OUR LEAGUE: Quick hook for ACC coaches

Scattershooting around the ACC, while finding the coaching turnover in the conference a bit surprising in such a short span ...

Since the 12 ACC schools signed the recruiting class of 2006, players in which are currently seniors or redshirt juniors, there are only five head coaches still at those same 12 schools in only a four-year span: Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer, Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe, Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen and Virginia’s Al Groh.

Since the ’06 signing class, Miami fired Larry Coker and hired Randy Shannon, Georgia Tech fired Chan Gailey and hired Paul Johnson, Duke fired Ted Roof and hired David Cutcliffe, North Carolina fired John Bunting and hired Butch Davis, N.C. State fired Chuck Amato and hired Tom O’Brien away from Boston College — which has gone through two coaches since and is now led by Frank Spaziani — and Clemson has fired Tommy Bowden and replaced him with Dabo Sweeney.

That’s a lot of turnover in four years and there could be more at the end of this season.

Stay tuned ...

Wolfpack howling

You have to feel bad for Tom O’Brien down at N.C. State.

His defense can’t seem to stop anyone these days, and that could prevent the Wolfpack from making a strong finish in November.

The bad news is that State surrendered 45 points last week in a shootout against Florida State, which means the Wolfpack has given up 146 points in the last three games and 176 in the last four games.

The good news is that Maryland is coming to town, which offers O’Brien’s troops a chance to snap the four-game losing streak.

R.J. Mattes — whose dad (Ron) was one of the stars of UVa’s Peach Bowl year (1984) — is a freshman starter for N.C. State at offensive guard, but suffered a sprained knee in that game and his status for this week won’t be known until later today when the ACC puts out each team’s injury report.

On redshirting

UVa coach Al Groh isn’t the only coach with a losing team who has chosen to play a lot of true freshmen.

Groh has played 14 of ’em. Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen has played 10, and while he doesn’t plan on using any more, could activate QB Danny O’Brien or corner Dexter McDougle if injuries cause depth problems at those spots.

“This is tough times right now,” Friedgen said of his 2-6 Terps. “We have a young team and obviously they’re disappointed. We’re disappointed, frustrated. We’ve been close in every game but one. We’ve played hard in every game. I think we’d obviously like to look at some kids that we think can help us win and think have a future. To me, if it’s close or even, you have to play the younger guy and try to get better.”

Sound familiar, Wahoo Nation?

Tiger for Heisman?

Clemson is starting to make a push for C.J. Spiller as a legitimate Heisman candidate, and why not?

The Tigers tailback and kick return specialist certainly has the numbers, but his health is an issue. In last Saturday’s win over Coastal Carolina, coaches pulled Spiller early in the second quarter with the Tigers ahead 21-0.

He has been wearing a boot from time to time after recent games, including his 310-yard, all-purpose yardage performance in Clemson’s overtime win against Miami.

Spiller, by the way, needs one more kickoff return for a TD to set the NCAA career record with seven. He has scored in some form in every game this season and now has 40 career TDs and is one of only two players in Clemson history to have scored TDs in five different ways: rushing, receiving, punt return, kickoff return and passing.

Quote of the week

We really couldn’t find anything that interesting from the football coaches this week, so we’ll turn to new UVa basketball coach Tony Bennett, who loves to share this story.

He’s often asked if he has met the legendary singer of the same name and he has met the crooner once.

Back when basketball’s Tony Bennett played in college for Wisconsin-Green Bay, the singer Bennett flew into town for a concert. Well, Green Bay made a big deal out of it and had the basketball player Tony Bennett and a Green Bay Packers player with the same name meet the singer as he got off the plane at the airport. They presented the singer with a basketball, a Packers jersey and other stuff.

When reporters asked the singer Bennett if he had ever met anyone named Tony Bennett before, he didn’t hesitate.

“Yes, I have,” Bennett said. “She was a stripper and spelled her name with an eye.”

That’s Toni with an “i.”

Stat of the week

Miami is the only team from a BCS conference and one of just three teams in the 120-team FBS that boasts three 300-yard rushers (Javarais James, Graig Cooper, and Damien Berry), along with four 200-yard receivers (Leonard Hankerson, Travis Benjamin, LaRon Byrd and Thearon Collier).

Ironically, Virginia has already played one of the other two teams — Texas Christian. Idaho is the other.

Player & coach

Who would you vote for today if you had to pick an ACC player and coach of the year?

Hmmm.

My leading three candidates for player of the year as of this moment would be Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt, Clemson back C.J. Spiller and Miami quarterback Jacory Harris, although it’s rare for a sophomore like Harris to win that honor.

My leading three candidates for coach of the year as of right now, would be Boston College rookie head coach Frank “Spaz” Spaziani, whose team is co-leader in the Atlantic Division after being picked to finish last, along with Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson and Duke’s David Cutcliffe, although Miami’s Randy Shannon could prevail if his team keeps winning.

More media

The Daily Progress website (http://www.dailyprogress.com) has a new weekly feature throughout basketball season: the Hootie and Whitey podcast. (iTunes subscription link)

Whitey is our basketball beat writer, Whitelaw Reid, and I’m Hootie (nickname, long story).

You can find it on our site under the Cavalier Insider icon and it appears every Monday, giving you the lowdown on Wahoo basketball.

If that doesn’t totally quench your thirst for UVa information, then catch me and Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times every Tuesday on WINA’s (1070-AM) The Best Seat in the House show with Jay James. Our segment, named “The Sports Reporters,” usually airs from 6:30 to 7:05 and has become quite popular among UVa fans.

BP at Champions Dinner

Virginia basketball legend Barry Parkhill will be the featured guest at the annual MS Dinner of Champions on Dec. 2 at John Paul Jones Arena (6 p.m.).

We will update information on this event in the near future, but we’ve heard that a former UVa basketball player, the late Scott McCandlish, will be honored at the event.

For more information, call the MS Society at 971-8011.

Hold on

Boston College running back Montel Harris took personal responsibility for the Notre Dame loss two weeks ago when he fumbled the ball away twice, once near the goal line.

So, in last Saturday’s game against Central Michigan, he was extra careful with the pigskin.

“I kept thinking about [the Notre Dame] game all week,” Harris said. “I kept thinking about the fumbles. It’s hard to sleep and you don’t want to worry too much about it, but I did. I felt the game was in my hands and I lost it. I just wanted to prove that I can hold on to the ball.”

Harris did just that against Central Michigan, rushing 27 times for 136 yards and making two catches for 37 yards.

Harris and the Eagles will be visiting Charlottesville a week from this Saturday.

Short yardage ...

Miami played 21 true freshmen in the 2008 season opener, but only five in this year’s opener.  ... Two Boston College players left the team last week and are expected to transfer: sophomore Josh Haden, a respected running back; and third-team quarterback Justin Tuggle. ... Maryland has the most consecutive games in the country without a defensive touchdown: 41 straight games, dating back to Oct. 14, 2006. There are eight schools that have similar streaks stretching over 24 games or more, the most surprising of which is Wisconsin. The Badgers rank second to the Terps in consecutive games without scoring a defensive TD with 40 in a row. ... Watch out for Clemson a few weeks down the line. The Tigers are tied for third in the nation in interceptions this season with 15. Even more importantly, the Tigers have made some lengthy returns to give their offense a short field to work with after the picks.

The picks

Last week: 5-2. To date: 42-21. Tonight: Virginia Tech 27, ECU 17. Saturday: N.C. State 23, Maryland 20; Georgia Tech 30, Wake 17; Duke 33, UNC 27; Clemson 42, FSU 40; Miami 35, Virginia 10.