weekend review

Short update this week as far as the recruiting board goes. Just the addition of WR Timmy Keith and some readability fixes.

The depth chart is a lot more interesting. The bad news there is that I'm not gonna put in the actual changes til later in the week. The good news is that intrigue abounds. It's an intriguing web of intrigue.

- First off, Morgan Moses is now so huge, and awesome at football, that he's the starter at not one, but two positions. The whole right side of the line is his. Tackle and guard.

Lot of ORs running around, as in "Morgan Moses OR Oday Aboushi" at right tackle. Right guard is "Morgan Moses OR B.J. Cabbell," and left tackle is "Oday Aboushi OR Landon Bradley." The interpretation is clear: If Bradley can play and be effective with a huge cast on his hand (following his hand surgery) that turns it into a club, then Bradley will start at LT, Aboushi at RT, and Moses at RG. If not, Aboushi moves to LT, Moses mans the other tackle spot, and Cabbell hangs on to his starting gig for one more week.

Either way, the writing that was on the wall a couple weeks ago is thisclose to collecting on its promise: Cabbell will be a backup sooner rather than later, and Moses is getting his job. Bradley was a whipping boy of mine last year, but his play has improved to a level resembling acceptable. I like Moses better at guard, which is his obvious long-term home. I don't have much of a preference for this week, having not the faintest idea how comfortable Bradley can be without the ability to grip with one hand. It's his right hand, which speeds his return - a left tackle could never protect the edge without his left hand.

- Linebacker is another fun story. Aaron Taliaferro is on the outside now - the strong side backup behind Laroy Reynolds. Is Mr. Lazarus (so nicknamed in camp because of his rise from the dead) headed back to the figurative tomb? Darnell Carter moves over to replace Taliaferro as the half-starter in the middle with Steve Greer.

Editorial: I'd like to see more time for Greer. He wasn't the team's leading tackler as a freshman for nothing. Teams don't run around the edge on Virginia for nothing. The tackles aren't being missed in the middle.

**********************************************

Newsy stuff this week is one item only: RIP Fran Crippen. Former UVA swimmer and older brother of current UVA swimmer Claire Crippen. His death during a 10K swim race in the UAE is all over the news.

Perhaps a former swimmer who's been to that part of the world (me, if you're unclear) can clarify a few things for curious readers?

First, I'm not going to place as much blame on FINA (the worldwide governing body for swimming) as the media is looking to. Water that's too warm is really hard to come by. Swim meets are typically held in cold-ass water, because cold water is faster. Warm water relaxes the muscles. The temperature of open-water events obviously isn't controlled, but having regulations for swimming in water that's too warm is like having regulations for ski hills that aren't steep enough. Bad for competition, bad for your times, why would you worry about it? It's likely the strongest amount of blame should be placed on the meet organizers for a lack of decent safety procedures.

After all, your average marathon has tons of precautions against health issues. A 10K swim race is eons more demanding than a marathon. It's like an Ironman Triathlon. Blame, if you must call it that, can fall squarely on Crippen's shoulders for continuing despite not feeling well, but besides the shortest of the shortest of sprints, full-body fatigue is par for the course for swimmers. It's not like basketball or football where you can be subbed out. Just you and your body, and if you don't drag yourself out of the pool after an event - especially a distance event - with every muscle burning like hellfire, then you didn't swim hard enough. You get out and never want to move again. Laying on the pool deck in just your swimsuit for the rest of your life sounds just fine. Crippen can't have been expected to know the difference between the extreme fatigue he'd normally feel at the end of a 10K and life-threatening exhaustion.

Which is why FINA and the Emiratis are being total dicks about this. Callously blaming it on "overexertion." Yes, it's probably true. But if they were real swimming officials they'd know overexertion is pretty much normal. The whole field was overexerting themselves.

As for the water temperature, again with the dickitude in insisting the water was "only" 84 degrees. As if there's this huge lifesaving difference in the three degrees between that and the 87 degrees that the swimmers are saying. I've been to the UAE. On a ship, which wouldn't you know, we made it our business to know what the water temperature was. (You have to in order to keep the machinery running properly.) In the Persian Gulf itself, the water temps were in the mid-90s; close to shore and in-port, they never dropped below 100. 102, 103, usually. Granted, I was there in July, not October. Granted, Fujairah, where the event was held (not Dubai, as the reports sometimes claim), is outside the Gulf - that makes a difference, the water is warmer, saltier, and way grodier and jellyfishier inside. All the same, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if an official inquest finds the water was above 90. It's the fucking desert.

