It's time to count down the top ten plays. Of the season. I wish I could do it all Sportscenter-style with highlights and witty commentary, but I don't even have the highlights yet and some of them, I never did. So you'll just have to see it in your mind's eye.
These are the ten plays from 2011 that I thought were most influential on the season and in getting us to the Peach Bowl. Keep in mind - there are literally over a thousand to choose from. So you are highly encouraged to come up with some of your own if these don't satisfy, or you think there's an omission. A lot of this comes from a quick-and-dirty memory search of my own gray matter - I figured if a play still resonates in December, it was probably that important. Oh, and they all had good outcomes, or at least, non-bad ones. So that one time we got totally sacked and threw an interception and fumbled and the other team scored twice on the same play and plus we got a 15-yard penalty for general principles, that didn't make the cut.
So here are this season's ten best:
#10
-- Idaho's overtime two-point conversion attempt falls incomplete.
Lost in the final score, a narrow, 21-20 win for UVA, was that the Hoos basically dominated this game. I'm not kidding. We racked up almost 500 total yards, held Brian Reader to 17-of-41 passing, and Mike Rocco was efficient and took care of the ball. But fumbles, missed field goals, and a blocked punt that was taken back for a touchdown almost turned the game into a disaster. Idaho scored on their first possession of OT, and like all upstart WAC-snacks who smell a win, went for the all-or-nothing proposition. But the UVA defense forced Reader from the pocket and then knocked down his pass attempt to preserve the win. A true team effort. I almost feel like this one should be higher - we definitely don't go to the Peach Bowl at 7-5 with that loss to Idaho, and who knows what the psyche of the team might have otherwise been like? The score masked a much better game than appearances would have it, but fortunately, it was only a veil rather than an ugly black cloud.
#9
-- Mike Rocco passes to Tim Smith for 34 yards in Tallahassee
In front of a sold-out and hostile Seminole crowd - it is never any different in Tallahassee - UVA had played an outstanding game on defense but only had a 13-7 deficit to show for it. The offense had been largely motionless, other than a second-quarter drive capped by a gorgeous Rocco-to-Jones TD toss. With 1:53 to go, the Hoos needed another comeback drive and a touchdown, or the game would simply go down as a moral-victory-but-there's-no-such-thing.
UVA started at their own 25, but the speed in which Rocco marched the team downfield was stunning. On 2nd-and-1 on the second play of the drive, he found Tim Smith open downfield for a 34-yard pickup, the longest Rocco pass play of the night. That hushed the crowd and changed the dynamic of the drive - UVA still had a minute and a half to score and now had the ball on the Florida State 32. The rest was too easy; Kevin Parks would punch it in three plays later with entirely too much time on the clock, giving UVA a 14-13 lead and setting up one of the wildest finishes to any college football game in recent memory.
#8
-- Chase Minnifield pick-six
Against Duke, UVA was having a very chippy game; it was turning out nastier than anyone had expected, and the score was (controversially) tied, 14-14, at halftime, and Duke would receive the second-half kick. On the fourth play of the half's opening drive, however, Cam Johnson cam roaring around the edge, abusing Duke's Takoby Cofield for the umpteenth time that day, and forced Sean Renfree into a poor read and a hurried pass. It was too far ahead of the receiver, and it settled easily into Minnifield's hands, who ran untouched into the end zone to give UVA a 21-14 lead.
Duke would soon tie it up, aided by an out-of-bounds kickoff and a 51-yard pass to the red zone, but the pick-six energized the Hoos, and when the offense finally got a hold of the ball, they would answer the Duke TD with one of their own for a lead they'd never relinquish.
#7
-- Rodney McLeod picks off Danny O'Brien
Playing for bowl eligibility in College Park, UVA had just scored a 3rd-quarter touchdown to take a 21-13 lead, after trailing in the second quarter. Maryland was trying to respond, and they began their drive with a 39-yard pass play to set themselves up in Virginia territory. But on second down following that, Rodney McLeod picked off Danny O'Brien to end the threat.
There is often a turning point in a football game, or rather, in this case, a screw-it point. Maryland's season was already in the toilet, and in fact, they were smack in the middle of a season-ending eight-game losing streak. UVA scored relatively easily after McLeod's interception, and the game's only other tally was a score-padding field goal early in the fourth. Psychologically, the Terps were done after McLeod's pick, his first of three, and UVA would have that coveted sixth win for bowl eligibility.
#6
-- Matt Conrath destroys the handoff
It was a dead heat, for me, between this and Conrath's field-goal block that came a few plays later. I chose this one because it's the single awesomest thing a defensive lineman can do: tackle the quarterback as he's handing the ball off, or even before. Nobody expects it. Nobody coaches with that in mind. Even with a field goal block, teams are trained up on 1) how to avoid it in the first place and 2) what to do if they occur. It's a waste of practice time to say, OK guys, here's what you must do if the quarterback fails to execute the handoff because there's a bad man in the backfield.
Yet that is precisely what happened against Duke. The setup: It's a scoreless game, and it's Duke, and much to everyone's chagrin, Duke is only one of two teams that have beaten us all three of the previous losing seasons. I mean, you hate that VT does it but they're really good. Duke is Duke. So it chafes that Duke has been on our case. UNC, Maryland, Miami, GT - we've beaten them at least once, but not Duke. So here we are in a scoreless game, the defense has just made a big third-down stop, and Duke punts - and our returner makes a really nutty, boneheaded decision, muffs the punt, and hands Duke the ball in awesome field position. And they start moving the ball.
Then, on first down, Matt Conrath makes a mess. He completely disregards his blocker and roars into the backfield, slamming into Sean Renfree as he tries to execute a basic handoff. Renfree fumbles, Duke recovers - but 2nd and 15 is too much to overcome, and Duke tries a field goal. Which Conrath also destroys.
The UVA offense then marched smartly down the field, and instead of Duke taking a 7-0 lead, it's UVA with the opening salvo. Instead of "here we go again" it's "get off my lawn." The entire sequence, by the way, convinced the Duke coaches that it was Conrath, not Cam Johnson, who needed to be double-teamed, and Johnson spent the rest of the day proving that yes, he needed to be double-teamed too.
#5
-- Perry Jones and the slant-six
Against Miami on Thursday night, UVA was trying to get out of a rut. In an attempt to salvage the season, Mike London had announced that the QB platoon was no more, and the results thus far into the game had been very positive. But Miami had just turned a short pass to Tommy Streeter into a 51-yard touchdown, and was threatening to move into the lead, with the score 20-14, UVA. On the subsequent drive, Virginia faced a critical third down deep in its territory, and the Miami crowd was sensing punt. So was the Miami defense; and not only that, they were sensing run. Miami loaded the box to stop what it thought would be a handoff.
But UVA had no intention of running. UVA's pre-snap motion telegraphed the defense to Rocco, and with a linebacker - Miami's James Gaines - trying to cover Perry Jones in the slot, the read was easy. Rocco threw the slant on a dart, and the target found bullseye - a beautiful throw. Gaines gambled on the knockdown and lost, and with no safety help over the top, Jones was free to sprint the final 75 yards to the end zone. UVA scored on the 2PC to earn a 28-14 lead, and every one of those points later came in handy....
#4
-- Laroy Reynolds on fourth and ballgame
Course, that touchdown was looking awfully fragile by this time. Miami sliced the deficit in half on the ensuing drive, and a three-and-out drive that started on our own eight-yard-line resulted in fantastic field position for the Canes. They started just the other side of the 50, and churned their way to the UVA 15, eating up time as they went. I'm pretty sure 90% of the UVA fanbase was dreading the very idea of overtime; you hate to go when it's you that's blown the lead.
The defense put Miami in its second fourth-down of the drive at the 15-yard-line, and with about two minutes to go, it was basically fourth-and-ballgame. With two minutes and change left in the game, it was obvious that if Miami failed to convert, even if they got the ball back they'd have precious little time and no timeouts to work with. If they did convert, they'd be just 13 yards or less from the end zone and able to work at whatever leisurely pace they desired.
Miami called a second straight handoff to Mike James, pulling their right guard and intending to power-run off-tackle to pick up the first. But Laroy Reynolds was either blitzing that very spot, or read the play quick enough to look like it. He blew past the tight end assigned to block him and smothered James in the backfield with a perfect tackle. Miami did indeed get another chance at the ball after UVA picked up only one first down, but Reynolds's play put all the pressure back on the Canes, and essentially preserved the win for UVA. It would be the first win of a season-making four-game win streak.
#3
-- FSU's Bert Reed doesn't quite haul it in
I'm not going to cheat and call a whole series of plays one for the purposes of this list. Otherwise the whole FSU drive could go here. In picking the catch that wasn't, the most disservice is done to Bill Schautz and Drequan Hoskey, whose picture-perfect, textbook defense was responsible for two pass breakups.
But in the wildest finish of the season, how can we pick any other play but the one we stared at for ten minutes? The circumstances of the play put everyone on opposite sides of sanity; UVA coaches were insisting that the Florida State receiver had made a perfectly good catch, and FSU wanted the catch by their own player overturned and ruled incomplete. The entire drive had been a Chinese fire drill from the start and generally an example of poor clock-management by the FSU sideline. Left with no timeouts, and on the edge of field goal range, the Seminole coaches called for a sideline pass. A quick strike that would see the receiver catch the ball, gain a couple of cheap yards, and his momentum carry him out of bounds, stopping the clock and allowing kicked Dustin Hopkins plenty of time to set up his game-winning field goal.
Bert Reed was the target, and unfortunately for the Noles, Reed wasn't close enough to the sideline. He dove for the ball with Laroy Reynolds providing quality coverage, and appeared - to the side judge anyway - to have successfully hauled it in. Inbounds. The clock ticked on, and expired before FSU could get their FG unit on. Except - an excruciatingly long review concluded Reed didn't have control of the ball, and called the play incomplete.
The later events - an obscure penalty call on Virginia and a wide-left kick anyway - only served to add to the absurdery that was the final minute-and-six of that game. But it's the overturned completion, with UVA's coaches herding their players back to the sideline and insisting it was a good catch by the other team, and the three thousand replays over four hours (in football-fan time) before any decision was made, is what really leaves the most indelible imprint.
#2
-- Cam Johnson eats Edward Wright-Baker for dinner
As results go, beating eventual 1-11 Indiana by three doesn't rank too well. But simply earning that win gave UVA several firsts - first road win for Mike London, first 2-0 start in however long - and had UVA not beaten the Hoosiers after starting the game so strongly, this, like Idaho also, could have been a psyche-killer.
UVA had had a 23-3 lead and then blown the whole thing and then some, finding itself down 31-23 in front of a suddenly delighted Hoosier crowd. But Mike Rocco had put together a drive that still ranks as one of the season's finest, and capped it with a 2PC to tie the game at 31 - still, 96 seconds remained, and Indiana had driven the ball well enough in the second half that the crowd was plenty confident that they could work their way to field-goal range and seal it up. Wright-Baker would eventually be replaced later in the season as IU's starting QB, but on this day he was a thorn, and in the second half had discovered how to make plays with his legs. This latter skill was killing the Hoos.
Cam Johnson, therefore, decided he wouldn't get the chance. Johnson roared past the left tackle and pounced on the unsuspecting Wright-Baker. The sack was one thing - it would've forced Indiana to punt and given UVA a shot at winning. But Johnson didn't only sack Wright-Baker, he ripped the ball free, and didn't even allow it the courtesy of bouncing on the ground. Johnson landed on the IU 14-yard-line, ball in hand, with the referee emphatically gesturing the change of possession. It was too fast for normal human eyes to register - first there was a beast in the backfield, and then it was UVA's ball. Just like that. Rarely does one single individual play directly lead to a win if it's not accompanied by the clock expiring, but this was the perfect example of such an individual effort.
#1
-- Chase Minnifield hauls ass
This one goes here for sheer hustle. Kids, this is why you hustle. It matters. It really does.
The setup: Bert Reed has just caught a pass from E.J. Manuel that traveled 15-ish yards in the air, and he's busting his butt to travel the rest of them between catch and end zone. He's beaten his coverage, broken one tackle, and nobody is near him. End zone is in sight, and Florida State will take a 17-7 lead. That's not much, but in the context of a defensive struggle, yes it is. It's like when a pitchers' duel is 1-0 and then suddenly it's 3-0. It feels like game over.
Chase Minnifield is a hair faster than Bert Reed, though, and he was having none of this. Minnifield sprinted for dear life after Reed, and caught up to him I mean literally just in time. Any fraction of a second later and it wouldn't have mattered, but Minnifield was able to trip Reed up, and he came to earth at the 1-yard line.
