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.
Showing posts with label milien. Show all posts
Showing posts with label milien. Show all posts
Monday, November 14, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
weekend review
Well, all the excitement over ACC expansion pretty much pre-empted any thoughts I had on the UNC game. Here's the summary: I don't think it was as bad as it felt at times. I think I just watched UNC run another end-around for sixteen yards about ten minutes ago, so that wasn't too exciting. But other than having a few holes exposed in the defense, that game was a few badly executed plays away from being a near-even battle. In the end the better team executed and UVA did not, but there are a lot of signs of progress. The easiest one to spot: Last year we lost at home by 34; this year we lost on the road by 11. I'll try to sneak in a few more observations as I run down the prediction summary.
-- UVA's three top running backs will split the carries about evenly.
We're getting to that point, I think, but a little more slowly than I was thinking. Not a true prediction since Kevin Parks got almost half the running back carries, but Clifton Richardson is slowly catching up anyway.
-- None will go over 60 yards rushing.
The running game was impressively productive, with the RBs getting almost six yards a carry. Parks busted the prediction by going for 98. This bodes very well for the future.
-- The running game will include a lot of plays that are technically passes, like screens and shovel passes.
No shovel passes. But. The running backs accounted for 29 actual carries and six receptions, and Lazor also tried out Dominique Terrell and Jeremiah Mathis on screens. I'm giving myself this one. Halfheartedly, but I'm doing it.
-- At least three players have four receptions each.
Yes (Kris Burd, Matt Snyder, and Perry Jones), and what's more the spirit of this prediction was basically that Lazor was going to have Rocco spread the ball around a ton, more so than in previous games. 10 players had at least one catch. This one worked out.
This is where I mention, by the way, that Matt Snyder was immensely disappointing and has been all season now. The dropsies are getting too much to ignore. The one that sticks in my gut is the one from David Watford's first-half drive; Watford was putting together a nice one and, on 3rd and 3, hit Snyder with a perfect strike for a first down. Which Snyder dropped. Watford then missed a wide-open Terrell badly on fourth down. I have a hard time faulting Watford for the failed drive because it should never have been fourth down. When your true freshman quarterback makes a great play and your senior captain lets him down by dropping the ball, that is really disappointing to watch. Snyder must improve or be passed over by Tim Smith and the wondertwins.
-- The tight ends finally get involved, with at least one having multiple catches.
But....they didn't spread things around enough to make this one work, as Paul Freedman and Mathis only had one reception each.
-- Rocco finally throws a damn touchdown pass.
Yes, although it was sort of a run-game throw, with Max Milien being the target and then doing most of the work to the tune of 41 yards. This is partly why I gave myself the one about runs that are technically passes.
-- UNC's running backs have rushing statistics similar to last year's game: a roughly even split of carries and about four yards average per carry.
Giovani Bernard went completely apeshit and Ryan Houston was bottled up. So, not only no but hell no. I envisioned better but Bernard just killed the Hoos on the edges.
-- Erik Highsmith has a big day working against Demetrious Nicholson.
He didn't. Nicholson's day was even more up-and-down than the first two games but Highsmith didn't own his face all day like I was afraid of.
-- Bryn Renner has at least as many TD throws as picks.
No picks at all, actually, which was disappointing to say the least. Renner was as efficient as I thought he'd be. Yes on this one.
-- At most two catches go to someone other than UNC's big four of Jones, Highsmith, Houston, and Bernard.
Yes on this one too; Houston had no receptions but the other three accounted for 14 of Renner's 16 completions; the other two were catches by Jheranie Boyd.
Five for ten on the predictions, plus I damn near got the score exactly right (28-17 instead of 30-17.) Season total is 12 for 26, plus 2-1 against the spread and 3-0 straight up.
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A small recruiting board update precipitated by a big commitment today: Canaan Severin chose UVA over (ultimately) Penn State and Boston College. Huge pickup; Severin's a highly-rated talent with the offers to match, of course, but here's the main significance: This is the second time this year Mike London and staff have gone outside the recruiting home base of Virginia and Maryland, gone head-to-head with power programs for a highly touted prospect, and won. (Greyson Lambert was the first.) Outside the mid-Atlantic, even; we're used to winning battles in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and the like, but Severin is from New England and Lambert is from nowhere if not the Deep South. For London to give UVA cachet enough to win battles on the visitor's territory is excellent progress.