**************************************

Alright, let's move on and check in on the senior seasons. Here in Michigan, it's already playoff time for the high schoolers. (Go GP South Blue Devils.) One more week of games and that'll be true for Pennsylvania, too. Maryland and North Carolina, two more weeks; Virginia, three. We'll keep you updated throughout, of course.

L.C. Bird 14, Clover Hill 13: Bird puts the ball in the hands of their running backs for the most part (Anthony Harris only threw five passes and completed three), but when they trailed 13-0 in the second half they turned to their best athlete. Harris scored both Bird touchdowns, the winner on fourth down, and Bird pulled out the win with a goal-line stand.

Dinwiddie 33, Petersburg 21: Kevin Green came out on the short end of a good old-fashioned quarterback duel. Green ran for 127 yards and two TDs and completed 17-of-36 for 160 more, plus another touchdown. He was also picked off twice in the loss; the winning QB, whose stats were equally gaudy, is VT commit Chris Hall.

Phoebus 37, Hampton 12: Caleb Taylor's defense held David Watford in check. Watford was just 5-of-18 passing. He ran for an early touchdown to cut the score to 10-6, and threw another one in garbage time.

H.D. Woodson 22, Ballou 20: Darius Redman helped to seal a big upset by intercepting a pass with 90 seconds left. Then he nearly blew it by getting greedy and trying to return it for six; the ball was stripped and Redman had to go back on defense. D'oh. Time for a little coaching moment. Redman also caught an 8-yard touchdown pass.


Hermitage 48, Douglas Freeman 0 (Diamonte Bailey)
I.C. Norcom 48, Granby 7 (Kameron Mack)
Cox 22, First Colonial 20 (Ross Burbank)
Green Run 34, First Colonial 28 (David Dean)
Bethel 42, Menchville 10 (Clifton Richardson)
Episcopal 19, St. Christopher's 15 (Thompson Brown)
Landon (Md.) 22, St. S/St. A 0 (Darius Lee)
Damascus 35, Northwood 16 (Brandon Phelps)
Stone Bridge 50, Langley 10 (Rob Burns)
Good Counsel 37, St. John's 14 (Vincent Croce)
DeMatha 39, Bishop O'Connell 17 (Jordan Lomax, Kelby Johnson)
Independence 62, Rocky River 17 (Adrian Gamble)
Mt. Lebanon 27, Peters Township 16 (Tim Cwalina)

That is it for now. Later in the week: basketball! That time of year. Weird, huh? Football season announces its presence in such a way that it's impossible to miss, even if you try. Basketball season goes "um, hi."

Wait, no. That's not it for now. Also there is the AP poll study, in which the appearance of bias grows steadily stronger. Teaser: only three of 25 teams did not get any regional help, and the West Coast voters are off the hook this week. See the archive page for the rest.

weekend review

I was sorely tempted to take all the recruiting board prospects that are considering both UVA and UNC and drop 'em into the red category. I mean, Travis Hughes had it in his head that UVA had no future until the USC game; did this Saturday convince you that the future is sunshine and oranges? I resisted the urge, however, in favor of calm, rational decision making, which is way less fun. So the recruiting board stays the same this week.

I did give the depth chart a once-over, though. The O-line shuffle continues; actually, it shuffled before the game and I didn't fix it because it was pretty close to game time by the time that was announced, and Friday is my self-allowed day off. Changes for this week:

- Morgan Moses is your new starter at right tackle, as I'm sure you noticed. Backing him up is Aaron Van Kuiken; Sean Cascarano backs up Oday Aboushi on the left side.

- Luke Bowanko moves back to guard to back up B.J. Cabbell.

- Billy Schautz steps in as a backup DE for Jeremiah Mathis, who is now an emergency tight end. That's a temporary arrangement; after the season, I'm moving Mathis back to DE.

Quarterback does not change, as London has announced Marc Verica's job is safe, at least for this week. Obviously an unpopular move, but - I cannot stress this enough - the right one. If there were an exactly equal chance of winning a game with one of the freshmen, then it would make sense to start up a platoon between Metheny and Rocco, and see if one can separate from the other. It would not make sense to pick one or the other. Suppose you choose incorrectly and that becomes evident either this fall or next year; you've wasted a golden chance.