Three plays later, FSU was two yards further back and kicking a field goal to stretch the lead to 13-7. At the time, it felt like small consolation. But the final score of the biggest win of London's UVA career was, as you'll recall, 14-13. Turns out Chase Minnifield's hustle was the difference between winning and losing after all.
Showing posts with label conrath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conrath. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
weekend review
This is going to be kind of a short review and also late because I've been spending all day focusing on the positive. Thinking happy, positive thoughts. It's days like Saturday where I'm thankful to have two teams in my rooting satchel. It sucks we lost - really, it sucks that we lost 38-0, I would've been able to just let a 21-14 loss wash right over me - but fortunately it cannot dampen Michigan's win over Ohio State. That's the bonus - you'd think going 1-1 on Saturday would even things out, but a win over a rival is untouchably delicious. Nothing can ever ruin that.
Of course, the flipside is that nothing can make up for a 38-point loss to a rival, either, right? Wrong - we are 8-4 and going bowling. As I was hoping to be 6-6 at this point, I can't let myself be too disappointed. I think the bowl possibilities are narrowed down to two: the Department Store Bowl in Charlotte and the Music City Bowl in Nashville, with either Cincinnati or Vanderbilt, respectively, as opponents. In other words, we're not even stuck in some non-destination hole playing some glorified D-II Sun Belt squad, and there are beatable opponents waiting. Win this upcoming bowl game to go to 9-4 and I can call it, at worst, the second-best season of UVA football since I arrived on Grounds as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed first-year. How can I complain? Besides the obvious, I mean.
Speaking of the obvious, let's take one last necessary look back on Saturday and then file it forever. Because we have to tally up the predictions, that's why. Otherwise, the only analysis you need is HOOS PLAY BAD. No need to anguish over things like the decision to forgo a field goal - wooo, it would've been 38-3 and besides that VT would've gotten the ball back in better field position than they did so maybe they'd've scored on that drive and then it would've been 45-3. Hoos play bad. Turn ball over. Not run block. Analyzing that game - so easy a caveman can do it. Let's analyze predictions instead:
- Either Jones or Parks tops 100 yards rushing.
You heard me: Not run block.
- Mike Rocco completes between 50 and 60 percent of his passes.
16 of 27 does in fact qualify. Unfortunately, he didn't do the other thing I said he needed to do, which is take care of the ball. Rocco actually moved the ball very well as long as he was on his own side of the field. When the Hokies had less ground to defend, they did it very well.
- So does Logan Thomas.
Thomas was 13/21, which is more than 60%, so I get nothing here. It's the only right call, as UVA failed in general to shut down Thomas through the air. The two things I most feared came to pass, and you see the result.
- David Wilson runs for 120+ yards.
Make that three things. Wilson got his yards alright, 153 of them.
- Perry Jones catches at least five. He is Superman.
Jones caught zero. Hello kryptonite.
- Whichever QB throws fewer interceptions, wins.
You know how this one went.
Three for six gives me 36-of-88 in the regular season, which is a shade under 41%. Considering how specific I make these predictions, I think that's not half bad. 6-6 in the score department, though, which literally is half bad, and 6-5-1 ATS. I have a chance to get over .500 on picks, and I suspect I'll do so if the Hoos win their bowl.
Losing means I didn't get to cast a vote for UVA in the Blogpoll after all. Maybe next year - or maybe in the final poll after the bowl. Anyway, this is the ballot. They're coming later these days because they take longer to do every week.
There's a lot of change because there were a lot of rivalry-game routs, and these rivalry games don't often match up a powerhouse against a patsy, so there was a lot of opportunity to make things happen.
I don't want to be ranking Southern Miss, by the way, but they are 10-2 (and UVA is kind of a marquee win) and the alternative is either Georgia Tech or dipping into the Big East turdbowl. So there you have it. And if it's any consolation, Saturday was clearly Virginia Tech's best win of the season - usually I just slot that one in the middle somewhere. (That's not consolation? Well, I tried.)
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This marks this year's final installment of Senior Seasons - a few teams are still playing, so I'll toss the results out there if I remember, but only in news bullets. But have no fear - I expect the 2013 recruiting class to be absolutely outstanding, so next year this ought to be a fun section.
Piscataway 34, Franklin 19: Kye Morgan ran for 158 yards and a touchdown, which pushed him over 1,000 yards in just ten games, but Franklin lost their annual rivalry game and finished 6-4.
Buford 42, Elbert County 13 (C.J. Moore)
St. Joseph 32, Hammonton 3 (Max Valles)
St. Joseph Prep 30, Malvern Prep 14 (Michael Mooney)
Hermitage 10, L.C. Bird 0 (Andre Miles-Redmond)
Only three schools will play next week: St. Joseph and Max Valles, Buford and C.J. Moore, and Hermitage with Andre Miles-Redmond. St. Joseph won its rivalry game against crosstown public school Hammonton, and next week will play for New Jersey's Non-Public I championship. Buford and Hermitage are in the state semifinals, Georgia's AA division and Virginia's Level 6. Hermitage's opponent is Centreville, and the winner plays the winner of Oscar Smith and Battlefield at Scott Stadium.
All three have excellent chances; St. Joseph has outscored opponents 423 to 19 this year. Hermitage should be favored against Centreville and then would likely have a battle of the titans against Oscar Smith. Buford has been crushing everyone and is going for its fifth straight title; it would take an upset for them to lose.
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-- I forgot to mention the demise of the soccer teams in their NCAA tournaments. The men, deprived of their best scorer, didn't get past the first round, losing at Klockner to Delaware, 1-0. The ladies carried a shutout streak into the quarterfinals (including a 4-0 win over VT) but lost to FSU in the quarters. Women's sports being what they are (which is to say, way fewer upsets) all four teams in the semis are 1 seeds; UVA was a 2 seed.
-- Someone tell me again why it's the ACC that always gets the bad football rap. We have nine bowl-eligible teams; the Pac-12 would have seven if one of them wasn't a dirty cheater. Seven Pac-12 teams have a losing record in-conference, and five overall, or they will once UCLA gets rocked in the Pac-12 championship. Only five ACC teams have losing conference records, and only three have losing records overall. And if you tell me that's because the ACC plays one fewer conference game and builds its record up on the nonconference schedule, I'll ask you why the SEC gets a pass on theirs.
At worst, the ACC has been the fourth-best conference this year behind the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 - and the Big 12 is being held together by duct tape and toothpicks. The Pac-12 has already fired three of its coaches (all in the putrid Pac-12 South) with more potentially on the way.
-- Speaking of fired coaches, it appears that the ACC will get through this offseason without a single coaching change. That hasn't happened since the 2005-2006 offseason. Although it's not for lack of trying on the part of the fanbases. Marylanders are already chomping at the bit, of course, to get rid of Randy Edsall. Can't imagine why. And Bostonites want Frank Spaziani gone, but he's not going anywhere. (Via BC Interruption.)
-- After the talk of being "Oregon of the East" during last year's uniform unveilings (and getting out-Oregonned so hard by Maryland - and come to think of it, VT as well, but much more quietly) that died down fast this year. UVA skipped two combinations entirely (white over blue and orange over orange, the latter of which THANK GOD) and only used two combinations more than once (orange over blue three times and white over white four times.) All that hype over fancy new unis and we roll with white on white as much as possible.
Everything else was used just once. I could go the rest of my life and be happy never seeing blue/blue in any uniform style ever, but the white jersey with orange pants is too sharp to ignore. And it's a little disappointing to see so little of the classic blue and whites. There's still the bowl game, though.
-- UVA got very solid representation on the all-ACC teams released today. I don't think I can complain about any snubs; I guess I would have liked to see Perry Jones (honorable mention) get more consideration than Andre Ellington (2nd team) simply because Jones is a much greater receiving threat than Ellington, but I think overall it's pretty decent. And ohbytheway, nobody had more players on the first team than UVA did. Only Florida State tied us, with three. Here's the breakdown as far as UVA is concerned:
1st team: Austin Pasztor, Matt Conrath, Chase Minnifield
2nd team: Oday Aboushi, Steve Greer
HM: Perry Jones, Rodney McLeod, Anthony Mihota
-- Big basketball game tomorrow. Big one. It's kind of a bittersweet moment in history for me; it'll be the first time I've ever cheered against Michigan in anything. (I've always said that if this ever happened, I'd choose sides based on who needs the win more; that is clearly Virginia. It'll make up for my answer to Gobbler Country about picking a U-M win over a UVA one on Saturday.) On the plus side, you can expect a pretty well-informed game preview.
Of course, the flipside is that nothing can make up for a 38-point loss to a rival, either, right? Wrong - we are 8-4 and going bowling. As I was hoping to be 6-6 at this point, I can't let myself be too disappointed. I think the bowl possibilities are narrowed down to two: the Department Store Bowl in Charlotte and the Music City Bowl in Nashville, with either Cincinnati or Vanderbilt, respectively, as opponents. In other words, we're not even stuck in some non-destination hole playing some glorified D-II Sun Belt squad, and there are beatable opponents waiting. Win this upcoming bowl game to go to 9-4 and I can call it, at worst, the second-best season of UVA football since I arrived on Grounds as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed first-year. How can I complain? Besides the obvious, I mean.
Speaking of the obvious, let's take one last necessary look back on Saturday and then file it forever. Because we have to tally up the predictions, that's why. Otherwise, the only analysis you need is HOOS PLAY BAD. No need to anguish over things like the decision to forgo a field goal - wooo, it would've been 38-3 and besides that VT would've gotten the ball back in better field position than they did so maybe they'd've scored on that drive and then it would've been 45-3. Hoos play bad. Turn ball over. Not run block. Analyzing that game - so easy a caveman can do it. Let's analyze predictions instead:
- Either Jones or Parks tops 100 yards rushing.
You heard me: Not run block.
- Mike Rocco completes between 50 and 60 percent of his passes.
16 of 27 does in fact qualify. Unfortunately, he didn't do the other thing I said he needed to do, which is take care of the ball. Rocco actually moved the ball very well as long as he was on his own side of the field. When the Hokies had less ground to defend, they did it very well.
- So does Logan Thomas.
Thomas was 13/21, which is more than 60%, so I get nothing here. It's the only right call, as UVA failed in general to shut down Thomas through the air. The two things I most feared came to pass, and you see the result.
- David Wilson runs for 120+ yards.
Make that three things. Wilson got his yards alright, 153 of them.
- Perry Jones catches at least five. He is Superman.
Jones caught zero. Hello kryptonite.
- Whichever QB throws fewer interceptions, wins.
You know how this one went.
Three for six gives me 36-of-88 in the regular season, which is a shade under 41%. Considering how specific I make these predictions, I think that's not half bad. 6-6 in the score department, though, which literally is half bad, and 6-5-1 ATS. I have a chance to get over .500 on picks, and I suspect I'll do so if the Hoos win their bowl.
Losing means I didn't get to cast a vote for UVA in the Blogpoll after all. Maybe next year - or maybe in the final poll after the bowl. Anyway, this is the ballot. They're coming later these days because they take longer to do every week.
From Old Virginia Ballot - Week 14
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Oklahoma Sooners |  2 |
| 4 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |  -1 |
| 5 | Michigan Wolverines | -1 |
| 6 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 7 | Stanford Cardinal | 2 |
| 8 | Oregon Ducks | -1 |
| 9 | Wisconsin Badgers | 5 |
| 10 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 3 |
| 11 | USC Trojans | -3 |
| 12 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 8 |
| 13 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 5 |
| 14 | Georgia Bulldogs | 3 |
| 15 | Michigan St. Spartans | 7 |
| 16 | Houston Cougars | -4 |
| 17 | TCU Horned Frogs | -7 |
| 18 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -7 |
| 19 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 20 | Baylor Bears | 4 |
| 21 | Clemson Tigers | -6 |
| 22 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -6 |
| 23 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 24 | Southern Miss. Golden Eagles | -1 |
| 25 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -4 |
| Dropouts: Rutgers Scarlet Knights | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
There's a lot of change because there were a lot of rivalry-game routs, and these rivalry games don't often match up a powerhouse against a patsy, so there was a lot of opportunity to make things happen.
I don't want to be ranking Southern Miss, by the way, but they are 10-2 (and UVA is kind of a marquee win) and the alternative is either Georgia Tech or dipping into the Big East turdbowl. So there you have it. And if it's any consolation, Saturday was clearly Virginia Tech's best win of the season - usually I just slot that one in the middle somewhere. (That's not consolation? Well, I tried.)
