Group 1: Jimmie Johnson. I really don’t want to take the likely points champion here, but let’s face it, there isn’t much to choose from. Johnson won the pole and his practice times have been almost as strong, so a top-10 run is likely. Carl Edwards’ [...]
VCU coach Shaka Smart:
On the atmosphere:
“It was phenomenal. It was a big part of helping us win. I think our fans really have a great relationship with our players, and you can feel that out there. Our guys [...]
At one point in the second half, Virginia Commonwealth forward Larry Sanders started mopping a wet spot off the floor.
Which was somewhat symbolic of the Rams’ effort against Oklahoma last night.
Feeding off an electric sellout crowd of 7,257 at the Siegel Center, VCU outplayed, [...]
Hard to believe I and my fellow media mongrels won’t be back to Lane Stadium for a while—at least not in the press box. There will be the regular Tuesday media gathering here next week, then bowl media day before whatever glorified exhibition game Virginia Tech plays in.
But no [...]
82-69.
CLEMSON, S.C. – With nothing left to lose, U.Va. emptied the playbook and enjoyed some of its biggest gains of the season.
But like everything else this year, the momentum came crashing down. Mikell Simpson was injured, Jameel Sewell was sacked six times in the fourth quarter, and Virginia’s players walked [...]
The Rams built a 40-23 lead with 4:35 left, but foul trouble left them with a small lineup.
The Sooners took advantage for a 11-4 run to close the half.
with 11:06 left in the first half.
The Rams have hit 6 of 9 3-pointers. Even 6-11 Larry Sanders had hit one trey (out of 2).
[...]
Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel received ostly applause when he came out the hallway and onto the Siegel Center floor just before the players were introduced.
VCU’s former coach spent some time looking and waving to some people in the stands.
,
[...]Final - Virginia falls 34-21 today. Full postgame reaction shortly.
15:00, 4th quarter, Clemson leads 34-21 - Entering the final frame, Clemson adds a field goal.
7:17, 3rd quarter, Clemson leads 31-21 - C.J. Spiller watches from the sideline as Andre Ellington runs for the touchdown.
Halftime, Clemson leads 24-21 - Despite having [...]
Not only did Virginia Tech’s redshirt freshman tailback, Ryan Williams, break the ACC and Tech freshman rushing record in the first half, he also carried the ball 26 times for 76 yards and three touchdowns. Yes, 26 times.
That’s more carries than he had in all but two games this [...]
Two records for Virginia Tech so far here in the first half at Lane Stadium.
Senior whip linebacker Cody Grimm forced three fumbles in the first four plays of the game, two of which North Carolina State lost, giving Tech short fields that it converted into a field goal and [...]
Virginia Tech just won the coin toss for the first time this season.
The Hokies deferred to the second half. But on North Carolina State’s first play, whip linebacker Cody Grimm sacked Russell Wilson and forced a fumble, which Grimm recovered. Tech converted the turnover into a field goal.
Tech [...]
Big weekend for Virginia Tech sports.
First, last night, the Hokies women’s soccer team played at Portland in the NCAA tournament’s round of 16. The Hokies lost 4-1 to the Pilots, who are ranked second in the nation, but they still had their best season since the program launched in [...]
Andrew Howard kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired, lifting the University of Richmond to a 13-10 win over William and Mary before 17,527 at the final Spiders’ regular-season game at UR Stadium Saturday.
Earlier Howard missed FG attempts of 28 and 40 yards.
[...]
15:00, 4th quarter, Clemson leads 34-21 - Entering the final frame, Clemson adds a field goal.
7:17, 3rd quarter, Clemson leads 31-21 - C.J. Spiller watches from the sideline as Andre Ellington runs for the touchdown.
Halftime, Clemson leads 24-21 - Despite having only eight seconds left on the clock, Sewell takes [...]
A 60-yard TD pass from R.J. Archer to Cameron Dohse and the PAT allowed William and Mary to tie Richmond with 12:09 left.
A seven-play scoring drive by Richmond ended with a four-yard run by Justin Forte as UR went ahead of William and Mary 10-3 early in the fourth quarter.
[...]No scoring in third quarter.
[...]On the Western Michigan game:
“It happens quite a bit in basketball where the offensive end affects your energy and intensity on the defensive end. The great teams, it doesn’t happen. It definitely happened to us.
“Sometimes as a player, when you stop seeing the [...]
It was 3-3 less than a minute into the second quarter. It stayed that waybecause UR’s Andrew Howard missed FG attempts of 28 yards and 40 yards.