Anyway, the recruiting board sees Severin moved from blue to orange, and FB Nathan Staub added to blue. Nothing major. Lambert will enroll early, so the class can fit 26 guys; and what do you know, 26 is the number of names currently in orange. But we're not quite done. Almost, but not quite; Kevin Green is only still there as a formality and you have to expect a prep year for one or two of these guys. The door isn't closed yet, but I'd guess there are only maybe five guys, at the very most, that the staff is still recruiting for 2012.
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Next part of any good weekend review is the Senior Seasons section, in which we catch up with the verbal commitments of 2012 as they make their way through their last high school seasons.
Victory Christian 26, Florida Air 17: Demeitre Brim returned to action from a broken jaw. He's Victory's quarterback; Victory is now 1-2.
Franklin 49, Hillsborough 20: Kye Morgan ran for 148 yards and a touchdown in the win to even Franklin's record at 1-1.
Central Bucks South 49, Norristown 9: Matt Johns didn't have to do very much, throwing for just 53 yards in a mismatch. CB South is 2-1.
Landstown 48, Princess Anne 0: Kyle Dockins had four catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Landstown is 3-0.)
Norfolk Christian 28, Nansemond-Suffolk 21: NCS was down 21-0 and scored four unanswered touchdowns to win, the game-winner being caught by Wil Wahee. Wahee had 122 receiving yards, Mario Nixon had 125, and each caught six passes. NCS is 2-2.
Bayside 26, Ocean Lakes 21: Anthony Cooper had five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown - a "magnificent over-the-shoulder catch" according to the Virginian-Pilot. Eli Harold had eight catches for 82 yards and would've had a 94-yard touchdown of his own if the play hadn't been negated by a holding call. Both teams are now 2-1.
Varina 17, Thomas Dale 10: Maurice Canady ran four times for 17 yards and caught one pass for minus-3. Varina is 2-0.
Buford 49, Therrell 0 (C.J. Moore; Buford is 5-0.)
St. Joseph 52, Middle Township 0 (Max Valles; St. Joseph is 2-0.)
Malvern Prep 27, Archbishop Carroll (DC) 17 (Michael Mooney; Malvern is 2-1.)
Bethel 20, Hampton 0 (Jamall Brown; Hampton is 2-1.)
First Colonial 27, Green Run 20 (Mark Hall; Green Run is 1-2.)
Hermitage 37, Glen Allen 7 (Andre Miles-Redmond; Hermitage is 2-0.)
Canaan Severin committed just in time to get in on this action, except that his season doesn't actually start til next week.
Another note: Some of these papers that I get this news from only go to press like once or twice a week, and not on Monday, which means I see a few results a week late. Sean Karl's ESM squad won their opener in a blowout last weekend, and Greyson Lambert also won. The latter had a bye this weekend; the former, I have no idea what happened. Might have to create a separate week-old category. Lambert's stats last weekend were impressive: 12 of 16 for 249 yards and four touchdowns in a 50-12 win.
Well, now I bet you're just dying to hear about what the ACC's newcomers will bring to the league in its various sports. And you will. Tomorrow. Teven Jones was slated for tomorrow but he is now bumped to Wednesday. I leave you with this: the inevitable discussion between the two dying football conferences about a merger to potentially save their BCS slot. Hmmm: a football conference with the following teams:
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Iowa State
Baylor
Louisville
Cincinnati
South Florida
Connecticut
Rutgers
West Virginia
Except not all of them; either Missouri or WVU is probably headed to the SEC and I think eventually UConn and Rutgers are ACC-bound. So lop off the bottom three in your mind.
It would suck for Louisville, Cincy, and USF, but I still think the Big 12's best course of action is to seek a merger with the MWC instead. A Big East/Big 12 merger is geographically bizarre and looks more like a holding pen for future Big Ten raids than an actual conference.
-- UVA's three top running backs will split the carries about evenly.
We're getting to that point, I think, but a little more slowly than I was thinking. Not a true prediction since Kevin Parks got almost half the running back carries, but Clifton Richardson is slowly catching up anyway.
-- None will go over 60 yards rushing.
The running game was impressively productive, with the RBs getting almost six yards a carry. Parks busted the prediction by going for 98. This bodes very well for the future.
