CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -Virginia coach Al Groh tries to avoid being demonstrative on the sidelines.
However, Groh doesn’t object to reasonable end zone celebrations and hasn’t been above doing a flying chest bump himself after a good play in his eight years at Virginia.
Groh does have a problem with the rules and officials who seem to have no tolerance for even the slightest display of emotion.
Mary, Cavaliers quarterback Jameel Sewell was flagged 15 yards for making an inoffensive symbol with his hands in the end zone after scoring a touchdown. Tribe defensive back B.W. Webb also was flagged for putting his hands in the air after scoring on a 50-yard interception return that essentially closed out the game.
Both scores gave their teams the lead.
“I don’t think it was over the top for my personal sensitivities,” Groh said of both gestures. “Obviously that’s not the sensitivities of the rule-makers, so you have to know what the rules are, and the rules say, virtually, there is no room for celebration.”
on where Washington quarterback Jake Locker scored a touchdown in the closing seconds against BYU to pull his team within a point. Locker drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty because after tumbling into the end zone for the 3-yard TD, he thrust his hands in the air as he got to his feet, sending the ball sailing upward.
The penalty was assessed on the extra point, BYU blocked it and won 28-27.
Groh said Locker’s reaction, like the two in his game Saturday, were not excessive.
“I thought in a lot of ways, it was natural human reaction the other day,” he said. “But maybe we’ve got some droids that are writing the rules in terms of human reaction.”
—
CALM CUTCLIFFE: Duke has had plenty of practice at losing, so it’s probably good that coach David Cutcliffe said he gets more reflective than angry after a defeat.
The Blue Devils’ loss to Richmond last weekend was a frustrating way to start a season that some think will end with Duke in a bowl game. It’s why Cutcliffe started his weekly news conference by asking if any reporters had been injured from “jumping off the bandwagon.”
Cutcliffe also expects his players to take setbacks without making a scene.
t, he wouldn’t see me again because I’d trade him.”
—
PLAYING THEIR PEERS: First Baylor, now Stanford.
Wake Forest’s first two opponents fit the Demon Deacons’ profile: Private schools from power conferences whose recent success in football has been, at best, sporadic.
Linebacker Matt Woodlief said it doesn’t matter if the Demon Deacons play peer programs or the major players in big-time college football; it’s still all about the opportunity.
“Say we did play Florida or Tennessee or Purdue, anybody,” Woodlief said. “It’s going to be a challenge for us. Stanford’s new. That’s going to be a new challenge, a new set of different players from out west. I like that, and I love new challenges every week.
“That’s what’s great about playing here at Wake. You get somebody new every week.”
—
FLASHBACKS: Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele remembers all too well the long days and nights he spent at Nebraska scheming against the option offense.
Steele, the Cornhuskers linebackers coach from 1989-1994, has had to dust off his plans for stopping the option this week. The Tigers face No. 15 Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson’s new-style spread on Thursday night.
“Obviously, they’re very good at what they do,” Steele said.
—
DRAGGING HIS FEET: Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson issued a warning to his punter.
Chandler Anderson averaged 51 yards on two punts in the season-opening victory over Jacksonville State, but he took his time getting them off and both were line drives. The kicks were not the sort of high, soaring kicks that coaches prefer so the coverage teams can get downfield.
“I thought he would have to wait until Sunday before he kicked it,” Johnson said sarcastically.
The coach said he wouldn’t put up with a similar performance when the No. 15 Yellow Jackets (1-0) face Clemson (1-0) in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener Thursday night.
“He’s invited everyone we play to come and try to block it by standing back there holding the ball,” Johnson said. “He better learn to get it off, or he will not be out there.”
—
CAN’T TOUCH THIS: Maryland hasn’t had a punt blocked since 1999. The streak of 112 games without a miscue is the longest in the nation and can mainly attributed to six players doing their job very well.
Since October 1999, the Terrapins have started only three punters: Brooks Barnard, Adam Podlesh and junior Travis Baltz. The long snappers over that span have been Jon Condo, Andrew Schitt and most recently Tim Downs, who made his debut last weekend against California.
That last time the Terps had a punt blocked was Nov. 13, 1999, against Florida State.
—
Mary, who both knocked off teams from the ACC on the opening weekend.
All three CAA teams are ranked in the top seven in the FCS rankings.
—
AP sports writers Aaron Beard in Durham, N.C., Joedy McCreary in Winston-Salem, N.C., Pete Iacobelli in Clemson, S.C., Paul Newberry in Atlanta and David Ginsburg in College Park, Md. also contributed to this report.
Add A Comment