********************************************
This marks this year's final installment of Senior Seasons - a few teams are still playing, so I'll toss the results out there if I remember, but only in news bullets. But have no fear - I expect the 2013 recruiting class to be absolutely outstanding, so next year this ought to be a fun section.
Piscataway 34, Franklin 19: Kye Morgan ran for 158 yards and a touchdown, which pushed him over 1,000 yards in just ten games, but Franklin lost their annual rivalry game and finished 6-4.
Buford 42, Elbert County 13 (C.J. Moore)
St. Joseph 32, Hammonton 3 (Max Valles)
St. Joseph Prep 30, Malvern Prep 14 (Michael Mooney)
Hermitage 10, L.C. Bird 0 (Andre Miles-Redmond)
Only three schools will play next week: St. Joseph and Max Valles, Buford and C.J. Moore, and Hermitage with Andre Miles-Redmond. St. Joseph won its rivalry game against crosstown public school Hammonton, and next week will play for New Jersey's Non-Public I championship. Buford and Hermitage are in the state semifinals, Georgia's AA division and Virginia's Level 6. Hermitage's opponent is Centreville, and the winner plays the winner of Oscar Smith and Battlefield at Scott Stadium.
All three have excellent chances; St. Joseph has outscored opponents 423 to 19 this year. Hermitage should be favored against Centreville and then would likely have a battle of the titans against Oscar Smith. Buford has been crushing everyone and is going for its fifth straight title; it would take an upset for them to lose.
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-- I forgot to mention the demise of the soccer teams in their NCAA tournaments. The men, deprived of their best scorer, didn't get past the first round, losing at Klockner to Delaware, 1-0. The ladies carried a shutout streak into the quarterfinals (including a 4-0 win over VT) but lost to FSU in the quarters. Women's sports being what they are (which is to say, way fewer upsets) all four teams in the semis are 1 seeds; UVA was a 2 seed.
-- Someone tell me again why it's the ACC that always gets the bad football rap. We have nine bowl-eligible teams; the Pac-12 would have seven if one of them wasn't a dirty cheater. Seven Pac-12 teams have a losing record in-conference, and five overall, or they will once UCLA gets rocked in the Pac-12 championship. Only five ACC teams have losing conference records, and only three have losing records overall. And if you tell me that's because the ACC plays one fewer conference game and builds its record up on the nonconference schedule, I'll ask you why the SEC gets a pass on theirs.
At worst, the ACC has been the fourth-best conference this year behind the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 - and the Big 12 is being held together by duct tape and toothpicks. The Pac-12 has already fired three of its coaches (all in the putrid Pac-12 South) with more potentially on the way.
-- Speaking of fired coaches, it appears that the ACC will get through this offseason without a single coaching change. That hasn't happened since the 2005-2006 offseason. Although it's not for lack of trying on the part of the fanbases. Marylanders are already chomping at the bit, of course, to get rid of Randy Edsall. Can't imagine why. And Bostonites want Frank Spaziani gone, but he's not going anywhere. (Via BC Interruption.)
-- After the talk of being "Oregon of the East" during last year's uniform unveilings (and getting out-Oregonned so hard by Maryland - and come to think of it, VT as well, but much more quietly) that died down fast this year. UVA skipped two combinations entirely (white over blue and orange over orange, the latter of which THANK GOD) and only used two combinations more than once (orange over blue three times and white over white four times.) All that hype over fancy new unis and we roll with white on white as much as possible.
Everything else was used just once. I could go the rest of my life and be happy never seeing blue/blue in any uniform style ever, but the white jersey with orange pants is too sharp to ignore. And it's a little disappointing to see so little of the classic blue and whites. There's still the bowl game, though.
-- UVA got very solid representation on the all-ACC teams released today. I don't think I can complain about any snubs; I guess I would have liked to see Perry Jones (honorable mention) get more consideration than Andre Ellington (2nd team) simply because Jones is a much greater receiving threat than Ellington, but I think overall it's pretty decent. And ohbytheway, nobody had more players on the first team than UVA did. Only Florida State tied us, with three. Here's the breakdown as far as UVA is concerned:
1st team: Austin Pasztor, Matt Conrath, Chase Minnifield
2nd team: Oday Aboushi, Steve Greer
HM: Perry Jones, Rodney McLeod, Anthony Mihota
-- Big basketball game tomorrow. Big one. It's kind of a bittersweet moment in history for me; it'll be the first time I've ever cheered against Michigan in anything. (I've always said that if this ever happened, I'd choose sides based on who needs the win more; that is clearly Virginia. It'll make up for my answer to Gobbler Country about picking a U-M win over a UVA one on Saturday.) On the plus side, you can expect a pretty well-informed game preview.
Monday, November 14, 2011
weekend review
There's a lot to like about this weekend. Getting off the schneid against Duke is huge, of course. Moving up on the bowl ladder and staying in position to shock the world with a miracle run to the division title - also huge. A terrific defensive effort to get the hoops season started - very nice. Just one of those all-around decent weekends.
Let's start with football, where UVA is 7-3. You knew that, but I just wanted to type it so I could look at it. For any definition of "expectations," they have been exceeded. The rest of the season is about answering the question "by how much?" I think we should take a pinky pledge right now: "I will of course be rooting like hell for UVA in the next two games, but I promise not to be too disappointed if they lose them both." We did, after all, just beat two of the conference's three worst teams. (Not a given, just ask NC State about how that Boston College game went, but regardless, it's easy to get carried away.)
And I wouldn't call this a convincing win, not 100%. The defense gave up some big plays; I had to ask myself during the game why Corey Mosley kept biting on play-action when it had been pretty well proven that Duke's running game was less productive than a community college dropout. Chase Minnifield appeared to have been burned on a deep throw to Conner Vernon, but his gesture to Mosley shortly after making the tackle clearly indicated he was expecting help over the top and didn't get it. Big plays of 40 or more yards (and one bullshit-ass pass interference call) preceded every one of Duke's three touchdowns - or was the touchdown in the case of the first score.
Fortunately, UVA can make big plays too, and Minnifield's pick-six was crucial in that department. That was brought on by Cam Johnson's physical abuse of Duke's left tackle; Johnson was thisclose to hauling Sean Renfree down for a sack. Johnson was killing that left tackle - Takoby Cofield, I think - all day. Renfree hurried the throw, threw it behind his receiver, and I screamed TOUCHDOWN before the ball even settled into Minnifield's hands.
Making the win even nicer was the fact that, apparently, Duke has decided to act out as the conference, uh, Dukeheads. To put it in a SFW fashion. I dunno, maybe it's just one player - here are some reports from fans and media types regarding the actions of one of Duke's guys:
-- "He is the classic punk modern day football player ....After the terrible pass interference call on the goal line, he eggs on the crowd for a couple of minutes. He catches one pass on a WR screen and falls
down in the fetal position so he doesn't get hit. Then tops it off by spearing Chase on the interception that didn't count."
-- "It was a Duke player that ran through our band, got in the faces of our players before the game until the refs had to chase him back to his sideline. It was the Duke wide receivers mouthing off that lit Chase Minnifield up."
-- "The sophomore wideout started jawing at UVa players from the moment he stepped on the field. He made it a point to taunt each Virginia player as they ran out of the tunnel with the exception of Cam Johnson. He side-stepped the senior defensive end before resuming his yapping …"
So many apologies, because I did a no-no and ganked that last one from behind a paywall, but it ought to be seen by as wide an audience as possible because it really rounds out the picture here. All of this is the same MFer - and it happens to be the same MFer who used to be committed to UVA, and, thank the football gods, decommitted shortly before Signing Day 2009: Tyree Watkins. As that story goes, Watkins made a lot of enemies on his official visit to UVA (which he took in January, after committing), mostly by - you guessed it - trash talking and generally being a punk. Doing that on an official visit to future teammates is baffling. It wouldn't surprise me if the coaches de-offered him after that visit.
So you can see maybe why Chase Minnifield took a swing at Duke's quarterback. That bogus PI plus the yammering from the Dookies - and I'm sure Watkins wasn't the only loose cannon - tends to set one off. The only complaint I have is that if our senior captain is going to get involved in the chippiness, at least let's not do it in a way that gets you suspended if the refs see you. Fortunately, it apparently was Three Blind Refs week all across the ACC, so the only penalties and ejections were phantom ones.
A couple other names have to be mentioned before we mosey on to the other stuff:
- Max Milien, for being the team's leading receiver. Big day for Milien, and he looked good.
- Perry Jones - they call him Superman, and one day I will have to photoshop a cape onto a picture of him taking that flying leap over the pile for his touchdown. Jones did a lot of things that - well, I don't want to say they "don't show up on the stat sheet," because they involve adding yardage to the total. But the stat sheet hides the fact that Jones was constantly, constantly turning negative yards into positive, and turning small positive gains into bigger ones. Then we toss him out there for a punt return and he takes it back 21 yards. The stat sheet shows a kind of run-of-the-mill day, nothing special, but Jones's work in keeping drives going just by getting three yards when it looked like minus-two, that was huge.
- Laroy Reynolds, for no other reason than the MANTACKLE he made for a TFL. I don't even remember when, but I remember the hit.
- And finally, Matt Conrath for his third FG block of the season. Special teams, man, I don't know what to make of them. They are really bad, except for when they're really good. Completely miserable blocking on the opening kickoff, a kickoff going out of bounds, Dominique Terrell's bonehead decision to get near a punt - special teams wasn't too cool, man, and it's had its ugly-ass moments all year. But then Conrath busts through to get a paw on a kick to prevent Duke from taking advantage of Terrell's blunder and it's all good again. And that had another effect on the game, or it should have: No doubt with that block in mind, Duke later went for it on fourth down inside the 10 and was stuffed by Mosley's pass breakup. Which the refs then decided to cock up with the first bogus PI call.
Oh, and I started to write the next section and then I remembered this one, too: Conrath getting to Renfree on a handoff. That is the single most awesome thing a defensive lineman can do, period, full stop, exclamation point but no question mark, end of discussion. That is hilariously awesome when that happens. It is bad-ass. Conrath killed that play and then he killed the field goal. Duke was forced to double-team him or he would have torn someone's ribcage out, which is part of the reason Cam Johnson was allowed to work Cofield over one-on-one.
Let's see how I did on the predictions. Spoiler: not too well.
- Perry Jones has 20+ carries, 100+ rushing yards, and 4+ receptions.
Jones had the all-around do-everything day I expected, but he still fell just shy of each of these marks; 15 carries, 74 yards, and 3 catches.
- UVA's running attack will have another 200+ yard game.
Only 166 minus the kneeldown, but I feel gypped. Lazor inexplicably went to the pass on several occasions when Duke had shown absolutely no inclination to stop the run. Especially when it would've been advantageous to put a little bit of clock behind us. Take four Rocco passes, turn them into runs, and we would've gotten 16 yards closer to that goal of 200 and added more plays to the total number that we ran besides. I believe this. Don't get me wrong: Lazor is a godsend and I do not look forward to the day when he gets an opportunity elsewhere. I think, however, that he has a pattern of sometimes passing too much and abandoning the run too soon. This is a damn good rushing team. If we find an opponent that can't stop us, we ought to be handing off 50, 60 times a game til they can.
- Mike Rocco throws a Verica-style interception that makes you wonder what the hell he was looking at.
Nope.
- Duke has less than 100 yards rushing.
Oh hell yes, and in a big way. Duke ran for 34 yards. OK, 47 if you take out what Renfree was credited for. (But not the -3 "team" rush, because that was Conrath's handoff destruction.) Duke's inability to run the ball at all, and their insistence on trying anyway, was the largest slice of the "why we won this game" pie chart.
- Donovan Varner hauls in at least six catches.
That he did as well, with seven. I expected this because Minnifield was assigned Conner Vernon; it helped that Vernon left the game for a spell, and also that Varner was covered by a linebacker on his 64-yard touchdown sprint. Not good times.
- Sean Renfree throws the ball at least 30 times, but for less than 250 yards.
Big plays got him to 303, which sucks for my prognostication because I was even allowing for a big play or two in that number. Got to cut down on those big plays; however, it should be noted that Renfree had 145 yards on 35 "other" passes, so the pass defense wasn't the near-disaster that the stat sheet claims.
The spread that I was picking against gave Duke 10 points, which turned out to be the final margin, so my ATS record goes to 5-4-1 on the season with a push this week. But I'm 6-4 overall, and 31-for-76 on the specific predictions. I guess that's OK - it's a little shy of 41% - but I'm hoping to finish stronger, of course.
