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 SabreMail - October 9, 2006 |
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SabreMail Contest Returns! After a hiatus, the SabreMail Contest returns this week with basketball on the brain. Practice starts at the end of this week and the season is just more than a month away so Virginia fans should be getting excited. After all, there's the brand new John Paul Jones Arena and a lot of optimism surrounding the potential for the season. With that in mind, this week's SabreMail contest is simple. Choose an opponent on either the men's or women's hoops schedule and write a joke, riddle, lyric, poem, "smackdown" story, or haiku about that foe. The most entertaining one to me wins. Wins what? You'll win 2 free months of an EDGE subscription!
Kris Wright
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| Recruiting News |
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This Week In Recruiting By Chris Horne Football recruiting. Last week, I put out the Countdown to Signing Day edition for defense. The staff has done an excellent job recruiting the defensive side of the ball for the 2007 class. They have star prospects (four four-stars, in fact) committed for the defensive line, linebacker, and defensive back positions. To find out who the staff has so far and where they may go with the future in the 2007 class, be sure to check out last week's article. I will continue to produce these articles each month up until Signing Day 2007. There has also been a recent update on 2006 signee turned 2007 commitment Ras-I Dowling. The 6-2, 180-pound prospect has been bumped up to a four-star recruit by Rivals.com. He has turned in an impressive performance at cornerback for Hargrave Military Academy and has impressed HMA Coach Robert Prunty from day one.
Look for updates on several remaining targets this week. Included on the list is an update with Henrico ATH Corey Mosley. The 5-9, 192-pound prospect is the target of an in-state battle between Virginia and Virginia Tech. He may be visiting UVa again for the Maryland game this weekend. UVa is recruiting Mosley as a defensive back initially, but he is being listed as an athlete because he could easily end up on offense.
Game balls . For the second consecutive week, West Springfield quarterback Peter Lalich gets one game ball. The other goes to Chase Minnifield, recipient of the first SabreMail game ball. The 6-5, 225-pound Lalich was a part of history. According to the VHSL record book, the 81-74 decision made for the highest scoring game between two Virginia opponents. Unfortunately for Lalich and his West Springfield teammates, West Potomac came out with the win. Lalich completed 26 of 37 passes for 459 yards and four touchdowns. He rushed nine times for 31 yards and one touchdown. Chase Minnifield helped Henry Clay to its eighth victory in as many games with a 48-20 win over Tates Creek. As usual, the 6'0", 185-pound Minnifield did it all for the Blue Devils. He took a punt 60 yards for a touchdown for the game's first score, rushed for an eight-yard score, and had 7 receptions for 127 yards.
Sabre Edge recruiting updates from the past week ...
Checking in with Ras-I Dowling
Mihota Excited About UVa's Future
Countdown to Signing Day: The Defense Also from the past week ...
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| News, Notes, and Fan Discussion |
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Thread of the Week
Posted by: Bacon on Wed Oct 4 2006 6:36:37 PM Message:
RETURNING
NEW Following up on the thread below, our success will definitely depend on keeping the starting guards healthy and out of foul trouble. JR as the backup point guard isn't a great situation to be in - and far worse Tat or Diane would probably be the 3rd option. We will miss Campbell / TJ more than once this year. Frontcourt is also thin but we have more diverse talent there and can probably backfill pretty well with the new guys. Without having seen the new 7 play, but having read about them a little, it seems like it will be a deep/athletic/taller bench by '07 and definitely next year. Coaches have their hands full incorporating 7 new people, 5 of which expect to be a factor this year, into the system. I have to wonder, did we burn one too many scholarships on this class? Look at the schedule: Should Win (6 - 0): Morgan State, MD Eastern Shore, Hampton, App State, American, Longwood Solid Chance (9 - 3): UNC-Ash, @Purdue, NC St, Stanford, Central/Fl / Utah, MD, WF, Miami, VT, @WF, @ Miami, @NCST, Tough Games (3 - 4): AZ, San Juan Shootout title, Gonzaga, FSU, @ MD, @ Clem, @VT, Probable Losses (0 - 4): @UNC, Duke, @BC, GT 18-11 (8-8) going into the ACC tourney. Looks like we need to steal 1 or 2 on the road or knock off one of the big boys at home to make a case for the NCAA, but certainly doable. With the weak ACC and favorable schedule we have some more chances to steal a few, but that's also why we will need 20 wins after the ACC tourney to make the dance.
Subject: Don't know that I agree with that breakdown... here's my list: Should Win (8 - 0): Morgan State, MD Eastern Shore, Hampton, App State, American, Longwood, UNC-Ash, Central/Fl/Utah Solid Chance (10 - 3): @Purdue, NC St, Stanford, MD, WF, Miami, VT, @WF, @ Miami, @NCST, San Juan Shootout title, FSU, @ VT Tough Games (3 - 3): AZ, Gonzaga, @ MD, @ Clem, GT, @ BC Probable Losses (0 - 2): @UNC, Duke Total 21-8... IMO, that gets us at worst, a 5 seed in the dance and that's good enough for me
Posted by: hoomonger on Wed Oct 4 2006 7:49:24 PM Message: and 8.5 ACC wins with rounding but roughly these likelihoods:
Zona 40%
Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...
