VIRGINIA TO JOIN THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
Charlottesville, Va - If it had not been for the sweltering heat and humidity, one would have sworn this was a typical MWC offensive battle royal. Anyone watching this opening day tilt between Colorado State and Virginia got their cable money’s worth with an offensive fireworks display and a total lack of defense. Whether by run or by pass made no difference - fans were treated to 849 yards of total offense and what seemed to be a disappearing act by both punters in the second half.

CSU quarterback Bradlee VanPelt is still cool as a cucumber, just picking up where he left off last season. His gritty running ability and fluent throwing motion under any kind of pressure is phenomenal. Cecil Sapp is back this year as “the Diesel” he once was. He has shed the tumor in his heel that caused him to miss the entire 2001 season, and he proved he is a workhorse.

Virginia had their moments, although costly turnovers, especially in the first half, seemed to stifle a few scoring opportunities. The Cavaliers were working with a duel QB system as Schaub and Hagan rotated each quarter. Head Coach Al Groh needs to pick one - redshirt freshman Marques Hagan won today’s battle with much quicker feet and an equally better passing attack. When speaking of freshmen, Virginia is loaded with them. Down the road, the people in Charlottesville have much to be optimistic about. But today’s home loss was a tough one, with a trip to Tallahassee next weekend, followed by a home match up with South Carolina. Dare we say 0-3 for the 2002 Cavalier start? The odds point to this as a definite possibility.

The Rams have had some question marks at wide receiver, which just goes to show the difference a solid quarterback makes. Sonny Lubick’s team will regroup for next weekend’s big inter-state tussle in Denver against Colorado. They are on the right track.

– To Virginia’s slew of youthful running backs including Alvin Pearman, Marquis Weeks, and their iron man of tonight’s game…Wali Lundy with 20 carries. Wali hails from New Jersey - he was an All-State player his high school junior year at receiver, and at running back as a senior.

– To the defenses. Both totally lack(ed) of ability to stop either the run or the pass.

– To CSU kicker Jeff Babcock…In his first appearance as a college kicker, he went 5-5 on field goals. What WAS considered a big question mark is NOW an exclamation point.

– The Charlottesville crowd seemed to be too busy with the wine and cheese most of the evening. Granted, this was the earliest college football ever played in Division I history, but the noise meter was certainly turned off for good reason.

– To the Jim Thorpe Classic…the excitement of college football at its purest. With 10 seconds left Virginia blew a chance to win the game by fumbling on the half-yard line. Finding a game this close for the remaining preseason classics will prove difficult. If you were not receiving this game on the tube, you missed a good one.

– The Heat. 102 degree temperatures existed all day, which landed somewhere in the 90’s by kickoff at sundown. With the drought affecting this part of the country in full swing, it was just plain good to see green grass once again.

ONLY 12 GAME SCHEDULE FOR IRISH - Speaking of eight preseason classic games, Notre Dame and Maryland in the original Kickoff Classic of East Rutherford, is the only match up that takes place the following Labor Day Weekend. The situation almost caused the set up to fall through as the tilt was scheduled on August 25th a year ago. Notre Dame asked for a switch when it realized that the date coincided with mandatory freshman orientation. With 16 teams playing in Preseason Classics, Notre Dame is the only school out of that pack that will maintain a 12 game schedule, the rest play 13 opponents in accordance to NCAA Preseason Games policy. Of course out of all the universities participating in the preseason, who really cares about the extra money another game brings in?

JV FOOTBALL STILL ALIVE - College Football fans fear not...filling the void left behind by the switching of the original Sunday Notre Dame/Maryland August 25th broadcast will be a humdinger of a battle between Arkansas State and Virginia Tech JV. We have not been able to confirm yet if the Hokies still field a JV squad. For those of you that still follow this ancient ritual of junior varsity squads, we present the 2002 Navy JV Schedule:

Sept. 8 - 1 p.m. Walter Reed
Sept. 13 - 3:45 p.m. Lackawanna College
Sept. 20 - 3:30 Hargrave Military
Sept. 29 - 1 p.m. Valley Forge Military Academy
Oct. 13 - 3:30 p.m. NAPS
Nov. 1 - 3:30 p.m. Milford Academy
Nov. 15 - 6:00 p.m. NAPS

THE JOKE’S ON TALLAHASEE – With this weekend’s Eddie Robinson Classic duel between Florida State and Iowa State in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, the local Seminole fans living in Tallahassee have found out just recently, that the game will not be televised in their own capital city. Don’t misunderstand the situation. Just because your mother’s friend’s uncle who lives in Nova Scotia can receive the game via cable, doesn’t mean the people directly involved should be able to watch it. The local cable company in that part of the North Florida Panhandle (Comcast) must have felt the ratings would suffer while the Fox Big Boyz played power trip games. The game can be seen on the Fox Sports Net national broadcast for those of you not directly involved.
Editor's note: As of Wednesday evening, the game is now scheduled to view on Comcast Sports Net in Tallahassee after intense pressure from the locals, proving once again that the customer is always right.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL OXYMORONS – One of our clever friends here at NationalChamps.net has integrated his own version of this year’s College Football Oxymoron’s. Not to be confused with Bo Schembechler’s brother or the master inventor of the tight end screen, Baltimore’s Bill Canter chimes in:
Rutgers success; Temple's future; Paul Pasquiloni's popularity; Michigan’s aggressive offense; Ralph Friedgen's fitness; Clemson's ferocious defense; Georgia Tech's focus; Alabama's integrity; Miami's lack of talent; Tennessee's "classroom first" attitude; Northwestern’s recruiting base; Joe Tillers cautiousness; Minnesota's relevance; Chris Simms’ field generalship; UCLA's heart; USC's overachievement; Nebraska's offensive versatility; Texas A&M's passing "attack"; Texas Tech’s power game; Bob Davies future; Nick Saban's calmness; Rick Neuheisel's honesty; Mississippi's tackling; Mississippi State's momentum; Mack Brown's game day coaching....