Thursday, August 24, 2006
Looking for a critical game? Don’t overlook East Carolina
Animosity lingers following Pinigis’ departure
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's UVa Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
See Doug and Randy talk sports every week with the Sports edition of the TimesCast
Recent columns
For most of the summer, I’ve been telling everyone who asks that Virginia’s football team will go 6-6 this season.
In so doing, I have violated one of my cardinal rules of prognosticating.
A pet peeve of mine has always been that people shouldn’t pick football records without having a schedule in front of them.
When asked to come up with some predictions for The Roanoke Times’ college football package, which publishes Sunday, I finally went through UVa’s schedule and came up with 7-5.
That includes a loss to Pittsburgh, currently a four-point favorite after opening at 3 ½ and getting as high as five.
I also figure the Cavs to lose at Georgia Tech in Week 5, then reel off five straight victories before dropping their final three games – at Florida State, against Miami in Charlottesville and at Virginia Tech.
Most people would say that Virginia’s most critical stretch of the season will be the three-game homestand in which it faces Maryland on Oct. 14, North Carolina on Oct. 19 and N.C. State on Oct. 28.
Playing North Carolina on a Thursday night, only five days after entertaining Maryland, will be particularly challenging. However, the Tar Heels also play five days earlier – against South Florida – and have to travel to Charlottesville.
South Florida is a Big East squad, coached by Jim Leavitt, that lost to N.C. State last year in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, 14-0, and finished 6-6.
If you ask me, one of the scariest dates on UVa’s schedule is an Oct. 7 visit to East Carolina. Most people would put that in Virginia “W” column, but the Pirates took tremendous strides in Skip Holtz’s first season as coach, finishing 5-6 after going 3-22 in their previous 25 games, including 3-19 under Holtz’s predecessor, John Thompson.
(Another thing: I’m not sure that people should chalk up the Miami home game as a Cavalier “L.” After visiting Florida State on Nov. 4, Virginia has an open date before hosting Miami. The Hurricanes, on the other hand, will travel to Maryland on Nov. 4. UVa took Miami to the wire last year at the Orange Bowl.).
I CAN’T REMEMBER a time when I’ve talked to anybody as unhappy as Amy Pinigis, mother of former Virginia offensive tackle Eddie Pinigis, who enrolled in classes at Division I-AA Liberty earlier this week after losing his starting job at UVa..
Amy said that the Liberty coaches were so happy at the arrival of Pinigis that head coach Danny Rocco pulled his car onto the grass out front of Liberty’s Hancock Center and gave up his parking spot.
“That did happen,” Rocco said Thursday.
A central theme in Mrs. Pinigis’ tirade was her contention that UVa head coach Al Groh had always been indifferent to her son and the Pinigis family and that former offensive coordinator Ron Prince, now the head coach at Kansas State, was responsible for her son’s playing time in 2005.
“When coach Prince left, that was the beginning of the end for Eddie,” Pinigis’ mom said. “If not for coach Prince and coach Rocco, he never would have played. Prince believed in him and fought for him every day. Rocco backed him every step of the way.”
She said that Prince was among a group of former coaches and teammates who have called in support of Pinigis, including first-round NFL Draft pick D’Brickashaw Ferguson, whose spot Pinigis filled for two games when Ferguson was injured last season.
She said that her son also heard from members of the current UVa staff, several of whom “cried” and “begged for him to come back.”
IT WAS INTERESTING to hear Groh say in a Wednesday teleconference that tight end Joe Torchia, one of the two SuperPrep All-Americans (along with Keith Payne) in Virginia’s recruiting class, was not likely to play this season.
Coupled with Groh’s earlier statement that defensive lineman Nate Collins was the only recruit who possibly could play in the opener, it makes you wonder if Groh will make a greater commitment to redshirting than he has in past years.
Of the 24 members of Virginia’s 2005 recruiting class, almost half (11) played as true freshman. Remarkably, given Virginia’s attrition of late, all 24 remain in the program.
Payne’s name came up on Groh’s Monday teleconference when Groh was asked if Payne had NCAA Clearinghouse issues that had kept him from practicing. Groh was short with rivals.com questioner Chris Wallace and the matter went unresolved.