-- The running game will include a lot of plays that are technically passes, like screens and shovel passes.
No shovel passes. But. The running backs accounted for 29 actual carries and six receptions, and Lazor also tried out Dominique Terrell and Jeremiah Mathis on screens. I'm giving myself this one. Halfheartedly, but I'm doing it.
-- At least three players have four receptions each.
Yes (Kris Burd, Matt Snyder, and Perry Jones), and what's more the spirit of this prediction was basically that Lazor was going to have Rocco spread the ball around a ton, more so than in previous games. 10 players had at least one catch. This one worked out.
This is where I mention, by the way, that Matt Snyder was immensely disappointing and has been all season now. The dropsies are getting too much to ignore. The one that sticks in my gut is the one from David Watford's first-half drive; Watford was putting together a nice one and, on 3rd and 3, hit Snyder with a perfect strike for a first down. Which Snyder dropped. Watford then missed a wide-open Terrell badly on fourth down. I have a hard time faulting Watford for the failed drive because it should never have been fourth down. When your true freshman quarterback makes a great play and your senior captain lets him down by dropping the ball, that is really disappointing to watch. Snyder must improve or be passed over by Tim Smith and the wondertwins.
-- The tight ends finally get involved, with at least one having multiple catches.
But....they didn't spread things around enough to make this one work, as Paul Freedman and Mathis only had one reception each.
-- Rocco finally throws a damn touchdown pass.
Yes, although it was sort of a run-game throw, with Max Milien being the target and then doing most of the work to the tune of 41 yards. This is partly why I gave myself the one about runs that are technically passes.
-- UNC's running backs have rushing statistics similar to last year's game: a roughly even split of carries and about four yards average per carry.
Giovani Bernard went completely apeshit and Ryan Houston was bottled up. So, not only no but hell no. I envisioned better but Bernard just killed the Hoos on the edges.
-- Erik Highsmith has a big day working against Demetrious Nicholson.
He didn't. Nicholson's day was even more up-and-down than the first two games but Highsmith didn't own his face all day like I was afraid of.
-- Bryn Renner has at least as many TD throws as picks.
No picks at all, actually, which was disappointing to say the least. Renner was as efficient as I thought he'd be. Yes on this one.
-- At most two catches go to someone other than UNC's big four of Jones, Highsmith, Houston, and Bernard.
Yes on this one too; Houston had no receptions but the other three accounted for 14 of Renner's 16 completions; the other two were catches by Jheranie Boyd.
Five for ten on the predictions, plus I damn near got the score exactly right (28-17 instead of 30-17.) Season total is 12 for 26, plus 2-1 against the spread and 3-0 straight up.
***************************************
A small recruiting board update precipitated by a big commitment today: Canaan Severin chose UVA over (ultimately) Penn State and Boston College. Huge pickup; Severin's a highly-rated talent with the offers to match, of course, but here's the main significance: This is the second time this year Mike London and staff have gone outside the recruiting home base of Virginia and Maryland, gone head-to-head with power programs for a highly touted prospect, and won. (Greyson Lambert was the first.) Outside the mid-Atlantic, even; we're used to winning battles in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and the like, but Severin is from New England and Lambert is from nowhere if not the Deep South. For London to give UVA cachet enough to win battles on the visitor's territory is excellent progress.
Anyway, the recruiting board sees Severin moved from blue to orange, and FB Nathan Staub added to blue. Nothing major. Lambert will enroll early, so the class can fit 26 guys; and what do you know, 26 is the number of names currently in orange. But we're not quite done. Almost, but not quite; Kevin Green is only still there as a formality and you have to expect a prep year for one or two of these guys. The door isn't closed yet, but I'd guess there are only maybe five guys, at the very most, that the staff is still recruiting for 2012.
***************************************
Next part of any good weekend review is the Senior Seasons section, in which we catch up with the verbal commitments of 2012 as they make their way through their last high school seasons.
Victory Christian 26, Florida Air 17: Demeitre Brim returned to action from a broken jaw. He's Victory's quarterback; Victory is now 1-2.
Franklin 49, Hillsborough 20: Kye Morgan ran for 148 yards and a touchdown in the win to even Franklin's record at 1-1.
Central Bucks South 49, Norristown 9: Matt Johns didn't have to do very much, throwing for just 53 yards in a mismatch. CB South is 2-1.