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The basketball, that was nice too. It's all about the defense. Defense defense defense. The UVA players were almost always perfectly positioned. One thing that was nice as well: TV deals being what they are, usually the only UVA games I get to watch are against ACC opponents, or the top nonconference games - ACC/B1G Challenge, tournaments, what have you. So the competition is usually at least equal, and often better. It was a nice change for once to watch UVA in a game where they were clearly and obviously athletically superior.
That helped, for sure. All the usual caveats apply about the level of competition. SC State is one of the worst teams in one of the worst conferences; Winthrop, which is Tuesday's opponent, isn't much better. Still, no matter how bad your opponent, you're doing something right when you're going on a 24-0 run that lasts seven minutes. The Hoos didn't block a lot of shots and didn't get an absurd number of steals, but they were in front of every SC State shot all day long. Any that went in were definitely earned.
Mike Scott was every bit the rebound hawk we expect, snagging 15 in way fewer minutes than he's gonna get in most games. Joe Harris and KT Harrell provided the scoring. I thought James Johnson looked pretty good; not perfect, gave up the baseline once or twice which is the first no-no in Bennett's defense, but good footwork in space and in getting out to the passing lanes and then back inside the pack line. Assane Sene actually looks smooth with the ball in his hand, instead of the glass-handed ostrich he was as a sophomore.
It appears Paul Jesperson will redshirt, which was my guess, and it's disappointing that we didn't get to see any of Darion Atkins, who's been shut down for three games. This is not the time you want to be suspended. Bet he'd have played a solid 15 minutes. Going four deep at the bigs is fine, for a while, but not if someone gets hurt or in foul trouble or something. More time for JJ to prove himself, I guess, at least in the next two games, one of which is the most important of the season.
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Our Senior Seasons feature is beginning to wind down, as a few of UVA's recruits have finished their seasons, and most others had their first round of the playoffs this week. But this one was still a busy one, so here goes:
Buford 49, Temple 13: C.J. Moore had a scoop-and-score to get the scoring started in a first-round romp for Buford. They play Jefferson County next week in the round of 16.
East Orange 21, Franklin 7: Kye Morgan had 11 carries for 50 yards in the loss; he had a 40-yarder but was otherwise pretty much bottled up. Franklin's playoff run ends, although two weeks from now they have one more game which I guess is a scrimmage; it doesn't count for much.
Bayside 27, Woodside 21: Anthony Cooper caught two touchdowns in a mild upset.
Hampton 16, Green Run 12: Mark Hall had 7 catches for 138 yards, and Green Run came really close but couldn't quite pull off the big upset of Jamall Brown and Hampton.
Salem 62, Ocean Lakes 28: Eli Harold ran for two touchdowns and threw for another before leaving with an ankle injury** and Ocean Lakes got blown the #%&$ out afterwards.
Norfolk Christian 45, Isle of Wight 0: Wil Wahee and Mario Nixon each had a touchdown. NCS goes for a state title next weekend.
Highland Springs 12, Varina 7: Maurice Canady ran for 131 yards and a touchdown, but was only 5-for-17 passing in a loss to end the regular season.
Gonzaga 28, DeMatha 27 (Michael Moore)
Central Bucks South 52, Plymouth-Whitemarsh 24 (Matt Johns)
Malvern Prep 23, Chestnut Hill Academy 0 (Michael Mooney; Malvern is 9-1.)
Houston Stratford 20, Willis 14 (Kelvin Rainey)
Cushing Academy 31, Worcester Academy 14 (Canaan Severin; WA is 4-4.)
Hermitage 38, Patrick Henry 14 (Andre Miles-Redmond; Hermitage is 10-0.)
Grassfield 17, Landstown 6 (Kyle Dockins)
That ends the seasons for Kye Morgan, Michael Moore, Mark Hall, Eli Harold, and Kyle Dockins. Michael Mooney and Malvern clinched the Inter-Academic League championship; they have a game two weeks from now and don't have playoffs. I think, but am not sure, that Canaan Severin's season also is over without playoffs.
Advancing this week were C.J. Moore, Matt Johns, Kelvin Rainey, Jamall Brown, Anthony Cooper, and the Norfolk Christian quartet. Cooper and Bayside will play Salem, which just decisively knocked out the one team to beat them all season. Hampton faces Norcom. Additionally, Demeitre Brim, Max Valles, Andre Miles-Redmond, and Maurice Canady and Tyrell Chavis start their playoff runs next week. Varina visits L.C. Bird, and Hermitage hosts Thomas Dale. Valles and St. Joseph play one game for their state title next week; Norfolk Christian is also going for their state title too.
**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I couldn't find out anything else about that. Hopefully that's not serious, but Harold's season would be over regardless and he's got all year to get that straightened out anyway.
Let's start with football, where UVA is 7-3. You knew that, but I just wanted to type it so I could look at it. For any definition of "expectations," they have been exceeded. The rest of the season is about answering the question "by how much?" I think we should take a pinky pledge right now: "I will of course be rooting like hell for UVA in the next two games, but I promise not to be too disappointed if they lose them both." We did, after all, just beat two of the conference's three worst teams. (Not a given, just ask NC State about how that Boston College game went, but regardless, it's easy to get carried away.)
And I wouldn't call this a convincing win, not 100%. The defense gave up some big plays; I had to ask myself during the game why Corey Mosley kept biting on play-action when it had been pretty well proven that Duke's running game was less productive than a community college dropout. Chase Minnifield appeared to have been burned on a deep throw to Conner Vernon, but his gesture to Mosley shortly after making the tackle clearly indicated he was expecting help over the top and didn't get it. Big plays of 40 or more yards (and one bullshit-ass pass interference call) preceded every one of Duke's three touchdowns - or was the touchdown in the case of the first score.
Fortunately, UVA can make big plays too, and Minnifield's pick-six was crucial in that department. That was brought on by Cam Johnson's physical abuse of Duke's left tackle; Johnson was thisclose to hauling Sean Renfree down for a sack. Johnson was killing that left tackle - Takoby Cofield, I think - all day. Renfree hurried the throw, threw it behind his receiver, and I screamed TOUCHDOWN before the ball even settled into Minnifield's hands.
Making the win even nicer was the fact that, apparently, Duke has decided to act out as the conference, uh, Dukeheads. To put it in a SFW fashion. I dunno, maybe it's just one player - here are some reports from fans and media types regarding the actions of one of Duke's guys:
-- "He is the classic punk modern day football player ....After the terrible pass interference call on the goal line, he eggs on the crowd for a couple of minutes. He catches one pass on a WR screen and falls
down in the fetal position so he doesn't get hit. Then tops it off by spearing Chase on the interception that didn't count."
-- "It was a Duke player that ran through our band, got in the faces of our players before the game until the refs had to chase him back to his sideline. It was the Duke wide receivers mouthing off that lit Chase Minnifield up."
-- "The sophomore wideout started jawing at UVa players from the moment he stepped on the field. He made it a point to taunt each Virginia player as they ran out of the tunnel with the exception of Cam Johnson. He side-stepped the senior defensive end before resuming his yapping …"
So many apologies, because I did a no-no and ganked that last one from behind a paywall, but it ought to be seen by as wide an audience as possible because it really rounds out the picture here. All of this is the same MFer - and it happens to be the same MFer who used to be committed to UVA, and, thank the football gods, decommitted shortly before Signing Day 2009: Tyree Watkins. As that story goes, Watkins made a lot of enemies on his official visit to UVA (which he took in January, after committing), mostly by - you guessed it - trash talking and generally being a punk. Doing that on an official visit to future teammates is baffling. It wouldn't surprise me if the coaches de-offered him after that visit.
So you can see maybe why Chase Minnifield took a swing at Duke's quarterback. That bogus PI plus the yammering from the Dookies - and I'm sure Watkins wasn't the only loose cannon - tends to set one off. The only complaint I have is that if our senior captain is going to get involved in the chippiness, at least let's not do it in a way that gets you suspended if the refs see you. Fortunately, it apparently was Three Blind Refs week all across the ACC, so the only penalties and ejections were phantom ones.
A couple other names have to be mentioned before we mosey on to the other stuff:
- Max Milien, for being the team's leading receiver. Big day for Milien, and he looked good.
- Perry Jones - they call him Superman, and one day I will have to photoshop a cape onto a picture of him taking that flying leap over the pile for his touchdown. Jones did a lot of things that - well, I don't want to say they "don't show up on the stat sheet," because they involve adding yardage to the total. But the stat sheet hides the fact that Jones was constantly, constantly turning negative yards into positive, and turning small positive gains into bigger ones. Then we toss him out there for a punt return and he takes it back 21 yards. The stat sheet shows a kind of run-of-the-mill day, nothing special, but Jones's work in keeping drives going just by getting three yards when it looked like minus-two, that was huge.
- Laroy Reynolds, for no other reason than the MANTACKLE he made for a TFL. I don't even remember when, but I remember the hit.
- And finally, Matt Conrath for his third FG block of the season. Special teams, man, I don't know what to make of them. They are really bad, except for when they're really good. Completely miserable blocking on the opening kickoff, a kickoff going out of bounds, Dominique Terrell's bonehead decision to get near a punt - special teams wasn't too cool, man, and it's had its ugly-ass moments all year. But then Conrath busts through to get a paw on a kick to prevent Duke from taking advantage of Terrell's blunder and it's all good again. And that had another effect on the game, or it should have: No doubt with that block in mind, Duke later went for it on fourth down inside the 10 and was stuffed by Mosley's pass breakup. Which the refs then decided to cock up with the first bogus PI call.
Oh, and I started to write the next section and then I remembered this one, too: Conrath getting to Renfree on a handoff. That is the single most awesome thing a defensive lineman can do, period, full stop, exclamation point but no question mark, end of discussion. That is hilariously awesome when that happens. It is bad-ass. Conrath killed that play and then he killed the field goal. Duke was forced to double-team him or he would have torn someone's ribcage out, which is part of the reason Cam Johnson was allowed to work Cofield over one-on-one.
Let's see how I did on the predictions. Spoiler: not too well.
- Perry Jones has 20+ carries, 100+ rushing yards, and 4+ receptions.
Jones had the all-around do-everything day I expected, but he still fell just shy of each of these marks; 15 carries, 74 yards, and 3 catches.
- UVA's running attack will have another 200+ yard game.
Only 166 minus the kneeldown, but I feel gypped. Lazor inexplicably went to the pass on several occasions when Duke had shown absolutely no inclination to stop the run. Especially when it would've been advantageous to put a little bit of clock behind us. Take four Rocco passes, turn them into runs, and we would've gotten 16 yards closer to that goal of 200 and added more plays to the total number that we ran besides. I believe this. Don't get me wrong: Lazor is a godsend and I do not look forward to the day when he gets an opportunity elsewhere. I think, however, that he has a pattern of sometimes passing too much and abandoning the run too soon. This is a damn good rushing team. If we find an opponent that can't stop us, we ought to be handing off 50, 60 times a game til they can.
- Mike Rocco throws a Verica-style interception that makes you wonder what the hell he was looking at.
Nope.
- Duke has less than 100 yards rushing.
Oh hell yes, and in a big way. Duke ran for 34 yards. OK, 47 if you take out what Renfree was credited for. (But not the -3 "team" rush, because that was Conrath's handoff destruction.) Duke's inability to run the ball at all, and their insistence on trying anyway, was the largest slice of the "why we won this game" pie chart.
- Donovan Varner hauls in at least six catches.
That he did as well, with seven. I expected this because Minnifield was assigned Conner Vernon; it helped that Vernon left the game for a spell, and also that Varner was covered by a linebacker on his 64-yard touchdown sprint. Not good times.
- Sean Renfree throws the ball at least 30 times, but for less than 250 yards.
Big plays got him to 303, which sucks for my prognostication because I was even allowing for a big play or two in that number. Got to cut down on those big plays; however, it should be noted that Renfree had 145 yards on 35 "other" passes, so the pass defense wasn't the near-disaster that the stat sheet claims.
The spread that I was picking against gave Duke 10 points, which turned out to be the final margin, so my ATS record goes to 5-4-1 on the season with a push this week. But I'm 6-4 overall, and 31-for-76 on the specific predictions. I guess that's OK - it's a little shy of 41% - but I'm hoping to finish stronger, of course.
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The basketball, that was nice too. It's all about the defense. Defense defense defense. The UVA players were almost always perfectly positioned. One thing that was nice as well: TV deals being what they are, usually the only UVA games I get to watch are against ACC opponents, or the top nonconference games - ACC/B1G Challenge, tournaments, what have you. So the competition is usually at least equal, and often better. It was a nice change for once to watch UVA in a game where they were clearly and obviously athletically superior.
