First is that recruiting board, and you won't notice much difference. There's only one change, and one notable not-change. Clifton Richardson "firmed up" his commitment, so I got off my high horse and moved him to committed orange.
The not-change is that Curtis Grant is still in the blue section. Before the weekend there was a blurb in the RTD that suggested UVA is out of the running for Grant. Shenanigans. I think you can safely ignore that quote - it's the writer talking, not anyone making the decisions here. Just brush it off as one of those things that makes recruiting such a maddening thing to follow. I'm no insider but really I think there's every reason to believe that UVA fans will have a vested interest in watching that particular press conference, when it happens. Not that Grant will necessarily choose UVA, but UVA will be in it all the way.
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I meant to update the depth chart before the USC game. But I didn't. So I'm doing it now. Your running backs are Keith Payne and Perry Jones - that's a change from before, because those two basically have a death grip on it whereas Raynard Horne used to be listed as one of the starters. Rodney McLeod's name in red signifies his injury.
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High school football: let's check in on the recruits:
St. Christopher's 27, St. S./St. A. 17 - Thompson Brown squares off against Darius Lee. Brown forced a turnover and caught a touchdown in his team's win over Lee's.
Hermitage 27, Lee-Davis 8 - The opener for Diamonte Bailey's squad. 15 tackles for prospect Curtis Grant.
Phoebus 45, Churchland 0 - Caleb Taylor's team dispatches a decently-ranked team with relative ease.
Landstown 12, Green Run 9 - David Dean helps limit the opponent to 12 points, but the offense can't get it done.
Woodrow Wilson 21, Menchville 19 - Clifton Richardson still winless. Rushed for 238 yards, scored a TD on an INT return and threw what would have been the game-tying touchdown had the two-point attempt succeede.
Bayside 21, Cox 9 - Ross Burbank's team now 1-2. Prospect Demetrious Nicholson had three receptions.
I.C. Norcom 52, Heritage 0 - Ouch. Kameron Mack's team on a roll.
Hampton 49, Gloucester 0 - David Watford rolls.
Damascus 27, Quince Orchard 23 - Big win for Brandon Phelps' squad, but mostly without him as Phelps misses the last three quarters with a strained hip flexor. May miss next week.
DeMatha 35, Friendship 32 - DeMatha escapes the big upset.
Stone Bridge 56, Leesburg Heritage 7 - Rob Burns' team is a juggernaut.
L.C. Bird 36, Matoaca 23 - Season-opening win for Anthony Harris.
H.D. Woodson 28, Fairmont Heights 12 - Darius Redman catches two passes in Woodson's first win of the year.
Boys' Latin 21, Archbishop Curley 7 - Another win for Marco Jones.
West Charlotte 48, Independence 33 - Adrian Gamble scores a touchdown, but Independence is off to a horrible 0-3 start. Tough schedule, but still: Independence is a (once-upon-a-time?) juggernaut.
Mt. Lebanon 43, Penn-Trafford 18 - Tim Cwalina is off to a 2-0 start.
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News and stuff happened on the weekend too. Some of it was even kind of important:
- The Pac-10 did what I told them to and suspended the refs from the USC game for blowing the fake punt call. Technically the wording they used was "removed from a future game assignment" but it's all the same thing. The conference did the right thing; that plus their halftime apology is the best we can ask for, so it's time to move on.
- The RTD's Michael Phillips has an interesting take on that, by the way. The gist: it was like the phantom T on Tony Bennett against Maryland when the hoopsters were roaring back to try and take the the lead after trailing all game - there's no guarantee UVA would have won either game without referee interference, but it gives us an out to think so. Phillips calls it a gift to the fans, I say if you're going with that tack it's more of a gift to the coaches. That's like, the worst gift in history, but the coaches get just that little bit more leeway from the fans when we think Rule 2(b) has been activated, and you can never have too much job security in this gig.
- VT very literally got injury added to insult on Saturday with the loss of DT Kwamaine Battle for the season, but he might get a sixth year of eligibility. Battle's only a junior anyway, so he's back next year regardless, but in any case it probably won't affect the Hokies much. Battle was the starter, but his replacement Antoine Hopkins has more game experience. Depth rather than any irreplaceable talent is their loss here.
- Occasionally, I exhort UVA fans not to act like Michigan State fans, something we're at times in danger of doing because we have what might delicately be referred to as "not as good a football team" as VT. In other words, don't obsess over them and don't act like a Tech loss is the same thing as a UVA win. Because this is the sort of idiocy it leads to:
So as the ND game approaches this weekend wear your coolest kicks around campus with the shoelaces TIED (editor's note: Sparty boy is making a lame attempt at making fun of Michigan's Denard Robinson's preference for untied shoelaces) in honor of our great #8, Captain Kirk, and show the world, ESPECIALLY ANN ARBOR, that in East Lansing they TEACH US HOW TO TIE OUR SHOES.So that's what 20 grand of tuition buys you at Michigan State. And after you learn how to tie your shoes, there's nap time and then cookies and juice! (I believe those are the honors classes.) One nice thing about going to college at Virginia is not having to spend four years with dumbasses. Don't be Sparty, boys and girls.
- The soccer boys remain undefeated after going on the road to Duke and pulling out a tie that could plausibly have been a better result for either team. Duke dominated on the stat sheet, taking eight corners to UVA's three and forcing Diego Restrepo to make eight saves (which is kind of a lot.) But Sean Hiller scored a go-ahead goal in the 86th minute - normally the kind of thing that stands up, except it didn't with Duke scoring less than two minutes later to force OT and the tie. Ominously, Will Bates was subbed out early with an injury that a Sabre observer suggested might be a hamstring.
Next week is one of the biggest matchups of the year: the first game against Wake Forest since Brian Ownby's golden goal dispatched the Deacs from the NCAA tournament.
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Finally, around the ACC for some of the more interesting blog reactions to this weekend's rather unfortunate results in the conference:
BC 26, Kent State 13: BC Interruption bemoans the O-line play, notable because I expected it to be one of the better O-lines in the conference.
Kansas 28, GT 25: Adding insult to insult, Winfield's soul appears bent over with the agony of defeat, and somebody called a penalty on it too.
Maryland 62, Morgan State 3: That's sixty-two (62) to three (3). With that score in mind, what kind of truly horrible-ass game must Maryland's quarterbacks have had to earn a measly B- grade from Testudo Times?
JMU 21, VT 16: Saved the best for last. F4H of Gobbler Country unsurprisingly has selected The Cure for a little post-game easy listening. Read for two reasons: one, F4H is the decent variety of Hokie fan that is given a bad name by the other 97%, and two, you'll find many reasons to be (cautiously) optimistic about the end-of-season tilt.
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