Jay Colley has been part of William and Mary’s radio broadcasting crew for 28 years. He hasn’t missed a game. He will not work the W&M-at-University of Richmond game Saturday because of medical issues that recently developed. Colley was replaced on the W&M radio broadcast by Robert Fish, [...]
A report tonight out of the Augusta Free Press says that Jamil Tucker will return to U.Va.‘s lineup after the Cancun Challenge. Good news for Cavs fans, who will see the return of Assane Sene tomorrow against Oral Roberts (well, a select few fans - I [...]
Billy Hite, Virginia Tech’s 30th-year running backs coach, was talking after Tuesday’s practice about his true freshman tailback, David Wilson, when he uttered perhaps the truest statement of this season.
“David wants to do everything right,” Hite said.
Wilson’s conscientious approach to, well, pretty much everything [...]
Here is the preview story for tomorrow’s game. Yeah, I know it’s odd that the Senior Day story focuses on a true freshman. That Cody Grimm piece I posted here yesterday was supposed to run today and cover the senior angle of Senior Day. But there wasn’t enough space in [...]
Here’s an early look at a graphic that will appear in tomorrow’s paper.
If you didn’t see the Cody Grimm story, which I posted here last night, in today’s paper, that’s because there wasn’t enough space for it. Hoping we can run it tomorrow on Senior Day.
CONTAIN RUSSELL WILSON: [...]
Old Dominion forward Jessica Canady, a senior who was expected to lead the Lady Monarchs on the floor as well as off, hasn’t spent much time on the floor during her club’s first two games. Canady has aggravated her surgically-repaired right knee. She underwent an arthroscopic clean-up procedure four weeks [...]
BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
BLACKSBURG – A lizard tail is taped to a wall in Cody Grimm’s apartment. So is a man’s ponytail and a plastic bag with a piece of tooth in it. Grimm and his roommate, Jeremy Rudolph, call it the Wall of Fame – a collection [...]
Just filed this for tomorrow’s paper. Read it here first ...
Virginia Tech has listed starting center Beau Warren, a junior, as probable for tomorrow’s home finale against North Carolina State. Warren sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during an Oct. 29 loss to North Carolina and [...]
Drama doesn’t appear to be on the docket this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In a perfect world, the points championships in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Trucks series were to be decided this weekend. But Ron Hornaday Jr. steamrolled the competition en route to clinching [...]
Apologies for the delay. Just got back from attending a concert at Kirk Avenue Music Hall, a fine venue in downtown Roanoke. The artist: Chris Knight, an excellent songwriter from rural Kentucky. At the bottom of this post, you’ll find a video [...]
17th-ranked Oklahoma will be the first nationally ranked team to visit the Siegel Center, which opened in 1999.
The Sooners come to town Saturday. As of this morning, about 300 tickets remained for the game.
The Rams haven’t played a nationally-ranked team at home since 1993, [...]
Virginia Tech’s starting center, junior Beau Warren, returned to practice Monday. He hadn’t practiced since suffering a Grade II sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during Tech’s Oct. 29 loss to North Carolina.
Warren said he is around 80 percent. He is wearing a blue jersey, [...]
Just finished checking in with Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver on a few things …
* Moving the 2012 football game against Cincinnati from Cincinnati to FedEx Field was a deal done between representatives from Cincinnati and FedEx Field. “We were not involved in that at all other than [...]
Virginia Commonwealth University signed six players—including perhaps the most fascinating catch in the state—during the first days of the NCAA’s early signing period. Among the six:
Andrea Barbour, a 5-10 guard from Charlottesville; 5-10 Jacqueline Brewer of Martinsburg, W.Va.; 6-2 Shekinah Henry of Vidalia, Ga.; 5-10 Sonia Johnson of [...]
Congratulations to Mallory Bracken of Mechanicsville, who was named the grand prize winner of the RIR.com Insider—Vegas Style promotion. Bracken found out she won Tuesday. Click the window below for video:
Bracken’s video submission, which can be seen below, was selected among entries from fans who submitted [...]
BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
BLACKSBURG – The college basketball season, unforgiving grind that it is, essentially splits itself neatly into halves.
First come non-conference games before the new year, a mix of quality opponents that could polish an NCAA tournament resume and overmatched squads that visit your home court, [...]