That helped, for sure. All the usual caveats apply about the level of competition. SC State is one of the worst teams in one of the worst conferences; Winthrop, which is Tuesday's opponent, isn't much better. Still, no matter how bad your opponent, you're doing something right when you're going on a 24-0 run that lasts seven minutes. The Hoos didn't block a lot of shots and didn't get an absurd number of steals, but they were in front of every SC State shot all day long. Any that went in were definitely earned.
Mike Scott was every bit the rebound hawk we expect, snagging 15 in way fewer minutes than he's gonna get in most games. Joe Harris and KT Harrell provided the scoring. I thought James Johnson looked pretty good; not perfect, gave up the baseline once or twice which is the first no-no in Bennett's defense, but good footwork in space and in getting out to the passing lanes and then back inside the pack line. Assane Sene actually looks smooth with the ball in his hand, instead of the glass-handed ostrich he was as a sophomore.
It appears Paul Jesperson will redshirt, which was my guess, and it's disappointing that we didn't get to see any of Darion Atkins, who's been shut down for three games. This is not the time you want to be suspended. Bet he'd have played a solid 15 minutes. Going four deep at the bigs is fine, for a while, but not if someone gets hurt or in foul trouble or something. More time for JJ to prove himself, I guess, at least in the next two games, one of which is the most important of the season.
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Our Senior Seasons feature is beginning to wind down, as a few of UVA's recruits have finished their seasons, and most others had their first round of the playoffs this week. But this one was still a busy one, so here goes:
Buford 49, Temple 13: C.J. Moore had a scoop-and-score to get the scoring started in a first-round romp for Buford. They play Jefferson County next week in the round of 16.
East Orange 21, Franklin 7: Kye Morgan had 11 carries for 50 yards in the loss; he had a 40-yarder but was otherwise pretty much bottled up. Franklin's playoff run ends, although two weeks from now they have one more game which I guess is a scrimmage; it doesn't count for much.
Bayside 27, Woodside 21: Anthony Cooper caught two touchdowns in a mild upset.
Hampton 16, Green Run 12: Mark Hall had 7 catches for 138 yards, and Green Run came really close but couldn't quite pull off the big upset of Jamall Brown and Hampton.
Salem 62, Ocean Lakes 28: Eli Harold ran for two touchdowns and threw for another before leaving with an ankle injury** and Ocean Lakes got blown the #%&$ out afterwards.
Norfolk Christian 45, Isle of Wight 0: Wil Wahee and Mario Nixon each had a touchdown. NCS goes for a state title next weekend.
Highland Springs 12, Varina 7: Maurice Canady ran for 131 yards and a touchdown, but was only 5-for-17 passing in a loss to end the regular season.
Gonzaga 28, DeMatha 27 (Michael Moore)
Central Bucks South 52, Plymouth-Whitemarsh 24 (Matt Johns)
Malvern Prep 23, Chestnut Hill Academy 0 (Michael Mooney; Malvern is 9-1.)
Houston Stratford 20, Willis 14 (Kelvin Rainey)
Cushing Academy 31, Worcester Academy 14 (Canaan Severin; WA is 4-4.)
Hermitage 38, Patrick Henry 14 (Andre Miles-Redmond; Hermitage is 10-0.)
Grassfield 17, Landstown 6 (Kyle Dockins)
That ends the seasons for Kye Morgan, Michael Moore, Mark Hall, Eli Harold, and Kyle Dockins. Michael Mooney and Malvern clinched the Inter-Academic League championship; they have a game two weeks from now and don't have playoffs. I think, but am not sure, that Canaan Severin's season also is over without playoffs.
Advancing this week were C.J. Moore, Matt Johns, Kelvin Rainey, Jamall Brown, Anthony Cooper, and the Norfolk Christian quartet. Cooper and Bayside will play Salem, which just decisively knocked out the one team to beat them all season. Hampton faces Norcom. Additionally, Demeitre Brim, Max Valles, Andre Miles-Redmond, and Maurice Canady and Tyrell Chavis start their playoff runs next week. Varina visits L.C. Bird, and Hermitage hosts Thomas Dale. Valles and St. Joseph play one game for their state title next week; Norfolk Christian is also going for their state title too.
**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I couldn't find out anything else about that. Hopefully that's not serious, but Harold's season would be over regardless and he's got all year to get that straightened out anyway.
Monday, October 4, 2010
weekend review
Monday again. That means it's time to update the recruiting board, yep. Lot of shuffling....
- Moved CB Demetrious Nicholson and LB Sean Duggan from yellow to blue. In Nicholson's case it's because UNC, which looked so strong in this recruitment earlier, is starting to look like a really lousy place for a football player to spend the next four or five years of his life. In Duggan's case it's because Wisconsin dropped off the list. BC and Michigan are still gonna be tough to contend with, though.
- Moved LB Travis Hughes from red to yellow. I still don't think he'll end up here, but he seems serious. If he does, it'll be the greatest recruiting resurrection ever pulled at UVA.
- Moved QB Lafonte Thourogood from yellow to red. Starting to get the "it ain't happening" feeling.
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Newsy things:
- UNC's Kendric Burney is officially out for the UVA game, having lost his appeal. At the rate things are going, it doesn't look likely that most of the rest of their parked players will be on the field, either, though Deunta Williams is back this week. That's a very winnable game.
- The UNC game will be at 6 PM, online, no TV. Speaking as someone who's still working on ways to get recordings of online games: argh.
- Michael Phillips suggests that JKD is still listed as the DT starter mainly because he's a senior captain, and says that Matt Conrath is getting the first snaps. But, JKD was out there a lot on first downs against FSU. Unless Conrath was banged up - wouldn't have been evident either way from the ESPN3 broadcast - JKD is still getting the meaningful snaps.
- The lead guy at CavsCorner, Chris Wallace, mentioned that some numbnuts at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked this question of Mike London: "What changes have you made since taking over as head coach?" (I would have told him the only thing I did was paint the equipment shed, just to see what he prints.) This must be the guy:
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High school senior seasons march on:
STAB 13, St. Christopher's 7: Thompson Brown's been having a really good season, but kept off the stat sheet here.
L.C. Bird 21, Monacan 13: Anthony Harris throws the go-ahead touchdown.
Hermitage 19, Deep Run 0: Diamonte Bailey assists in another Hermitage shutout.
Thomas Dale 12, Petersburg 8: Maybe a little rust as Kevin Green and Petersburg have had three straight weekends off.
>I.C. Norcom 45, Norview 0: Kameron Mack still rolling, and earning the shutout.
St. S/St. A 40, Randolph-Macon 0: Gotta like the shutouts our future defenders keep getting. This one belongs to Darius Lee.
Menchville 31, Gloucester 3: Clifton Richardson QBs his team to their first win of the season. Very nice to see. And he's homecoming king, too!
Phoebus 50, Woodside 10: #1-in-the-state Phoebus and Caleb Taylor crush a solid Woodside bunch.
Tallwood 14, Green Run 6: David Dean's team upset as Tallwood gets their first win of the year.
Cox 21, Princess Anne 17: Ross Burbank helps pave the way for a solid 200-plus yard night for Cox's running game.
Hampton 33, Warwick 0: Another easy one for David Watford.
Gonzaga 32, DeMatha 25: Upset loss for Kelby Johnson and Jordan Lomax. And UVA was recruiting that Gonzaga quarterback (Kevin Hogan) pretty heavily, too.
Damascus 35, Springbrook 14: Big win for Brandon Phelps against an undefeated team.
Stone Bridge 63, Marshall 7: Man....these teams never passed. Rob Burns in on the defensive shutdown but never got to rush the quarterback.
Good Counsel 48, Bishop McNamara 0: Vincent Croce pitches in on the shutout; prospect Blake Countess does a lot of the scoring.
Independence 51, Ardrey Kell 30: Adrian Gamble catches four passes for 125 yards.
Boys' Latin 45, St. Frances 0: Yep, another shutout. Marco Jones this time. SF is awful though.
Mt. Lebanon 35, Canon-McMillan 12: It's really hard to find your offensive linemen in the high school box scores, but at least Tim Cwalina keeps winning.
******************************************
I've decided to put the ongoing AP poll study in this section. I might give this its own page, but for this week this is what we're doing. Remember: these lag a week, so this is from last Sunday's poll. So here are this week's results. For explanation, please read here.
Trends that continue:
- If there's a team likely to be way overvoted, it's probably a big-name team. Less so this week, but man look at Texas. This is largely the result of voters either keeping them in the middle-ish of the poll after a hideous loss against UCLA, or kicking them out entirely.
- And if there's a group of writers most likely to hold a bias, it's probably West Coasters. Except....look what they did to Oregon. SEC voters ranked Oregon second, and Pac-10 voters had them damn near 7th. Very weird. Probably a one-time-only thing.
Regionalism continues to appear most strongly below the top 25, with conference-regional voters being the main driving force behind the appearance of teams like Northwestern, Oregon State, UCLA, and Missouri in the "also getting votes" section. Additionally, strong bias is evident from 21-25, with four of those five teams getting a huge boost from conference voters. Remember, at the bottom, higher differences in average ratings are harder to achieve, so the delta numbers for teams like NC State, Nevada, and MSU are significant.
However, overall, if you were trying to claim bias permeated this week's poll, you'd have only weak evidence to go on. Other than the almost omnipresent tendency of West Coast voters to overrate West Coast teams, everything else seems to be close to a random distribution again. Tune in next week, then.
- Moved CB Demetrious Nicholson and LB Sean Duggan from yellow to blue. In Nicholson's case it's because UNC, which looked so strong in this recruitment earlier, is starting to look like a really lousy place for a football player to spend the next four or five years of his life. In Duggan's case it's because Wisconsin dropped off the list. BC and Michigan are still gonna be tough to contend with, though.
- Moved LB Travis Hughes from red to yellow. I still don't think he'll end up here, but he seems serious. If he does, it'll be the greatest recruiting resurrection ever pulled at UVA.
- Moved QB Lafonte Thourogood from yellow to red. Starting to get the "it ain't happening" feeling.
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Newsy things:
- UNC's Kendric Burney is officially out for the UVA game, having lost his appeal. At the rate things are going, it doesn't look likely that most of the rest of their parked players will be on the field, either, though Deunta Williams is back this week. That's a very winnable game.
- The UNC game will be at 6 PM, online, no TV. Speaking as someone who's still working on ways to get recordings of online games: argh.
- Michael Phillips suggests that JKD is still listed as the DT starter mainly because he's a senior captain, and says that Matt Conrath is getting the first snaps. But, JKD was out there a lot on first downs against FSU. Unless Conrath was banged up - wouldn't have been evident either way from the ESPN3 broadcast - JKD is still getting the meaningful snaps.
- The lead guy at CavsCorner, Chris Wallace, mentioned that some numbnuts at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked this question of Mike London: "What changes have you made since taking over as head coach?" (I would have told him the only thing I did was paint the equipment shed, just to see what he prints.) This must be the guy:
Both Virginia and Groh have moved on. London, the first African-American coach in the history of Virginia athletics, has brought excitement to a program needing a boost.Mr. Huff? Dave Leitao for you on line 1. It's no wonder the newspaper industry is slowly disappearing and practically every major newspaper in the country is, like the AJC, a hyphenated combination of two papers that would have failed on their own. I realize he's only one coach off, but this is a basic, fundamental statement of a plain fact that is plain wrong, and this man is somehow paid actual legal tender to do less research for his job than I do for my hobby, which is this blog that mucks around with an audience that is occasionally measured as low as the mere dozens. As opposed to the (theoretically) millions that get their information from his paper.
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High school senior seasons march on:
STAB 13, St. Christopher's 7: Thompson Brown's been having a really good season, but kept off the stat sheet here.
L.C. Bird 21, Monacan 13: Anthony Harris throws the go-ahead touchdown.
Hermitage 19, Deep Run 0: Diamonte Bailey assists in another Hermitage shutout.
Thomas Dale 12, Petersburg 8: Maybe a little rust as Kevin Green and Petersburg have had three straight weekends off.
>I.C. Norcom 45, Norview 0: Kameron Mack still rolling, and earning the shutout.
St. S/St. A 40, Randolph-Macon 0: Gotta like the shutouts our future defenders keep getting. This one belongs to Darius Lee.
Menchville 31, Gloucester 3: Clifton Richardson QBs his team to their first win of the season. Very nice to see. And he's homecoming king, too!
Phoebus 50, Woodside 10: #1-in-the-state Phoebus and Caleb Taylor crush a solid Woodside bunch.
Tallwood 14, Green Run 6: David Dean's team upset as Tallwood gets their first win of the year.
