Virginia Tech isn’t the only school whose fans are unhappy with the football team’s offensive coordinator.

This is Mike Groh’s third season overseeing the offense in Charlottesville, and many UVa fans would like it to be his last in that role.

BLACKSBURG — It seemed that Virginia Tech’s ACC championship hopes dissolved into the humid south Florida air with its 16-14 loss at Miami last Thursday. But if anything is true about the wacky ACC this season, it’s that nothing is certain.

At the end of the final regular-season football practice each year, Liberty’s seniors stand in a line, and the team’s underclassmen take turns shaking the seniors’ hands.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Two weeks from today, the University of Virginia football team could be in Tampa, Fla., playing in the ACC championship game.

Looking across the line of scrimmage, an offensive tackle sees a defensive end in a three-point stance, eyes fixed ahead, eagerly anticipating the snap so he can deliver a blow that to most people would feel like a car wreck without the airbag. This is, after all, unnatural human interaction.

At last glance, Virginia quarterback Marc Verica was sitting outside the locker room down in Winston-Salem, N.C., still absorbing a stinging loss to Wake Forest.

At college football stadiums all around the country tomorrow, seniors will be recognized before their final home games, usually with their parents at their side.

Senior kicker Dustin Keys attempted eight field goals his entire high school career. Now, in his only season as Virginia Tech’s kicker, he is on the cusp of the school’s single-season field goal mark.
Keys, a former walk-on who was awarded a scholarship right before this season, is four field goals away from breaking the single-season record of 22 set by Chris Kinzer in 1986 and matched by Shayne Graham in 1998.

Elon’s Brandon Newsome isn’t a pro prospect, at least not yet. He’s not popping up on a list of the nation’s top FCS running backs. He’s not the target for opposing defenses.
But his emergence in 2008 has given Elon much-needed offensive balance, a weapon in the backfield to keep opponents honest.

When Jason Worilds listens to a Herbie Hancock piano solo, he hears more than music. He hears expression. He hears feeling.
There’s nothing to distract from the song or drown out the emotion. It’s complex in its simplicity, kind of like Worilds’ new approach on the football field.
Since the Virginia Tech sophomore defensive end removed all distractions from his mind and stopped second-guessing himself, he’s been able to express himself on the field a lot better.
The result has been sweet music.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — One of the pressing questions heading into this season of uncertainty for Virginia’s men’s basketball team was this: Who would be the one to take the shot with the game on the line?

BLACKSBURG—Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver spent part of yesterday researching Texas’ decision to designate its defensive coordinator as its future head coach. Weaver wants to find out if, and how, a similar arrangement could work at Tech, presumably with defensive coordinator Bud Foster.

If Liberty beats Elon on Saturday afternoon at Williams Stadium, the Flames will remain in the hunt for one of the eight at-large berths to the FCS playoffs. For Elon, the matchup is a playoff play-in. The Phoenix (8-3) need to beat the Flames (9-2) to earn their first trip to the postseason.

Outside linebackers are an endangered species in the Virginia football program.

BLACKSBURG — Many of Virginia Tech’s players will put off their normal Thursday night activities to watch Miami and Georgia Tech play on ESPN.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Dave Leitao isn’t the sort to gush. But once he saw Sylven Landesberg’s stat line after Sunday’s win over VMI, he did just that.

Randolph College’s women’s basketball team enters the 2008-09 season with two distinct advantages over last year’s squad that finished 7-17 overall and 5-15 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The WildCats have more experience and more size than they have had in several years.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Appropriately enough, Liberty blew its one chance at a SportsCenter moment Tuesday afternoon. UNC Asheville’s Sean Hobbs turned the ball over, and Flames freshman Bill Weaver took the outlet pass in transition. He rose for a thunderous dunk, but the ball clanked hard off the rim, leading to chortles and guffaws from UNCA’s vociferous student section.

No one really knew what to expect last year from Randolph College’s men’s basketball team in its first year of existence.
What they got was a team that was easy to root for regardless of the score.
The WildCats got after teams on the defensive end of the court and never stopped battling. They even won eight games in their first year, which could only be described as a success.

Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster said he probably will know in the next three weeks if he will be offered Clemson’s head-coaching position. Foster, 49, interviewed for the job Friday in Roanoke with Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips.
“I was a nervous wreck going in, and I felt good coming out,” Foster said. “Whether I feel good or not doesn’t mean anything. I don’t know anything else. I’m telling you the truth.”

Virginia coach Debbie Ryan doesn’t have many fond memories of Thompson-Boling Arena.
That all changed Monday night when Monica Wright scored 35 points and Britnee Milner made a free throw with 6.4 seconds left to help No. 16 Virginia upset No. 5 Tennessee 83-82.

Sometime around 4 a.m. today, the Virginia Tech basketball team will leave campus in a bus and catch a flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they will play three non-conference games that could bolster or shake their NCAA tournament resume come March.

It was just a matter of time before Lynchburg College’s sophomore forward Betsy Kwiatkowski got loose.
Emory University had frustrated the Hornets’outstanding, offensive player by pressuring the ball and cutting off service to LC’s leading scorer in the scoreless first half Sunday in the NCAA Division III soccer tournament..
But the Hornets came out of locker room like a different team. LC started to string some passes together and before long, Kwiatkowski was getting the ball in increasingly dangerous positions. Finally, 13 minutes into the second half, Kwiatkowski took the ball, turned a defender, and headed to the sideline.
She then spun around a second defender while cutting back to the middle of the field. Next, she beat a third defender to the end line and crossed the ball into the six-yard box where sophomore forward Katie Santos tucked the ball home for the match’s only goal.

Virginia coach Dave Leitao kept a keen on eye on the happenings in Lexington, Ky., Friday night. By the middle of the second half, a group of Cavalier players had gathered in the team’s lounge to watch, too.
They saw VMI drill shot after shot and hold off a furious Kentucky charge at Rupp Arena.
“It was a little bit of a wake-up call,” Leitao said. “What we saw out there really raised our eyebrows.”

Some of Virginia’s younger players will use it as motivation, but Mamadi Diane has been around long enough to know better.

Plenty has been made of Rashad Jennings’ draft status. But the tailback isn’t the only Liberty player drawing attention from NFL scouts this season.
Several scouts have been impressed by the play of LU senior quarterback Brock Smith, who entered Saturday night’s game against Gardner-Webb ranked eighth in the FCS in passing efficiency at 159.51.

Liberty football coach Danny Rocco’s answer was short and to the point. At 10-2, do the Flames deserve to go to the playoffs?
“Yes,” he said simply, addressing the remaining crowd at Williams Stadium after Liberty beat Gardner-Webb 30-10 on Saturday night.

CLEMMONS, N.C. — Liberty University sophomore Sam Chelanga continued his undefeated cross country season, winning Saturday’s NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships men’s race and qualifying for next Monday’s NCAA Division I Championships at Terre Haute, Ind.

He completed the 10K race at soggy Tanglewood State Park, Wake Forest’s home course, in 29 minutes, 53.4 seconds to hold off Boston College’s Bobby Mack (30:17.8). Chelanga helped the Flames (156 points) equal last year’s highest-ever regional showing, finishing fifth behind William & Mary (66), Virginia (67), N.C. State (111) and Duke (146).

The blue-chip prospect who’s scheduled to arrive at UVa today for an unofficial visit is bringing some baggage.
That Renardo Sidney is a supremely gifted basketball player is unquestioned. The 6-10, 250-pound senior from Los Angeles’ Fairfax High is ranked No. 5 by Scout.com and No. 10 by Rivals.com in the Class of 2009. His potential is such that many expect to see him in the NBA come the 2010-11 season.
“When Renardo Sidney is in shape and focused on his game, he may not have a rival in this class,” said Dave Telep, the lead recruiting analyst for Scout.com. “The sky is truly the limit for him, and it’s completely up to him.”

When the final buzzer sounded and Aaron Linn’s game-tying 3-pointer clanked off the front of the rim, Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg crouched in front of his bench, looked down at the court and rubbed his forehead. Then he paced around for a few moments before joining the postgame handshake line.
The Hokies’ 65-62 season-opening win over Gardner-Webb last night proved much more stressful than most imagined. The Hokies led by 18 points with 11:37 left in the game, but Gardner-Webb charged back and had three chances at game-tying 3-pointers in the final 12 seconds. Fortunately for the Hokies, the Bulldogs missed all three.