.....Advertisement.....
.....Advertisement.....
Friday, September 30, 2005

Dooley, Bestwick take Harris duties seriously

Bill Dooley and Dick Bestwick are back in college football -- as voters for the new Harris Interactive poll.

The Harris poll, which debuted last weekend, has replaced the Associated Press media poll as one of the three components in the Bowl Championship Series standings. Dooley, a former North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest coach, and Bestwick, an ex-UVa coach, are among 114 media members and former coaches, players and administrators who are voting in the new poll.

One voter put winless Idaho in his poll last weekend, but count on Dooley and Bestwick to make well-researched votes. Dooley watches plenty of football on TV.

"I'm a football addict," Dooley, 70, said from his Wilmington, N.C., home. "If I'm at a game, I come home and stay up and watch. I read all about the Pac-10, the Big 12, the Big Ten. ... It's kind of a hobby."

Bestwick, a former assistant athletic director at Georgia, also has been doing a lot of reading and TV viewing.

"I spend a lot of time watching football games because I take the responsibility of this poll very seriously," Bestwick, 75, said from his Athens, Ga., home. "I've seen just about all the good teams so far.

"It's a lot more difficult than meets the eye when you first sit down to do it and you have to make decisions between two teams that are very similar. You just have to try to base it on who they've played and where they've played. I stay up until 1 o'clock in the morning watching West Coast teams."

Virginia Tech was No. 3 in the first Harris poll, behind Southern California and Texas. Bestwick had Tech third but said he might move the Hokies up to No. 2 this weekend if they win big at West Virginia and Texas struggles to beat Missouri.

Dooley voted Tech fourth, behind USC, Texas and Florida. Dooley, who used to vote in the coaches' poll, put the Gators ahead of the Hokies because he was impressed with Florida's win over Tennessee.

Bestwick, a former executive director of the Peach Bowl, is against a playoff system but wants only conference champs to be eligible for the BCS title game. Dooley would like to see a four-team playoff after the bowls have been played.

Dooley spent the past four years as the junior-varsity coach at his son Sean's high school, but he has given up that role now that Sean is a freshman receiver at Elon. Dooley said the JV gig was the best job he ever had.

"You practice Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and you play on Thursday. You're off Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- and no recruiting," Dooley said with a laugh.

ESPNU adds carrier

ESPNU, which will air the Clemson-Wake Forest and South Florida-Miami games Saturday, has picked up more satellite TV viewers. ESPNU reached a deal last week to join Dish Network's channel lineup.

ESPNU already had been available to DirecTV customers and to Adelphia's digital cable customers.

Test for Hurricanes?

Miami's game Saturday night against Big East newcomer South Florida became much more interesting after the Bulls (3-1) stunned Louisville 45-14 last weekend. This will be the teams' first meeting, and Miami coach Larry Coker said he is very impressed with South Florida.

"The thing that really stood out was their speed on defense ... and also their big-play capability on offense," Coker said. The area of "south Florida has very good talent. That's why they're doing what they're doing."

Coker, whose 10th-ranked Hurricanes (2-1) are coming off a 23-3 win over Colorado, hopes his offense improves. Miami had five series in the red zone last weekend but came away with three field goals and only one touchdown. On the plus side, Kyle Wright threw for 264 yards and one TD and wasn't sacked.

"We definitely saw some improvement in our passing game," Coker said.

Rematch in Chapel Hill

North Carolina (1-2) also has an interesting nonconference game Saturday, when Utah (3-1) pays a visit.

Utah defeated the Tar Heels 46-16 last year, but that was when Urban Meyer was the Utes coach and Alex Smith was the quarterback. Meyer is now at Florida and Smith in the NFL, but UNC coach John Bunting is still concerned.

"They're still scoring a ton of points and they're very, very talented on defense," Bunting said. "Their scheme is extremely unique and, quite frankly, they took us apart pretty good last year.

"I'm hoping that we compete ... a heck of a lot better this year, otherwise you'll have the same type results."

More penalties

Penalties continue to hurt North Carolina State. The 1-2 Wolfpack drew 10 penalties in last weekend's 31-24 loss to UNC, giving it 30 on the season.

"Some of it has to do with maybe a little over-aggression," said coach Chuck Amato, whose team is idle Saturday. "I can eat some of those, but those pre-snap ones are the toughest ones on both sides of the ball.

"We're doing everything we can to correct it."

.....Advertisement.....