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College Football Notebooks: Veterans provide inspiration to Gamecocks
Comments 0 | Recommend 0COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina receiver Moe Brown wasn't sure he could listen to any more of Marine Corporal Steven Diaz's presentation this week.
Diaz is among three wounded military veterans chosen as honorary Gamecock captains for Saturday's game at Williams-Brice Stadium against No. 1 Florida. The others are Army Staff Sgt. Dan Nevins and Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael Williams.
Diaz, born in Columbia on Veterans Day 1984, shared some of his experiences while serving in Iraq. In 2005, Diaz was caught in an IED blast in Al Asad. As a result, he suffered a traumatic brain injury, is blind in his left eye and has limited movement in his right foot among other maladies.
Brown said he's got an uncle and a brother in the military and understands the importance selfless men like Diaz make to keep Americans free.
And along with Diaz's words was a video of The Wounded Warrior Project, which along with Under Armour, has undertaken the effort to honor veterans at home game for South Carolina and Maryland.
Brown said watching them is an inspiration.
"Things happen to them, they lose their limb, an eye, whatever what have you," he said. "But they don't let that defeat them. They keep living life and keep doing things they do and keep finding a new way to do it."
GREEN GOOD TO GO
Good news for the Georgia Bulldogs: A.J. Green will be back on the field for Saturday's game against Auburn.
The sophomore receiver sat out last week's 38-0 rout of Tennessee Tech to recover from a bruised lung doled out by No. 1 Florida. It was the first game at any level of football that he's missed because of injury.
"A.J. Green has been able to practice at full speed," coach Mark Richt said.
The Bulldogs (5-4, 3-3 SEC) also are counting on the return of defensive end Justin Houston, who didn't play last week because of a hyper-extended elbow.
"I think everybody will be ready to play," Richt said.
Green is Georgia's top receiver 44 receptions for 732 yards and six touchdowns. Houston leads the team with five sacks, even though he's only played in six of nine games.
LASHING OUT
Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy let loose on his critics a bit in the aftermath of the third-ranked Crimson Tide's 24-15 victory over No. 9 LSU.
He vented to reporters that "it really ticks me off" that some people lost faith in him.
"I've had to deal with a lot of animosity and a lot of hatred," McElroy said.
McElroy answered the critics even more fervently with a 276-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Tigers following three games with modest passing numbers.
He was apologetic to reporters two days later, saying his comments were "really just kind of an emotional statement.
"It wasn't supposed to be a take-that moment by any means, but sometimes your emotions just get the best of you," McElroy said. "Obviously I never meant it to be hurtful towards anybody."
McElroy said he stopped reading his own press clippings in recent weeks, but hears about things that are written and said from friends. Alabama coach Nick Saban said he and others talked to McElroy about dealing with the criticism.
"Sometimes when you're prideful ... it bothers you a little more when you're not satisfying everybody," Saban said. "At the same time he needs to satisfy himself for himself and his teammates. That gets you back on track to focusing on how you do what you do and not how you're doing. I think that got Greg a little bit off-track."
RUNNING RIDLEY
No. 9 LSU's loss of starting tailback Charles Scott for the remainder of the regular season likely will mean more opportunities for sophomore Steven Ridley.
After tearing right knee ligaments during spring football last March, Ridley did not play in the first seven games this season. Coaches finally were ready to give him a chance during a 42-0 victory over Tulane and he had 73 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.
Miles then gave Ridley a couple more carries against Alabama, and he scored his second touchdown in as many games on an 8-yard run.
"I like Stevan Ridley. I think he makes a really accurate cut. I think he's a physical runner, and I think he is getting better," LSU coach Les Miles said this week. "He's a guy who has continued to work hard. He's coming off injury if you recall. He didn't really have the spring. He's a guy that is really just rounding into shape and getting his speed back. I think we're pretty optimistic there, and I'm not ready to say that Keiland Williams won't get some more carries, but I think Stevan Ridley has proven that there is some exciting things that he can do."
LSU hosts Louisiana Tech on Saturday night.
SOUND ADVICE
Lane Kiffin turned to one of Mississippi's legendary players before deciding whether he'd accept the job at Tennessee.
Kiffin shared some mutual acquaintances with former Rebels and NFL quarterback Archie Manning, so he phoned Manning to ask him about Tennessee, where Manning's son Peyton had his own legendary collegiate career.