Cox 21, Princess Anne 17: Ross Burbank helps pave the way for a solid 200-plus yard night for Cox's running game.
Hampton 33, Warwick 0: Another easy one for David Watford.
Gonzaga 32, DeMatha 25: Upset loss for Kelby Johnson and Jordan Lomax. And UVA was recruiting that Gonzaga quarterback (Kevin Hogan) pretty heavily, too.
Damascus 35, Springbrook 14: Big win for Brandon Phelps against an undefeated team.
Stone Bridge 63, Marshall 7: Man....these teams never passed. Rob Burns in on the defensive shutdown but never got to rush the quarterback.
Good Counsel 48, Bishop McNamara 0: Vincent Croce pitches in on the shutout; prospect Blake Countess does a lot of the scoring.
Independence 51, Ardrey Kell 30: Adrian Gamble catches four passes for 125 yards.
Boys' Latin 45, St. Frances 0: Yep, another shutout. Marco Jones this time. SF is awful though.
Mt. Lebanon 35, Canon-McMillan 12: It's really hard to find your offensive linemen in the high school box scores, but at least Tim Cwalina keeps winning.
******************************************
I've decided to put the ongoing AP poll study in this section. I might give this its own page, but for this week this is what we're doing. Remember: these lag a week, so this is from last Sunday's poll. So here are this week's results. For explanation, please read here.
Trends that continue:
- If there's a team likely to be way overvoted, it's probably a big-name team. Less so this week, but man look at Texas. This is largely the result of voters either keeping them in the middle-ish of the poll after a hideous loss against UCLA, or kicking them out entirely.
- And if there's a group of writers most likely to hold a bias, it's probably West Coasters. Except....look what they did to Oregon. SEC voters ranked Oregon second, and Pac-10 voters had them damn near 7th. Very weird. Probably a one-time-only thing.
Regionalism continues to appear most strongly below the top 25, with conference-regional voters being the main driving force behind the appearance of teams like Northwestern, Oregon State, UCLA, and Missouri in the "also getting votes" section. Additionally, strong bias is evident from 21-25, with four of those five teams getting a huge boost from conference voters. Remember, at the bottom, higher differences in average ratings are harder to achieve, so the delta numbers for teams like NC State, Nevada, and MSU are significant.
However, overall, if you were trying to claim bias permeated this week's poll, you'd have only weak evidence to go on. Other than the almost omnipresent tendency of West Coast voters to overrate West Coast teams, everything else seems to be close to a random distribution again. Tune in next week, then.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
game preview: Florida State
Date/Time: Saturday, October 2; 12:00TV: ACC Network (formerly Raycom)/ESPN3 for those of us blacked out
History against the Seminoles: 2-13
Last matchup: FSU 33, UVA 0 - game vacated by FSU
Last week: UVA 48, VMI 7; FSU 31, WF 0
Line: Florida State by 7
Opposing blogs: Tomahawk Nation, Scalp 'Em
Injury report:
OUT
TE Jeremy Dollin
WR Bobby Smith
WR Tim Smith
WR Eric Thornton
DOUBTFUL - none
QUESTIONABLE - none
PROBABLE
OT Landon Bradley
WR Kris Burd
RB Raynard Horne
S Corey Mosley
S Brian Oden
LB LaRoy Reynolds
TE Joe Torchia
Uniform combination: blue jersey, white pants
Other useful stuff:
Q&A with Tomahawk Nation
Other half of the Q&A
FSU season preview
Things looked a lot different last time we saw this. Two old dudes roamed the sidelines in Bobby Bowden and Al Groh, and FSU was ranked in the top 5. In fact, the last time FSU came to Charlottesville not ranked in the top ten is probably never. Now Groh is gone, and so is Bowden (significantly decreasing FSU's dislikability factor), and for the first time, UVA fans aren't looking to next week's game with this one already written off as a loss.
There's also a lot of looking back, of course. "Florida State at Virginia" brings back pleasant memories of two of UVA's best upsets since the Welsh era began - heck, maybe the two best ever. It's a disappointing side effect of the expanded ACC that the opportunity to really relive 1995 and 2005 will now come up just once every five years, but that's the way it is. In 1995 I hadn't yet added orange to my maize-and-blue loyalties, but I do have pretty strong and exciting memories of an autumn evening in 2005 - which you would admit is impressive if you'd seen the roughly gallon-and-a-half of beer I'd imbibed through the afternoon. The date has special significance for UVA fans and Michigan fans alike, so combined with the Boston bar-hopping it's been the football Saturday by which all other football Saturdays are judged in my book. Can similar memories be made on Saturday?
HOW WE CAN WIN
- Christian Ponder isn't much of a deep thrower. His triceps are probably better than they were, but they're still not 100% and I still don't expect a lot of big bomb-type throws. Roughly 10 yards per completion against Wake - that's a fairly low number. Combine Ponder's wonky triceps with the likely absence of LT Andrew Datko, and FSU's likeliest course of action in the passing game is quick slants and dinking and dunking their way down the field. That means plenty of throws to possession receiver extraordinaire Bert Reed, Ponder's favorite target. Reed will probably match up with Chase Minnifield, but what I'd really like to see is Minnifield on Taiwan Easterling and the comparatively monstrous Ras-I Dowling on Reed. (Reed is teensy.) If Dowling has regained his quicks, he can use his size to limit Reed. I think Minnifield can hang with Easterling. Additionally, we'll need outstanding side-to-side play from our linebackers.
- Because of the short passing game, I don't expect the pass rush to be a huge factor unless the cornerbacks are really doing a good job on the FSU receivers. So more run-stopping beef on the D-line - that is, more playing time for Matt Conrath and Nick Jenkins over John-Kevin Dolce, except in obvious passing downs - should be of greater help against the very efficient FSU running game.
- Is there a weakness in the FSU defense? The only team yet to find one is Oklahoma, which doesn't have a monster running game but did shred FSU through the air. Nobody's really run successfully on FSU this year, and my thought is UVA will need heavy doses of the pass to keep the run defense honest. Getting the tight ends open will be key. FSU has very, very good linebackers, but they can't step up for run defense if they're in pass coverage against our tight ends. A successful offensive attack might start with a few strikes to TE's Torchia and Phillips, and draw plays when Lazor wants to run the ball.
HOW WE CAN LOSE
- The worst thing that can happen is for FSU to be able to establish their running game. Not unlike Payne and Jones, FSU has a quality tandem of big-and-small running backs. Level of competition obviously has to be taken into account when considering the impressive run-game results, but the only team to date to stop FSU has been Oklahoma, and, you know, we're not Oklahoma.
- Under no circumstances whatsoever should Greg Reid be allowed to field a punt.
- Remember how, before the season, every preview of the offense written anywhere began with "if the offensive line...."? This is why. USC aside (and UVA wasn't especially effective on offense there), this is really the kind of game that that phrase was meant for. FSU will just bulldoze the offense if they're allowed to and it'll be the kind of long, frustrating afternoon that ends up with a score of 34-6 if the O-line doesn't give the skill players room to work. Their defense is more than good enough to just shut us right down.
HOW THE GAME WILL GO
Really, it'll hinge on the two O-lines. And Ponder. UVA's is healthy but still of questionable ability - we don't really know yet if they're a good, ACC-caliber unit or not. FSU's is not healthy and in a little bit of flux: Datko, their top tackle, is out, and Zebrie Sanders may or may not move to left tackle for the game.
Ponder, meanwhile, is a bigger mystery than Verica. FSU pushed him as a major-league Heisman candidate, but that was borderline silly. Ponder isn't a Heisman-caliber quarterback. But he does have the ability to drive the offense down the field and hurt you. He also has the capacity to miss receivers he should hit. Verica's a wild-card in a different fashion - you know the giant brainfart is coming, you just don't know when and you hope it doesn't hurt you too bad. But otherwise Verica is Verica and you know what you're getting. Sometimes with Ponder, the whole game is a lost cause, though that sort of thing is getting less frequent as he gets older.
Really, FSU should win this game. There's still a talent gap. But even though both teams are under new management, there's a difference in the change. As FSU fans will point out, the team is being coached again. Bobby Bowden, the thinking goes, didn't do much of that. Fisher's introducing plays and schemes and stuff, and the thought process no longer stops at the assumption that being Florida State is enough to make them bigger better faster and that's all it takes. Contrast that to the change here at UVA, where the problem was not undercoaching, but overscheming. The schemes of Mike London, Bill Lazor, and Jim Reid are still schemes and they're still coaching, but they demand much less thought, much less "if A then B" going on inside a player's head while the play goes on around him. Makes playing easier. For this reason, you will see UVA overachieve relative to expectations, while FSU has ups and downs, good games and bad, and may or may not play up to their talent level while they get used to being coached again.
And don't forget the overlook aspect: FSU has Miami next week. We're just little ol' Virginia. You always beat us. No need to get too excited.
So I'd be surprised to see a blowout. UVA may still lose - in fact, I think the chances of that are better than even. But since we've been reminiscing about FSU's past trips to Charlottesville, let's talk about 2003. The Hoos lost, 19-14, playing a very solid game (particularly on defense) but were done in by one really glaring, ugly weakness and a couple ill-timed mistakes. In that team's case, the weakness was punting and the worst mistake was a poor snap that ruined a crucial third down. This seems like the kind of game we're in for. Fortunately, nothing on this team is as bad as the punting was in that game, although there's no Matt Schaub or Ahmad Brooks, either. But - eliminate the mistake(s), and what happens instead? A Virginia win may be the answer. It'll be close enough that we might just get to find out.
REST OF THE ACC
Miami @ Clemson, 12:00
Virginia Tech @ NC State, 3:30
North Carolina vs. East Carolina, 3:30
Duke @ Maryland, 6:00
Georgia Tech @ Wake Forest, 7:00
Boston College vs. Notre Dame, 8:00
Thursday, September 2, 2010
game preview: Richmond
Date/Time: Saturday, September 4; 6:00 PMTV: ESPN3
History against the Spiders: 25-2-2
Last matchup: UVA 16, UR 0; 9-6-2008; Highlights.
Last week: None
Line: N/A
Opposing blogs: none
Injury report: none
This week's uniform: Orange jersey, blue pants
Richmond season preview
Today's actually kind of a big day. An anniversary of sorts. Ten years ago today, the Hoos opened the season by opening the new and improved Scott Stadium against BYU. And that means ten years ago today, your humble blogger was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed first-year at his first UVA football game. The contest was one of those soul-crushing defeats that make you cast your eyes to the heavens and go whhhyyyyyyyyy?????? But I like to think it had a purpose. I like to think I walked into Scott Stadium a UVA student pulling for the Cavaliers, and walked out a Hoo.
Really, the parallels are impossible to ignore. History does repeat itself. Ten years ago this week, a new stadium was christened. Nine years ago this week, against this very opponent, Al Groh coached his first home game at UVA; Mike London will do the same on Saturday. Two years ago this week, against this very opponent, UVA debuted throwback orange jerseys; this week, they'll be in orange for the first time since that game.
And you'll see a lot of the same faces. A young defense put up a yeoman's effort in shutting out the Spiders two years ago, and many of the same players return to play equally big roles. Chase Minnifield made a key interception in the end zone, the first of his career. Matt Conrath and John-Kevin Dolce got up close and personal with the UR quarterback. Zane Parr also chipped in a big sack. UVA opens up a new era on Saturday, but don't be surprised if you're getting deja vu all the same.
HOW WE CAN WIN
- Continue to let history repeat itself. The formula that worked in 2008 should work again. The UVA defense camped out in Richmond's backfield and never left. They shut down Richmond's running game, and snuffed out drives with big sacks - six in total, and 10 TFLs. The offense was just good enough to keep the defense fresh. Frustratingly unproductive on the scoreboard, yes, but Peter Lalich was reasonably efficient (if slightly turnover-prone) and the running game kept the clock moving. This team is built very, very similarly. Richmond's offensive line is inexperienced, and UVA's D-line is stout, so I expect a lot of the same.
- Press Kevin Grayson and make his life miserable. Grayson gashed the UVA defense in 2008 to the tune of 8 catches for 111 yards. He was the only real threat to the shutout all day. Grayson comes in banged up with a sprained knee but will play, although the injury is serious enough that there was speculation he wouldn't. Room to run has a way of making bad knees feel better; put the large, physical Ras-I Dowling on him and hit him at the line, every play, and he should be neutralized.
