Football Looks For Eighth Straight Victory Over Terps

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Nov. 15, 1999

Virginia vs. Maryland
Nov. 20, 1999 * Noon
Byrd Stadium
College Park, Md.

Game Overview

The Game: Virginia attempts to secure its 13th seven-win season in a rowthis Saturday (Nov. 20) against Maryland at Byrd Stadium in College Park,Md. The game is scheduled to kick off at noon. The Cavaliers have won theirlast two with impressive offensive performances. Virginia’s offense was inhigh gear against Buffalo last Saturday, rolling up 615 yards of offense,the fourth-highest total in school history, en route to a 50-21 win. UVa is6-4 overall this season and 4-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A winwould also mark the seventh year in a row the Cavaliers have won at leastfive conference games.

Maryland is 5-5 overall this season, including 2-5 in the ACC. TheTerrapins need a win to become bowl eligible. They fell to Florida State49-10 in Tallahassee last weekend.

Television: The game is being televised regionally along the ACC/JP SportsNetwork. Mike Hogewood calls the play by play, while Rick “Doc” Walker isthe color analyst. Jim Szoke provides the sideline reports.

Radio: All UVa games are heard on the Virginia Sports Network originatingat WINA/WQMZ in Charlottesville. Mac McDonald calls the play by play. FrankQuayle, the 1968 ACC Player of the Year, provides the color commentary,while former UVa signal caller Mike Groh provides sideline analysis andconducts the postgame interviews.

The Series vs. the Terrapins
This is the 64th game in a rivalry that goes back to a 1919 meeting againstthe “Old Liners.” Virginia is riding a seven-game winning streak againstMaryland, but the Terrapins lead the series 37-24-2, including a 17-9-2mark in College Park.

The years from 1972-87 were dry ones for UVa in the series as the Cavalierslost 16 consecutive games to Maryland, including all eight at Byrd Stadium.Virginia’s current seven-game winning streak over the Terrapins is itslongest winning streak in series history.Maryland has scored just two touchdowns (both in last season’s contest) inthe last three games against Virginia.

During their winning streak, the Cavaliers are averaging 33.6 points pergame, while giving up an average of 15.0. Virginia has scored at least 40points in three of the last five games in College Park.Both of Virginia’s ACC championships have been clinched with wins inCollege Park (1989, 1995), while head coach George Welsh won his 100th gameat Virginia against Maryland three years ago to become the first coach inACC history to win 100 games.

Virginia looks for its fourth consecutive win over the Terps at ByrdStadium (with wins in 1993-95-97). Virginia has never won four straightgames against Maryland on the Terps’ home field.

Virginia and Maryland have played each other every season since 1957, thesecond-longest current streak for a Virginia opponent behind NorthCarolina. The Tar Heels have been a mainstay on Virginia’s schedule everyyear Virginia has played since 1910.

Virginia and Maryland have met 63 times on the gridiron, making the Terpsthe fourth-most played opponent in UVa history (Virginia has faced NorthCarolina 104 times for the school record).The rivalry has historically been played in November. This is the 43rdmeeting since 1957 and the 35th to occur in November.

Maryland Limits UVa Passing Game
Virginia has failed to pass for at least 100 yards in only five of its last77 contests going back to 1993 and two of those games have come againstMaryland.Virginia passed for 93 yards in 1995 and 60 the following season. TheCavaliers’ 247 yards passing in 1997 meeting was their most vs. Marylandsince gaining 200 yards in 1992. Virginia hasn’t passed for more than 250yards in a game against the Terrapins since 1968 (256 yards).Jones Leads Nation in Rushing and All-PurposeHeisman Trophy candidate Thomas Jones has put together the best all-aroundseason in school history this fall and leads the nation in rushing ANDall-purpose yards.