"I knew he knew a lot about the job and the school, and I'd already talked to Peyton, so I just wanted to get his thoughts on what needed to happen here to make Tennessee be able to make a run at a bunch of championships," Kiffin said. "It was good talking to him."
On Saturday, Kiffin will make his first trip to the Oxford campus — where the speed limit is 18 in honor of Archie Manning's jersey number — when his Vols (5-4, 2-3 SEC) face the Rebels (6-3, 2-2).
AVOIDING SEC SHUTOUT
This isn't the situation the Vanderbilt Commodores expected for 2009. They came into this season off a 7-6 record that was their first winning mark since 1982 and the program's first bowl victory in 53 years. They also won four SEC games in 2008.
Now the Commodores (2-8, 0-6) are facing what seemed impossible back in September: Being shut out in league play.
"It seems unbelievable," senior defensive lineman Broderick Stewart said. "These next two games are going to be so important for us. As a matter of pride, I don't really care about whatever Kentucky's record is or trying to beat UT is always, always a goal. But I definitely couldn't see us going 0-fer in the SEC."
Vanderbilt hasn't been shut out in SEC play since 2002.
The Commodores host Kentucky (5-4, 1-4) on Saturday, then they wrap up the season at Tennessee. That will mark the 12th straight week of football for Vanderbilt, a staggering stretch for a team that started losing players in the spring.
"We never really got some people back that we expected," Stewart said. "It was rough, but that's the game of football. I guess for this season we're just going to have to do our best."
WHAT QB CONTROVERSY
Mike Hartline might finally be healthy to get back on the field for Kentucky. Yet the junior quarterback might have been gone just long enough to find himself out of a job.
Freshman Morgan Newton has slowly but steadily improved since Hartline went down with a knee injury against South Carolina on Oct. 10.
Newton got the start the next week against Auburn and over the last month has grown into the position. He threw for 187 yards and the first two touchdowns of his career in a win over Eastern Kentucky last week. While he's not making many plays downfield, he's also avoiding major mistakes. Newton has two interceptions in 66 attempts this year while Hartline had six in 127 attempts before the injury.
"I see a guy (in Newton) who has always had some confidence but had trouble adjusting to the speed of the decision-making," said coach Rich Brooks. "Whatever happens the rest of the year he has advanced his progression a great deal for the future. He still has a long way to go."
Brooks said he'd only play Hartline on Saturday against Vanderbilt if "he can get out of his own way." Newton's mobility could be another reason to leave him on the field against the Commodores.
"(Hartline) is going to have to throw the ball accurately, manage the offense, hand off, sprint out and do the things that our offense is going to require him to do without hobbling around and without really favoring his knee," Brooks said.
Big Ten
Once upon a time, Rose was only Big Ten bowl
The 20-somethings and teenagers who'll take the field Saturday when No. 15 Iowa plays at 10th-ranked Ohio State don't remember when the Rose Bowl was every Big Ten player's fantasy.
From the first conditioning session on a bleak winter morning until the big rivalry games of November, the one and only dream of the sons of farmers and factory workers from Minnesota and Wisconsin and Ohio and Michigan was the palm trees, sunshine and the spotlight in Pasadena, Calif.
Once upon a time, the Rose Bowl wasn't just the greatest bowl game for a Big Ten team to go to — it was the only one.
Now that computers help decide who'll play in the ultimate game — the Bowl Championship Series national title game, that is — the Granddaddy of all Bowls has dropped a notch on the radar of the kids who play the college game. If they can't get to the BCS championship game, they have to "settle" for a whiff of the roses.
But some still remember what it was like when the Big Ten champ went to Pasadena, and everyone else in the Midwest permafrost stayed home and watched.
"Oh, gosh, yeah," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said when asked if the Rose Bowl was special at his house. "January 1st in our house, two black-and-white TVs set up side by side, and that old 30-pot coffee maker, that little silver thing."
Tressel's dad, Lee, was a Hall of Fame coach at Baldwin-Wallace College. New Year's Day was one of the few times when the Tressel kids could spend the day with their old man.
"My dad never got off the couch, man," Tressel said. "We were taking him coffee and switching stations. I mean, that was — shoot, you were living on January 1st."
For the winner on Saturday, either Iowa or Ohio State, it'll sort of be like that again.