But a QB platoon is a pretty poor way to win a football game. In 99% of QB platoons, the whole is less than the sum of the two parts. Marc Verica would have to be a tremendously awful quarterback to be worse than a platoon of two freshmen that can't separate themselves from each other, one of whom drops snaps. Metheny did that twice against UNC. And London has hinted that the freshmen really don't have full grasp of the offense.

“We called a couple formations opposite of what the signal was,” London said. “So there’s issues that all of them have, and the one right now that’s best to run the offense is the one that started the game.

“So this week in practice we’ll continue to keep evaluating them. Maybe the young guy or the other quarterbacks can make the right calls and eliminate the quarterback-center exchange issues and all that. But for the most part, the guy that’s got the most significant reps is the guy that right now is the No. 1 quarterback. And like I said, every day next week is an evaluation day with all of these guys, and that’s the way it’s got to be.”

I have serious doubts that the full playbook is in effect for the freshmen, when they come into the game. One or the other, or both, are messing it up. The coaches' job is to win games, not sacrifice games this year for a slightly better chance at winning next year. UVA fans need not worry that London is blind to Verica's many miscues; London sounds like he's more than painfully aware of them and doesn't have a choice.

*******************************************

Anyway, let's move on to what the future holds. Or what the present holds for our future. Or something. Going to arrange it a little differently this week. First, articles where our guy gets a mention; then, all the rest of the scores.

St. Christopher's 28, Bishop Ireton 20: Thompson Brown blocked an Ireton extra point.

Petersburg 31, Hopewell 21: Kevin Green rushed for 100 yards (including a 66-yard TD run), passed for 145 on 9-of-14, threw a touchdown pass, and ran for two more.

Hermitage 43, J.R. Tucker 0 (Diamonte Bailey)
L.C. Bird 34, James River 10 (Anthony Harris)
I.C. Norcom 20, Churchland 14 (Kameron Mack)
Ocean Lakes 43, Green Run 0 (David Dean)
Hampton 63, Bethel 7 (David Watford)
Bullis (MD) 42, St. S/St. A 31 (Darius Lee)
Phoebus 44, Menchville 6 (Caleb Taylor and Clifton Richardson)
Cox 14, Tallwood 0 (Ross Burbank)
Damascus 27, Sherwood 20 (Brandon Phelps)
Stone Bridge 28, James Madison 10 (Rob Burns)
Good Counsel 42, Paul VI 0 (Vincent Croce)
H.D. Woodson 20, McKinley 15 (Darius Redman)
DeMatha 21, St. John's 14 (Jordan Lomax/Kelby Johnson)
South Mecklenburg 42, Independence 35 (Adrian Gamble)
Archbishop Spalding 39, Boys' Latin 29 (Marco Jones)
Mt. Lebanon 21, Bethel Park 7 (Tim Cwalina)

*******************************************

I've been working on a basketball depth chart similar to the football one. It's not easy to get it the way I want it, because basketball positions are a lot more fluid than football. The vast majority of the roster will show up at two different positions at some point in the season. It's not any easier when Sammy Zeglinski gets to have knee surgery. Going into a season suddenly without your veteran point guard is a scary proposition. It seems a safe bet that if he misses this season, he'd be awarded a sixth year, but I think from a program-development standpoint it's a lot better if he can return this year. I'm not holding my breath though. Jontel Evans and Billy Baron just got a lot more important.

Oh, and the AP poll study page is updated with the latest. Very interesting week, with Alabama losing; the voters got a chance to stray off the beaten path. The results are enlightening. Teams got an average of one-third of a rank boost from their regional voters. Whether that's significant, I'm not sure, but it's the strongest regional bias yet. Pac-10 voters were totally in the tank for Oregon State - I think the trend at the end of the day will be that Pac-10 voters are especially prone to overrating the daylights out of the less-known West Coast contenders. But it was Big Ten voters that took the crown for most regionally biased this time around.

you have to give al groh this

His defenses at least waited til the second half to fall to shit.

Yeah, normally I write this column on Sunday after I'm done with my Blogpoll ballot, but I don't have anything better to do right now, and why waste a perfectly good foul mood? This was supposed to be the most winnable of the three test games that just occurred, and instead it turns out to be Free Football Night at Scott Stadium. Wear your Carolina blue and white and get a complimentary souvenir courtesy of our friendly quarterback crew!