Landstown 48, Princess Anne 0: Kyle Dockins had four catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Landstown is 3-0.)
Norfolk Christian 28, Nansemond-Suffolk 21: NCS was down 21-0 and scored four unanswered touchdowns to win, the game-winner being caught by Wil Wahee. Wahee had 122 receiving yards, Mario Nixon had 125, and each caught six passes. NCS is 2-2.
Bayside 26, Ocean Lakes 21: Anthony Cooper had five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown - a "magnificent over-the-shoulder catch" according to the Virginian-Pilot. Eli Harold had eight catches for 82 yards and would've had a 94-yard touchdown of his own if the play hadn't been negated by a holding call. Both teams are now 2-1.
Varina 17, Thomas Dale 10: Maurice Canady ran four times for 17 yards and caught one pass for minus-3. Varina is 2-0.
Buford 49, Therrell 0 (C.J. Moore; Buford is 5-0.)
St. Joseph 52, Middle Township 0 (Max Valles; St. Joseph is 2-0.)
Malvern Prep 27, Archbishop Carroll (DC) 17 (Michael Mooney; Malvern is 2-1.)
Bethel 20, Hampton 0 (Jamall Brown; Hampton is 2-1.)
First Colonial 27, Green Run 20 (Mark Hall; Green Run is 1-2.)
Hermitage 37, Glen Allen 7 (Andre Miles-Redmond; Hermitage is 2-0.)
Canaan Severin committed just in time to get in on this action, except that his season doesn't actually start til next week.
Another note: Some of these papers that I get this news from only go to press like once or twice a week, and not on Monday, which means I see a few results a week late. Sean Karl's ESM squad won their opener in a blowout last weekend, and Greyson Lambert also won. The latter had a bye this weekend; the former, I have no idea what happened. Might have to create a separate week-old category. Lambert's stats last weekend were impressive: 12 of 16 for 249 yards and four touchdowns in a 50-12 win.
Well, now I bet you're just dying to hear about what the ACC's newcomers will bring to the league in its various sports. And you will. Tomorrow. Teven Jones was slated for tomorrow but he is now bumped to Wednesday. I leave you with this: the inevitable discussion between the two dying football conferences about a merger to potentially save their BCS slot. Hmmm: a football conference with the following teams:
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Iowa State
Baylor
Louisville
Cincinnati
South Florida
Connecticut
Rutgers
West Virginia
Except not all of them; either Missouri or WVU is probably headed to the SEC and I think eventually UConn and Rutgers are ACC-bound. So lop off the bottom three in your mind.
It would suck for Louisville, Cincy, and USF, but I still think the Big 12's best course of action is to seek a merger with the MWC instead. A Big East/Big 12 merger is geographically bizarre and looks more like a holding pen for future Big Ten raids than an actual conference.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
season preview: Miami
Miami Hurricanes
Schedule:
9/5: @ Maryland (Mon.)
9/10: BYE
9/17: Ohio State
9/24: Kansas State
10/1: Bethune-Cookman
10/8: @ Virginia Tech
10/15: @ North Carolina
10/22: Georgia Tech
10/27: Virginia (Thu.)
11/5: Duke
11/12: @ Florida State
11/19: @ South Florida
11/25: Boston College (Fri.)
Skip: Clemson, NC State, Wake Forest
Projected starters:
QB: Jacory Harris (Sr.)
RB: Lamar Miller (rSo.)
RB: Mike James (Jr.)
WR: Travis Benjamin (Sr.)
WR: Laron Byrd (Sr.)
TE: Blake Ayles (Sr.)
LT: Malcolm Bunche (rFr.)
LG: Harland Gunn (5Sr.)
C: Tyler Horn (5Sr.)
RG: Brandon Washington (Jr.)
RT: Jermaine Johnson (rSo.)
DE: Adewale Ojomo (Jr.)
DT: Micanor Regis (Sr.)
DT: Marcus Forston (Jr.)
DE: Olivier Vernon (Jr.)
OLB: Ramon Buchanan (Sr.)
ILB: Jordan Futch (Sr.)
OLB: Sean Spence (Sr.)
CB: Lee Chambers (5Sr.)
CB: Jojo Nicolas (Sr.)