He is averaging 170.7 yards rushing and 195.1 all-purpose yards per game.If Jones can maintain his rushing lead, he would become the first Cavalierto lead the nation in rushing (and join former Wake Forest great BrianPiccolo in 1964 as the only ACC players to lead the nation in rushing).Also if he leads the nation in all-purpose yards he would be the fourthVirginia player to lead the nation in that category. Bill Dudley led in1941, John Papit in 1949 and Frank Quayle in 1966 are the others.Jones has almost completely rewritten the Virginia record book in bothcategories. He has rushed for 1707 yards this season, while compiling 1951all-purpose yards.

He reached the 1000-yard mark in just seven games, joining John Papit(1949) as the only players to get to 1000 yards in seven games.Jones then set the school single-season mark in just nine games, breakingthe record that took Tiki Barber 12 games to set in 1995 (1397 yards).Jones topped Barber’s school record for all-purpose yards in just 10 games.Barber held the record with 1906 all-purpose yards in 12 games in 1995.Not surprisingly, Jones has been the game’s leading rusher in every gamefor Virginia this season.

Jones has been at at his best as the season heads into “crunch time”,averaging 200.8 yards in his last five games as the Cavaliers fight for abowl spot. In fact, his performance in this span is by far the best stretchin school history (and would qualify as one of the best seasons).His 164 yards vs. Florida State are the most the Seminoles have allowedsince UVa’s Tiki Barber rushed for 193 yards in 1995, a span of 50 games.Jones has gained 200 or more yards on the ground in three of the last fourgames. What makes this so remarkable is prior to Jones the ACC record forCAREER 200-yard games was three and the season record two. Jones has four200-yard games this season and six for his career.

He has rushed for 200+ yards in the last two games, the second time in hiscareer he has back-to-back 200-yard games. Former Cavalier Terry Kirby andMaryland’s Charlie Wysocki are the only other ACC players to do it once.Jones is also the only player in ACC history to have more than one 200-yardeffort against one team. He rushed for 207 yards vs. Georgia Tech lastseason and 213 this season.

A look at Jones in the last five games is below.

Cavaliers Conclude Regular Season
A long-time late-season rival, this is the first time in 10 years theCavaliers have closed their regular season against Maryland.Since the formation of the ACC in 1953, the two teams have been frequentcombatants in the final game of the season. In fact Virginia closed itsregular season against Maryland 21 times between 1958-89, making the Terpsthe most common season-ending opponent during that time.This is the 22nd time Virginia has closed with Maryland. Only NorthCarolina (54 times) has been UVa’s final game opponent more often.Virginia has compiled a 42-63-4 all-time record in regular season finales.

This Game Features Two Remarkable Tailbacks
Saturday’s Virginia/Maryland contest features some intriguing plots andsubplots. The Cavaliers try to extend their streak of seven-win seasons to13, while the Terrapins look to clinch a winning season and qualify for abowl berth.

In addition, the game features two of the leading running backs in thecountry-Thomas Jones for Virginia and LaMont Jordan for Maryland.Easily the top opponent rushing tandem in ACC history, Jones and Jordanalready are the only same-season rushing duo among the ACC’s top-10single-season rushers. Modest afternoons for both will leave them with the#1 and #3 single seasons in ACC history.

Jones needs just 14 yards to set the conference’s single-season mark, whileJordan needs 82 yards to finish with the third-best season in ACC history.Interestingly, neither player has rushed for 100 yards against Saturday’sopponent.

Tough Defense vs. Terps
Virginia’s defense has been particularly tough against Maryland the lastfew years helping to key the Cavaliers’ seven-game winning streak over theTerrapins.

Over the last several seasons Virginia’s rush defense has been among thebest in the nation and it has been evident against Maryland. Since 1992 theTerps have rushed 246 times for 470 yards (67.1 ygp) and are averaging just1.9 yards per carry.

Known for their proficiency at pass interceptions, the Cavaliers havepicked off 13 Maryland passes in the last seven meetings, while recording20 quarterback sacks.

Maryland had 338 yards of total offense last season (188 rushing, 150passing), its most vs. Virginia since 1993. The Terrapins failed to failedto gain more than 175 yards in both 1996 and 1997.

