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Wake writer notices FSU's defensive 180°

Deacons beat writer and blogger Dan Collins couldn't help but notice the contrast between FSU's 2009 defense and the one that goose-egged Wake Forest last weekend:

"What surprises me most about the Deacons inability to move the football was the hardly ancient memory of just how bad the Seminoles were last year on defense. I know, I know, there’s a new head coach (Jimbo Fisher) and a new defensive coordinator (Mark Stoops), but these are the same players, for the most part, who gave up more points in ACC play than any team other than N.C. State. I’ve just watched them stuff the same offense that I thought had the potential to be one of the best in the ACC for two quarters."

No offense, but did UVA founder Thomas Jefferson curse Cavalier Football with this actual quote 200 years ago?

Imagine FSU baseball playing its final out

Today, a major D-1 school has cut a major sport. Cal-Berkeley announced it will "86" the Golden Bears baseball program. Just like that. Gone. Finito, after over 100 years of team tradition.

The culprit, of course, is dollars. Over budget by $10 to $13-million, California had to take a meat cleaver to one of the oldest and proudest athletic programs in the country. 

Could it happen at FSU? It's not out of the question. In fact, it'll be a miracle if someday the decision-makers don't have to do a Cal-Berkeley downsizing to keep from going deep in the red. 

California's shortfall had to do in part with Title IX. That 1972 education amendment "requires that female athletes receive athletic scholarship dollars proportional to their participation (e.g., if there are 100 male athletes/100 female athletes and a $200,000 scholarship budget, then the budget must be split $100,000 to men/$100,000 to women)" --Source: Women's Sports Foundation

ChantRant is in favor of equal opportunities and strong women's sports programs at FSU. Still, Title IX is at least indirectly responsible for the struggle to maintain teams in traditional sports for both genders.

The fact that football has 85 scholarships mandates, for starters, there must be 85 women's scholarships. Since there's no women's football, it's a huge challenge for Athletic Directors to maintain two teams -- women's and men's -- in other sports from basketball and golf to soccer and baseball/softball.

It's no secret that football pays the way for virtually all of those teams. So while it may be convenient for some to view FSU Football like a greedy corporation that always has its hand out, imagine yourself as Randy Spetman and staff. You're not unlike a family under constant pressure to pay the bills and maintain a certain quality of life. Except some expenses are more fixed than others. You can't cut women's sports without reducing an equal amount of men's scholarships.

But costs keep going up. So football shoulders an increasing burden to generate enough income to keep all 17 teams -- except men's basketball most years -- competitive and representing FSU on the field, the court, and in the pool.

There's no guilt trip implied here to dig deeper for Florida State athletics. Just a small reality check about what our booster contributions and ticket purchases go to support. And a reminder that in college sports, like most everything else in life, we get what we pay for.

The Freshly Updated UVA Preview by TomRob

OFFENSE

What we know:  UVA is still pretty bad on offense. Despite whipping up on two I-AA teams (Richmond and VMI), the Cavs still have a mediocre offense at best. In their only game against an FBS team (USC), Virginia scored just 14 points and only racked up 340 total yards, while averaging just 4.7 yards per play. 

Sticking true to his word, head coach Mike London has brought a power-running, pro-style offense to Charlottesville. UVA has stuck with the run in all of their games and their runners have surprisingly done well. The RB corps appeared to be a weak spot with no one returning with much experience, but Keith Payne (217 yards, 5.4 average, 5 TDs) and Perry Jones (207 yards, 6.5 average) have been pretty solid, including in the USC game. 

The WR corps can go at least three deep with Dontrelle Inman having stepped up to join Kris Burd and Tim Smith. Inman (15 receptions, 214 yards, 2 TDs) has been a surprise thus far and gives UVA an extra option in the passing game that they often lacked last year. Burd leads the team in catches. Smith is off to a slow start after having missed a game, but he probably has the best talent of the bunch.  Joe Torchia (8 receptions, 102 yards) is a dangerous option at TE too.

Marc Verica is your QB for the foreseeable future. Much like the BYU team FSU faced, most figured the upperclassman QB would be pushed aside by a hotshot youngster. That may not be the case after all, though, for UVA. Verica struggled against USC, but he has put up good stats (697 yards, 61%, 5 TDs, 1 int.), upped his completion percentage, and limited mistakes. 