SS: Ray-Ray Armstrong (Jr.)
FS: Vaughn Telemaque (Jr.)
K: Matt Goudis (Fr.)
P: Matt Goudis (Fr.)
(Italics indicate new starter.)
Coach: Al Golden (1st season)
Media prediction: 2nd, Coastal Division
All-ACC:
2010 1st team: WR Leonard Hankerson, G Brandon Washington, P Matt Bosher
2010 2nd team: RB Damien Berry, OT Orlando Franklin, DE Allen Bailey, LB Sean Spence, CB Brandon Harris, S Ray-Ray Armstrong
2010 HM: LB Colin McCarthy
2011 preseason: G Brandon Washington, C Tyler Horn, LB Sean Spence, S Ray-Ray Armstrong
(Italics indicate departed player.)
Another new ACC regime begins in Miami, where Randy Shannon worked hard at cleaning up the thuggy perception of the Hurricane football team but couldn't clean up the wins column enough to satisfy the brass. In steps Al Golden, literally only two steps removed from his position as UVA DC. Anyone who can take Temple to a bowl game can probably coach some damn football, so the world waits to see what he can do when dropped into Talent Central.
OFFENSE
Probably the only major issue holding the Canes back is the one under center. Jacory Harris never got free from the interception bug, and Stephen Morris - Harris's replacement after being concussed by John-Kevin Dolce - continued Harris's tendency to huck the ball into the waiting hands of defenders. All told, Miami passers threw 27 interceptions, an average of more than two per game. If a quarterback isn't showing improvement in the turnover department going into his senior year, it'll probably continue to be a thing, so Harris will be pushed heavily and perhaps replaced midseason by the sophomore Morris unless the interceptions stop.
Miami could be a relative juggernaut offensively if they can solve the interception problem. (And if they decide to put an 11th player on the field.) Even with Leonard Hankerson gone, Miami has a pair of dangerous receivers in Travis Benjamin and Laron Byrd. Though Byrd technically played second fiddle to Benjamin on the depth chart last year while Hankerson ate up all the rest of the catches, Benjamin and Byrd finished with roughly equal stats. Behind them, the competition is fierce to be the third receiver on the field. At tight end, the competition is even crazier; the best option might be Blake Ayles, who took advantage of the NCAA's get-out-of-jail-free card from USC and can play right away.
The running attack should be good, too, especially behind a heavily experienced offensive line. Four starters return there, including preseason all-conference guys Tyler Horn and Brandon Washington anchoring the middle; Harland Gunn is a good player in his own right and the player on the line with the most starts under his belt. That's a powerful interior line that can really blast open some holes for the running backs. The left tackle job would likely have belonged to Seantrel Henderson, but back surgery puts a kibosh on those plans, and redshirt freshman Malcolm Bunche will take over the job.
The abovementioned running backs are Lamar Miller and Mike James, both big guys that could both pull a 25-carry-per game load if needed. James especially is a bowling ball type at under six feet and 222 pounds. Miami had a very good running game last year and it'll probably be even better this time out.
DEFENSE
Thanks to the pass-rushing acumen of Allen Bailey and some outstanding cornerbacks, Miami's pass defense was stout, but the run defense didn't quite live up to its billing. With Micanor Regis and Marcus Forston coming back to start at DT and having an extra year of experience, the interior line should be a good start. On the ends, Olivier Vernon and Adewale Ojomo are good pass-rushers but not great run-stoppers. Both of the backup ends are seniors and should figure heavily into the rotation, giving Miami solid depth on the line. The line lacks big-name players but looks solid regardless.
The real star of the defense, with Bailey now gone, is outside linebacker Sean Spence, likely poised for a national breakout season. Spence had 17.5 TFL last year, of which only two were sacks, and was second on the team in pass breakups in 2010 as well. Teams wanting to avoid running to his side will deal with Ramon Buchanan instead, another talented player if not quite on Spence's level. This is where Miami will look to for playmaking against the run. The linebacking corps would be in serious competition for best in the conference if the middle weren't so up in the air. Neither Jordan Futch or James Gaines - the two main suspects for the starting job - started any games last year, and Gaines played in only six.