Maryland has rushed for 100+ yards only twice in the last seven contests(117 yards in 1993 and 188 last season). In 1994, Virginia set a school andACC record (since broken) by holding the Terps to -42 yards rushing.The Terps haven’t thrown a touchdown pass vs. UVa since 1994 (109 attemptssince last TD pass). Overall, Maryland has scored only 13 touchdowns (7pass, 6 rush) in the last seven games vs. UVa and haven’t scored more thantwo touchdowns in a game since 1994.

Closing in on 300 Points
Virginia has scored 290 points this season, an average of 29.0 points per game.If UVa scores 300 points this season it would mark the 10th time in thelast 11 seasons the Cavaliers have topped 300 points. UVa scored at least300 points every season from 1989-96, but fell short with 277 points in1997.

Cavaliers in November
Virginia head coach George Welsh calls November the most important time ofthe season.But November hasn’t been the best time for the Cavaliers recently. They are19-13 overall in November in the 1990s, including a 12-9 mark in NovemberACC games.Over the last three seasons, UVa is 7-2 in November.George Welsh’s Virginia squads have a 34-25-1 overall record in Novembersince 1982.The Cavaliers are 5-4 in road ACC games in November under Welsh during the1990s.

Holding the Lead vs. Maryland
During Virginia’s current seven-game winning streak over Maryland, theCavaliers have outscored the Terps 235-105. After a series of slow startsin the first quarter (Virginia has scored just 18 points in the firstquarter of the last seven games), the Cavaliers have gotten the enginesrevved up against Maryland. After the first quarter, UVa’s scoring byquarter looks like this: 80-62-75.

The Cavaliers have scored at least 21 consecutive points in a game againstMaryland four times during their current winning streak over the Terps-1993(21), 1994 (36), 1995 (21), and 1997 (45).Virginia has also demonstrated an ability to keep the lead againstMaryland. The Terrapins have had the lead only twice in the last four gamesand both were short-lived.

The Terrapins had the lead for 3:37 of last season’s game following aBrian Kopka field goal at the 1:09 mark of the first quarter. But Virginiaanswered the score on its next drive on a two-yard touchdown run by TyreeForeman. That began a 17-point run by the Cavaliers en route to a 31-19victory.

The last seven games broken down by time of lead is listed below.

Ellis Erupts vs. Buffalo
Quarterback Dan Ellis suffered a concussion just before halftime againstFlorida State three weeks ago . He missed the next game against GeorgiaTech as David Rivers led the Cavaliers to a big win over the #7 YellowJackets.Ellis didn’t show any ill effects of his injury when he returned to actionagainst Buffalo last Saturday.Virginia head coach George Welsh has a rule that a player doesn’t lose hisstarting position due to an injury and the rule proved beneficial to bothEllis and the Cavaliers.

The visitors from New York seemed to concentrate on stopping tailbackThomas Jones and dared Ellis to beat them with his passing.Ellis completed his first nine passes and clearly made the Bulls pay fortheir defensive strategy. For the game he completed 16 of 19 passes (84.2percent) for a whopping 363 yards and six touchdowns.

His six touchdowns tied the ACC record set first by Duke’s Steve Slayden in1987 (and tied later in the afternoon by Florida State’s Chris Weinke).The 363 yards eclipsed his previous career high by 130 yards and is thesecond-highest total in school history, while his 84.2 percent completionpercentage is fourth-best in school history.

Ellis is third in the ACC in passing efficiency. He has completed 60.3percent of his passes (135 of 224) for 1774 yards and 16 touchdowns.His 16 touchdowns are tied for eighth in a season in school history, whilehis 1774 yards are 11th most.

Jones Takes Just Nine Games to Set Record
As his career at Virginia was coming to a close in 1996, Virginia’sall-time leading rusher, Tiki Barber, mentioned that Thomas Jones (then atrue freshman) would be the one to break his records. Barber was veryprescient regarding the performance of the player who was his understudythree years ago as Jones has erased Barber’s name from the top spot on manylists.