What we don’t know:  Can Verica maintain this level? The senior was just 17 of 36 against USC in a winnable game for the Cavs. If Verica can avoid turnovers and keep his completion percentage around 60, he will be useful. If not, UVA may have to get ready for the future and play Michael Rocco or Ross Metheny more. I’m skeptical that Verica can maintain this level of play as I think what we saw against USC is the real Verica—a guy who struggles against decent defenses and has accuracy issues.

Breaking News: McDaniel worries that he could miss UVA game

A Tuesday PM Tweet from The Democrat's
Corey Clark:

Jacobbi mcdaniel has a hyper-extended elbow. Has a big wrap on his arm. Said he was a "little worried" that he might not play vs UVA. He injured it in 4th qtr against wake. Didn't have contact yesterday at practice. He's not sure how severe it is.

 

UVA's Coach London: "We've got to play above whatever level that they bring in order for us to be successful"

It didn't take long for UVA's first-year coach to infuse the Cavaliers with a missing ingredient. Mike London has brought back the pride (we won't go so far as to call it swagger -- yet). The Cavs battled Southern Cal toe-to-toe on their home turf and nearly pulled off an upset. During his Monday press conference, London talked about Virginia's next hurdle. Here are the highlights.

London: "This game, first conference game, BCS opponent -- very, very good team with a Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback – a program with national championships and all that type of stuff. This will be another game to try to see where we are right now. I've always said we're a work in progress, and we're looking to improve and to get better. This game will also have an opportunity for me to see ‑‑ for our team to see how far we need to go…But it's what you play the games for, and I know our guys are excited about it."

What makes Christian Ponder more elite than some other QBs?

London: "He's a guy that's very accurate. I think his passing efficiency rating is very good, and he's very, very athletic in terms of escaping a rush. I think in terms of attempts, he's the second guy on their team with rushing attempts. Now, I don't know how many of those are his quarterback runs or some QB scrambles, but I'll tell you what, he's fast. When he gets out to the second level he does a great job because he's hard to bring down…so we've got to definitely shore up our rush lanes and our quarterback landmarks. But if we can tie the rush into the coverage, I think both of them will benefit each other, and if we can do that on both sides, then again, we'll give ourselves a chance."

On injured CB Ras-I Dowling (pre-season All-American) and Safety Rodney McLeod being at full strength for FSU.

London: "Ras‑I played close to 30 plays (against VMI last Saturday). Rodney didn’t play as many plays as Ras-I did, but after the game he felt really good…and we're looking forward to him being with us here on Saturday’s game with Ras‑I. I think they'll be back to being close to 100 percent."

Virginia hasn't run the ball particularly well against FSU even during your time as an assistant. What's the importance of the running game this weekend and not relying on QB Mike Verica to throw it 35 or 40 times?

A Cavalier fan's guide to Scott Stadium and UVA Gameday

Here's the 4-1-1 on what to expect if you're heading for Charlottesville. Our thanks to Hamilton at the UVA blog Lambeth Field.

The Stadium - Scott Stadium is about 62,000 at capacity, but you won't see that much on Saturday, especially at noon. The major fan base outside of Charlottesville is Richmond (1 hour), DC (2 hours), and Hampton Roads (2-3 hours).

Opponent fans are in the Southeast Endzone and should enter from the Visitors entrance off the South or East Endzone.  Concessions are very vanilla (hotdogs, popcorn, soda) although if you get there early enough to walk around, there are a few new buffalo wing stands on the North and South side which are pretty decent.

Bathrooms shouldn't be a problem, but as with any stadium, the rush at half could see a line. The North Endzone is a grass hill with pergolas and brick pavers. If you get a chance or want a change of scenery, bring something to sit on and head for the hill. It's GA, so sit wherever.

Tailgating and Parking -  Your two best bets are the Basketball Stadium (John Paul Jones Arena) and Fontaine Research Park off Exit 118B from I-64. Walking distance is about 20 min. If you don't mind donating to college kids' beer funds, there's a ton of housing past the Fontaine Research Park that would allow for parking and some tailgating for about $20-30 a car. The key is getting there early.

Pre-Game Traditions - The kids are there early as their section is first come, first serve. Band plays before the game, and then they do "Adventures of Cavman." Several years ago they got Disney/Pixar to make a animatronic mascot who fights the opponents mascot, vanquishes them, and rides through Charlottesville in the movie, then runs across the field with the team to whatever "song du jour" they picked. To be honest Al Groh did the worst job at all of this last year and copycatted a bunch of stuff from other people, but London is trying some new things so we'll give him some time.

