I’m glad they believe in themselves.

Four of those five players return, so the continuity is much better heading into this season. Some linemen said that alone should translate into a group that is more capable of both protecting quarterback Tyler Palko and opening running lanes for tailbacks.

“Last year was tough on all of us because we just didn’t get much of an opportunity to play together until later in the season and, by that time, we were already on our way to a losing record,” said center Joe Villani. “This year, we have four guys together already and, really, we just needed to work one new guy into the mix, which is much easier to do.”

Simonitis added, “We started camp this year ahead of, and I mean by a lot, where we ended last season. It is not even close. I really expect us to not just have a good year, but to be the strength of our offense.”

Part of me thinks that would be tremendous if true. The other part fears that if so, the rest of the offense would be in the gutter if this O-line were the strength of the offense.

As I keep repeating like some football Fox Mulder, I want to believe. It’s just that I’ve seen this O-line the last few years so I have a hard time being optimistic sight unseen. Especially with this returning O-line. Right now, the best I can muster is that I doubt that they will be worse.

The named team captains for the opener aren’t really a surprise: Tyler Palko and Steve Buches on the offense (What? No one from the O-line?) and H.B. Blades and Clint Sessions from the defense. All are seniors.

I don’t know why I felt my rear iris close when I read this.

Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said the top two priorities against Virginia are to stop the run and eliminate the deep play.

“They’re going to take their shots early and probably take their shots often to try to get easy scores and big scores,” Rhoads said, “so we have to protect against it.”

Why do I have the sense that DC Rhoads is more concerned about a deep ball from a 5th year QB who has never started throwing to a full crew of inexperienced WRs — and the only experienced and skilled WR will be covered by Darrelle Revis — then the run? Oh, that’s right, history.

Let’s get to the embarrassing stuff. The WR who left for “personal reasons” in this case was code for criminal charges.

Former Virginia football player Theirrien “Bud” Davis faces a felony charge in Albemarle County. Davis, a reserve wide receiver in 2004 and ‘05, was arrested March 28 and charged with stealing property — textbooks — worth at least $200 “with intent to sell or distribute,” Capt. Michael Coleman of the U.VA. police department said yesterday.

The incident allegedly occurred March 2 at the U.Va. book store. Coleman declined to disclose additional details.

…

Asked yesterday about Davis’ departure, Virginia coach Al Groh said, “This has been an issue that Bud’s been dealing with for awhile. We’ve been in conversation with him over a period of time, and I think we’ll just leave it as a personal issue . . . If it was a playing-time matter, he probably wouldn’t have withdrawn from school.”

You have to be amused about the recent line of Parcell coaching prodigies. They have all adopted this minimal information disclosure and engage in carefully crafted euphemisms that are just accepted when the team is winning and doing well (see Belichick in New England vs. his time in Cleveland). When the team is not meeting expectations or the columnists and writers run out of tolerance for it, it gets old and becomes a source of mocking.

OK, things are a little unsettled in C’ville. Five months ago, in fact, upon punting Ahmad Brooks, Vince Redd and Tony Franklin from the squad (Franklin has since been granted a pardon and plugged into the secondary), Groh allowed that U.Va. was in “a rebuilding circumstance” — rebuilding circumstance being Groh-ese for, umm, rebuilding.

With Davis gone, after being expected to be on the 2-deep and perhaps start — of course with a criminal charge pending since March that the football coaches apparently knew about, you have to wonder why they waited until now — the receiving corp now has a junior walk-on who has never caught a pass on the 2-deep. Starting will be Sophomore Kevin Ogletree.

Coaches and teammates have spoken highly of Ogletree’s ability. At 6-foot-2 and 186 pounds, he’s got the physical tools to be a playmaker. But he saw limited action as a true freshman last season. Five of his seven receptions last year came in a 51-3 win over Temple.

Groh said he isn’t sure what to expect of Ogletree in Saturday’s opener at Pittsburgh.

“Definitely, Kevin Ogletree has got to come in and prove himself,” said senior Fontel Mines, who starts at the other receiver spot.