The most recent record to fall is UVa’s single-season rushing mark. Barberrushed for 1397 yards in 12 games in 1995, but Jones needed just nine gamesthis season to move past Barber.Jones has rushed for 1707 yards this season and needs just 14 yards to addanother ACC record to his bag of records. North Carolina’s Don McCauleyrushed for 1720 yards in 1970.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Jones and Barber are the only players in schoolhistory to put together back-to-back 1000-yard seasons. (Terry Kirby hadtwo 1000-yard seasons but they weren’t consecutive.) Between Barber andJones, they hold the top-four seasons in school history.

Jones is also averaging 170.7 yards rushing per game this season, tops inthe nation. If he breaks McCauley’s record he will also set an ACC recordfor highest single-season average. McCauley averaged 156.4 ypg in 1970.Below is the list of all 1000-yard rushers in UVa history.

Kiddie Corps Get Pickoffs
Virginia has intercepted 15 passes this season, including eight by freshmensafeties.The safety tandem of Shernard Newby and Chris Williams (both red-shirtfreshmen) have teamed to intercept passes in the same game twice-NorthCarolina and Wake Forest. The North Carolina game was the first collegegame for both.

True freshman Jerton Evans intercepted a pass against Clemson in the secondgame of his brief college career and came back with two crucialinterceptions against Brigham Young to help lead UVa to the win.Evans’ first interception vs. the Cougars came in the first quarter and setup UVa’s third touchdown in a 21-point first quarter, while his second pickcame in the end zone with 1:37 to play in the game that ended BYU’s hopesfor a comeback win.

Evans intercepted Florida State’s Chris Weinke late in the first quarterfor his fourth interception of the season, which ties the school record formost interceptions by a true freshman. Kevin Cook had four in 1986.Evans is also bidding to become just the second true freshman to lead theteam. Carl Smith (no relation to the former football player who gave thedonation to expand UVa’s football stadium) tied for the team lead with twoin 1991.

Looking to Extend Seven-Win Streak
Virginia needs to win Saturday against Maryland to stretch its streak ofseven-win seasons to 13. The streak looked like it might be in jeopardyfollowing a loss at home to Duke, but the Cavaliers have regrouped and wonthree of their last four games, including two in a row.If the Cavaliers can down the Terrapins and finish 7-4, it would mark the13th consecutive season they have won at least seven games. Only threeother teams in the nation can make that claim-Florida State, Michigan andNebraska.

McMullen Among Top Rookie Receivers
Wide receiver Billy McMullen has shown flashes of brilliance this season,particularly lately, and is one of the top true freshman receivers in thenation.He leads the team with 405 receiving yards and an 18.4-yards per catchaverage this season and is second with 22 receptions and five touchdowns.McMullen needs just two receptions to tie Herman Moore’s school record formost receptions by a freshman.

He has been more of a focal point of the passing game lately, particularlyas Kevin Coffey’s production has gone down.McMullen first strutted his stuff last month in a big win over N.C. Statein Raleigh. He led the team with 109 yards receiving (a career high), whilehis four receptions tied Ahmad Hawkins for team honors.He came up big again vs. #7 Georgia Tech despite catching just two passes.He hauled in a 39-yard pass from David Rivers in the second quarter to helpset up Virginia’s second touchdown that cut the Yellow Jackets’ lead from17-0 to 24-14.

McMullen and Rivers teamed up again early in the fourth quarter on a42-yard scoring play that proved to be the game-winner. Faced withsecond-and-23 on the Tech 42, Rivers hit McMullen in stride with a perfecttoss to put the Cavaliers in the lead for good.He hauled in two touchdown passes from Dan Ellis last Saturday againstBuffalo among his three receptions. Using his 6-4 frame to great advantageagainst the Bulls, both were of the “alley-oop” variety made famous byShawn and Herman Moore in the early 1990s.

Research shows that McMullen is only the fourth true freshman to catch twoTD passes in a game for Virginia. The others are Germane Crowell vs.Florida State in 1994 (his first college game), Demetrius “Pete” Allen vs.Navy in 1992 and John Ford against VMI and Virginia Tech in 1984.