The cornerbacks are likewise a work in progress after Miami lost so many last year. Lee Chambers is a career special-teamer, and Jojo Nicolas moved over from safety to shore up the position. Miami could afford to because Ray Ray Armstrong - despite not technically being a starter last year - is clearly ready for the job, and Vaughn Telemaque is a reliable if not flashy player.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Both kicking jobs are open, and the inside track probably belongs to freshman Matt Goudis, but competition goes on. Travis Benjamin will return both kicks and punts.
OUTLOOK
As with last year, answering a few questions could see Miami in heavy contention for a division title and a trip to the championship game. But one of the toughest questions is: how will they cope with the schedule? They must deal with Ohio State in the OOC, and trips to Virginia Tech and Florida State loom large as well; then there's the fact that they have two games on short rest, and the cherry on top is that the "extra prep time" game after their Thursday nighter against UVA, is Duke. So even with a good defense and what should be an excellent run game, Miami's win-loss record might not improve greatly. But they should still be one of the ACC's toughest outs, and undoubtedly a bowl team.
Edit: I SURE PICKED A HELLUVA DAY FOR THIS ONE I MEAN JEEBUS
******************************************************
Some newsy bits:
- Danny Hultzen signed with the Mariners last night at almost literally the last possible moment. That wasn't too surprising, although it did offer a sliver of hope that he might pull a shocker and skip the pros for one more year. Nevertheless he deserves every dime he makes, and hopefully will be in the majors soon. The bigger surprise is that recruited pitcher Christian Binford also signed (with the Royals) and won't be arriving in the fall. Disappointing; I thought Binford had the goods to challenge for the rotation as soon as 2013, and frankly would have far improved his draft stock from the 30th round, where he was taken. However, Derek Fisher did not sign, allowing UVA to keep its top (by a longshot) hitting prospect.
- Whether there's any legs to this story or not, who really knows? This is the internet, after all. "This story" involves a South Carolina baseball player "doing something very, very bad," which they won't specify but is rumored to involve one of their players faking his SAT score in order to get eligible. If not true - highly possible as this is the internet - then I guess I've been a naughty rumormongerer. If true, it would be a pretty awful thing for the Gamecocks, as their CWS titles would surely be erased. It's different from a chunk of the team getting impermissible benefits, from, say, a tattoo parlor, since most of the team had to know or suspect what was going on and nobody was blabbing. A faked SAT score, that's a highly unfortunate thunderbolt from the sky and wraps up a bunch of innocent players into someone's greed and selfishness. That's the part where I feel bad for South Carolina. The part where I get pissed off is, suppose that was someone who played a big role in beating UVA during this year's CWS? If A = B and then B = C, then fuck that guy, man.
- Fullback Ryan Cobb has left the football team mid-fall. Huh. With Max Milien and Terence Fells-Danzer still at fullback, it's not a big thing this year, but they're both seniors. Cobb would've had the starting job open for him in 2012. For now, tight end Zach Swanson has been working out at fullback, which, along with Milien playing the position, seems to indicate that the coaches want the fullback to be more of an H-back (combo fullback and tight end) that actively participates in the offense a la Jason Snelling instead of just a guy who runs in front of the tailback hitting the first guy he sees. Freshman linebacker D.J. Hill is another guy who gets a lot of mention as a possible future fullback.
- Mike London talked about wanting to thin down the reps at quarterback and give the lion's share to a couple players as the season approaches. That's been done now; the winners of the derby are, for now, Mike Rocco and David Watford. One man's interpretation: Rocco is nominally the starter and Watford is in the lead for the backup position, but if the coaches don't see enough out of him, he'll redshirt. One man's prediction: Rocco starts William & Mary, and Watford plays just enough this season to raise the hackles of the "redshirt everyone" crowd.
Schedule:
9/5: @ Maryland (Mon.)
9/10: BYE
9/17: Ohio State
9/24: Kansas State
10/1: Bethune-Cookman
10/8: @ Virginia Tech
10/15: @ North Carolina
10/22: Georgia Tech
10/27: Virginia (Thu.)
11/5: Duke
11/12: @ Florida State
11/19: @ South Florida
11/25: Boston College (Fri.)
Skip: Clemson, NC State, Wake Forest
Projected starters:
QB: Jacory Harris (Sr.)
RB: Lamar Miller (rSo.)
RB: Mike James (Jr.)
WR: Travis Benjamin (Sr.)
WR: Laron Byrd (Sr.)