Returning punts and kickoffs will be a Sophomore transfer from Hawaii, Andrew Pearman

Pearman, younger brother of former Virginia star Alvin Pearman, will return both punts and kickoffs. No one questions Pearman’s speed or elusiveness.

“We want to see if he can catch the ball,” Groh said.

I really hope the special teams coaches are reading this.

The other penchant of the Parcells coaching tree is trying to keep things secret. No matter how silly.

If you went by the depth chart, it would appear that junior Chris Gould will get the first shot at kicking field goals and extra points for the Cavaliers, with sophomore Ryan Weigand starting at punter.

Groh might have a different plan, but don’t try getting the answer before Saturday’s game. Gould remains an option at punter, a position he has held since late in the ‘04 season.

“I probably have [decided on a punter],” Groh said, “but I don’t know that I have necessarily told anybody that.”

Brilliant.

There is still one receiver for Virginia who was expected to start and hasn’t been injured, kicked off the team or arrested. Frontel Mines looks to be lining up against Darrelle Revis.

In Virginia’s upset of No. 4 Florida State, Mines had a career-best five receptions for 49 yards. In the Cavaliers’ comeback win over Minnesota in the Music City Bowl, he caught four passes, including one for a TD late in the third quarter.

With his muscular frame (6-4, 220 pounds), Mines could almost pass for a tight end, and he’s an ideal complement to the sleeker, faster Williams (6-3, 196). Now, however, with Williams out indefinitely, Mines looks around the huddle and sees less-experienced receivers: juniors Emmanuel Byers and Theirrien Davis, sophomores Kevin Ogletree, Andrew Pearman and Maurice Covington.

“The receivers, we just got to embrace the challenge,” said Mines, who’s caught 41 passes for 481 yards and three TDs as a Cavalier. “We’ve got to be ready to step up and fill the void.”

Honestly, if there is a game where Pitt should have the safeties playing closer to the line to help on the run and bring pressure on the QB, this game has to be the one.

Finally, apparently Pitt isn’t the only team that has a leader on defense with great bloodlines that will generate glowing stories. The Cavs have Howie Long’s kid to fill that void.

The kicking situation for Virginia, like Pitt, has yet to be resolved.

The kicking positions “are right up on the same bar of importance with the other positions,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “The one guy I might want back more than anyone else is Connor Hughes.”

Hughes set a new standard for dependability at the placekicking position throughout his four years at Virginia. He made 83.5 percent of his career field goal attempts and set school records in points (332), field goals made (66) and extra points made (134). Of the 12 field goals of 50 yards or longer in Virginia history, Hughes kicked five of them. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints this summer but was released last week and is currently looking to catch on with another NFL squad.

Smith may have received less attention than Hughes but was equal in importance. Of his 66 kickoffs in 2005, 38 resulted in touchbacks and the average starting position for Virginia’s opponents was the 21-yard line, tied for the best mark in the ACC. He was picked in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers.

The Cavaliers will look to junior Chris “Beep” Gould and senior Noah Greenbaum to handle the kicking duties. Gould carried out the punting duties for Virginia the past two seasons, a role that may be filled by junior Ryan Weigand this year, depending on how the competition shakes out.

Gould was a reliable punter averaging 40 yds/punt. That they would move him to kicking duties and go with a guy who did no punting for them last year suggests they don’t have much else they can rely upon.

A junior receiver expected to be on the 2-deep for the Cavs left the school for personal reasons. This in addition to the loss of star WR Deyon Williams with a foot injury. Add in a new starting QB and RB, and a bunch of new personnel on the O-line and the Cavs could be as offensively questionable as Pitt.
Groh expects Pitt to be fired up with the honoring of the 1976 National Championship team.

Wannstedt said he’ll probably ask some of the Pitt legends to address the current team this weekend.

“It’s going to be great to have them in,” said Wannstedt, who has two degrees from Pitt and was a graduate assistant on the’76 team. “The timing is perfect, so it’ll be a good night.”