- Avoid turnovers. This is the sort of things that's usually obvious; I mention it because of the seven that doomed UVA in last year's opener against W&M. Seven! It was a shocking number then and it's still ridiculous now. Richmond doesn't have a good enough offense against the UVA defense to continually march down the field, so simply punting them deep as opposed to handing them the ball at the 50 is probably enough for the win.
HOW WE CAN LOSE
- Throw interceptions. Fumbles happen, but interceptions are the big worry here. Verica has that little issue about throwing them, and Richmond's corners are athletic and largely the strength of the defense. They have very solid outside linebackers, too, and all of these guys will be dangerous if the ball gets to their hands. A pick-six is a major, major concern.
- Mistakes and jitters. Both sides are playing for new coaches and using new systems. But UVA's systems are newer and the stakes are higher. By no means is this a mistake-free team. And I don't mean turnovers still - it's the little things like being in the wrong place at the wrong time, forgetting your assignment, getting overexcited and committing dumb penalties. UVA is the more talented team, and there aren't many times we'll be able to say that this year. But not by much: Richmond is still the 6th-ranked team in I-AA, and they probably match up well against your average mid-major I-A team. They'll capitalize if UVA screws up.
HOW THE GAME WILL GO
History repeats. In 2001, a missed PAT was the margin of victory for UVA. In 2008, UVA clung to a 3-0 lead for three quarters before breaking open a little cushion midway through the fourth. In neither instance did either team break 20 points, and I think that'll be the case again. UVA is the better team and should win, and the UVA D-line against an inexperienced Richmond O-line will be the big difference. Again, UVA linemen will spend a lot of time in Richmond's backfield, making life miserable for the Spiders. But again, the offense has shown no reason to believe it'll be productive. I'm cautiously optimistic: another close win, with another 16 or 17 points, appears in the offing. But too close for comfort.
REST OF THE ACC
Thursday:
Wake Forest vs. Presbyterian, 6:30
Miami vs. Florida A&M, 7:30
Saturday:
Florida State vs. Samford, 12:00
Georgia Tech vs. South Carolina State, 1:00
Boston College vs. Weber State, 1:00
Clemson vs. North Texas, 3:30
NC State vs. Western Carolina, 6:00
Duke vs. Elon, 7:00
North Carolina vs. LSU, 8:00
Monday:
Maryland vs. Navy, 4:00
Virginia Tech vs. Boise State, 8:00
Monday, August 30, 2010
weekend review: game face
It was 91 degrees outside in my neck of the woods this weekend and not remotely football weather, but that doesn't stop it from being a game week. And that means it's time to get the blog's game face on. So first: recruiting board. Monday thing during the season. Couple of additions this week as Mike London stretches his recruiting arm to Georgia:
- Added LB Troy Gray to blue.
- Added TE Max Mason and WR Demetri Knowles to yellow.
No, still not much going on in the recruiting world. Wait til this weekend when official visits can start.
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I don't know how often we'll see the depth chart updated on the official site, but they did so this week, which is kind of exciting. So there's a depth chart update here too. Among the highlights:
- I was a dum-dum and forgot to take the decommitted Matt Bailey off last time. So that's done.
- My hunch was correct: Ross Metheny and Mike Rocco are the backup QBs, but in no real order as yet. Odd man out in the rotation is Michael Strauss.
- The top two RBs are Perry Jones and Raynard Horne.
- Tim Smith is listed as a backup WR, with Dontrelle Inman a starter. These last two positions are probably going to be almighty interchangeable though.
- Jake Snyder breaks through as a backup DE.
- John-Kevin Dolce is officially the starter at DT over Matt Conrath, which is, ah, surprising. Dolce is hopefully as strong as advertised, because he's also going to be giving up 50+ pounds to his opponents. DT is always a platoony kind of position anyway - even Groh rotated people pretty frequently here - so it's not like Conrath is suddenly going to go ghost on us.
- Lot of "ORs" at linebacker, as in "Steve Greer OR Aaron Taliaferro", but I still think Greer, if he doesn't start off taking a majority of the snaps, will be doing so eventually. Some are surprised to see Laroy Reynolds sharing the starting job with anyone, but what do you expect from a converted safety who spent most of last year on special teams?
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And college football season means it's also high school football season. It's early yet and not every team started their season this past weekend, but some have. So here's how our recruits have been doing:
- Bayside 21, Green Run 10 in Virginia Beach. David Dean's team lost to Demetrious Nicholson's Bayside, but it was a sluggish affair for the much higher-ranked Bayside. Nicholson, who hasn't committed anywhere but will probably take an official to UVA, played both sides of the ball and caught four passes for 76 yards.
- Cox 30, Kellam 17 in Virginia Beach. Opening season win for Ross Burbank.
- I.C. Norcom 26, Northeastern (NC) 6 in Portsmouth. Kameron Mack's team gets a win over a not-great out-of-state team.
- Petersburg 43, Halifax County 20. Kevin Green will likely be a linebacker or a tight end or something at UVA, but he's Petersburg's quarterback.
- Good Counsel 21, St. Xavier (OH) 6. Big time matchup of two of the nation's power programs. Vincent Croce was in on at least one turnover. The game wasn't as close as it looked; Good Counsel broke it open in the fourth after trailing 6-0 most of the game. Potential recruit Sean Duggan, who has UVA in a smallish list of leaders, is a St. X linebacker.
- Glen Oak 42, H.D. Woodson 2. Darius Redman's team gets squashed.
- Mallard Creek 26, Independence 6. This actually happened two weeks ago. Two of North Carolina's best; Adrian Gamble's team comes out on the wrong end. South Pointe is next week for Independence, home of maybe the top recruit in the country in Jadeveon Clowney.
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Lastly, it's not only football season, it's football season! European football, that is. The Virginia Classic is next weekend with games against UAB and St. John's - both are eminently beatable. Virginia Tech is also in town, but UVA's game with them will wait til the ACC season. They're not good either. Picked 9th of 9 in the ACC preseason coaches' poll.
Speaking of which, weird. UVA is #2 in the preseason national poll, but picked 3rd in the ACC by the coaches. You'd have to figure the coaches know a little better, and are asking questions like where's the offense going to come from without guys like Tony Tchani, who went pro after his sophomore season? But most of the main operators of last season's record-setting defense are back, so let's watch and see if goalie extraordinaire Diego Restrepo can duplicate his incredible two-month shutout streak of last year.
- Added LB Troy Gray to blue.
- Added TE Max Mason and WR Demetri Knowles to yellow.
No, still not much going on in the recruiting world. Wait til this weekend when official visits can start.
****************************************
I don't know how often we'll see the depth chart updated on the official site, but they did so this week, which is kind of exciting. So there's a depth chart update here too. Among the highlights:
- I was a dum-dum and forgot to take the decommitted Matt Bailey off last time. So that's done.
- My hunch was correct: Ross Metheny and Mike Rocco are the backup QBs, but in no real order as yet. Odd man out in the rotation is Michael Strauss.
- The top two RBs are Perry Jones and Raynard Horne.
- Tim Smith is listed as a backup WR, with Dontrelle Inman a starter. These last two positions are probably going to be almighty interchangeable though.
- Jake Snyder breaks through as a backup DE.
- John-Kevin Dolce is officially the starter at DT over Matt Conrath, which is, ah, surprising. Dolce is hopefully as strong as advertised, because he's also going to be giving up 50+ pounds to his opponents. DT is always a platoony kind of position anyway - even Groh rotated people pretty frequently here - so it's not like Conrath is suddenly going to go ghost on us.
- Lot of "ORs" at linebacker, as in "Steve Greer OR Aaron Taliaferro", but I still think Greer, if he doesn't start off taking a majority of the snaps, will be doing so eventually. Some are surprised to see Laroy Reynolds sharing the starting job with anyone, but what do you expect from a converted safety who spent most of last year on special teams?
****************************************
And college football season means it's also high school football season. It's early yet and not every team started their season this past weekend, but some have. So here's how our recruits have been doing:
- Bayside 21, Green Run 10 in Virginia Beach. David Dean's team lost to Demetrious Nicholson's Bayside, but it was a sluggish affair for the much higher-ranked Bayside. Nicholson, who hasn't committed anywhere but will probably take an official to UVA, played both sides of the ball and caught four passes for 76 yards.
- Cox 30, Kellam 17 in Virginia Beach. Opening season win for Ross Burbank.
- I.C. Norcom 26, Northeastern (NC) 6 in Portsmouth. Kameron Mack's team gets a win over a not-great out-of-state team.
- Petersburg 43, Halifax County 20. Kevin Green will likely be a linebacker or a tight end or something at UVA, but he's Petersburg's quarterback.
- Good Counsel 21, St. Xavier (OH) 6. Big time matchup of two of the nation's power programs. Vincent Croce was in on at least one turnover. The game wasn't as close as it looked; Good Counsel broke it open in the fourth after trailing 6-0 most of the game. Potential recruit Sean Duggan, who has UVA in a smallish list of leaders, is a St. X linebacker.
- Glen Oak 42, H.D. Woodson 2. Darius Redman's team gets squashed.
- Mallard Creek 26, Independence 6. This actually happened two weeks ago. Two of North Carolina's best; Adrian Gamble's team comes out on the wrong end. South Pointe is next week for Independence, home of maybe the top recruit in the country in Jadeveon Clowney.
****************************************
Lastly, it's not only football season, it's football season! European football, that is. The Virginia Classic is next weekend with games against UAB and St. John's - both are eminently beatable. Virginia Tech is also in town, but UVA's game with them will wait til the ACC season. They're not good either. Picked 9th of 9 in the ACC preseason coaches' poll.
Speaking of which, weird. UVA is #2 in the preseason national poll, but picked 3rd in the ACC by the coaches. You'd have to figure the coaches know a little better, and are asking questions like where's the offense going to come from without guys like Tony Tchani, who went pro after his sophomore season? But most of the main operators of last season's record-setting defense are back, so let's watch and see if goalie extraordinaire Diego Restrepo can duplicate his incredible two-month shutout streak of last year.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
the recruit: David Dean
Name: David Dean
Position: DT
Hometown: Virginia Beach
School: Green Run
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 285
ESPN: 79; four stars; #19 DT
Rivals: 5.7; three stars; #27 DT; VA #9
Scout: three stars; #63 DT
Offers: West Virginia, Boston College, Stanford, Louisville, Duke, Marshall
Ah, football recruiting, ever a source of entertainment. David Dean committed to Mike London - the first recruit to really do so, as Clifton Richardson is still only sort-of committed (but also apparently having no great desire to get up and visit many other schools) - back in March. This was reported just about everywhere, and Dean made no secret of it. That didn't stop Scout from announcing (in May) that "Dean Comes Clean - David Dean says he's been committed to Virginia since early March." Maybe he was mad at Scout for ranking him so low on the DT food chain.
They're the only ones, anyway. Other than from Scout, Dean comes with the rankings and pedigree of a real bedrock defensive tackle. ESPN has him in the top 20 in the nation at his position and Rivals says he's one of the top 10 players in the state. Dean's very well known in the 757; second-team all-district as a sophomore and first-team district and second-team all-regional as a junior. The all-region honor is Dean's versatility at work, as it's for offense, not defense. (That's not all - he's an all-region hitter on the diamond, too. Got that hand-eye coordination working for him.) Quality academics, with offers from Duke and Stanford to back that up as well. In short, the kind of recruit that is right in the middle of UVA's wheelhouse.
So I'm pretty excited about Dean. A little weak on offers, but the fact that a few of them came in even after Dean's commitment is a plus, and Scout's lukewarmness notwithstanding, the gurus are all pretty high on the guy. ESPN is concerned about his size, and who cares really because six of the eighteen guys ranked ahead of him are also 6'1". Nothing wrong with 6'1" - besides, too much height isn't a good thing in defensive tackles. I'm willing to ignore their worries about his size. He's definitely proven himself against VA competition.
And DT is a good place to be in UVA's recruiting class. This is a position, remember, where our needs doubled with the arrival of the new staff. Not only needs, but requirements too: the demands of playing nose tackle in the 3-4 are way different from DT in the 4-3. The roster contains exactly one true defensive tackle: Nick Jenkins. The rest (and there aren't many) are converted ends (Conrath, Hill, Urban) or linebackers (Dolce.) Dolce is the only conversion with college experience, either in practice or games, on the interior, and he departs after this year, leaving behind a really thin DT corps. Moreover, we really have absolutely no idea how the converted players will take to the new positional demands - even Jenkins. Dean and fellow incoming DT Vincent Croce are coming into a situation where there's a chance to help out immediately. Good thing Dean was one of the best DT's we could have gotten.
