In many sports, the ACC can be considered among the nation’s finest and most competitive athletic conferences. This is especially true of men’s soccer, which makes conference play a nightmare for ACC teams. For the Virginia men’s soccer team, things will only get tougher from here on out. Seven of Virginia’s next 10 games — including four road contests  — will be against ACC opponents. Tonight, Virginia will travel to Blacksburg to play its first ACC road contest against Virginia Tech at 7 p.m.
The Cavaliers enter tonight’s game with an above .500 record at 4-3 (1-0 ACC) for the first time this season and are riding a two-game winning streak. Virginia has also recently found a comfortable offensive groove, scoring nine goals during the previous two games. Leading the way has been freshman midfielder Tony Tchani, who has scored four goals in his last two games and seven overall.
Defensively, junior goalkeeper Michael Giallombardo and the Cavaliers have recorded two straight shutouts in Giallombardo’s first two starts of the season. The wins, which included 5-0 and 4-0 routs against N.C. State and Central Connecticut State respectively, showcased strong defensive play and successful scoring attempts on Virginia’s part.
However, everything has not been positive for the Cavaliers. Breakout freshman forward Chris Agorsor had to be carted off the field and taken to the emergency room during Tuesday night’s victory against Central Connecticut State. The Daily Progress reported Wednesday night that Agorsor likely tore both his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee. Although such an injury would put Agorsor out for the season, his official status is unknown. Virginia coach George Gelnovatch stressed his hope for Agorsor’s recovery and remarked about his team’s resiliency after Agorsor went down Tuesday night.
“You know, our message is that we’re all going over to see him and we’re going to hope for a speedy recovery,” Gelnovatch said. “This is just a part of sports, and we’re going to keep going on.”
For the moment, it appears that freshman forward Brian Ownby will replace Agorsor as a starting forward. Ownby, another stellar freshman, has seen significant minutes this year and even recorded a goal Tuesday night after replacing Agorsor.
“Brian did very well, Gelnovatch said. “He came in after the injury, and we wanted to at least [give] him a half. He played a few games, got sick, and now, depending on how Chris is, he may be our starting forward.”
There is little doubt that Agorsor’s injury will limit Virginia. Agorsor has proven to be an electric player with remarkable quickness and scoring ability. Ownby, though, when asked about the impact of Agorsor’s injury, responded that the injury “doesn’t change the gameplan at all,” noting that the Cavaliers “have a lot of good players, who can play that position and do it well.”
Virginia Tech heads into tonight’s rivalry game riding a bit of a rough trend. The Hokies (2-4-1, 0-2 ACC) dropped a close game Sunday at Clemson 3-2 in double overtime and enter tonight’s game in search of their first conference victory. Freshman forward Emmanuel Akogyeram currently leads Virginia Tech in scoring with three goals and one assist.
Tonight’s game is one of great importance for both teams. For Virginia Tech, it offers an opportunity to record the team’s first conference victory and a chance to get its season back on track. Virginia, on the other hand, faces its first ACC road game and will be challenged to match the offensive production it has come up with in its last two contests. To make things more interesting, it is a rivalry game, which makes the outcome of tonight’s game that much less predictable.

The University scored a B in the most recent edition of the College Sustainability Report Card, earning high marks in the fields of food and recycling, transportation, and green buildings, while receiving its lowest mark in endowment transparency.
The Sustainable Endowments Institute, located in Cambridge, Mass., has published sustainability report cards for the past three years. The grading is based on a voluntary survey and research conducted by the institute, SEI spokesperson Lisa Tuska said. The institute evaluates almost 300 colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada, Tuska said, in various fields relating to sustainability including administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green buildings, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement.
This year, the University improved on its previous years’ scores, Tuska said. For 2007, the University was given an overall grade of D+, while for 2008, the University received a B-minus. The University’s improved overall grade for the most recent 2009 grading period can be attributed to high grades in several categories, especially in food and recycling, transportation, green buildings and investment priorities.