To read the full stories or gather more information on Virginia athletics, check out Virginiasports.com.
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When deciding how to outfit your little ones this Halloween, be sure to check out some of the products in stock at UVaBookstores.com. One idea is to dress up your youngster as a Virginia football player or cheerleader (items shown above). Click the link below to see other items in stock and ready to ship. Happy Halloween! |
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| SabreMail History |
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Issue No. 212 - October 21, 2005 Post of the Week
Subject: Crow
Message: Not on this board, but in conversations with other fans I've recently been a grumbler and a Hagans non-believer. I parroted the criticisms of his being too short to find receivers hidden by bigger linemen. I speculated that his speed was not particularly effective against top-tier teams possessing equal quickness. I wondered about his decision-making, and I advised we might have been better off promoting one of the taller, younger QBs to starter and using Hagans as we did when Matt Schaub was around. Gutsy and competitive as is, I claimed we could never win a truly big game with him as our starting quarterback. Sunday morning, I bypassed my usual bacon and eggs and ate a hearty helping of crow. I've got to tell you, it was absolutely delicious. When I'm wrong, I'm very, very wrong. Thread of the Week
Subject: Marcus Hamilton's excellent night vs FSU, rest of secondary and UNC
Against FSU, Hamilton drew the receiver on the wide side of the field with limited safety help. He did a great job in shutting down his side of the field in coverage. Just as impressive was Hamilton's run defense. By my account, Weatherford threw to Hamilton's side 9 times on Saturday. He went 5/9 for 74yards and a pick in those attempts. Two of those completions were to safety valves in the short flat while Hamilton was sitting more back in zone coverage. A third completion for 22 yards was in a zone coverage shaded more inside of Hamilton and in front of the safeties. There was only pass for 28 yard where Hamilton got beat badly in man coverage. that was the jump ball to FSU's giant receiver where Hamilton never turned around to see the ball. All in all, an excellent game in pass coverage.
FSU didn't go after Hamilton but they really went after Mike Brown. Brown had a learning experience as Willie Reid really worked him over. On FSU's first drive, they repeatedly attacked Brown with great success. Brown was never beat badly but it was constantly in a poor position to make a play on the ball or was a few steps behind on a crossing pattern. Hopefully it was a good learning experience for Brown as Reid will be one of the better receivers he faces for a while. UVA really dropped the safeties back in coverage. The longest pass play was 28 yards which came late in the game(against Hamilton on that jump ball). But all in all, the coverage by the secondary didn't really break down. Think about last year when it seemed that receivers would roam free on a broken play. I think the zone coverage is still a bit loose with some big seams that FSU took advantage of. But hopefully those will tighten as the secondary matures. The safeties didn't make any bad mistakes on pass coverage...but they did make 2 poor plays on the TDs that cost us. Franklin got caught up outside on the TD run and everyone looked bad on the TD catch and run. UNC will be another test. Many of FSU's passes were dinks to the TE/RB and short inside tosses. That's where teams are attacking the defense and that won't change. UNC has the speed at receiver to attack the short zones effectively. I don't think that UNC can win the game unless they make big plays in their passing game. Baker leads the ACC in picks and i think the secondary will get 1 or 2 on Saturday. I'd guess that Baker focuses on attacking Mike Brown, the zone between the LB and the safeties and underneath crossing routes. FSU had no success and in fact threw pics when they went deep. If the secondary can prevent UNC from having success with the deep ball, UVA should win again. And Hamilton continue his march to first team All-ACC.
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What's New on TheSabre.com?Coming Soon October has arrived on the calendar, which means both football and basketball will be buzzing in just a few days. The Sabre is the place to be for all of your Cavalier content as we keep you up to date on all that's going on. Here's a sneak peak at some of the articles to expect on the site in the coming days:
In Case You Missed It ... Sabre articles from the past week
Pirates Punch Out Cavaliers
Best Seat in the House: Willie Davis
Keys to the Game - ECU
Sewell Taking Baby Steps Toward Success
Game Preview: East Carolina, Part 3
The Hawk's Nest - Mental Toughness Needed
Game Preview: East Carolina, Part 2
Hoos Tailgating With Mom - Calico Bean Bake & Slaw
Game Preview: East Carolina, Part 1
Hey, Remember When ... Dunn Came Up Short
The Turning Point - Duke
Greg's Game Grades: UVa 37, Duke 0
10 Things I Learned Against Duke
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Chris Horne, our resident recruiting expert, provides updates throughout the week for Edge subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an Edge subscription, please check out the 
At media day for the Hargrave Military Postgraduate football team, Head Coach Robert Prunty made no secret of what he thought of former Deep Creek (Chesapeake, VA) standout Ras-I Dowling's talents. "He's special," Prunty said back in August. "I don't go on record unless I know a guy can play. This guy is going to be an all-ACC guy." The 6-2, 185-pound recruit, an outstanding athlete who has been timed in the 4.4 range in the 40 and who boasts a 40-inch vertical leap, has done nothing to dissuade Prunty's original evaluation.