HE'S NOT LAUGHING
Michigan freshman QB Tate Forcier has taken a pounding this season, running Rich Rodriguez's spread offense that calls for him to make plays with his feet.
Forcier has hurt his right shoulder, had a concussion and added a twisted knee in Saturday's loss to Purdue to his list of ailments.
"I expected it," he said during preparations for this week's hard-hitting affair at Wisconsin. "It's the Big Ten, and you're playing against a lot of big people. It's no joke."
LAST-DITCH HIT
Penn State's Jeremy Boone had 10 punts last week against Ohio State, a reflection of the Nittany Lions' offensive struggles in their home loss to the Buckeyes.
It wasn't all that extra work that wore him out though, but a last-ditch diving tackle on punt returner Ray Small to save a potential touchdown.
"The open-field tackle did shake me up a little physically, just because it's not something I'm used to doing," said the 5-foot-9 Boone, one of the smallest Nittany Lions.
ROAD WORRIERS
Michigan State is giving up an average of 31.75 points per game on the road this season, twice as many as the 15.83 points per game it is allowing at home. That's cause for concern for the Spartans, who travel to Purdue this week in a game that is vital to the bowl hopes of both programs.
Michigan State's only road victory this season came at Illinois, 24-14, on Oct. 10. The Spartans lost at Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Minnesota despite scoring at least 30 points in each game.
"When you do look at that, it's obvious to me we have to make plays on the road," coach Mark Dantonio said. "As a defensive football team, you have an opportunity to make a play, you have to make it on a ball in the air, you've got to come up with some turnovers. We played well against Illinois. We're hoping to duplicate that, trying not to think about the other."
JUMPIN' JACKRABBITS
Minnesota hosts FCS foe South Dakota State, hoping to avoid the fate of the 2007 team that lost to North Dakota State 27-21. That year, with plenty of seats available at the Metrodome, the crowd was half-and-half for the Gophers and the Bison. This time, at sold-out TCF Bank Stadium, there will likely only be a few hundred visiting fans of the Jackrabbits able to get seats.
"That's the advantage we have now," Minnesota LB Lee Campbell said. "Hopefully the fans will be behind us this Saturday."
THANKS, BUT NO THANKS
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez often talks about recruiting because he says it will take two or three classes to get the type of players who fit what he's looking for.
Rodriguez, though, said he does not rely much on what recruiting experts think.
"It's almost become a sport in itself, you know, with fans and the Internet, people following recruiting," he said. "Most of the recruiting services do a pretty good job. They miss quite a bit, as well. We have to be careful we don't fall into the hype that we have to recruit this guy because he's a four-star or five-star, or you don't recruit that guy because he's only rated a two-star."
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
KR/WR Ray Small has been in Tressel's doghouse throughout his Ohio State career. After crediting Small's leadership as a senior, Tressel was asked how many shots he has given Small: "More than LeBron takes."
WAITING GAMES
A month ago, QB Jacob Charest was third on the Illinois depth chart, spending a lot more time watching than playing during practice and looking, realistically, at next year as his chance.
This week against Northwestern, he's likely to play and may even start after leading Illinois through most of last week's 35-32 win at Minnesota.
"It kind of seems like in the past four weeks time has fast-forwarded about two years," the redshirt freshman from North Carolina said. "It's weird."
Senior Juice Williams' up-and-down final season in Champaign took another dive last Saturday when he injured an ankle in the first quarter against the Gophers and didn't return. Coach Ron Zook says Williams is questionable for Saturday. Backup QB Eddie McGee is now lining up at WR.
Charest said people on campus seem to recognize his face, even if some of them still aren't quite sure why he's familiar.
"It's sometimes kind of awkward because people are just looking at me," he said. "I'm like, 'Are you gonna say hey? What's up? I'm a friendly guy.'"
QUICK-HITTERS
Road teams went 5-0 in Big Ten play last week. ... Players of the week: Purdue QB Joey Elliott and Ohio State DE Cameron Heyward and Small. ... Illinois and Northwestern had played for the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk since 1945. Now they'll play for the renamed Land of Lincoln Trophy. ... Five conference teams are bowl eligible, the three Ms — Michigan, Michigan State and Minnesota — need one more win and Indiana and Purdue each need two wins.