Or maybe I'm being too harsh. Here, let me try the rational, objective approach. Let's list some positives and negatives from the game. Surely we can find something to talk about.

Positives:

- The new, more metallic blue helmets look really sharp during night games under the lights.

Negatives:

- The defense.
- The offense, other than Keith Payne.
- The special teams.
- The coaching, probably.
- Orange-on-orange uniform combo.
- The defense.

Well, that's quite a list. Let's tackle that one-by-one.

- First off, the players are fired from uniform selection duties, or they should be until they win. For the EMU game, simple old-fashioned blue-over-white. Need to remove distractions. And that's too bad, 'cause I'd really like to see the orange-over-white. But teams that lose by 34 don't need either the distraction or the privilege of frivolities like fashion design.

- Actually, the special teams weren't really a negative - not that they got much of a chance to flash their stuff. Except the kick return squad. Lot of field time, there. I should add that if we ever allow him to do his thing, instead of opting for the direct QB-to-defender method of transferring possession, that Jimmy Howell is really an excellent punter these days.

- I'll let the coaches' honeymoon last a little while longer, if they promise to do some tackling drills and never again call four straight Keith Payne runs up the gut that result in a turnover on downs. Like the whole state couldn't see that one coming. Ross Metheny was in at the time - if you're evaluating freshmen quarterbacks, anything other than an off-tackle handoff would be a good way to do it.

- The running game was actually not horrible. In fact it was perfectly functional, and had there been any kind of support from any other facet of the team, we'd be heaping praise upon Keith Payne for his effort tonight. As it is all he gets is to stop running gassers early.

Besides the obvious issues under center, I'll give one other player who had a very rough game and needs a lot of work: Morgan Moses. Big Mo moved side to side like he was standing in wet cement. I think I'd rather see him understudy at guard behind B.J. Cabbell (who played reasonably well and was the prime mover in opening that massive hole for Payne on Payne's touchdown) where he can be more of a mauler. I don't think a man that size is ever going to move side-to-side too well; at guard he won't have to, and he could probably be a holy terror when pulling to the other side.

- Alright. The defense. As if it wasn't obvious against Florida State, the "offense needs to stay on the field longer to rest the defense" excuse is as acceptable as a $3 bill anymore. When you're down 7-0 after the very first play from scrimmage, it's time to give that idea a rest. Now the defense is just bad.

And frankly, it's baffling. This is supposed to be an easier defense to learn, which means that the growing pains into a new system should be minimized. The linebackers are regressing, which I suppose you can chalk up to the fact that most of them are playing a new position in a new system. But why is the secondary so horrible? The responsibilities aren't that different, and that's supposedly the veteran core of the defense. It's officially time to worry about Devin Wallace - he got burned nice and toasty all night. The quarterback issue is frustrating but explainable. The defense is frustrating and completely baffling, which is a lot worse.

So what about the rest of the season? In order to get bowl-eligible, we'd have to beat one of either Miami or VT plus everyone else on the schedule. So that's the last time this year you'll see the word "bowl" around here. If next week is not a win, you might as well empty the bench; Eastern Michigan is one of the absolute worst teams in all of I-A football. Worse than Richmond. After that, I see two chances to put another number in the win column: Duke and Maryland. To take any measure of success at all from this season, both are must-wins. I shouldn't have to explain why.

weekend review

Much to see, much to do. The weekend review plows ahead with....

....recruiting board update. Here's what's new:

- Removed LB Conner Crowell, who's down to OSU and PSU. Pick Penn State.

- Moved CB Blake Countess from yellow to red. Looking highly unlikely.

- Moved LB Curtis Grant from blue to red. Ditto. Also, dammit.

- Added S Avery Walls to red.

- Created a new green section. I kept seeing players in blue and yellow that didn't quite feel like they belonged there, exactly, and I kept thinking "if only I had an in between section that's where they'd be." And then I realized I had the power to do that because it's my blog. The new residents of the area just in between blue and yellow are DE Horace Arkadie and LB D.J. Hill (up from yellow) and LB Sean Duggan and CB Demetrious Nicholson (down from blue.)