TE: Blake Ayles (Sr.)
LT: Malcolm Bunche (rFr.)
LG: Harland Gunn (5Sr.)
C: Tyler Horn (5Sr.)
RG: Brandon Washington (Jr.)
RT: Jermaine Johnson (rSo.)
DE: Adewale Ojomo (Jr.)
DT: Micanor Regis (Sr.)
DT: Marcus Forston (Jr.)
DE: Olivier Vernon (Jr.)
OLB: Ramon Buchanan (Sr.)
ILB: Jordan Futch (Sr.)
OLB: Sean Spence (Sr.)
CB: Lee Chambers (5Sr.)
CB: Jojo Nicolas (Sr.)
SS: Ray-Ray Armstrong (Jr.)
FS: Vaughn Telemaque (Jr.)
K: Matt Goudis (Fr.)
P: Matt Goudis (Fr.)
(Italics indicate new starter.)
Coach: Al Golden (1st season)
Media prediction: 2nd, Coastal Division
All-ACC:
2010 1st team: WR Leonard Hankerson, G Brandon Washington, P Matt Bosher
2010 2nd team: RB Damien Berry, OT Orlando Franklin, DE Allen Bailey, LB Sean Spence, CB Brandon Harris, S Ray-Ray Armstrong
2010 HM: LB Colin McCarthy
2011 preseason: G Brandon Washington, C Tyler Horn, LB Sean Spence, S Ray-Ray Armstrong
(Italics indicate departed player.)
Another new ACC regime begins in Miami, where Randy Shannon worked hard at cleaning up the thuggy perception of the Hurricane football team but couldn't clean up the wins column enough to satisfy the brass. In steps Al Golden, literally only two steps removed from his position as UVA DC. Anyone who can take Temple to a bowl game can probably coach some damn football, so the world waits to see what he can do when dropped into Talent Central.
OFFENSE
Probably the only major issue holding the Canes back is the one under center. Jacory Harris never got free from the interception bug, and Stephen Morris - Harris's replacement after being concussed by John-Kevin Dolce - continued Harris's tendency to huck the ball into the waiting hands of defenders. All told, Miami passers threw 27 interceptions, an average of more than two per game. If a quarterback isn't showing improvement in the turnover department going into his senior year, it'll probably continue to be a thing, so Harris will be pushed heavily and perhaps replaced midseason by the sophomore Morris unless the interceptions stop.
Miami could be a relative juggernaut offensively if they can solve the interception problem. (And if they decide to put an 11th player on the field.) Even with Leonard Hankerson gone, Miami has a pair of dangerous receivers in Travis Benjamin and Laron Byrd. Though Byrd technically played second fiddle to Benjamin on the depth chart last year while Hankerson ate up all the rest of the catches, Benjamin and Byrd finished with roughly equal stats. Behind them, the competition is fierce to be the third receiver on the field. At tight end, the competition is even crazier; the best option might be Blake Ayles, who took advantage of the NCAA's get-out-of-jail-free card from USC and can play right away.
The running attack should be good, too, especially behind a heavily experienced offensive line. Four starters return there, including preseason all-conference guys Tyler Horn and Brandon Washington anchoring the middle; Harland Gunn is a good player in his own right and the player on the line with the most starts under his belt. That's a powerful interior line that can really blast open some holes for the running backs. The left tackle job would likely have belonged to Seantrel Henderson, but back surgery puts a kibosh on those plans, and redshirt freshman Malcolm Bunche will take over the job.
The abovementioned running backs are Lamar Miller and Mike James, both big guys that could both pull a 25-carry-per game load if needed. James especially is a bowling ball type at under six feet and 222 pounds. Miami had a very good running game last year and it'll probably be even better this time out.
DEFENSE
Thanks to the pass-rushing acumen of Allen Bailey and some outstanding cornerbacks, Miami's pass defense was stout, but the run defense didn't quite live up to its billing. With Micanor Regis and Marcus Forston coming back to start at DT and having an extra year of experience, the interior line should be a good start. On the ends, Olivier Vernon and Adewale Ojomo are good pass-rushers but not great run-stoppers. Both of the backup ends are seniors and should figure heavily into the rotation, giving Miami solid depth on the line. The line lacks big-name players but looks solid regardless.