-- Rusty Miller
Big East
USF's Daniels winning as he learns on the job
TAMPA — The rapid development of quarterback B.J. Daniels may be the biggest reason South Florida has remained a Top 25 team after the loss of Big East career total offense leader Matt Grothe.
Since taking over when Grothe was sidelined for the season with a knee injury, the redshirt freshman has emerged among the nation's leaders in average yards per completion (17.1 yards), average yards per rush for a quarterback (5.58) and yards per game rushing for a QB (64.9).
USF has won three of Daniels' first five starts, and he's been one of the most efficient passers in the Big East.
"He's continued to grow each and every rep that he takes. Even in practice, the more reps he can get the better he gets," offensive coordinator Mike Canales said.
"In terms of his progress, we're extremely happy. ... He's played four ranked teams. That's pretty impressive to go and do that. He's hungry. He's like a sponge. He's soaking everything up."
Daniels said being able to spend a season-plus on the bench behind Grothe is one of the keys to his success.
"I know what to expect. Being here last year really helped me out a lot. I'm still learning, each game and each week," he said. "I just want to continue to learn and get better."
Canales is impressed with the way Daniels has handled the spotlight.
"He just plays the game. When he gets on the field, he forgets about the cameras, he forgets about being on TV. I don't think those things bother him at all," the offensive coordinator said. "He's very composed and very mature for a young man."
LOOKING TO BREAK ONE
Mardy Gilyard hasn't returned a kickoff for a touchdown this season — yet.
Last season, Gilyard emerged as one of the nation's top returners, taking two kickoffs back all the way. The most important one came in Morgantown, W.Va., where he returned the opening kick 100 yards — the first time in 18 years that the Mountaineers gave up a kickoff return for touchdown.
"We're still working out some things here and there," Gilyard said. "I am anxious to get one, like I'm anxious to score every game, to get that first catch every game."
Fifth-ranked Cincinnati would like for him to get that breakthrough return on Friday night, when the Bearcats have their rematch with the Mountaineers.
When they played last year, the Bearcats were looking for a breakthrough win. Before the game, coach Brian Kelly and Gilyard's teammates urged him to do something big on special teams. He ran back the opening kick, and Cincinnati had the early confidence. The Bearcats won 26-23 in overtime, putting themselves in line for their first Big East championship.
"I can remember cutting across the grain and it was like, 'There's nobody here. Oh, my God, I did it,'" Gilyard said. "I think that was the turning point of the season pretty much."
Gilyard ranks third in the conference in kick return average at 26.8 yards per try. His longest return was 75 yards.
Kelly sees teams focused on containing him whenever he returns a kick.
"Whether he snuck up on people last year or not, you could argue that," Kelly said. "Clearly when he's on the field, there's an attention to him. But he's done great in getting field position for us."
TURNOVER CHAMPIONS
Syracuse upped its turnover count by three in Saturday's loss at Pittsburgh. That gives the Orange 23 for the season — already is six more than all of last year.
Head coach Doug Marrone says that of the 14 interceptions thrown by his quarterbacks — 13 by starter Greg Paulus and one by backup Ryan Nassib — 10 have been on the plus side of the 50-yard line. The average yard line for those 10 picks is the opponent's 28.
Paulus, just three off the school record for interceptions in a season set by Dave Warner in 1980, was intercepted last week with 80 seconds left in the opening half and it was returned for a touchdown. Pitt scored on the first possession of the second half to break open what had been a tight game for 27 minutes.
"That's where we have to do a better job," Marrone said. "Yes, football is a game of momentum. It's always hard to judge where you're at in a football game. It's 6-3 and all of a sudden the next thing you know it's 20-3. If you hang in there and go, where does the game go? That's the question I ask myself all of the time."
The response by the offense after the interceptions also has troubled the first-year head coach. Marrone said in 18 offensive possessions after turnovers, the Orange have either punted or committed another turnover.
THREE GOES INTO TWENTY-FIVE
Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt didn't moan about a lack of respect when there wasn't a single Big East team ranked among the AP preseason Top 25. His plea at the time: Be patient. Now, three Big East teams (No. 5 Cincinnati, No. 8 Pitt, No. 23 South Florida) are ranked — two in the Top 10 — and West Virginia is just outside the Top 25.