Director of Dining Brent Beringer, an employee of Aramark, said he is thrilled with the University’s A grade in the food and recycling category. For the last grading period, food and recycling received a B.
“It’s been a couple of years’ journey that’s been exciting,” Beringer said. “Every year this thing gets a little different.”
Beringer attributed much of his department’s success to increased student involvement during the past grading period. He said student leaders and others interested in sustainability have impressed upon his office the need to use more local and organic products and also helped implement initiatives such as the removal of trays from the dining halls and the use of non-Styrofoam to-go boxes. All of these changes, he said, have improved the University’s sustainability grade. Future initiatives, including a proposed food composting plan, also contributed to dining’s high grade.
Transportation was another category in which the University saw gains. also improving from a B to an A.
Parking and Transportation Director Rebecca White said the University’s improvement in sustainable transportation can be attributed to a host of developments. She said the fact that 95 percent of undergraduate students live in an area serviced by free bus service for both the Charlottesville and University transit systems and the fact that parking and transportation uses biodiesel fuel in 20 percent of its bus fleet contributed greatly to the grade increase.
Other parking and transportation-related features that earned the University high SEI marks, White said, include the installation of bike racks on UTS buses and a new “Bike Smart Map,” detailing where services such as bike racks, bike repair shops and covered bike parking can be found on and near Grounds. These changes help to encourage the use of alternative transportation, White said.
The third area in which the University earned a top grade was investment priorities. When the SEI-conducted survey was first published, the University division earned only a C grade, but in the past two years it has maintained an A. About 37 percent of the higher education institutions participating in the survey received an A in this category, according to the report’s Web site.
University spokesperson Carol Wood said the University received a high investment priorities grade because the University administration aims to optimize investment returns and is currently investing in renewable energy and clean technology funds.
Overall, the most consistent grading category for the University has been green building. For the 2007 grading period, that division’s grade of B was the highest mark earned by the University, and for the last two grading periods it has received a grade of A, a score which only 17 percent of schools achieve, according to the Web site.
Andrew Greene, sustainability planner for the Office of the University Architect, said the University’s commitment to building according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifications were key to maintaining the high green building grade. According to the University’s SEI survey, 23 buildings on Grounds are currently seeking LEED certification.
“This A is probably going to be a relative grade, meaning that we will need keep it up next year and need to make sure we have continual improvement, keeping our eyes open,” Greene said, noting that his office is currently making use of strategies designed to foster a closer sense of connectedness on Grounds. This enhanced connectedness on Grounds is evident in projects such as the South Lawn, Greene said, in which the Office of the University Architect has tried to include paths to and from buildings nearby, so that students and other University community members can simply walk — not drive — wherever they are going.
“The goal is to not have a sprawling campus and not use land unwisely,” Greene said.
In other categories, the University received mixed reviews. Administration scored a B, while shareholder engagement — the degree to which students and other members of the community are able to communicate with the administration about developing sustainability initiatives — and climate change and energy received C marks.
Tuska said a lower grade in terms of climate change and energy might be due to the University not yet having enough programs explicitly designed to fund wind farms and other alternative energy resources, as well as not yet having enough energy sustainability-related events, such as energy conservation competitions.
By far the University’s lowest grade, though, was for endowment transparency; in that division, the University received a failing mark.
Tuska noted that though a failing grade in endowment transparency does not necessarily mean that any particular college or university is using its funds to support initiatives that run counter to sustainability efforts, it nevertheless means a university’s policies are less than ideal from her organization’s point of view. She said some schools make their endowment spending information readily available to students, faculty and other members of the community.
“Definitely, ideally, it would be more available,” Tuska said about the University’s endowment. “When the endowment is not so transparent, it’s hard to see if those funds are being put in sustainability research. A college or university could be funding companies that are doing some not so good things … so being able to see where that money is being spent is important.”
Wood, though, emphasized that the University’s lack of endowment expenditure reporting stems from the University of Virginia Investment Management Company’s regulations.