…

Saturday night’s game marks the start of Al Groh’s sixth season as coach at U.Va., where his record is 37-26. Groh expects a “a little more juice in the atmosphere” than usual at Heinz Field, where Pitt went 5-1 last season.

“It’s going to be center stage in Pittsburgh, a big dog-and-pony show,” Groh said. “All of that is going to make it very challenging for this team.”

And of course there is the coaching controversy of Al Groh hiring/promoting his son Mike to Offensive Coordinator. I don’t see why. Just think of the successful father-son HC-OC deals like Joe and Jay Paterno, Bobby and Jeff Bowden, Lou and Skip Holtz. Why would there be questions?

Well if you live in Charlottesville, you can go to the campus arena and watch the game — since few without a dish don’t get ESPNU.

Obviously that won’t help most people. So this might be of interest.

ESPN launched a new website Monday to package all the network’s college sports content.

ESPNU.com is designed to be a companion for the ESPNU television network, the company said.

It will include news, scores, columns, video and audio highlights, podcasts and the live streaming of games.

The streaming will include both live simulcasts of televised games and events that will be exclusive to the Internet, the company said.

[Emphasis added.]

Now, looking on the site, I couldn’t confirm that they will actually live stream the game on Saturday. For all we know, that is still a pending feature. The other thing to remember is that if they do, it will still be the somewhat less than smooth streaming if the prior previews I’ve watched of live game streaming on ESPN Gameplan and Fullcourt are any indication. Still, if it’s all there is, it’s better than nothing.

Pitt has put out its game notes for the UVa-Pitt game (PDF). This is likely the Cavaliers toughest non-con game. Their other non-con foes are Western Michigan, Wyoming and at East Carolina.

The depth chart for Pitt is listed. Oderick Turner gets the starting WR spot over Marcel Pestano. Jeff Otah is not the outright starter at Left OT, instead listed with an “OR” with John Bachman. Jovani Chappel and Aaron Berry are both listed to be behind Darrelle Revis at CB. These aren’t even surprises, but might reach mild interest.

In Coach Wannstedt’s press conference, the discussion was mostly about his own team, not Virginia. Lots of stuff to point out. Best if you read it all.

On how many carries LaRod Stephens-Howling will get during a game:

To his credit and our strength program, he is about 10 pounds heavier than he was a year ago. I believe he’s stronger. He’s plenty tough enough, we know that. I’m optimistic that he’s going to be more durable. Will we spell him? Yes. Shane Brooks is going to play some, Kevin Collier is going to play some. There is no question that it’s going to be running back by committee.

On the importance of winning the season opener:

There’s two ways of looking at an opener when you have a very good opponent like Virginia. It’s easier from the standpoint of when you’re going through your summer drills, you’re running, you’re conditioning, your training camp. You kind of got Virginia in your sights. They’re an easy team to talk about, they’re a very good team. We’re playing at home. Obviously the 30-year reunion (of the 1976 national championship team), the ‘76 team is coming in. There’s excitement in the air. We expect to go out and play well.

[Emphasis added.]

Of course it was expected Pitt would go out and play well in last year’s season opener…

Running back by committee is not at all surprising, but it’s the first time he’s openly admitted that will be the way it is.

He also addressed the T.J. Porter situation that was reported earlier this morning.

On the status of T.J. Porter:

He is part of the team. He will practice today. We’re just working through some growing pains. It really doesn’t have anything to do with football. I mentioned before, with these young kids it’s more transition adjustment. I really feel an obligation to the player and just as importantly, his parents and our university to try to do everything we can to help these young kids with the transition, if there’s problems, as long as it doesn’t compromise anything we’re trying to do as a football team. You have to be able to separate the two. It has not been determined yet (whether or not he will dress on Saturday vs. Virginia). I expect him to come out and practice today, have a good practice and we’ll go from there.