"I have to pull out my quotes from August," Wannstedt said. "That's why I said what I said: Let's wait until December to see. We have good football teams here, we know that ... as good as anybody around. Sometimes things just have to take their course."
While Pitt's 8-1 start is its best since it had the same record in 1982, Cincinnati is 9-0 for the first time since 1951, when the Bearcats finished 10-1. South Florida and unranked Rutgers both need one more victory to qualify for a bowl game.
DON'T COPY UCONN
Connecticut picked apart unbeaten Cincinnati's defense with a 35-point second half last week before the Bearcats prevailed 47-45. UConn's Jordan Todman romped for 162 yards on 26 carries and scored four TDs — three in the second half — and Cincinnati surrendered a season high for points.
But West Virginia coach Bill Stewart says he doesn't plan to copy UConn's game plan because the Mountaineers' offensive flow is different than that of the Huskies and the offensive line's depth is untested.
"We are not a big, physical, grind-it-out team. That's not our strong suit," Stewart said. "We are more of a balanced, spread-the-wealth football team. I don't know if our offensive line can go up and down the field on them.
"We are going to have to do what we do, try to spread the wealth and get the ball out on the screen, try the short passing game with a deep pass every now and then and do our very best running the football."
To do that, West Virginia will need a healthy Noel Devine and Jarrett Brown. Both tweaked ankles in a 17-9 win over Louisville on Saturday and Stewart said they're expected to play against the No. 5 Bearcats.
West Virginia managed just 57 offensive plays against Louisville.
"If we have 57 snaps against Cincinnati, it will be a mess," Stewart said.
HOME SWEET HOME
Louisville's struggles the last three seasons have worn thin with the fan base, the evidence coming in the number of empty seats at Cardinals Stadium.
A crowd of just over 21,000 — a record-low — watched Louisville beat Arkansas State two weeks ago. The numbers might not be much better on Saturday when the Cardinals host Syracuse, not exactly the best news for a program that is in the process of adding around 15,000 seats to the stadium in time for next season.
Coach Steve Kragthorpe allows a lack of enthusiasm for his performance hasn't helped things. He is 14-19 with the Cardinals, and Louisville's home-field advantage has all but disappeared. Louisville is 3-5 in the Big East under Kragthorpe and hasn't won a conference game in more than a year.
Kragthorpe has no problem with people who don't like him, but he takes it personally when the negativity shifts to his players.
"I know there's people that don't like me, don't like way I do things, if they don't want to come support me, that's fine," Kragthorpe said. "But I think they need to come and support these players."
-- Fred Goodall
Pac-10
No. 25 Stanford returns to scene of '07 upset
Two years ago, Stanford went to the Los Angeles Coliseum as a 41-point underdog against No. 2 USC.
The oddsmakers did the math after looking at the Cardinal's first three Pac-10 games that season — losses to No. 14 UCLA (45-17), No. 13 Oregon (55-31) and No. 23 Arizona State (41-3).
Oh, and Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard was making his first career start.
Somehow, the Cardinal pulled off a 24-23 victory that still ranks among the greatest upsets in the sport's history.
"I have good memories," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said this week. "Those will be memories that I'm sure I'll have the rest of my life."
USC's Pete Carroll has a different recollection. He places the loss "in a big heap of misery," along with the others the Trojans have endured in his nine-year tenure.
USC has lost three games in the Coliseum in Carroll's nine seasons. Two were to Stanford.
Don't look now, Trojans, but Stanford is coming to town again.
Make that 25th-ranked Stanford this time.
"This is put up or shut up time for Stanford football," Harbaugh said.
No. 11 USC is an 11-point favorite, and there's two ways to look at the spread.
1. Stanford is 30 points better than it was in 2007.
2. The oddsmakers haven't seen the Cardinal or the Trojans play lately.
Last week, Stanford outraced an Oregon team that had chewed up USC one week earlier. Meanwhile, USC stumbled and bumbled its way to an ugly 14-9 victory over seventh-place Arizona State.
Both teams have young quarterbacks. USC true freshman Matt Barkley has the hype advantage, but Stanford redshirt freshman Andrew Luck has better numbers.
Luck ranks ninth in NCAA passing efficiency, one rung below Tim Tebow of Florida.
Barkley ranks 48th, one rung below Rusty Smith of Florida Atlantic.
