2008 Virginia Football Schedule Announced

Official Release
University of Virginia Athletic Media Relations
For more information, please visit Virginiasports.com

The Atlantic Coast Conference released the 2008 football schedules for the league's 12 schools and the University of Virginia's slate features 12 regular season games, including seven home contests. Starting times for all games will be announced at a later date. The Cavaliers will face a total of eight teams that participated in bowl games last year, including all three bowl championship subdivision non-conference opponents. Seven of UVa's opponents won at least eight games in 2007.

"We like challenges and this is certainly a challenging schedule with four non-conference opponents who played in the post season and three teams in some of the pre-season top-10 polls," said Virginia coach Al Groh. "This schedule very clearly sets the bar as to the level of performance we must strive for."

For the first time in three years UVa plays its season opener at home when it hosts Southern California Aug. 30 at Scott Stadium. The match-up will be the first meeting between the Cavaliers and Trojans in football. The game marks a rare trek by USC to an Atlantic Coast Conference venue. The only previous occurrence was in 1998 when USC played at Florida State and lost 30-10 at Doak Campbell Stadium. USC won the 2008 Rose Bowl and finished the season with an 11-2 record. It marked USC's sixth consecutive Bowl Championship Series game appearance. The Trojans were ranked No. 3 in the final 2007 Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the final USA Today (coaches) rankings.

The following week Virginia renews its rivalry with Richmond that dates back to 1893 when the teams meet Sept. 6 in Charlottesville. It will mark the 29th meeting between the two teams. Virginia leads the series 24-2-2. Virginia's other non-conference match-ups include the Cavaliers' first trip to Connecticut (Sept. 13) and a home game against East Carolina (Oct. 11).

Virginia's home ACC schedule is highlighted by Clemson's first trip to Scott Stadium since 2004. The teams will meet on Nov. 22 in UVa's final home game of the season. The Tigers were 9-4 in 2007, losing to Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Clemson was ranked 21st in the final AP poll. Virginia's four ACC road games include three trips to teams that appeared in bowl games in 2007. Wake Forest won the Meineke Car Care Bowl in 2007 to finish the season 9-4. Georgia Tech appeared in the Humanitarian Bowl and was 7-6. The Yellow Jackets will be under the direction of new first-year coach Paul Johnson in 2008. Virginia Tech posted an 11-3 record including a loss to Kansas in the FedEx Orange Bowl.

Season tickets will go on sale on February 22 with a priority order and seating deadline of April 4. The Virginia Athletics Foundation's priority deadline is March 31. Reserved seat season tickets for 2008 are $269 for the seven-game home schedule. To purchase season tickets or for more information on Cavalier football tickets, visit the ticketing section of VirginiaSports.com or call the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-542-8821 or 434/924-8821. The UVa athletics ticket office is open to the public weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The 2008 Virginia Spring Football Festival will take place Saturday, April 12 at Scott Stadium. Admission and parking for the event are free. Gates open at noon for fans to enjoy interactive games. The Virginia football team will take the field at 2 p.m.

2008 Virginia Football Schedule
Aug. 30 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Sept. 6 RICHMOND
Sept. 13 at Connecticut
Sept. 27 at Duke
Oct. 4 MARYLAND
Oct. 11 EAST CAROLINA
Oct. 18 NORTH CAROLINA
Oct. 25 at Georgia Tech
Nov. 1 MIAMI
Nov. 8 at Wake Forest
Nov. 22 CLEMSON
Nov. 29 at Virginia Tech

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Football recruiting ...

Wednesday was National Signing Day and, as expected, the University of Virginia signed 18 football recruits. At this point, that number is expected to be the final number, as the staff isn't expecting to add any others to the fold (although it is a possibility).

In case you missed it, be sure to check out my analysis of Virginia's 2008 class, which was rated the No. 61 in the country by Rivals.com and No. 62 by Scout.com. In the analysis, I picked which players I feel will make the biggest impact in their respective career as well as which player could have the biggest impact in the 2008 season. Also, I give my take on Virginia and recruiting the state of Virginia.

There will be several more articles as well, including a feature on Solon (OH) linebacker Steve Greer and his road to signing with Virginia, as well as a "Recruiting Roundtable" by next week.

2009 class

Recruiting never stops, so as the 2008 class coverage comes to an end, we will now focus even more on the 2009 class.