I think Coach Wannstedt is handling this exactly right. Consider that part of the pitch any coach, but especially Coach Wannstedt makes to the kid and the family during recruiting. That he will be part of a family. That he will be looked after and people will be there for him. Porter is apparently having a harder time than most. This is something Coach Wannstedt can point to as tangible evidence on the recruiting trail that he keeps his word. Also, consider that while Porter is having issues and maturity issues, he is not behaving like a thug or punk. He just seems like a scared, overwhelmed kid.

Other stuff: Conor Lee still looks like the favorite to kick as long as his groin is fine; the D-line is not written in stone, other players can and will work their way in to playing time including Jason Pinkston and McKenzie Mathews; yes, the receiver position is a bit thin;

The expected media spin, as mentioned earlier will be the Wanny-Groh stuff. There’s plenty of other things to see similarities shared.

Chris Gould will kick off for U.Va., and the junior from Lock Haven, Pa., hopes to handle extra points and field goals, too. But Noah Greenbaum, a senior from Richmond, is battling Gould for the job, and Groh has yet to announce a winner.

“It’s just such a close deal,” said Groh, who indicated he’ll decide closer to the Pitt game.

Greenbaum, a Collegiate graduate who came to U.Va. as a walk-on, was awarded a scholarship this year, and he’s “certainly acquitted himself very strongly” in training camp, Groh said.

Against Temple last season, Greenbaum booted a 41-yard field goal.

This game could see more attempts at 2-point conversions than we think, and some really ugly FG attempts.

Both offensive lines are question marks. Pitt, because it’s the mostly the same group as last year. Virginia because it isn’t.

“We have a significant rebuilding job in front of us,” Groh said. “We’ve had some losses, some pretty huge losses.”

It’s hard to figure which losses will be the toughest to overcome. A glaring deficiency is the offensive line, which lost Ferguson and two others who combined for 124 career starts. Virginia has had a ball-control offense under Groh, using big, punishing linemen and big backs to grind out yardage and set up the passing attack. Can the Cavaliers continue that practice?

Guards Marshal Ausberry and Branden Albert are the only returning starters on the offensive line. Zak Stair spent some time at tackle last season but could wind up at center. There’s no Heath Miller in sight at tight end, but juniors Tom Santi and Jonathan Stupar have ably manned the position and last season combined for 30 catches.

The wideouts will be steady. Deyon Williams was Hagans’ favorite target last season, catching 58 passes for 767 yards and seven touchdowns, but he has been sidelined for much of the preseason with an injury. Fontel Mines caught 28 passes in 2005, and Andrew Pearman, a transfer from Hawaii who played at Charlotte’s Providence High, will be a receiver to watch.

Hagans’ replacement is Chris Olsen, a 23-year-old grad student who has thrown 23 passes in two seasons since transferring from Notre Dame. Olsen (6-3, 234) backed up Hagans for two seasons.

They are also shaky at Running Back. The talk is no clear starter, but it looks like at least one of the three competing backs is making noise.

This is tailback Michael Johnson’s final year at Virginia, and he wants to carry the ball often. “Something might happen if I don’t,” he said. “I will be ticked.”

Virginia coach Al Groh has said he likely will use multiple tailbacks this season. But unless the Cavaliers equally split playing time between three players, Johnson appears to be out of the mix.

Groh said Wednesday that senior Jason Snelling and sophomore Cedric Peerman are still first and second on the depth chart - which were their positions heading into preseason practices. Their status probably won’t change.

His only option at this point — other then bluster or being a disruptive malcontent — would be to immediately transfer to a Div. 1-AA school.

This could be a very ugly game. Both teams seem to have a lot of question marks, issues and new players trying to figure things out.

Only a week of this sort of thing. Their NFL connections, alma mater, AFC East… Not quite the same level as last year leading up to the season opener between Wannstedt and Weis, but the drill is the same.

Groh was an assistant coach for the New York Giants from 1989-1991, the same period Wannstedt was defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. The two also spent time in the same division in 1999 and 2000, when Groh was with the New York Jets and Wannstedt with the Miami Dolphins. Then, Groh was head coach of the Jets in 2000, while Wannstedt was in his first season as the Dolphins’ head coach. Groh’s Jets won both times those teams met.