Greene Sends Kickoffs to the End Zone
For the second year in a row, David Greene is handling the kick-off dutiesfor the Cavaliers, while Todd Braverman is the kicker for field goals andextra points.Greene possesses the stronger leg, which makes him the ideal kick-off man.Last season in his first action, he did all the kicking off. In 59 kickoffshe had 14 touchbacks, while typically placing the ball deep.Building on a fine finish to last season, Greene has boomed 34 of 56kickoffs this season into the endzone, resulting in 20 touchbacks. Theopponents are averaging 21.8 yards per return against UVa’s kickoffcoverage team.

Jones Shows Up Every Day
Despite leading the ACC in rushing by nearly 400 yards and standing as theleading rusher in the nation this season, Thomas Jones fails to get theattention he deserves.He ran for 1303 yards last season, then the eighth-highest total in ACChistory, and tied the ACC record with two 200-yard games.And the player with the common name continues to display his uncommonabilities.

Jones leads the nation in rushing, with a 170.7 yards per game average ashe threatens the ACC single-season rushing mark of 1720 yards by NorthCarolina’s Don McCauley in 1970.In his third year as the starting tailback, perhaps it’s important to alsonote his durability. A testament to his offseason work ethic, Jones has notmissed a game in his career, while starting the last 33 at tailback.

He made the 31st consecutive start of his career against Florida State toadd to his list of school records- most consecutive starts by a tailback.Terry Kirby got the starting nod 30 straight games from 1990-92 and heldthe previous record.Just as amazing as his streak of consecutive starts is the fact that Joneshas never missed so much as a practice during his career at Virginia.

Anderson Quietly Turning in Fabulous Year
As the oldest member of the defensive front, Maurice Anderson has used thewisdom that comes with age and experience to his advantage this season.He has turned in the best season of his career in 1999 despite a series ofnagging injuries that might have sidelined other players.Throughout most of his career he has had to play behind more heraldedlinemen including Antonio Dingle, Patrick Kerney and Todd White, but thisseason he is showing what he can do.

Anderson began the year in fine fashion by leading Virginia in tackles forthe first time in his career with a career-high 10 stops vs. North Carolina.He turned in his second double-digit outing of the year against Duke with10 tackles.Adept at plugging the middle of the line, Anderson has made at least seventackles in five games this season.

With two games of at least 10 tackles, he is the first UVa defensive tackleto have as many as two double-digit performances since Todd White had twoin 1995. He is also the first UVa defensive tackle to lead the team intackles in a game since White in 1994 and is the first Cavalier defensivetackle to lead twice in a season since at least 1989.Anderson is fourth on the team with 61 tackles, far surpassing his previouscareer high of 31 in 1997. The 61 tackles are the most by a UVa defensivetackle since White had 77 in 1995.

Coffey Leads Team in Receiving
Wide receiver Kevin Coffey looked as if 1999 was going to be a big year forhim. And for the first few games this season it seemed like he would indeedhave a big season.Quarterback Dan Ellis made his first career start in the season openeragainst North Carolina and frequently looked Coffey’s way. Coffey caughtfour passes for 101 yards and one touchdown. In addition to his touchdowngrab (a 32-yarder), his other three receptions all went for first downs.He had four catches for 48 yards and one touchdown the following weekagainst Clemson, but since then his numbers have fallen off somewhat.Coffey has caught 16 passes in the last eight games, and is averaging 14.6yards per catch (well off his career average of 19.8 yards).

He bounced back somewhat in the last two games. He had his best performancesince early in the season against #7 Georgia Tech with three catches for 33yards and a touchdown.He followed that with three receptions for 94 yards and two touchdowns vs.Buffalo last Saturday. The two-touchdown performance was the first of hiscareer.Coffey is Virginia’s leading receiver with 24 receptions and seventouchdowns. His 383 yards trail Billy McMullen for the team lead.

Welsh Seventh Among Active Wins Leaders
Head coach George Welsh, tabbed last season by The Sporting News as thenation’s best coach, is ranked seventh in wins among active Division I-Acoaches.Welsh has won 182 games in a 27-year career at Navy (1973-81) and Virginia(1982-present), 27th in NCAA Division I-A history.His overall career record is 182-125-4 (.592).