Virginia already is off to a solid start in 2009 recruiting, having landed speedy Harrisonburg (VA) running back Alex Owah. The staff has already extended a number of scholarship offers, so we will be tracking those in the coming weeks. Later today, stay tuned for the latest on Deep Run (Glen Allen, VA) defensive end/tight end Jake Snyder. Snyder, whose brother Matt is a walk-on wide receiver at UVa, now has two scholarship offers in the fold.

Virginia will hold a junior day on Feb. 24, so we'll also be trying to track those that plan to be in attendance. Snyder is one of those planning to be there.

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 Sabre Edge Sign Up and Information Page. If you're already on board as an Edge subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting.

Sabre Edge recruiting updates from the past week ...

Reflections and Analysis on UVa's '08 Class
Signing Day has come and gone and the Virginia Cavaliers received 18 letters of intent. Barring any late additions, that is where this class will stay. Which players project as the top high-impact kids in the class? Which players could see early playing time? Check out this piece for those answers and more, including a look at recruiting the state of Virginia.

Smalls Reflects on Visit, Opportunity at UVa
Everything came together pretty quickly for Plano East (Plano, TX) quarterback Riko Smalls. From the time he received a phone call from primary recruiter Steve Bernstein to the time he verbally committed to head coach Al Groh last Tuesday, becoming a member of Virginia's 2008 class happened fast for the 6-1, 190-pound standout.

Price Discusses Commitment
Great Bridge (Chesapeake, VA) head coach Pete Gale says defensive lineman/offensive lineman Michael Price "caught fire" about halfway through the 2006 season. Coach Gale was referring to Price's dedication to football, in terms of commitment on and off the field. The 6-5, 260-pound senior credits a fellow teammate as part of the inspiration.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• Great Bridge Lineman Makes Pledge

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Blog Banter: Virginia Football 2008

Virginia's new and improved football schedule, now with more nuts!

Honestly, I see another 9 win season in there. And I also see another 5 win season. Who the hell knows? With Clemson, USC, and road trips to Huskyville and Hokieville, this is a tougher slate of pelts.

Read the full blog entry here.

Robert Mahini (Vandy-Hoo)
TheSabre.com

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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

• Wrestling Scores Sunday Road Wins Over N.C. State, Duke: The Virginia wrestling team picked up two conference victories Sunday in Durham, N.C. The Cavaliers opened the day with a 30-12 win over North Carolina State at Durham's Riverside High School, then capped the day with a 19-15 triumph over Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Virginia (18-4, 3-1 ACC) received a monster performance out of 184-pounder Rocco Caponi. Ranked 12th nationally, Caponi recorded two falls, needing just one minute, 48 seconds total to do so. Caponi improved to 34-2 this season and set the single-season wins record for a UVa junior, topping the previous mark of 32, set by Mike Krafchick in 1994.
• Cavalier Women's Tennis Wins ACC Opener at VT: The Virginia women's tennis team opened its 2008 ACC schedule Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 win over intrastate rival Virginia Tech at the Burrows/Burleson Tennis Center. The Cavaliers improve to 2-3 overall, 1-0 in the ACC, with the victory while the Hokies fall to 5-2 overall, 0-1 in the conference.
• No. 1 Cavaliers Improve to 7-0 with Win Over Harvard: The top ranked Virginia men's tennis team improved to 7-0 on the season with a 6-1 victory over No. 51 Harvard Sunday at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club. The win extended the Cavaliers' home winning streak to 21 matches, setting a new school record.
• Zoll Dishes Out 700th Career Assist In 77-58 Victory Over FSU: Senior point guard Sharneé Zoll dished out nine assists, including the 700th of her career, to lead the Cavaliers to victory over Florida State, 77-58, Sunday at John Paul Jones Arena. Zoll, who is chasing the all-time Virginia and Atlantic Coast Conference record for career assists, became just the third league player in history to surpass the 700-assist mark. With 707, she is now 22 helpers away from tying former UVa great Dawn Staley's record of 729. Lyndra Littles (23 points), Monica Wright (14 points) and Aisha Mohammed (10 points) all benefited from Zoll's direction of the Cavalier offense. Littles was impressive in transition, while Mohammed took care of the boards by hauling down a game-high 10 for her 10th double-double of the season.
• 2008 Men's Golf Spring Outlook: A combination of three returning veterans and four newcomers are the makeup of the 2008 Virginia men's golf team that has its sights returning on postseason competition.
• 2008 Women's Golf Spring Outlook: First-year Virginia women's golf coach Kim Lewellen did not know exactly what to expect last fall when the Cavaliers played the fall portion of their 2007-08 schedule. She had a roster that featured four newcomers and four returning veterans and the program was competing for the first time without three-time All-American Leah Wigger and several other seniors who had played key roles in quickly establishing UVa golf as a nationally prominent program. After four fall tournaments, the Cavaliers found themselves ranked No. 23 by Golfweek and with a whole new look.
• Thompson, Adams Named to Baseball America Preseason All-America Team: Virginia's Jacob Thompson and David Adams have been named to Baseball America's 2008 Preseason All-America team. Thompson, a right-handed pitcher, and Adams, an infielder, each earned second-team accolades. The honor is one of many for the duo in the preseason. Both were named to the preseason Louisville Slugger All-America squad, with Thompson nabbing first-team honors and Adams taking third-team laurels, and each is on the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award. Thompson also was a first-team NCBWA Preseason All-American.
• Cavaliers Collect Academic All-ACC Honors: Virginia volleyball players Melissa Caldwell and Sarah Kirkwood were named to the 2007 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Volleyball Team, announced Friday by the league office. Caldwell, an economics and public policy major, was a four-year starting libero for the Cavaliers. The Houston native set the program's all-time record for career digs as a fourth-year in 2007. Kirkwood, Virginia's first two-time All-American, is a cognitive science major at UVa. The Lawn resident started was also a four-year starter at outside hitter and this past season set career marks in service aces, kills and attack attempts. To be eligible for consideration, student-athletes must have earned a 3.0 GPA or better in the Fall 2007 semester and possess a cumulative GPA above 3.0, as well.