“Our endowments transparency grade is an F because UVIMCO’s Board’s policy prohibits disclosure of the names of our investment advisors and funds,” Wood said.
Furthermore, the survey filled out by the University states that UVIMCO invests in funds that make renewable energy investments. UVIMCO also has both venture capital managers and resource managers who invest in alternative energy and clean technology, the survey states.
“The University maintains an active dialogue with donors and may request that UVIMCO offer a fund that considers environmental/sustainability factors,” the survey states.
Since the first publication of the SEI report, though, the University’s endowment transparency grade has remained stable, never earning a grade higher than F. Across the full spectrum of schools graded by SEI, endowment transparency was one of the most difficult categories in which to score high, with just 11 percent of schools achieving an A. The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Dartmouth College and Virginia Commonwealth University all attained A marks, but the University of California-Berkeley and Harvard University received grades of D and C, respectively. Virginia Tech also failed endowment transparency, according to the report.

In the midst of two campaigns with historic racial and gender implications, the Miller Center for Public Affairs held a “Race and Gender and American Politics” roundtable discussion last night, leading University professors to note that the two issues have taken on new and unprecedented roles in advance of the Nov. 4 presidential election.
The forum, hosted by The Wall Street Journal’s Douglas Blackmon, featured Politics Profs. Paul Freedman, Lynn Sanders, Vesla Weaver and Nick Winter as well as Psychology Prof. Brian Nosek.
Blackmon said race and gender are especially interesting subjects to focus on right now because of their roles in the current presidential election.
“The thing that I really want to focus on is the incredible media attention [that has been given to that question], of will Obama lose the election because of race?” Sanders inquired during her introductory speech. “I think its interesting how tied we are to that pessimism.”
While Sanders said she believes there is still a presence of racist pessimism, she also noted, there has been a recent move toward open discussion about race in politics in the United States.
“I think we’re approaching a situation where we’re more comfortable in our discussion about race,” Sanders said.
Weaver noted that much of her research has been focused around the question of whether race matters in voters’ choice of candidates. Though she said she found “race does matter” in some aspects of voter choice, she said such an impact was not always pejorative in nature.
“The fascinating thing is it’s not all negative,” Weaver said. “When [people were] asked [to choose] which candidate was more hardworking, the percentages [were higher for] light-black skinned candidates [and] dark-black skinned candidates [than for] white candidates.”
Blackmon, however, challenged Weaver and Sanders, noting that they may be perceived as being racially conservative or at risk of overlooking the negative impact race can have on a political campaign.
“That’s the first time I’ve been charged as being a racial conservative in a room,” Weaver said. “I’m certainly not saying there aren’t racial issues … but I do think we need to question how much the negative aspect of race is what makes headlines.”
Winter, meanwhile, noted that racial issues may have a broader positive impact on the political system.
“In some ways, having race with an American candidate … it may be an opportunity for that kind of explicit thought, for [people to express] the kind of values we hold,” Winter said, noting that at times when race or gender is left out of the picture, people do not always pay a lot of attention to politics.
Winter also focused his introduction on discussing the idea of gender and its effect on how people view politicians, similarly to how Sanders and Weaver focused on race.
“Our ideas about what makes a good leader are those associated [with] men and masculinity,” Winter said.
He added that he has found that more feminine terms tend to be associated with the Democratic Party, whereas more stereotypical masculine characteristics have been associated with the Republican Party.
Both Freedman and Nosek spoke about the role of implicit and explicit messages in the media and in advertising and their effect on people’s political views.
“People develop a lot of [implicit] associations that explicitly they would not,” Nosek said. For example, “it’s harder to associate ‘female’ with ‘leader.’”
Freedman noted that he believes Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has been able to capitalize on both feminine and masculine characteristics to gain public attention in her vice presidential campaign.