SLANT's spokesdog, Rebus, wonders: All other considerations equal, would it be safer for us to have an atheist president with his finger on the button -- nuclear oblivion! -- than to have a Christian president, who truly believes in an afterlife? Wouldn't an atheist president, who' [...] Seth Greenberg said after Sunday’s season-opening win over Brown that if his Virginia Tech Hokies would lose tonight if they didn’t play better against North Carolina-Greensboro.
Greensboro’s 2-3 zone defense, which assistant coach Rod Jensen calls The Amoeba, seems to be giving Tech some trouble. (If Jensen’s name sounds familiar, [...]
Virginia Tech got a scare here at Cassell Coliseum, midway through the first half of its game against North Carolina-Greensboro.
Junior point guard Malcolm Delaney, the Hokies’ top returning scorer from last season, rolled his left ankle under the basket after Greensboro guard Kyle Randall hit a leaner with 11:58 [...]
BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
BLACKSBURG – This time last year, quarterback Russell Wilson was leading North Carolina State to wins in its final four games, which made the Wolfpack 6-6 and eligible for a bowl game. A redshirt freshman, Wilson impressed everyone with his poise, and after the [...]
It’s easy to see that University of Richmond basketball coach Chris Mooney is high on 6-5 freshman Greg Robbins. The 215-pounder has been the first Spider off the bench as UR is off to a 2-0 start.
Richmond has been a poor rebounding team in the [...]
VCU basketball fans can follow the Rams' 2009/10 season at the Fan District Hub.Here’s the story that will appear in tomorrow’s T-D:
CHARLOTTESVILLE — At least one member of the Bill Parcells coaching tree wasn’t surprised when the New England Patriots went for it on fourth down Sunday night — after all, Al Groh has done the exact same thing.
Groh’s weekly press conference [...]
I’m sure you’ve seen this by now, but if not, here is something that means, if nothing else, more tailgating time on Thanksgiving Saturday ...
Next Saturday’s Thanksgiving weekend game between Virginia and Virginia Tech in Charlottesville will begin at 3:30 p.m. and air on ESPN, the ACC announced today. [...]
A little late with the note here, but Virginia’s game Saturday at Clemson and next Saturday vs. Virginia Tech will both start at 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s is on ABC, next week’s on ESPN.
—————————
[...]First things first: The nickname is Pilots.
That’s who the Virginia Tech women’s soccer team will play Friday, at 10 p.m. Eastern, in the NCAA tournament’s round of 16—the University of Portland Pilots, who, unbeknownst to most sports fans in this country, traditionally fields a very strong women’s soccer squad, [...]
Just filed this item for tomorrow’s paper ...
Virginia Tech will play Cincinnati in 2012 at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins, Tech announced yesterday.
The game was originally scheduled to be this season’s opener, in Cincinnati. But the Hokies moved it to 2012 to accommodate a game against [...]
THREE UP
1. Jimmie Johnson: Apparently, the three-time defending Cup champion just doesn’t do drama anymore. One week after giving the slight appearance of vulnerability at Texas Motor Speedway, he all but slammed the door shut on teammate Mark Martin by leading 238 of 312 laps en [...]
Virginia Tech debuted two of its three freshmen in today’s season-opening 69-55 win over Brown. Guard Ben Boggs played 10 minutes, seven in the first half. Point guard Erick Green played three, all in the first half. Boggs shot 1 of 2 and scored two points. Green hit his only [...]
I erred in a previous post, which I just deleted, when I wrote that Virginia Tech’s women’s soccer team would play Portland at UCLA this weekend in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16.
The third-seed Hokies will actually play second-seed Portland in Portland. Meanwhile, Virginia will play at top-seed UCLA. The [...]
More notes and quotes to come later ...
BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
BLACKSBURG – Among the dozens of items on Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg’s mental checklist before this season were two that emerged – one positively, the other less so – in yesterday’s first game, a 69-55 [...]
Heading into the final week of the regular season, the University
of Richmond, William and Mary and Villanova remain in contention for the
Colonial Athletic Association automatic bid to the FCS playoffs and the
league championship.
Saturday, William and Mary (6-1, 9-1) plays at UR (6-1, [...]
A quick check of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament bracket shows that second-seed Portland beat Washington 2-1 and top-seed UCLA hammered San Diego State 5-0.
That means third-seed Virginia Tech—a 3-1 winner today over Dayton in a second-round out there in lovely Dayton, Ohio—will play Portland in Los Angeles. This [...]
So Cassell Coliseum ended up being about two-thirds full for this game. I guess a lot of people stayed home to rake leaves.
Virginia Tech leads Brown 34-23 at halftime. There are some guys out on the court right now, sitting on milk crates and banging on plastic buckets with [...]