For more Hoo news or to read full releases, check out Virginiasports.com.

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Issue No. 312 - October 8, 2007

Tennis Duo Wins Title

In the spring, the Virginia men's tennis team had quite a list of accomplishments. The Cavs became the first ACC team to advance to the Final Four and Somdev Devvarman became the first player in school and conference history to win the individual NCAA Championship.

The program isn't showing any signs of slowing down this fall.

Devvarman and Treat Huey teamed up to win the doubles title at the ITA All-American Championships this past weekend on the campus of the University of Tulsa. They are the first ACC duo to win the doubles title at the prestigious tournament. Huey and Devvarman, the preseason No. 1 team in the ITA doubles rankings, took down 20th-ranked Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit of Mississippi in the final, 6-2, 7-5.

"They have played together for a long time and deserve to have this level of success," coach Brian Boland said in news release. "We are proud of their success and we look to them to continue to develop and be tremendous leaders for our team as the season progresses."

Coming Soon

The Sabre has you covered when it comes to Hoo news. Here are a few of the articles to expect on the site in the coming days:

• Position Reviews JHoo breaks down the situation at the various positions on the Virginia football team.
• Sabre FanWatch The Sabre FanWatch series returns this week.
• UNC, Boston College The Sabre provides coverage of the Hoos' next two basketball games.

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

Slide Continues For Cavs
Lucky No. 13 for Wake Forest proved to be unlucky No. 8 for Virginia. The Demon Deacons took an early lead and held the visiting Cavaliers at arm's length the rest of the way to prevail 80-64 on Saturday. It was Wake's 13th home win of the season and the 8th ACC loss for the Hoos. UVa has dropped six straight games and nine of 10 in 2008.

Clemson Crushes Virginia
The Virginia men's basketball team did not look like a squad that had lost seven of its last eight games Thursday night against Clemson. The bad news? It looked worse. The Cavaliers showed no sense of urgency as Clemson torched Virginia 82-51 at the John Paul Jones Arena, running the UVa's losing streak to five games.

Best Seat In The House: Chris Horne
Virginia picked up 18 signees on football's National Signing Day and fans are naturally interested to learn more about the newest Cavaliers. Sabre recruiting analyst Chris Horne joined Jay James on The Best Seat in the House to talk about quarterback Riko Smalls, running back Torrey Mack, defensive prospect Ausar Walcott, the tight ends, and more. Listen to the free interview to catch up on the class.

The Mike London Effect
You need not enroll in the McIntire Executive Development program to understand that alphas are rare. A-players and, as I like to call them, "1 percenters" are few and far between. And Mike London is all of the above . that unique natural born leader. So it came as less-than-no-surprise to me when Richmond hired him recently. But this isn't a column about London leaving for Richmond. That's old news, and in the point-and-click generation, that is soooo two weeks ago. This is about the future for UVa and for London.

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