As a result of such familiarity, there won’t be many surprises next Saturday.

Groh said he is sure the Panthers will be well coached, well prepared and ready to put up a fight.

“I have a great deal of respect for Dave,” Groh said. “He is very professional in his approach, is well organized and understands the game very well. I have always admired his defenses, and they have always been outstanding, whether in Dallas, Chicago or Miami.

“They are always tough to deal with. I expect they will be hard to run against and will bring a lot of pressure on the quarterback.”

Obviously Al Groh has not looked any film of Pitt from last year.

Apparently both beat writers listened in on the same conference call.

Those were two of the Panthers’ biggest weaknesses last season, so it will be interesting to see if Wannstedt can put his signature on those areas in his second season at Pitt.

Neither has any comment from Coach Wannstedt about Groh in their stories. Expect that on Tuesday after the Big East Coaches conference call.

There are the obligatory tie-ins to Western PA for any Virginia players. The back-up QB came out of Pine-Richland in the WPIAL.

McCabe said he wouldn’t wish an injury on anybody, but he realizes he’s one play from being in a game. At Heinz Field, also the site of the 2002 WPIAL title game, he figures he’ll know at least 200 people in the crowd.

Of the nine scholarship Pennsylvanians on the U.Va. roster, McCabe is the only one from the greater Pittsburgh area, though starting nose tackle Allen Billyk made Pittsburgh all-area teams. Billyk is from New Castle, which is 46 miles from Pittsburgh.

“He let out a ‘yunz ‘ every once in a while,” McCabe said. “That’s Pittsburgh slang for you ‘guys.’ If a guy wants to consider himself a Pittsburgh guy, I’ll let it slide. I think it’s a culture that grows. People always want to attach themselves to Pittsburgh. We’ll give Allen this one.”

Damn Southerners. It’s “yinz” not “yunz.”
While still about the Commonwealth, not the school, former Pitt player Tyler Tipton nearly joined Rashad Jennings at Liberty. Instead he has chosen to go to Western Kentucky.

[Editor Note: Here's one of the posts I was trying to put out on Thursday before I left.]

I’ve been keeping a light eye on the Cavaliers, and I’m heistient to write much since I haven’t followed them that closely — it’s easy to miss key things. Still some things to pass on.

If you think Pitt has questions, how about WVU UVa? Their linebacker corp has been severely depleted and downgraded.

Rather than watching him on television, Sintim could have been playing next to Brooks this fall. But Brooks turned pro after he was dismissed from the team following his injury-riddled junior season. Had Brooks and Kai Parham, who also turned pro after his junior year, returned, the Cavaliers would have had perhaps the best inside linebacker duo in the nation. Instead, the Cavaliers’ inside spots, crucial to the team’s success with its 3-4 defensive formation, will be filled by a pair of sophomores who have combined for 37 career tackles.

With Sintim and junior Jermaine Dias on the outside, Antonio Appleby and Jon Copper likely will start in the middle, meaning two mostly unknown players will replace the team’s biggest names.

The O-line lost some depth when a player bitterly departed.

Junior offensive tackle Eddie Pinigis transferred to Liberty yesterday after deciding to leave the Virginia football program over the weekend. He entered the season first on the depth chart at right tackle, but redshirt freshman Will Barker recently overtook him.

“I feel like I’m a starter. I feel like I should be a starter up there,” said Pinigis, who started five games last season. “The other day they came out with the depth chart, and they had me on the second team. I feel like I didn’t do anything to lose my first-team spot. I played against some of the best defensive ends in the ACC. I felt like I proved myself with my game experience.”

The starter at QB will be a Senior.

Virginia is entering what in all likelihood is a rebuilding year with a mediocre senior (Christian Olsen) set to start at QB. Why wouldn’t Al Groh opt to take his lumps with freshman Jameel Sewell, a younger, athletic QB with more upside, to get him some experience?
– Lance T., Davie, Fla.