Not a great turnout here on a 70-degree afternoon in Blacksburg for Virginia Tech’s men’s basketball lid-lifter against Brown. In other equally inconsequental news, some of the Hokies are sporting mohawk haircuts. The Bears, meanwhile, are wearing bright red sneakers that look like they came right from [...]
Chuck Carlisle, a.k.a. the Remington Man, is a very good guy who drives a very cool truck. To see more pics of it, click here.
[...]
Group 1: Kurt Busch. Co-host George Templeton made good points about the older Busch on the show, and he should be strong today. He started third the past two trips to Phoenix International Raceway and finished in the top three both times, so starting second should [...]
Group 1: Kurt Busch. Co-host George Templeton made good points about the older Busch on the show, and he should be strong today. He started third the past two trips to Phoenix International Raceway and finished in the top three both times, so starting second should [...]
CHARLOTTESVILLE – A team that started the season with too many quarterbacks suddenly found itself with none on Wednesday.
Only a gutsy effort by Jameel Sewell, who wasn’t supposed to play, kept Virginia in today’s game. Ultimately he fell two inches short on a fourth-down play, Boston College’s Dave Shinskie picked [...]
One quick note of local interest before I get to the game story that will appear in tomorrow’s paper ...
Redshirt freshman Alonzo Tweedy, a Hermitage High graduate, made a nice play on a Tech punt with 3:33 left in the second quarter. He ran down the field and caught [...]
William and Mary coach Jimmye Laycock:
“I was very, very pleased with the overall effort and intensity with which we played, I thought we played extremely hard on both sides of the ball. … Even when they got that long screen pass for a touchdown, our guys [...]
WILLIAMSBURG – William and Mary defensive tackle Sean Lissemore started yesterday’s game with a little bit of a migraine headache.
He ended it with a clear head and considerably less cranial pain than New Hampshire.
In a playoff-caliber game, the Tribe’s defense was [...]
MEMPHIS HASN’T CONTACTED FOSTER: After Virginia Tech’s 36-9 win yesterday at Maryland, Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster said Memphis has not contacted him about its head coaching vacancy.
Foster said “I might be” interested in the job, which opened this week when Memphis fired Tommy West. He will finish the [...]
17.4, 4th quarter, Boston College leads 14-10 - Not so fast - Jameel Sewell leads the team down to the 12-yard line, but falls inches short on the fourth-down play. The game ends, and BC wins.
2:39, 4th quarter, Boston College leads 14-10 - Boston College running back Montel Harris is [...]
If Richmond QB Eric Ward, a four-year starter, is unavailable for any reason the rest of the season, the Spiders may not drop off much.
Back-up John Laub, a 6-2, 214-pound redshirt freshman, completed 9 of 15 passes for 122 yards after coming in for [...]
WASHINGTON - The University of Richmond took a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and rolled over Georgetown 49-10 Saturday before 2,312 at GU’s Multi-Sport Field.
The Spiders (9-1), ranked fourth in the FCS, converted three turnovers by the Hoyas (0-10), of [...]
The Tribe got a decisive 37-yard field goal from Brian Pate with 2:54 left.
[...]... after three quarters.
Defensive lineman Sean Lissemore intercepted a pass at the New Hampshire 16, and the Tribe turned it into a 10-yard TD pass from R.J. Archere to Chase Hill at the 6:33 mark.
[...]... after three quarters.
Defensive lineman Sean Lissemore intercepted a pass at the New Hampshire 16, and the Tribe turned it into a 10-yard TD pass from R.J. Archere to Chase Hill at the 6:33 mark.
[...]Pregame: No rain in sight as a strong crowd starts to file into Scott Stadium for today’s game between 3-6 Virginia and 6-3 Boston College. We’ll have updates throughout the game.
—————————-
[...]
Halftime, Boston College leads 7-0 - Virginia has to be pleased with the halftime score after the number of chances Boston College had, but at the same time, the Cavs don’t try to go for a score with the ball, a time out and 31 seconds left.
8:54, 2nd quarter, Boston [...]
The Tribe put together an 86-yard drive to tie the game on Courtland Marriner’s 5-yard run with 11:18 left in the second quarter.
Jonathan Grimes sparked the drive with a 54-yard run.
[...]
Virginia Tech is shredding Maryland 27-3 right now, so up here in the press box, we hacks have been reduced to checking the VMI-Army score and calculating the odds of the Hokies losing yet another coin flip.