The Cardinal also have tailback Toby Gerhart, coming off a school-record 223-yard performance against the Ducks. Gerhart averages 135.2 yards rushing per game, second in the nation.
"This isn't the Stanford of three or four years ago, that's for sure," said Arizona coach Mike Stoops, whose Wildcats outlasted Stanford 43-38 on Oct. 17. "This is a very physical, well-coached football team that operates very efficiently. Their kids play very hard and very smart."
Carroll had little interest in talking about the Cardinal's last trip to LA. Asked if he would mention the 2007 game to his players, Carroll replied, "No. I won't bring up the visit to their place last year, either."
USC drubbed the Cardinal 45-23 a year ago in Palo Alto. Touche.
BCS BANTER
The Pac-10 is ranked first in four of the six computers used by the Bowl Championship Series. It ranks third, behind the Southeastern Conference and Big East, in the other two computers.
This is a nice boost for the conference's pride, but it may not mean much when BCS pairings are announced on Dec. 6.
The league is hoping to land an at-large berth, worth $4.5 million to the conference. If it doesn't, look for renewed debate about whether the conference should drop its round-robin format and go to an eight-game league schedule.
That would allow teams to add a fourth nonconference game, and most would likely schedule an easy victory at home. Goodbye, USC. Hello, UAB.
The way some coaches see it, the round-robin format guarantees Pac-10 members a total of five extra losses, and they worry that those losses diminish the league's bowl prospects.
"The fact of the matter is, you're adding five losses to the conference that other conferences avoid," said UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, whose Bruins played at Tennessee and against Kansas State this season. "You can look at the nonconference schedules in the Big Ten and the SEC, and you can realize that they aren't asking very much of those teams on a weekly basis. That's not the case in the Pac-10."
Of course, if the Pac-10 didn't play such demanding schedules, it might not rank so high in the BCS computers.
Oregon State coach Mike Riley likes the idea of settling the conference title on the field.
"I think it's fair," Riley said. "I think we come up with the right way to decide the conference championship. At the same time, it hurts us. We beat each other up."
DEVIL OF A TIME
If the Pac-10 does drop the round-robin format, look for Arizona State to request an annual bye against USC.
If you can't beat 'em, skip 'em.
Last weekend, the Trojans beat the Sun Devils 14-9 for their 10th straight win over ASU.
The Sun Devils had a chance to win the game at the end — a change from recent blowout losses to USC but small consolation for ASU coach Dennis Erickson.
"Close doesn't count anymore," said Erickson, whose team also lost on late field goals by No. 21 Georgia and California. "It's just another disappointing loss."
Erickson won his first eight games at ASU, leading the Sun Devils to No. 4 in the BCS standings in late October 2007. Since that hot start, the Sun Devils are 11-15, with two victories against Big Sky Conference teams.
The Sun Devils (4-5, 2-4 Pac-10) need to win two of their final three games — at No. 14 Oregon, at UCLA and against No. 18 Arizona — to avoid back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1946-47.
The on-field struggles are hurting ASU at the gate. According to NCAA statistics, Arizona State has played to 64.2 percent of Sun Devil Stadium's 71,705 capacity. That's 96th in the country.
HONORS
Stanford's Gerhart, Stanford kicker Nate Whitaker and USC safety Will Harris were named Pac-10 Players of the Week.
Gerhart, a senior from Norco, Calif., earned offensive honors by rushing for a Stanford-record 223 yards in a 51-42 victory over Oregon — a performance that left him with 1,217 yards this season, breaking his own school record.
Whitaker, a junior from San Diego, connected on 3-of-4 field goals and nailed all six of his PAT attempts.
Harris, a senior from Covina, Calif., picked off two passes in USC's 14-9 win at Arizona State. Harris returned the first 55 yards for a TD, and the second came in the end zone as time expired.
-- Andrew Bagnato
ACC
Beamer, Friedgen adjust to being friendly rivals
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — There once was a time when Frank Beamer and Ralph Friedgen coached together and were best of friends.
Now they're friendly rivals who rarely speak during football season.
The duo began their coaching careers as graduate assistants at Maryland in the early 1970s. They were also assistants at The Citadel from 1973-78, and Friedgen was Beamer's aide in 1981 at Murray State.
As each moved up the coaching ladder, their contact during football season waned.