The dean of ACC coaches, Welsh is the only coach in league history to winat least 100 games. He has a 127-79-3 record in 18 seasons at Virginia. His79 wins in ACC games is also a record.

A look at the winningest active coaches is below.

Isabelle Reaches Double Digits Four Times
Junior linebacker Yubrenal Isabelle gets better with each game as heattempts to fill the rather large shoes of current NFL starter Wali Rainerin the Cavalier defense.Isabelle, who saw limited action in his first two seasons behind Rainer,led the Cavaliers with 14 tackles against Clemson early in the season. The14 tackles is a career high, topping the eight he had against Florida Stateas a freshman two years ago.

He paced the team against with 10 tackles against Wake Forest as Virginiaheld Morgan Kane, the nation’s leading rusher coming into the game, to just65 yards.Putting up Rainer-like numbers, Isabelle’s 14 stops vs Brigham Young ledthe team for the third week in a row.He did not play against Virginia Tech due to the death of his mother,Deberah, but returned vs. Duke to lead the team once again with 10 tackles.A very smart player who is still learning on the job, Isabelle leads theteam with 78 tackles despite missing one game.

A look at his game-by-game stats are below.

* led team

Jones Sixth All-Time in ACC
As his career at Virginia was coming to a close in 1996, Virginia’sall-time leading rusher, Tiki Barber, mentioned that Thomas Jones (then atrue freshman) would be the one to break his records. Barber knew what hewas talking about as Jones has taken the football world by storm thisseason.

Jones, Virginia’s all-time leading rusher, now has 3907 career rushingyards sixth in ACC history. With the final regular season game of hiscollegiate career coming up Saturday against Maryland, Jones needs just 93yards to become the fourth player in league history with at least 4000career yards.

Jones’ place on the ACC all-time rushing list is below.

Turnovers Important to Outcome
Virginia has been involved in several games this season that have beeninfluenced greatly by turnovers-both for and against UVa.The Cavaliers have had a tendency to compound their turnovers with a doublewhammy-turnovers in the red zone and an inability to prevent scores afterturnovers.

Dan Ellis threw three interceptions in the opener against North Carolina,two coming inside the red zone (including one returned 89 yards for atouchdown).Against Clemson, Thomas Jones lost a fumble inside the Clemson 10-yard lineas UVa was attempting to cut into a 17-0 deficit in the second quarter.After having just two turnovers in the next three games, mistakes proved tobe the Cavaliers’ undoing in the overtime loss to Duke last month.An Arlen Harris punt return for a touchdown early in the game was broughtback due to a penalty.

On Duke’s next possession, Dwayne Stukes intercepted a pass to give UVa theball on Duke’s 44-yard line. Following a first down, Ellis had a passintercepted in the end zone to end that drive.Punter Donnie Scott was unable to handle a bad snap in his end zone andtried to pass. The pass was incomplete, giving Duke possession on the11-yard line. The Blue Devils scored a touchdown four plays later.Tim Spruill blocked a Duke punt to give the Cavaliers the ball at the Duke35-yard line. But Jones lost a fumble at the 12-yard line to kill anotherdrive. Duke drove down field to kick a game-tying field goal.

Virginia’s final possession of the game ended as Ellis threw his secondinterception of the day in the second overtime.In UVa’s game against N.C. State, the Wolfpack turned the ball over onthree of their first four second half possessions. Virginia turned themiscues into 22 points (in a 30-point quarter). The 30 points helped erasea 19-10 halftime deficit as Virginia rolled to a 47-26 win.

Virginia used a Yubrenal Isabelle interception to great advantage in theupset win over Georgia Tech two weeks ago. Isabelle returned theinterception to the Tech 40-yard line to set up UVa’s final drive of thefirst half. Seven plays later quarterback David Rivers found Kevin Coffeyin the end zone for a 12-yard scoring strike that brought UVa to withinthree points at 24-21 with nine seconds to go in the half.That touchdown proved crucial as the Cavaliers held on to complete thecomeback 45-38.

