Thursday News and Notes

Thursday, October 19, 2006

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CFB

Here are news and notes from OffshoreInsiders.com  private clipboard.  They are compiled from hometown newspapers and the team’s own press releases.

North Carolina-Virginia

WCAV

For the second time this season, the Cavalier Football Team will take the field under the lights of Thursday night. Virginia will face the North Carolina Tar Heels, a team that has struggled more than the Cavs have this season. North Carolina is 1-5 so far on the year. Last season, the Tar Heels got the best of Virginia, winning 7-5 in Chapel Hill. The Cavs will hope for a better outcome this season.

Daily Press

North Carolina (1-5) will arrive at Scott Stadium on a three-game losing streak and having been beaten at home, 37-20, by South Florida last weekend. The Tar Heels have been outscored 214-105 this year and have lost 12 straight at Virginia since 1981. The Cavaliers (2-5) are coming off a game in which they led 20-0 at halftime, blew the lead in a 28-26 loss and came away upbeat because they actually played well.

Utah-New Mexico

Salt Lake Tribune

It might be the right time for the Utah Utes to be playing a mid-week game Thursday, in the effort to quickly wash away the bad taste of their blowout loss at Wyoming last weekend. But it might not be the right opponent. Not only have the New Mexico Lobos beaten the Utes three of the last four years (and four the last six), but they present “the same set of problems we had against Wyoming,” coach Kyle Whittingham said, with their unorthodox 3-3-5 defensive scheme and heavy blitzing style. The Lobos lead the league with 19 sacks, a mark they share with Wyoming after the Cowboys snapped the Utes’ season-long sackless streak by making six in a crushing 31-15 victory last weekend—many on blitzes that surprised the Utes. That could be an issue again, considering the Lobos made nine sacks in a 31-27 victory over the Utes last season in which both quarterback Brian Johnson and receiver John Madsen suffered season-ending injuries. The Utes expect to be without two of their three starting linebackers against the Lobos, with junior Kyle Brady still out with the shoulder injury that kept him out of the Wyoming game and freshman Stevenson Sylvester likely unavailable after spraining his ankle on the opening kickoff against the Cowboys. That means redshirt freshman J.J. Williams probably will start in place of Sylvester at “rover,” while junior Malakai Mokofisi replaces Brady at “stud.” The Lobos are down to their third quarterback, with redshirt freshman Donovan Porterie having led them to a 39-36 overtime win at UNLV last weekend in the first start of his career.