Virginia fans have good reason to be excited about the group of defensive recruits the staff has compiled for the 2007 class. With the exception of defensive end, the staff has added talent at each position. Al Groh and company have commitments from one stud nose tackle, five athletic linebackers, one stud linebacker/safety, one stud safety/cornerback and one cornerback the staff is said to be very high on.
GREENVILLE, N.C. - What a difference a week makes. Only seven days after shutting out Duke and limiting the Blue Devils to 100 total offensive yards, Virginia's defense surrendered 304 yards in the first half and 432 over the course of the entire game as East Carolina pillaged the Cavaliers 31-21 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday evening.
Former Virginia defensive back Willie Davis quickly became a fan favorite when he donned the Orange and Blue. He even earned the nickname WD40 (a combination of his initials and his jersey number) because of the affection that Hoos had for him. But his career was cut short by a sudden injury so Davis had to discover life after football. He joined Jed Williams on The Best Seat in the House to talk about his personal experience, finishing his degree at UVa, and more.
All along, most observers pointed to October as the "make or break" portion of the Hoos' season - after all, UVa has one winnable out-of-conference game and three ACC contests on the calendar before Halloween. The first somewhat spooky challenge is overcoming a fast and feisty East Carolina squad. The good news is that the Cavs don't need to dig into their bag of tricks to start with a winning treat. That's because many of this week's Keys to the Game are pretty simple and time-tested in the football world.
The game against Duke was a success. But I'm not talking about the kind of success measured in points and wins. In this rebuilding season, we might actually be rebuilding the most important position on the team. Jameel Sewell, in the second start of his college career, took some important steps toward becoming a quality quarterback.
East Carolina faces an interesting dilemma this week. Does it stick to its bend-but-don't-break mentality on defense and wait for an opportune time to force turnovers? Or does it copy the pattern of others so far this season and blitz Virginia? Either way, this may be the Cavaliers' chance to get the offensive line going because ECU has not used a complicated blitzing scheme this season and that has been the biggest challenge for the Hoos so far.
The Cavaliers travel for the third straight time this week with a trip to East Carolina. When I was at UVa we never played three straight road games, so I can only imagine what type of mental toughness these guys will have to win this next game. It will be very important for the Cavs to build an early lead to help with their chances to win - ECU will be playing with a lot of emotion because they want the satisfaction of beating one of the known teams from the ACC.
The Virginia defense could see something vaguely familiar across the ball this weekend. Why? East Carolina's offense resembles Wyoming's approach, which The Sabre described "as a run-and-shoot style with a vertical tilt." The Pirates like to use controlled passes with the focus on making completions and plays before taking shots down field. That means the Hoos will need a good balance between defensive pressure from the front seven and solid coverage from Byron Glaspy and the secondary.
Virginia travels to East Carolina for the first time ever this weekend so rest assured, the Pirates will be fired up and ready to play. The Cavaliers should have plenty of motivation for this out-of-conference game, though. The Hoos are trying to get back to .500 before a key ACC stretch and this game could loom large in any late-season bowl picture. That means Chris Gould and company need to find a way to win despite being the underdog in this match-up.
It was a crisp November night in 1995 when the Florida State Seminoles brought a No. 2 ranking and a 29-0 ACC record (unbeaten since their induction into the league a few years earlier) into Scott Stadium to throw their weight around. It was almost unimaginable that UVa would be the first ACC team to walk away with a win. It was even more unimaginable that the win would be decided by less than a single yard in less than a second. But that's what happened when Warrick Dunn came up a little bit short.
The Virginia football team needed a win after stumbling out of the blocks this season and the Cavaliers got a victory in a lopsided way against Duke, taking a 37-0 score home from Durham. While several things went well for the Hoos, they set the tone with a pair of plays early that combined for "The Turning Point" of the ACC showdown.
After having disappointing efforts for much of the month, the Cavaliers wrapped up September with a strong showing at Duke in a 37-0 victory. Several units produced their best outings of the season, including much of the defense, which had earned high marks for most of the year anyhow. What grades did the different groups - including the struggling offensive line - take home after a win?
Ah, 37-0. I like that score a lot better. As long as we have the 37, that is. Even if it was Duke. There are many positives to take out of this win, a few negatives lingering, and quite a few questions still unanswered. Still, this week feels a lot better than the last few and I learned some important things this week - including something about true freshman Nate Collins.