Of UVa’s 16 turnovers, 10 have been turned into points by the opposition.Clemson scored two touchdowns and a field goal off UVa miscues, while theweek before North Carolina’s defense scored on an interception return andscored its lone offensive touchdown following an interception. BrighamYoung returned Ellis’ only interception for a touchdown three weeks ago,while Duke scored a just one field goal off three UVa turnovers.Virginia has forced 22 turnovers this season (15 interceptions, sevenfumbles) and blocked one punt. From these mistakes the Cavaliers havescored just 10 touchdowns.

Experienced Line Opens Holes for Jones
Head coach George Welsh has always emphasized the need to have a strongrunning game and this year is no different.Virginia features the nation’s top running back in Thomas Jones. Jones hasrushed for 1707 yards this season (170.7/g), tops in the country.Leading the way for Jones is a battle-tested line that features threereturning starters and another player who started five games last year.Virginia’s top offensive lineman is left guard Noel LaMontagne. A seniortri-captain, LaMontagne is the most experienced lineman with 28 careerstarts under his belt.

Joining LaMontagne on the left side of the line is Josh Lawson, afirst-team All-Freshman by The Sporting News last season. However, Lawsonhas missed two of the last three games, forcing LaMontagne to start thelast three games at left guard. LaMontagne’s left guard spot has beenmanned by Jared Woodson.

Second-team All-ACC John St. Clair is the center. One of the top (and mostunderrated) centers in the country, he is quietly molding himself into oneof the top center prospects available in the upcoming NFL draft. ProFootball Weekly listed him on its midseason All-America team.

Sophomore Evan Routzahn, a starter in five games at left guard last season,has moved to right guard and is considered a very promising player byWelsh. He is joined by junior Brad Barnes, the right tackle. Barnes sawlimited action in his first two years, but has worked hard to forge his wayinto the line-up and is considered by Welsh the most improved player on theoffensive line. Barnes was selected the ACC Offensive Lineman of the Weekfor his play in UVa’s win over N.C. State.

Primary back-ups along the line include George Seals at center and DustinKeith at tackle. Keith has also seen action at center.

Braverman Boots 50-Yard Winner
Place-kickers live a strange existence, always walking on the cusp betweenhero and goat. Over the last two seasons Todd Braverman can surely attestto the fine line kickers walk.

Last season he booted a 30-yard field goal with 49 seconds remaining todefeat Clemson 20-18 in the season’s third week. But from that point on,the up-and-down nature of kickers seemed to be mostly down for him.He missed a field goal that could have sent the Georgia Tech game intoovertime, but to be fair it was from 54-yards out and didn’t miss by much.He then missed an extra point and a 48-yard field goal in the waningseconds of the Peach Bowl loss to Georgia. The field goal, if good, wouldhave won it for Virginia, but instead the ball drifted wide right.(Braverman shouldn’t be blamed for either loss as Virginia held 21-pointleads in both contests.)

The uncertainty of his position continued into this preseason and he wasn’tannounced as the kicker for this season until the week of the NorthCarolina game.But things swung upward for Braverman when he was named the starter. Hewasted little time justifying Welsh’s decision and erasing the memories oflast season in the opener against North Carolina with two field goalsagainst the Tar Heels.

Called on to be the hero, Braverman answered the call with a 50-yard bootwith 27.4 seconds remaining to give Virginia a 20-17 victory. The kickdidn’t clear the crossbar by much, but it was enough to make Braverman thesixth kicker in school history to make a 50-yarder. His 50-yard victorykick vs. the Tar Heels is the longest game-winning field goal in schoolhistory.He has made 33 of34 extra points and and eight of 11 field goal attemptsthis season. He had a streak of 70 consecutive successful PATs end lastSaturday against Buffalo.

Building a different streak, Braverman has made his last four field goalattempts and five of his last six.