Pessimism is the name of the game this week in recruiting. It has been two months since the last commitment, after all. But in a way that's by design: the staff has to be careful with who they take. There's probably only a small list of maybe six or seven players they'd take a commitment from right this minute - guys like Demetrious Nicholson and Travis Hughes - and they're all being patient with the process. You see the five players in bold orange - as you'll remember they're my own choices as most-desired names. Just below those five would be Sean Duggan and Rory Anderson. Of those seven, I would bet a lot of money on UVA getting at least one, and I doubt they get more than three. Three would be about the awesomest thing ever, really. (Remember, names in red don't get bolded in orange because red is while-we're-at-it-I-want-a-pony land.)

*******************************************

....depth chart update. I did something new here too. Names in red are guys who are out for the season, and names in purple are guys who are out but not all year. They remain bolded and/or italicized so you have an idea of their role if healthy and what the team would look like without injuries getting in the way.

Changes are:

- Joe Torchia is out for the year, so Colter Phillips is your new starting TE and Paul Freedman the backup. Hopefully we don't have to go past that. Coach London said he's keeping the redshirt on the other tight ends, Swanson and McGee, but that's not for the sake of the redshirt. They're simply too small, still.

- As I mentioned yesterday, Morgan Moses moves over to right guard to back up B.J. Cabbell; that position will almost certainly see a changing of the guard (HAW!) by the end of the year. Probably sooner rather than later, as the depth chart lists an "or." Luke Bowanko is now listed as a backup tackle. Sean Cascarano and Oday Aboushi are the starters; who gets what side isn't really settled yet but for the purposes of this chart it doesn't matter.

This youth movement, by the way, I regard it as a huge positive. That's three members of the '09 recruiting class (Cascarano, Bowanko, Aboushi) in the O-line two-deep. Four if you count Moses.

*******************************************

....newsy stuff.

- The mens' swim team opened the season with a huge dual meet win over Florida, and the women came within two points of achieving the same. Impressive. Florida's mens' team took 5th last year (UVA was 10th) and their women were national champions. Even with a loss, the womens' result is as impressive as the mens'; a two-point margin becomes at least a tie just by switching any finish in any race with the opposing swimmer one spot higher.

- UVA hasn't announced it, but UConn has: a 2016-2017 home-and-home rematch with the Huskies. The future schedules page is duly updated.

- The NCAA violation train pulled into Chapel Hill Station this week and left with three of their better players: D-linemen Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn and WR Greg Little, off the team permanently. This week is Carolina week, so I'll probably stop caring after Saturday until the sanctions come down from on high, but here is the official roundup of their player status as it stands now:

Out for good: Austin, Quinn, Little, S Jonathan Smith
Reinstated: RB Shaun Draughn, S Da'Norris Searcy, S Deunta Williams
Suspended: CB Kendric Burney, who returns after the UVA game
Pending, still out: DE Mike McAdoo, DE Linwan Euwell, RB Ryan Houston, CB Charles Brown, S Bryan Gupton, FB Devon Ramsey

Carolina has proven competitive without this bunch of miscreants, so I don't expect to see any huge advantage for UVA this weekend. What you've seen is what you get, and they're 3-2.

*******************************************

....senior seasons:

- Fork Union 27, St. Christopher's 10: Loss for Thompson Brown.

- Petersburg 30, Matoaca 18: Kevin Green throws for two touchdowns and 189 yards, as well as 3 2PCs, in a win.

- Hermitage 34, Mills Godwin 7: Win for Diamonte Bailey, but he doesn't make the article.

- L.C. Bird 48, Cosby 7: Anthony Harris throws one touchdown to help in the win.

- I.C. Norcom 26, Maury 3: Little bit of a closer game than usual for Kameron Mack's team.

- Phoebus 44, Kecoughtan 0: It stays easy for Caleb Taylor, though.

- Green Run 33, Kempsville 13: Win for David Dean.

- Hampton 77, Heritage 0: Holy shit. With David Watford at the helm, Hampton scored on every possession of the first half. Heritage has scored three points all season long.

- Salem 19, Cox 0: Ross Burbank and his offense get shut out.

- Blue Ridge 42, St. S/St. A 28: Loss for Darius Lee, but he catches a touchdown pass.

- Denbigh 28, Menchville 17: Tough season continues for Clifton Richardson.

- DeMatha 31, Good Counsel 28: It hasn't been a season quite up to snuff for Jordan Lomax, Kelby Johnson, and DeMatha, but what better way to get back on track than with a huge, huge win over Vincent Croce and Good Counsel?

- Stone Bridge 56, Fairfax 0: Rob Burns has been helping produce shutout after shutout.

- H.D. Woodson vs. Spingarn, postponed.