“Well, I think that she has captured the public imagination, in part because of these masculine characteristics,” Freedman said, noting that one of these perceived masculine characteristics includes Palin’s membership in the National Rifle Association. She “also presents herself as a hockey mom, which is an image which puts her at the base of the family. [So, she is also] holding on to more traditionally feminine characteristics.”
Overall, the professors generally seemed to agree with the notion that race and gender are affecting the American political landscape in different and — in some cases — new ways, some of which run contrary to what has occurred in the past.
“American politics has been pretty white and pretty male for a long time, and now we’re changing it,” Sanders said.

Carr’s Hill, which has traditionally served as the residence of University presidents, is expected to undergo repairs in the near future as the University community celebrates the building’s centennial.
The building, which is in close proximity to both the Rotunda and the Lawn, has been a historical fixture on Grounds since it was built in 1909. Carr’s Hill has since undergone only minor architectural changes other than the addition of modern amenities and a renovation in 1974, according to an official history documenting Carr’s Hill on the University Web site.
Stanford White, the designer previously chosen to restore the Rotunda after it suffered damages in the fire of 1895, was originally selected to lead the design team for the construction of the building but was assassinated in 1906 before the designs were finalized, the history states. White’s general ideas, however, were maintained in the final design and the building still stands today, serving as both the president’s residence and as a welcoming place for first-year students and new graduates.
University Senior Historic Preservation Planner Brian Hogg said Carr’s Hill is currently in need of general maintenance, basic restoration and “nuts and bolts” repairs. He said the building also needs updates to its utility systems, including the plumbing and air conditioning.
Though no specific plans have been made and no preliminary architectural drawings have been completed, Hogg said some aspects of the planned renovation are almost certain, including major changes to the building’s roof.
When Carr’s Hill was first constructed nearly 100 years ago, “it wasn’t properly framed, so it pushed one of the staircases down and now there is a dip in the floor,” Hogg said. “The roof is stable, but we want to get everything framed right so the brick walls carry the loads, not the wood walls.”
Aside from these practical repairs, however, Hogg said he was hesitant to say the building will see more substantial renovations. The building is remarkably similar to how it was when originally constructed; therefore, Hogg noted, there probably will not be much discussion about changes to the building’s façade or any other substantial renovations.
“A balustrade is missing from the roof, and it might be nice to replace that,” Hogg said, noting, though, that the building overall is “astoundingly unchanged over time” despite being built nearly a century ago.
University spokesperson Carol Wood said there is no definite start date for the Carr’s Hill renovation. She estimated, though, that it will likely begin in spring 2010.
Hogg similarly said he does not have any exact timeframe for the renovations but noted that he expects the project to last 18 months from beginning to end. The University does not yet have a set budget for the project, he said.
“Basically, we just want to put the house in order as it celebrates its centennial, to really make the house function well again as it did,” Hogg said.
Wood said University President John T. Casteen III and his family are planning to use a historic house designed by retired Architecture Prof. William Weedon near the University Alumni Association as the official residence of the University president while Carr’s Hill is renovated.

In collaboration with several scientific research organizations and with the aid of a National Science Foundation grant, a University professor is leading a project to found a national research institute called The Center for Chemistry of the Universe.
Chemistry Prof. Brooks Pate , the project leader, said the institution will aim not only to understand how molecules are formed in space but how molecules become matter.
“Today you look around you, there’s a lot around us,” Pate said. “[It] all started as molecules and then was delivered to earth.”
Pate will work with researchers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the Arizona Radio Observatory, the University of Arizona, Ohio State University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, he said.
NSF spokesperson Jenny Grasswick said the grant is a $1.5 million, three-year award for the development phase of the institute. After three years, Pate will be eligible to apply for a $40 million grant that would be distributed over the course of 10 years to complete the second phase of the project, which will be entail actually building the center, she said.
Pate added that his institute is one of three chemistry-related centers created this fall. Although each center deals with a different area of chemistry, Pate noted that because of current funding levels, most likely only one or two of the centers will receive funding for the second phase of development.