Position: DT
Hometown: Virginia Beach
School: Green Run
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 285
ESPN: 79; four stars; #19 DT
Rivals: 5.7; three stars; #27 DT; VA #9
Scout: three stars; #63 DT
Offers: West Virginia, Boston College, Stanford, Louisville, Duke, Marshall
Ah, football recruiting, ever a source of entertainment. David Dean committed to Mike London - the first recruit to really do so, as Clifton Richardson is still only sort-of committed (but also apparently having no great desire to get up and visit many other schools) - back in March. This was reported just about everywhere, and Dean made no secret of it. That didn't stop Scout from announcing (in May) that "Dean Comes Clean - David Dean says he's been committed to Virginia since early March." Maybe he was mad at Scout for ranking him so low on the DT food chain.
They're the only ones, anyway. Other than from Scout, Dean comes with the rankings and pedigree of a real bedrock defensive tackle. ESPN has him in the top 20 in the nation at his position and Rivals says he's one of the top 10 players in the state. Dean's very well known in the 757; second-team all-district as a sophomore and first-team district and second-team all-regional as a junior. The all-region honor is Dean's versatility at work, as it's for offense, not defense. (That's not all - he's an all-region hitter on the diamond, too. Got that hand-eye coordination working for him.) Quality academics, with offers from Duke and Stanford to back that up as well. In short, the kind of recruit that is right in the middle of UVA's wheelhouse.
So I'm pretty excited about Dean. A little weak on offers, but the fact that a few of them came in even after Dean's commitment is a plus, and Scout's lukewarmness notwithstanding, the gurus are all pretty high on the guy. ESPN is concerned about his size, and who cares really because six of the eighteen guys ranked ahead of him are also 6'1". Nothing wrong with 6'1" - besides, too much height isn't a good thing in defensive tackles. I'm willing to ignore their worries about his size. He's definitely proven himself against VA competition.
And DT is a good place to be in UVA's recruiting class. This is a position, remember, where our needs doubled with the arrival of the new staff. Not only needs, but requirements too: the demands of playing nose tackle in the 3-4 are way different from DT in the 4-3. The roster contains exactly one true defensive tackle: Nick Jenkins. The rest (and there aren't many) are converted ends (Conrath, Hill, Urban) or linebackers (Dolce.) Dolce is the only conversion with college experience, either in practice or games, on the interior, and he departs after this year, leaving behind a really thin DT corps. Moreover, we really have absolutely no idea how the converted players will take to the new positional demands - even Jenkins. Dean and fellow incoming DT Vincent Croce are coming into a situation where there's a chance to help out immediately. Good thing Dean was one of the best DT's we could have gotten.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
questions and unanswers
Spring practice wrapped up with the spring scrimmage on Saturday, which means that super-obsessive football fans have nothing to do until August and everyone else stopped ignoring spring practice. As a baseball player way back in high school I had a coach who liked to say, "Everyone looks good in the cage." I think that's sage advice, and so I don't obsess over who looks good and who beat who in spring practice, because they all looked pretty damn good last year in the spring and then we went 3-9 and fired the coach.
That said, however, spring can answer a few questions for us. So today I'll put my best foot forward in seeing what spring ball might have settled, and what remains to be seen.
Questions we now have answers to:
- Who's going to start at quarterback against Richmond?
That would be Marc Verica. I wish I wish I wish I could find the Jeff White article that more or less let it slip, but I can't - something about how the coaches were having a pretty spirited backup battle between Ross Metheny and Michael Strauss. Verica didn't blow away the competition, but his experience gave him a major leg up and he'll have to implode in the August to lose the job.
- What will the uniforms look like?
"Oregon of the East" caused a lot of consternation among tradition-minded fans (like me) who didn't really like the idea of diamond-plate patterns, random striping all over the place, or dressing like the Oakland Raiders when your school colors are those of the Green Bay Packers. Basically, those of us who don't want a clown show to take the field where the football team is supposed to. Fortunately, there's a much simpler, classier approach in place and we can step back from the ledge now.
- Will the offense still suck?
I think most folks are optimistically willing to keep this in the "unanswered" category, but in good conscience, I can't. The spring game generated two articles about the lousy offense on display - Verica was 8 for 23 and the entire running game stunk. And this was against a defense learning a totally brand-new playbook, featuring many players in entirely brand-new positions. This offense is going to need stability before it turns into something that coaches have to bother game-planning against, and that means a lot more than half a year figuring it out.
- How will the change to the 4-3 affect the defensive positioning?
You already knew some people were getting shuffled around, but moving Ausar Walcott and LoVante' Battle from safety to linebacker (which thanks to the alignment change already had a glut) necessitated even more movement. Mostly we know how that goes now:
* Walcott and Battle are outside linebackers.
* Terrence Fells-Danzer is a fullback, and Cam Johnson, Jeremiah Mathis, and Billy Schautz - all former linebackers - are defensive ends.
* Matt Conrath and Brent Urban are defensive tackles.
I'm still not sure I'm big on moving Walcott and Battle, by the way. Speed on defense is a good thing, but so is a depth chart in the secondary, where we're awfully thin. And we're even thinner at DT - I count four, which means there's no two-deep if even one goes down - so I expect at least one more move there. Wouldn't surprise me if incoming freshman Stephen Lawe finds himself on defense come fall camp.
Alright, but it wouldn't be any fun if we knew everything. Here's what remains to be seen:
- Who's going to start at quarterback in mid-October?
Verica has likely established himself as the first option, but not as the kind of guy who puts a deathgrip on a job. If we're an uncompetitive 2-3 (or, horrors, 1-4, meaning a Richmond loss) coming out of what'll probably be a total catastrophe of an Atlanta trip in October, you know it'll start to be time for a quarterback switch. Barring Richmond becoming the new William & Mary, Verica will probably keep the job throughout September because the competition isn't good enough (or is way too damn good) to properly gauge how the season is going. FSU and GT as the first two October games will be a much better yardstick as to whether we should start looking at the future.
- What will the running back depth chart look like?
Pure chaos right now, that's what. There are seven options here: Raynard Horne, Keith Payne, Torrey Mack, Perry Jones, Dominique Wallace, K.P. Parks, and Khalek Shepherd, and only four of them participated fully in spring practice and none of those four really grabbed hold of the job. Why don't we know anything?
* Horne has never really been much more than a change-up back, in to spell the starters.
* We really kind of know what Payne is capable of, and honestly it's not stardom.
* Mack flashed a lot of talent in spring ball last year but couldn't pass-block to save his life (and definitely not his quarterback's), thus whenever he was in the game, defenses keyed on the run.
* Jones is the size of the period at the end of this sentence, and not going to be an every-down guy, ever.
* Wallace might have the best size/speed combination but is still recovering from last season's injury.
* Parks and Shepherd ain't even here yet.
I don't see Horne, Payne, or Jones being #1 options. Any one of them might make a great change-of-pace type but they're not toting the load. There's a great chance here for Parks - who just might be the most talented of the bunch - to step in and make his name. Shepherd, too.
- Is the defense that awesome or is the offense that bad?
Such is the nature of spring practice that you can never really tell, unless you have a coach's eye, whether good results are really good results, or just bad news for the other side of the ball. The defense does remain highly talented, however, and I think they'll still look about as good as they did last year. But with the alignment switch, you never know.
- Who's the placekicker?
London said he'd pick one that would be the starter going into fall camp, but he hasn't told us who.
So with all that, I've updated the depth chart for ya, and today's addition of Ross Burbank to the commitment list (less than a week after his offer - this is a guy who definitely wanted to be a Hoo) merits a recruiting board update too. The depth chart, by the way, has one tiny format change: no more walk-ons, for the most part. It got to be annoying to track the comings and goings. If they've got a real shot to actually participate (Matt Snyder, for example, or the kickers) then they're still on there, but the ones who aren't a threat to see the field aren't there any more. Should be easier to track that way.
Tomorrow: uniforms!
That said, however, spring can answer a few questions for us. So today I'll put my best foot forward in seeing what spring ball might have settled, and what remains to be seen.
Questions we now have answers to:
- Who's going to start at quarterback against Richmond?
That would be Marc Verica. I wish I wish I wish I could find the Jeff White article that more or less let it slip, but I can't - something about how the coaches were having a pretty spirited backup battle between Ross Metheny and Michael Strauss. Verica didn't blow away the competition, but his experience gave him a major leg up and he'll have to implode in the August to lose the job.
- What will the uniforms look like?
"Oregon of the East" caused a lot of consternation among tradition-minded fans (like me) who didn't really like the idea of diamond-plate patterns, random striping all over the place, or dressing like the Oakland Raiders when your school colors are those of the Green Bay Packers. Basically, those of us who don't want a clown show to take the field where the football team is supposed to. Fortunately, there's a much simpler, classier approach in place and we can step back from the ledge now.
- Will the offense still suck?
I think most folks are optimistically willing to keep this in the "unanswered" category, but in good conscience, I can't. The spring game generated two articles about the lousy offense on display - Verica was 8 for 23 and the entire running game stunk. And this was against a defense learning a totally brand-new playbook, featuring many players in entirely brand-new positions. This offense is going to need stability before it turns into something that coaches have to bother game-planning against, and that means a lot more than half a year figuring it out.
- How will the change to the 4-3 affect the defensive positioning?
You already knew some people were getting shuffled around, but moving Ausar Walcott and LoVante' Battle from safety to linebacker (which thanks to the alignment change already had a glut) necessitated even more movement. Mostly we know how that goes now:
* Walcott and Battle are outside linebackers.
* Terrence Fells-Danzer is a fullback, and Cam Johnson, Jeremiah Mathis, and Billy Schautz - all former linebackers - are defensive ends.
* Matt Conrath and Brent Urban are defensive tackles.
I'm still not sure I'm big on moving Walcott and Battle, by the way. Speed on defense is a good thing, but so is a depth chart in the secondary, where we're awfully thin. And we're even thinner at DT - I count four, which means there's no two-deep if even one goes down - so I expect at least one more move there. Wouldn't surprise me if incoming freshman Stephen Lawe finds himself on defense come fall camp.
Alright, but it wouldn't be any fun if we knew everything. Here's what remains to be seen:
- Who's going to start at quarterback in mid-October?
Verica has likely established himself as the first option, but not as the kind of guy who puts a deathgrip on a job. If we're an uncompetitive 2-3 (or, horrors, 1-4, meaning a Richmond loss) coming out of what'll probably be a total catastrophe of an Atlanta trip in October, you know it'll start to be time for a quarterback switch. Barring Richmond becoming the new William & Mary, Verica will probably keep the job throughout September because the competition isn't good enough (or is way too damn good) to properly gauge how the season is going. FSU and GT as the first two October games will be a much better yardstick as to whether we should start looking at the future.
- What will the running back depth chart look like?
Pure chaos right now, that's what. There are seven options here: Raynard Horne, Keith Payne, Torrey Mack, Perry Jones, Dominique Wallace, K.P. Parks, and Khalek Shepherd, and only four of them participated fully in spring practice and none of those four really grabbed hold of the job. Why don't we know anything?
* Horne has never really been much more than a change-up back, in to spell the starters.
* We really kind of know what Payne is capable of, and honestly it's not stardom.
* Mack flashed a lot of talent in spring ball last year but couldn't pass-block to save his life (and definitely not his quarterback's), thus whenever he was in the game, defenses keyed on the run.
* Jones is the size of the period at the end of this sentence, and not going to be an every-down guy, ever.
* Wallace might have the best size/speed combination but is still recovering from last season's injury.
* Parks and Shepherd ain't even here yet.
I don't see Horne, Payne, or Jones being #1 options. Any one of them might make a great change-of-pace type but they're not toting the load. There's a great chance here for Parks - who just might be the most talented of the bunch - to step in and make his name. Shepherd, too.
- Is the defense that awesome or is the offense that bad?
Such is the nature of spring practice that you can never really tell, unless you have a coach's eye, whether good results are really good results, or just bad news for the other side of the ball. The defense does remain highly talented, however, and I think they'll still look about as good as they did last year. But with the alignment switch, you never know.
- Who's the placekicker?
London said he'd pick one that would be the starter going into fall camp, but he hasn't told us who.
So with all that, I've updated the depth chart for ya, and today's addition of Ross Burbank to the commitment list (less than a week after his offer - this is a guy who definitely wanted to be a Hoo) merits a recruiting board update too. The depth chart, by the way, has one tiny format change: no more walk-ons, for the most part. It got to be annoying to track the comings and goings. If they've got a real shot to actually participate (Matt Snyder, for example, or the kickers) then they're still on there, but the ones who aren't a threat to see the field aren't there any more. Should be easier to track that way.
Tomorrow: uniforms!
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