Taylor Returns with a Vengeance
Linebacker Shannon Taylor sat out last season for personal reasons. But thelay-off hasn’t seemed to be a setback based on his performance this season.He was recruited as a quarterback, but moved to linebacker shortly afterhis arrival in Charlottesville and has alternated between linebacker anddefensive end during his career. He lettered as a linebacker in 1996 and atdefensive end in 1997. A gifted athlete who excels at getting to thequarterback, he has been in on seven sacks in his career.

He was one of the few defensive bright spots against Clemson. He tied hiscareer high at the time with seven tackles (since broken) against theTigers, including two stops behind the line of scrimmage.His career high for tackles didn’t last long, however because he followedthat with a 10-tackle performance against Wake Forest. He had two tacklesbehind the line of scrimmage, including his second sack of the season.The big plays for Taylor continued against Brigham Young as he turned ineight tackles, including two more tackles behind the line. That marked thethird game in a row Taylor had two tackles for loss.

He tied his career high with three tackles for loss against top-rankedFlorida State. That is also the team high this season.Taylor is second on the team with 69 tackles (6.9/g), while leading theteam with 12 tackles for loss and six quarterback sacks.

Jones vs. Heisman Trophy-Winning Backs
Thomas Jones leads the nation in rushing, averaging 170.7 ypg and isapproaching the ACC record for most rushing yards in a season.Former North Carolina standout Don McCauley rushed for 1720 yards to setthe ACC standard.

Jones’ numbers through 10 games this year measure very favorably withrunning backs who won the Heisman Trophy.A look at the last 20 running backs to win the Heisman Trophy with theirrushing yardage at similar stages of their trophy-winning campaigns isshown below. Winners prior to 1961 have their season total listed. (Thanksto Wisconsin for doing most of this research.)

Others at this stage of season:

Season Totals:

* full season statistics

Jones in UVa and ACC Record Books
Thomas Jones has etched his name throughout the Virginia and Atlantic CoastConference record book this season and has one more game that will enablehim to probably set a few more. Here’s a look at some of his records andpossible records. *=modern era (since 1937)

ACC Records Set
Most 200-Yard Games in a Season-4
Most 200-Yard Games in a Career-6
Most Consecutive 200-Yard Games-2 (twice!)
First player in ACC history to have 200 yards rushing AND 100 yardsreceiving in same game-vs. Buffalo, 1999 (221 rush, 110 receiving)

Virginia Records Set
Most Yards Rushing in a Career-3907
Most Yards Rushing in a Season-1707, ’99
Most Rushing Attempts in a Career-781
Most Rushing Attempts in a Season-306, ’99
Most Rushing Touchdowns in a Career*-36
Most Total Touchdowns in a Career*-40
Most 200-Yard Games in a Season-4
Most 200-Yard Games in a Career-6
Most Consecutive 200-Yard Games-2 (twice!)
Most Rushing Attempts in a Game-39 vs. Georgia Tech, ’99
Most All-Purpose Yards in a Season-1951, ’99
Most All-Purpose Yards in a Game-331 vs. Buffalo, ’99
Most Consecutive Starts by a Tailback-33
Fewest Practices Missed-0
Most Times Just Missing UVa’s single-game rushing record (within 15 yards of record)-4

Virginia Records Within Reach
Most Touchdowns in a Season*-18, Bill Dudley, ’41
Most Rushing TDs in a Season*-17, Bill Dudley, ’41
Best Rushing Avg. in a Season-141.3, Terry Kirby, ’92
Best All-Purpose Avg. in a Season-186.9, Frank Quayle, ’68
Most 100-Yard Games in a Season-9, Tiki Barber, ’96
Most 100-Yard Games in a Career-19, Tiki Barber

ACC Records Within Reach
Most Yards Rushing in a season-1720, Don McCauley, UNC, ’70
Best Rushing Avg. in a season-156.4, Don McCauley, UNC, ’70
Most Rushing Attempts in a season-334, Charlie Wysocki, Maryland, ’80
Most Rushing TDs in a season-19, by two players
Most Total TDs in a season-21, Don McCauley, UNC, ’70
Most All-Purpose Yards in a season-2021, Don McCauley, UNC, ’70
Best All-Purpose Avg. in a Season-186.9, Frank Quayle, UVa, ’68