Fan Friendliness - It's not Blacksburg, but it ain't Durham either. We understand what kind of team we have, and depending on the game will determine the attitude of the fans.

The older alumni care about drinking whiskey and cokes, the students will be students, and the other 50% could go either way (although a noon kickoff should quiet them down a little).

***UVA is having a WHITE OUT for this game. It is the first time EVER they have done this, so I don't really know what to expect*** You will probably be safe on the hill, but again, like most other places, if you're the one Nole in a sea of Wahoos doing the WarChant all game, prepare to get heckled.

Worth watching again, especially the suddenly feorcious D

Vapidly Random and Distinctly Meaningless Thoughts

by Bill from Tampa

1. No offense, Dustin, but I was kind of hoping that you would miss that last PAT. Just something about 30-0 (THIS TIME) would have had a very pleasant ring to it. But I'll take 31-0

2. Coming into the game head coach Jim Grobe said that after giving up 116 points in the past two games he needed to simplify his defense. It would appear his offense was simplified as well. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to add up four quarter’s worth of zeros.

3. A microphoned Jimbo Fisher said before the game to get his team pumped up, “This is our weather!!!” Yesterday’s high in Tallahassee … 92 degrees with 45% humidity. The high in Winston Salem ... 89 degrees and 40%. Apparently it is Wake Forest’s weather as well.

4. If FSU ever needs some additional wide receiver depth …. there’s always Jacobbi McDaniel.

5. Ah yes, FSU fan’s favorite ACC referee Ron Cherry, who according to Deckerhoff “never met a holding call (aka habeas grabus) he didn’t like.” Apparently hitting FSU wide receivers out of bounds is not a problem, however, for good old Ron and his crew.

6. Tanner Price ….. meet Mister Mister Alexander. (You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to say that.) Tanner probably wished he hadn't. Surprising Ron didn't throw a flag for hitting too hard.

7. Memo to Jimbo: Mrs. BFT had just one criticism. “Can we not run that play anymore? You know, the one where the QB is sacked and the ball is fumbled away.” Apparently she doesn’t like that one. Go figure.

8. On the flip side came this comment from Gene Deckerhoff as Ponder ducked under an oncoming Wake Forest lineman. “It’s Henry Houdini!!” Hank, as he was fond of being called, was the lesser known escape artist of the family and apparently played football, according to Gene.

9. Stat of the season to date: Last season 24 total sacks. This season through four games 19 sacks. And counting.

10. I'm really missing that defense of last season that gave up 320 plays of 80 yards or more, aren't you? (Can't wait to see the response to that one.)

Bonus Vapidly Random and Distinctly Meaningless Thoughts

Noles win again, Taiwan Easterling the unsung hero (again)

We predicted, as did Tomahawk Nation and others, that the Wake game would be a great opportunity to polish the passing game. Mission accomplished. Willie Haulstead is coming of age and true freshman, Kenny Shaw, popped on the radar of Nole fans.

That said, how about a big hand for the most under appreciated Nole, Taiwan Easterling. He continues to be the dependable go-to guy. Amazing for a player who was supposed to be long gone.

Let’s see, how many times has Tai been written off?

“He’ll be lucky to recover from that nasty achilles heel injury.” He did, in record time.

“Forget about Easterling, he’s not gonna turn down big bucks from the MLB.” He did, saying no to a potential fourth round contract.

And this year? Most receiving yards (238) and second in total receptions (14), averaging 17 yards per catch, and two TDs.

Not that he was exactly invisible in 2008 and 2009.

Easterling ain’t flashy. He won’t out jump DBs in the end zone. And forget about replacing Bert Reed as the deep threat. But when FSU needs a keep-the-drive-alive catch, somebody who can find that crease in the zone, and slip tackles for extra yardage, Taiwan’s your man.

So while fans and media are talking about Haulstead’s breakout day, the always exciting Bert Reed and Kenny Shaw’s first TD  -- rightly and deservedly so -- who had the biggest game for the Noles?

Bingo. Easterling led the day with six receptions for 112 yards. Try finding that above the fold in Sunday’s paper.

But that’s okay. Taiwan seems happy to be the lunch bucket WR who’d rather make catches than headlines.