2009 DUKE PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
Coach David Cutcliffe is well-known for his success with quarterbacks, and at Duke he has a quarterback in Thaddeus Lewis who is so good that his main competition is now a defensive back. Zack Asack, who started six games as a freshman in 2005 before his 2006 suspension for plagiarism, has been moved to safety. |
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2009 ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE PREVIEW
Fans and media of the ACC who know the four North Carolina-based schools as the Big Four also know that when it comes to football, just how big a joke the moniker has been. |
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2009 VIRGINIA PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
Nobody on the Virginia staff has a bigger challenge than newcomer Gregg Brandon, who will coordinate an offense that lost probably its best half-dozen players, including running back Cedric Peerman, tackle Eugene Monroe, tight end John Phillips and wide receiver Kevin Ogletree, from a unit that averaged only 16.1 points a game last season – four fewer than any other team in the conference. |
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2009 MIAMI (FL) PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
New offensive coordinator Mark Whipple has never coached in what is now know as the NCAA Bowl Subdivision, but was the offensive assistant coach last season for the Philadelphia Eagles, and the quarterbacks coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2004 through 2006. And, with seven starters returning from an offense that ranked third in the ACC with 27.1 points a game, he’ll have more talent to work with than he did during his 16 years as head coach at Massachusetts, Brown, and New Haven. |
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2009 GEORGIA TECH PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
Coach Paul Johnson emerged from spring practices convinced the Yellow Jackets will be better in his second season than his first. They should be, with 17 starters back, including running back Jonathan Dwyer, quarterback Josh Nesbit and three offensive linemen who combined to start 37 games. |
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2009 NORTH CAROLINA PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
The wide receiver corps lost three players to the NFL draft, including first-round pick Hakeem Nicks, and yet should be restocked enough this season to be a team strength. |
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2009 VIRGINIA TECH PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
The Hokies ranked third in the ACC last season with 174.4 rushing yards a game, and should be formidable on the ground again with Darren Evans back at tailback. Evans, a 6-0 foot, 213-pound sophomore, gained a school-record 253 yards against Maryland, and finished his freshman season ranked third in the ACC with 90.4 yards per game. |
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2009 BOSTON COLLEGE PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
Dismissed coach, Jeff Jagodzinski, ended up on the staff of the Tampa Bay Buccaneeers, as did Steve Logan, the Eagles’ offensive coordinator the past two years. New coach Frank Spaziani hired Gary Tranquill, who has been offensive coordinator at Michigan State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina, with no intentions of running the same offense favored by Jagodzinski and Logan. |
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2009 MARYLAND PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
The Terps have an experienced quarterback in senior Chris Turner and a dynamic back in Da’Rel Scott. Turner ranked third in the conference with 193.5 passing yards a game and fifth with a passing efficiency rating of 119.3, and Scott was named first-team All-ACC as a sophomore after ranking second in the ACC with 94.4 yards a game. |
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2009 FLORIDA STATE PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
Other than starter Christian Ponder, the only other two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster are E.J. Manuel and Will Secord. Manuel is a redshirt freshman who was sidelined during the spring with a broken finger and Secord is a freshman from Frisco, Tex, who didn’t arrive until this summer. |
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2009 CLEMSON PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
With James Davis, the second-leading rusher in Clemson history now gone, the focus of the offense will be running back C.J. Spiller, who has 2,335 yards rushing and 20 touchdowns, and last season set a record for Clemson running backs with 436 receiving yards. |
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2009 WAKE FOREST PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
It will probably be incumbent for the offense to carry a heavier load than a year ago, especially early in the season when so many of the defensive players are striving to get their feet on the ground. There’s no better position to build an offense around than quarterback, and in the history of the Wake Forest football program there has been no better quarterback than Riley Skinner. |
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2009 NORTH CAROLINA STATE PREVIEW
OFFENSE:
In hindsight, the week off after a tough 27-24 loss at Maryland allowed the Wolfpack to jell as a team. Perhaps even more instrumental to the four-game winning streak that saved N.C. State’s season and landed them in the PapaJohn’s Bowl was the play of quarterback Russell Wilson, whose first half of the season was marred by a series of injuries. |
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NCAA rejects FSU plan for a Blue Ribbon Panel
The NCAA turned down Florida State's proposal that a "blue-ribbon committee" be formed to review the policy of vacating wins as a form of punishment, and that the policy be suspended from use while it is under review, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel. |
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NCAA penalty is too stiff says Bowden
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden is supporting the university's appeal of an NCAA sanction stripping wins from Seminoles sports teams whose athletes were involved in an academic fraud scandal. |
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Florida State president apologizes
by Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State University president T.K. Wetherell has apologized for an obscene remark about football coach Bobby Bowden's former school. |
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Tarnished Record
by Dennis Dodd
Another day at Florida State, another messy NCAA oil spill. They're used to them in Tallahassee.
But FSU going on probation (again) was not close to being the main news Friday when the school went on probation (again). |
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FSU penalties to impact wins race
by Ivan Maisel
The horse race between Joe Paterno of Penn State and Bobby Bowden of Florida State for the most victories in the history of major college football came to an abrupt halt Friday. Bowden, a game behind Paterno when the 2008 season ended, has pulled up lame due to a case of academic fraud. |
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NCAA penalties extend to 10 FSU sports
The Florida State football team faces forfeiture of wins, four years of probation, scholarship reductions and other penalties due to former staff members' involvement in what the NCAA described Friday as "major violations" stemming from academic fraud. |
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Game of the Week: Ohio State at Southern California
by Jim Gumm
Jim Tressel and his highly ranked Ohio State Buckeyes travel to the Los Angeles Memorial
Coliseum to take on Pete Carroll's top ranked Southern California Trojans in a
much anticipated match-up between two of college football's premiere programs. |
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