The projects are chosen in part, based on whether they capture the public’s interest, Pate said.
“It’s an area of science that really you can reach out to get people interested in chemistry and how chemistry occurs,” he said of his area of research.
He added that his project was “sufficiently complex” because it has three components that he referred to as full-scale fields of science.
The NSF was “looking for a team of distinguished researchers who work together to tackle big, challenging problems,” NSF Chemistry Division Director Luis Echegoyen said. “The chemistry of the universe is a science challenge that can grow into a major research center.”
Getting funding to initiate development was the first and most difficult challenge, Pate said. During the first two years of the project, he will target the issues that need to be resolved in order for the project to continue, he noted.
The first key aspect of the project will be discovering what molecules exist in space and where they exist, he said. Pate will collaborate with The National Radio Astronomy Observatory — whose director’s office is located on Grounds, — to achieve this task. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory owns one of the largest telescopes in the world, located in West Virginia, which will use radio-astronomy to pick up light emitted by the molecules as they rotate in space. The emitted light produces a signature that allows scientists to keep track of the molecules, Pate said.
The project’s second component will involve measuring the molecules in a laboratory, Pate said.
“One of the very powerful things about the field is that the signals you see in space, you can exactly reproduce in the lab,” he said, adding that the proposed Center for Chemistry of the Universe will develop new tools to measure the signatures left by molecules on Earth to match with the signatures of the molecules picked up by telescope.
The third component of the project aims to understand how the molecules are produced, he said. Pate said this third and final aspect of his project will be the most interesting because it is a relatively new — and unexplored — field.
“There were a lot of things that happened at Virginia in the last two or three years that we really felt could then go in and help the field of chemistry,” Pate said. “I think that’s a very compelling problem: to try and figure out exactly where everything comes from.”

Who would have thought the Cavalier football team would be entering its first ACC matchup against Duke as the underdog?
Virginia (1-2) faces a revitalized Duke  squad under new head coach David Cutcliffe on its home turf in Durham tomorrow at noon. This is the first time Duke (2-1) has been favored against an ACC opponent since 2002. This is what things have come to as Virginia struggles to overcome such obstacles as the dismissal of former starting quarterback Peter Lalich and an embarrassing 45-10 loss to Connecticut.
Last season, Lalich replaced a struggling Jameel Sewell against Duke to lead the Cavaliers to victory. Now sophomore quarterback Marc Verica enters the spotlight and is expected to start his first ACC game against the Blue Devils, leading a very different team than the one that rebounded from last season’s opening loss to go on a seven-game win streak. The tenuous 24-13 win against Duke in 2007 sparked something for the Cavaliers, and fans can only hope the same will be true this season.
“They certainly proved last year, there’s a lot of tough kids in this group, and there are a lot of determined kids in this group, and there are a lot of very positive kids in this group,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “This is a [phrase] that I hardly ever use, but I hear it used in other circumstances; the issues that we have aren’t in terms of want to, or effort or toughness.”
The Cavaliers will face a challenge in Duke junior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, who has surprised many this season by being one of the most accurate passers in the ACC. In Duke’s 41-31 win against Navy, Lewis threw for 317 yards and completed 71.4 percent of his passes.
“We hear these days sometimes people referring to the game that we watch as basketball on grass, and that’s kind of what [the Duke offense] is,” Groh said. “Lewis is the point guard, and they’re running the fast break, and if it was in Cameron Indoor Stadium, and it was their equivalent of it, you’d probably hear the coach standing on the sideline yelling, ‘Push the ball, push the ball.’”
The Cavaliers need to turn this style of play to their advantage defensively by causing turnovers but also need to establish cohesion on both offense and defense.
“Everybody’s got to obviously pull together,” senior linebacker Jon Copper said. “When you lose somebody, and unfortunately with what happened last week, everybody’s got to come together even more.”
Now the offense is in Verica’s hands, and he heads into this game with the confidence of his offensive coordinator and his team.