Beamer now runs the Virginia Tech program, and Friedgen has the same job at Maryland. When the teams meet Saturday at Byrd Stadium in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup, it will be the fourth time Beamer and Friedgen have been on opposite sidelines as head coaches.
"I don't talk to Frank a whole lot during the season," Friedgen said. "Frank and I will always be friends, but it's tougher because we're competitors now. I don't think he likes it, and I know I don't like it.
"It's not easy, but it is what it is. It doesn't really matter. We're going to do what we have to do to try and win a football game, and he's going to do the same. Then, when the game's over, we'll talk about our families and everything."
The Beamer-Friedgen competition has thus far been a one-sided affair. The Hokies won 55-6 in 2004, 28-9 in 2005 and 23-13 last year. It might be more of the same Saturday: Virginia Tech is ranked 20th in the nation, and Maryland is 2-7 with a four-game losing streak.
Although Beamer hasn't had the opportunity to console Friedgen, he hasn't lost respect for his friend's prowess.
"I haven't talked with him in a while. The thing I know about Ralph is he is a really, really good football coach," Beamer said. "He has been on both sides of the ball, he knows the game and there is no question about his ability to coach football."
ON THE MEND
North Carolina State coach Tom O'Brien is getting some help from an unlikely source: injured linebacker Nate Irving.
"He's been out there coaching the linebackers," O'Brien said with a laugh. "He takes credit if they do something good. If they do something bad and I look at him, he turns around and won't look at me."
O'Brien says Irving, the team's leading tackler in 2008, will soon run on dirt surfaces again. That's a notable measure of progress for an athlete who was lost for the season after being involved in a summertime auto accident.
Irving sustained a broken leg, a collapsed lung and a separated shoulder. He previously was cleared to run only on a treadmill, or what O'Brien jokingly called "the old-man machine."
"For him, psychologically, to go outside and run, I think it'll be big for the team to see him out there," O'Brien said. "For what he's gone through ... it's amazing that he's back the way he is."
EVEN UP
Through nine games, Florida State (4-5, 2-4) has scored the exact number of points it has allowed — 278.
While the average of almost 31 points a game is an improvement for the offense from recent years, the defense is poised to break two dubious school records set by the 1973 team, which gave up 30.1 points and 445.1 yards a game.
The Seminoles have surrendered an average of 434.1 yards — the most by any ACC team. FSU is allowing 35.7 points and 456.2 yards a game in league play, and has yielded up 42 or more points in three of the last four games.
HOOS FOR HERZLICH
Add Virginia to the list of teams doing something for Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich, the 2008 ACC defensive player of the year who is battling cancer.
Cavaliers players are all donating their $15 food money for Saturday in Herzlich's name to Uplifting Athletes, a nonprofit that works with the college football community to raise awareness and funds to battle rare diseases like Ewing's sarcoma, which afflicted Herzlich.
Virginia coach Al Groh recruited Herzlich, and several players hosted the linebacker when he visited campus.
"It's tragic to see anybody who is considered to be in their prime for athletes in college, whatever it may be, to go through a situation where what that you worked so hard for is taken away from you," senior linebacker Aaron Clark said this week.
The school will present Herzlich a check for $9,494.94 before Saturday's game.
PLAYING HOUSE
Virginia Tech linebacker Cody Grimm needs only two credits to graduate in December and is taking just one class: House planning.
House planning? What is that?
"I don't really know," Grimm said. "It's all about setting up how you build a house and what should be what size and stuff. It's kind of interesting."
But it's probably knowledge he will never put to use.
"I'll probably just buy a house already built, if I can," he said.
GLOVER'S GREATEST THRILL
Lucas Glover found something even more exciting than sinking that 3-foot putt to win the U.S. Open: Running down the hill in front of Clemson's football team.
The Tigers alum got the chance to soak up his favorite team's famous entrance Saturday night before Clemson faced Florida State, rubbing Howard's Rock and leading the team out with coach Dabo Swinney.
Swinney said Glover texted him later that night. "He said it was the highlight of his life," Swinney said.
Before the game, the Clemson band honored Glover by playing "New York, New York," a nod to Glover's win at Bethpage Black earlier this year. The golfer also dotted the "i'' in Tigers.
Glover played golf for Clemson from 1997 to 2001 and is a member of the school's hall of fame.
"We're going to let him one more major," Swinney said, "and then we'll invite him back."
-- David Ginsburg
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