- Damascus 49, Watkins Mill 21: Brandon Phelps is still undefeated.

- Providence 38, Independence 27: Loss for Adrian Gamble.

- STAB 14, Boys' Latin 10: Marco Jones visits Charlottesville and gets his first loss of the season for his efforts.

- Mt. Lebanon 31, Baldwin 21: Tim Cwalina also continues undefeated.


*******************************************

....AP poll study update. I've created a new page wherein all the weekly updates are stored; if you're interested, it resides here. Also, it'll be linked on the side with the other useful stuff. This week, there's a slight uptick in evidence for regional bias, but it's still not as convincingly strong as it should be if there's to be a conclusion in favor of the hypothesis.

Tomorrow: the return of the ACC Roundtable!

that can't happen

I know it's a rebuilding project, yes. I know the talent level on this team isn't where it should be to compete for the ACC. I still didn't like what I saw on Saturday. Rebuilding isn't the same thing as building from scratch. You have to have something to build from, otherwise you're Georgia State, starting fresh and with no expectations whatsoever. I'd like to think that for UVA, that's the defense. That's what's supposed to hold firm and give the team a chance to win while the offense finds its bearings.

Despite an offensive performance that I'd call "almost adequate," the roles were reversed on Saturday. Georgia Tech is a mistake-prone team this year; those mistakes were the only thing standing between them and 50 points. Only under circumstances involving the phrase "I-AA" should the grinding, clock-chewing GT offense be a 50-point machine. I have no idea whether to pin the performance on the players or the coaches, which probably means it's a combination of both. I do know that the decision to open up a fifteen-foot gap at the line of scrimmage was a coach thing, and why Jim Reid would choose to do that against a triple option offense where option #1 is "hand off to a big-ass fullback and let him go in a straight line" is more puzzling than a 10x10 Rubik's Cube.

I've said repeatedly I don't think the 4-3 is a great matchup for that offense, and obviously in order to beat GT in the future either the talent level is going to have to vastly improve relative to GT, or Reid is going to have to scheme his brains out. It's not just scheme: the newness of our OLBs to their position was painfully obvious, and the MLBs were slow to get outside the blockers, leaving them easy targets to get sealed off the pursuit early on.

As for the offense, it wasn't awful, actually. Against FSU and USC I brushed off the last touchdown of the game as a product of less effort on defense and going against the scrubs; this time I'm willing to put that caveat aside because Matt Snyder was covered as hell on the two fine catches he made on the final drive and showed off some white-guys-can-jump moves that I didn't think he had. Whereas the FSU game might as well have been 34-7, I think the 21 points are legitimate.

Still, the running game, as ever, stunk. Hard. Perry Jones was bottled up except for the one run. With Verica, it's like he wasn't even a factor - an improvement over the FSU game, to be sure, and probably about as good as anyone can expect given the four sacks and lack of ground support. Losses always give a megaphone to the BACKUP QB NOWZ crowd that exists in every losing team's fanbase, but Verica's performance was the result of the poor play around him, not the other way round.

As we knew before the season, it starts on the O-line, the least effective group we have. This week you're starting to see the changes you'd expect for a unit with that label: Morgan Moses moves inside to guard, to back up B.J. Cabbell, and Sean Cascarano replaced the injured Landon Bradley at left tackle. Though this is presented a certain way by Mike London, seasoned football observers should be able to read the writing on the wall here: Cabbell's days as the starter there are probably numbered, and Bradley is likely to be Wally Pipped out of his job as well. That's not even to mention the loss of Joe Torchia for the season, ending his UVA career. Torchia has never been a very effective blocker, and his wonky shoulder almost certainly has a big say in that. It's a rebuilding project. You can't expect things to stay much the same as the season rolls on, and these are welcome changes with the exception of the premature end to a career.

These two losses make the UNC game a pivotal one. Bowl hopes, if you harbor any, depend on it. That's a team not unlike GT: doing the best they can with heavy personnel losses, and being competitive with what's left. I hope the GT game was simply a result of a bad matchup, but do you see how the narrative is changing here? It's how seasons go downhill and it's an old, old story: you go from confidently believing that misfortune was the result of something easily fixed, to hoping it, to realizing it wasn't. A good showing against UNC - that is, a win, not a plucky loss - can reverse that. Otherwise, there's little left to fall back on but the baseline "oh well, it was a rebuilding year," and that's no fun.