“Anytime a quarterback has to look over his shoulder, that might affect him,” Verica said. “But me and [offensive coordinator] Mike [Groh] had a chance to talk, and he told me, ‘Don’t look over your shoulder, this is your team now, just go out there and relax and be yourself.’”
Verica’s style of play may be just what the doctor ordered for Virginia. Under Lalich, the offense sputtered, scoring only 10 offensive points against Football Championship Series opponent Richmond. Verica has a much more mobile style, which could prove useful as he looks for receivers downfield. His ability to scramble could also enhance the running game, which has also been anemic lately.
“He’s kind of unflappable [which is what] I’ve heard coaches before say sometimes about their quarterbacks,” Groh said. “He’s able to shake off those things and get on with the next shot; he does a good job with that. He sees the field nicely, he just needs to keep building up his looks.”
So the unthinkable has happened. Virginia is an underdog to perennial ACC loser Duke. If the Cavaliers can defeat a new-look Duke squad on Tobacco Road tomorrow, they could prove to the ACC they are capable of being competitive in the ACC this season.

Virginia’s volleyball team opens up its home conference schedule this weekend with matches against two of the premier teams in the ACC. The Cavaliers face off in Memorial Gym against Georgia Tech today at 7 p.m. and against Clemson tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Coming off a loss to Virginia Tech in its season opener, Virginia (8-5, 0-1 ACC) will look to rebound and be in top form against the teams picked first and second in ACC preseason polls.
Georgia Tech (9-2, 1-0 ACC) edged Clemson (8-4, 0-1 ACC) Sept. 18. Now both universities bring their perennially competitive programs against Virginia coach Lee Maes for the first time.
“Clemson and Georgia Tech are both very, very good,” Maes said. “They’ve had a history of being the leaders of this conference.”
This will be the second weekend of home matches for the Cavaliers after the Marriott Jefferson Cup Sept. 12 to 13 in which Memorial Gym drew unexpectedly large crowds, especially against in-state rival Virginia Commonwealth. Senior middle blocker Shannon Davis was selected as MVP of the Marriott Jefferson Cup.
“We had a lot of fans against VCU so we hope that they’ll come out again this weekend,” Davis said. “[Georgia Tech and Clemson] are two really good teams, and all that energy we can collect from the fans and atmosphere will definitely help us through the games.”
Maes, who has had positive things to say about the University and its environment since he joined the volleyball program in February, is rallying fans and supporters to show up to the weekend matches.
“We want Mem Gym just to be as intimidating [and] intimate a venue as anywhere we go, or even more so,” Maes said, noting that the stands are so close to the court that spectators are often only a few feet from the players. “We hope our own crowd can be a distraction and have a positive influence on the outcome of the match.”
This home atmosphere is something junior defensive specialist Brittani Rendina, who is tied for the most sets played this season among the Cavaliers, has settled into in her second year playing on the Memorial Gymnasium court. Rendina started her career at Rutgers where she excelled as a player, but the program struggled.
With the encouragement of longtime friend and former childhood teammate Tara Hester, currently a Cavalier junior outside hitter, Rendina transferred to Virginia and made the team as a walk-on for the Cavaliers.
“Me and Tara had played volleyball together since we were 15 years old,” Redina said, “Once I got [to Virginia], it was really easy to make the transition since I had Tara who I grew up with.”
Now a scholarship player and regularly starting for the Cavaliers, Rendina says she made the right decision.
“I had no problems with anyone. No barriers were put up or anything,” Rendina said. “It was really open and family-like.”
Rendina wears the dark blue libero jersey, meaning she is not allowed to block or spike the ball above the net but may replace any of the players in the back row between plays without notifying officials. Liberos are generally the most defensively skilled players on the team, so it is a testament to Rendina’s performance in practice and games that she is trusted. There remains room for improvement, though, Maes noted.
“Brittani has done a really nice job in assimilating a lot of the things we’ve instilled, from a technical and systems standpoint,” Maes said. “What we’re looking for from her is consistency in her play. She has the mindset we’re looking for on the court.”