This is kind of similar to the Georgia question I answered last week. You and I may think the Wahoos are in for a rebuilding season (in fact, it could be really, really rough), but the coach isn’t going to concede that before the season even begins. What kind of message would that send to his team? He’s going to put the guy out there who he thinks gives him the best chance to win right from the get-go, and obviously a senior who’s been in the program for three years (after transferring from Notre Dame) and seen game action has a huge edge in that department over a redshirt freshman who’s never stepped on the field. Now, if things do indeed get off to a rough start and it becomes apparent the Cavs aren’t headed anywhere special with Olsen at the helm, then he might think about turning it over to the frosh and seeing what he can do. As of this writing, however, it wasn’t even certain that Sewell was going to beat out fourth-year junior Kevin McCabe for the No. 2 spot.

So it will be Olsen (who is actually a graduate student at this point), at least in the opener. It will be curious to see if Groh has him on a short leash. Actually, who knows. They still don’t know who the #2 QB is.

Sophomore Scott Deke is lagging behind redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell (Hermitage High) and junior Kevin McCabe, Al Groh said, in the competition to determine the Cavaliers’ No. 2 quarterback in the Sept. 2 opener at Pittsburgh.

Groh said yesterday that he wasn’t ready to choose between Sewell and McCabe, but he expected to be closer to a decision after last night’s scrimmage.

I wonder if Pitt or UVa fans will be the more unsure group about their own team.

Just a couple things that kind of blend lines.

Since it’s completely anti-climactic at this point, it’s not worth its own post. Still, something worth noting. The Big East does not permit transfers of football players from one school to another within the Big East — ever. Incredibly harsh. Once they practice with the BE team, that player is forever off-limits to other BE schools.
Over the weekend was the Big East sponsored honoring of Basketball HoF inductee Dave Gavitt, the force and first commish of the Big East. Coach Dixon was on hand for Pitt, along with AD Jeff Long. Also attending was former BC and disgraced OSU head coach Jim O’Brien — can’t even imagine how awkward any conversation with him was. Even more stunning than O’Brien being on hand was BC AD Gene DeFilippo.

Actually, maybe DeFilippo feels good about making an appearance as the stories appear to be that Syracuse and BC will start playing annually maybe in 2010, ‘11, or ‘12. Matt at Orange 44 is right that the rest of the BE teams (and their fans) probably won’t be too thrilled with that. The bright side, if Tom O’Brien is still on the sidelines for BC, neither will he.

If BC coach Tom O’Brien has anything to do with it, however, when BC moves on to the Atlantic Coast Conference, never shall the twain meet again. Even as nonconference opponents.

“No, I’m not going to play anybody in the Big East, for what we went through,” O’Brien said, when asked if he’d ever consider playing Syracuse in the future. “Absolutely not.”

If, when this goes down, someone needs to make sure to tape the press conference when O’Brien swallows hard and talks about looking forward to it. Then they need to send me a copy. Really, it’s an underrated joy to see a red-ass being forced to eat his words.

Now for the annoyance factor of a BE school playing BC in football in basketball. I would be more pissed if it was basketball. BC is going to run up huge travel costs because there are no local games other than patsies without the Big East schools. This is more of an issue in basketball than football. Still, I’m bothered.
While I understand the logic for Syracuse as Matt gives perfectly reasonable explanation. I don’t have to like it. I also think it’s just too soon. Inevitably there would be a thaw, but this is just too soon in my view.

The faux belt buckle logo is the symbol and shows the name of the new/old bowl that will be taking the place of the Houston Bowl. The bowl website, is very much under construction. According to the site, the Texas Bowl will be “A celebration of the culture, heritage and football tradition of the Lone Star State.” Lone Star Sports & Entertainment President Jamey Rootes had this to say about the bowl:

“We believe we will look back at today’s event as the launching pad for the next cherished Houston sports tradition.”

What were the previous ones?