids will have a good time."

For Wilkinson, who grew up in Oakland, Calif., his final college game will be a Bay Area homecoming.

"I'm probably the happiest person on the team," he said. But even he was disappointed.

"We had higher expectations as a team," he said. "You win as many games as you can. The rest you don't have control over."