Yep, they lost again today, making them for 10 this season. The odds [...]
Virginia Tech is shredding Maryland 27-3 right now, so up here in the press box, we hacks have been reduced to checking the VMI-Army score and calculating the odds of the Hokies losing yet another coin flip.
Yep, they lost again today, making them for 10 this season. The odds [...]
... after the first quarter.
The Tribe had a TD drive halted by a personal foul, then got a 32-yard field goal from Brian Pate to take a 3-0 lead.
New Hampshire responded with a 60-yard TD drive, keyed [...]
... after the first quarter.
The Tribe had a TD drive halted by a personal foul, then got a 32-yard field goal from Brian Pate to take a 3-0 lead.
New Hampshire responded with a 60-yard TD drive, keyed [...]
VCU coach Shaka Smart:
“We certainly have a long way to go. Today is certainly the first step in a long journey. I’m definitely pleased with where our guys are right now.”
On whether he was relieved to [...]
Joey Rodriguez and the Virginia Commonwealth basketball team got a text message from Eric Maynor at 8 a.m. yesterday.
“Time to get up,” it read in part. “It’s game day. You guys get ready.”
Maynor was texting from Philadelphia, where he made a successful first [...]
CHARLOTTESVILLE – If tonight was any indication, there won’t be many games this year where fans can leave early to beat the traffic.
Virginia defeated Longwood 85-72 to open the Tony Bennett era after a second-half surge brought the Lancers within eight late in the game.
“To give up that many points, [...]
Joey Rodriguez had 17 points, four steals and two assists as the Rams put four players in double figures and won easily in the debut of coach Shaka Smart.
Larry Sanders added 12 points and six rebounds. Jay Gavin had 12 points – nine in [...]
Virginia defeated Longwood 85-72 in both teams’ season openers tonight. We’ll have full postgame reaction in this space coming up.
Postgame comments live from the press room:
Longwood coach Mike Gillian:
First of all, at Longwood we’ve done so much in the big picture, which is that in a short period of [...]
Tied 17-17 with 9:57 left in the first half, the Rams closed with a 24-4 run.
Larry Sanders has 10 points—including two soaring dunks—Joey Rodriguez has nine points and Bradford Burgess has seven. VCU has been hampered, though, by eight turnovers.
Two big cheers from the crowd here at the basketball game for the men’s and women’s soccer teams, which each scored shootout victories tonight.
The women’s team won in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the men’s team knocked off No. 1 Wake Forest in the ACC tournament, a victory [...]
VCU forward Larry Sanders is one of 25 players named to CollegeInsider.com’s mid-major All-America team.
Division I coaches and NBA scouts have input on the team, with the final decisions by CollegeInsider.com’s staff.
Also on the team are Old [...]
Is this clip from the Colbert Report truly outdoors related? Barely. It is hilarious, however. And that is one crazy looking fish.
[...]Feeling no rush, coach Tony Bennett waited until the second day of the signing period to gather commitments and announce his first recruiting class.
U.Va. fans won’t have to look hard to find reasons for optimism – the five-player class is stocked with talent and addresses the team’s biggest need by [...]
About to hop in the rental sled and drive to Our Nation’s Capital. Here now, a couple days early, is the story for Sunday’s paper, about the beginning of Virginia Tech’s basketball season ...
BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
BLACKSBURG – A banner hangs from the ceiling of Cassell Coliseum, [...]
GETTING BUSY: The University of Richmond begins its season tonight vs. visiting Lehigh, and the Spiders will play eight games in the next 20 days:
Tonight - Lehigh
Monday - VMI
Thursday - at William and Mary
Nov. 22 – Chattanooga
Nov. 24 – Longwood
Nov. [...]
First, sophomore linebacker Jake Johnson. Now, senior rover Dorian Porch. Virginia Tech’s defensive coordinator, Bud Foster, has demoted two starters in the past two weeks.
Foster said Johnson’s replacement, redshirt freshman Lyndell Gibson, did fine in last Thursday’s 16-3 win at East Carolina. “Early, he played pretty well,“ Foster said. [...]
Play calmer. Play smarter.
Those are the two things University of Richmond center Dan Geriot said he will keep in mind this season after watching last season (out with a knee injury). Watching games last season influenced Geriot to think in this manner, he said. [...]
Spiders’ coach Mike London opened his Wednesday press conference by saying “We get a chance to go on the road again, which is always good for this team, it appears.“
This team, and last year’s edition. Richmond hasn’t lost as a visitor since falling [...]