The real star of the defense, with Bailey now gone, is outside linebacker Sean Spence, likely poised for a national breakout season. Spence had 17.5 TFL last year, of which only two were sacks, and was second on the team in pass breakups in 2010 as well. Teams wanting to avoid running to his side will deal with Ramon Buchanan instead, another talented player if not quite on Spence's level. This is where Miami will look to for playmaking against the run. The linebacking corps would be in serious competition for best in the conference if the middle weren't so up in the air. Neither Jordan Futch or James Gaines - the two main suspects for the starting job - started any games last year, and Gaines played in only six.
The cornerbacks are likewise a work in progress after Miami lost so many last year. Lee Chambers is a career special-teamer, and Jojo Nicolas moved over from safety to shore up the position. Miami could afford to because Ray Ray Armstrong - despite not technically being a starter last year - is clearly ready for the job, and Vaughn Telemaque is a reliable if not flashy player.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Both kicking jobs are open, and the inside track probably belongs to freshman Matt Goudis, but competition goes on. Travis Benjamin will return both kicks and punts.
OUTLOOK
As with last year, answering a few questions could see Miami in heavy contention for a division title and a trip to the championship game. But one of the toughest questions is: how will they cope with the schedule? They must deal with Ohio State in the OOC, and trips to Virginia Tech and Florida State loom large as well; then there's the fact that they have two games on short rest, and the cherry on top is that the "extra prep time" game after their Thursday nighter against UVA, is Duke. So even with a good defense and what should be an excellent run game, Miami's win-loss record might not improve greatly. But they should still be one of the ACC's toughest outs, and undoubtedly a bowl team.
Edit: I SURE PICKED A HELLUVA DAY FOR THIS ONE I MEAN JEEBUS
******************************************************
Some newsy bits:
- Danny Hultzen signed with the Mariners last night at almost literally the last possible moment. That wasn't too surprising, although it did offer a sliver of hope that he might pull a shocker and skip the pros for one more year. Nevertheless he deserves every dime he makes, and hopefully will be in the majors soon. The bigger surprise is that recruited pitcher Christian Binford also signed (with the Royals) and won't be arriving in the fall. Disappointing; I thought Binford had the goods to challenge for the rotation as soon as 2013, and frankly would have far improved his draft stock from the 30th round, where he was taken. However, Derek Fisher did not sign, allowing UVA to keep its top (by a longshot) hitting prospect.
- Whether there's any legs to this story or not, who really knows? This is the internet, after all. "This story" involves a South Carolina baseball player "doing something very, very bad," which they won't specify but is rumored to involve one of their players faking his SAT score in order to get eligible. If not true - highly possible as this is the internet - then I guess I've been a naughty rumormongerer. If true, it would be a pretty awful thing for the Gamecocks, as their CWS titles would surely be erased. It's different from a chunk of the team getting impermissible benefits, from, say, a tattoo parlor, since most of the team had to know or suspect what was going on and nobody was blabbing. A faked SAT score, that's a highly unfortunate thunderbolt from the sky and wraps up a bunch of innocent players into someone's greed and selfishness. That's the part where I feel bad for South Carolina. The part where I get pissed off is, suppose that was someone who played a big role in beating UVA during this year's CWS? If A = B and then B = C, then fuck that guy, man.
- Fullback Ryan Cobb has left the football team mid-fall. Huh. With Max Milien and Terence Fells-Danzer still at fullback, it's not a big thing this year, but they're both seniors. Cobb would've had the starting job open for him in 2012. For now, tight end Zach Swanson has been working out at fullback, which, along with Milien playing the position, seems to indicate that the coaches want the fullback to be more of an H-back (combo fullback and tight end) that actively participates in the offense a la Jason Snelling instead of just a guy who runs in front of the tailback hitting the first guy he sees. Freshman linebacker D.J. Hill is another guy who gets a lot of mention as a possible future fullback.
- Mike London talked about wanting to thin down the reps at quarterback and give the lion's share to a couple players as the season approaches. That's been done now; the winners of the derby are, for now, Mike Rocco and David Watford. One man's interpretation: Rocco is nominally the starter and Watford is in the lead for the backup position, but if the coaches don't see enough out of him, he'll redshirt. One man's prediction: Rocco starts William & Mary, and Watford plays just enough this season to raise the hackles of the "redshirt everyone" crowd.
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