And Redina seems to be up to the challenge.
“It’s crunch-time now,” Rendina said. “We need to realize that we don’t have any more opportunities to mess around. We have to start winning every match from here on out if we want to win ACCs.”

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The computer screen you’re staring at or the newspaper you’re reading is telling the truth. Duke really is favored to win by 7 points against Virginia in tomorrow’s game kicking off at noon, and I myself am cited on the back of this sports section picking Duke to win. It’s hard not to.
Duke has simply been the more impressive team this season. How could one possibly justify a Cavalier win against the Blue Devils? Duke blew out James Madison 31-7, a respectable Football Championship Series program in its own right that just knocked off three-time defending FCS champion Applachian State last weekend.
Duke then narrowly lost 24-20 to Big Ten team Northwestern, which, though it has had a weak schedule, is 4-0 this season.
The Blue Devils’ most recent game was a 41-31 win against Navy. You may say Virginia has a bye week to get prepared for tomorrow’s game, but so do the Blue Devils, as they played the Midshipmen Sept. 13, nullifying the effect a bye week could have for the Cavaliers.
The common denominator of these games for the Blue Devils is that they have scored at least 20 points in every game. Virginia, on the other hand, has yet to post more than 10 offensive points in a game (Vic Hall’s interception return for a touchdown accounted for 6 of the Cavaliers’ 16 points against Richmond). In light of those statistics, how could someone possibly pick Virginia to win?
“But this is Duke,” you may say. “Duke … you know, the ACC laughingstock during the past several seasons? The team that went 4-42 overall and 1-31 in the ACC from 2004-07. The team that has not won an ACC game since a 2004 defeat of Clemson.” (Don’t ask me how that one happened. Just one more example of Clemson underachieving under Tommy Bowden.)
Yeah, I know — but the Blue Devils are just a better team this year. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. There were signs of life last year amid Duke’s 1-11 season. Narrow losses of fewer than 7 points to Navy, Wake Forest and North Carolina barely kept the Blue Devils from being a decent 4-8 squad. And, don’t forget, Virginia needed a late touchdown pass from one Peter Lalich last season to finally pull away from the Blue Devils during the second half of the game.
Now, Duke football is looking to a bright future with new head coach David Cutcliffe, who has the credentials to be a good coach for Duke. He was the offensive coordinator at Tennessee when Peyton Manning was throwing bombs and singing “Rocky Top” and was the head coach at Ole Miss when Eli Manning was learning the ropes as a Rebel. I believe those two rather famous brothers are now the owners of rather gaudy rings.
The Volunteers went 173-54-7 during Cutcliffe’s 19-year tenure as an assistant, winning five SEC Championships and the 1998 BCS Championship (the first year of the BCS, by the way).
As head coach with the Rebels, Cutcliffe went 44-29 during seven seasons, winning the SEC West in 2003 and being named SEC Coach of the Year during the same season.
“OK, OK,” you say, “he seems like a good coach. But we just have more talent on our team.”
Well, I didn’t want to, but you made me pull out more statisics — and they aren’t telling a good story.
Duke is second in the ACC in total offense, gaining 410.7 yards per game. Virginia is dead last, at 233.7 ypg. The Blue Devils rank sixth in total defense, allowing 308 ypg while Virginia is again dead last in this category, giving up a staggering 419.3 ypg. (Yes, I too am sobbing about losing the likes of Chris Long, Mike London and Jeffrey Fitzgerald.)
Duke’s quarterback isn’t bad either. Junior Thaddeus Lewis is in his third year starting and has appeared in every game of his career, starting in all but one of them (26 starts total). It seems as though his trial by fire is bearing fruit this season as the dual-threat quarterback has passed for 238 ypg (first in the ACC) and five touchdowns. Most importantly, he has yet to throw an interception.
Marc Verica, on the other hand, is expecting to start only the second game of his career, has passed for 158 career yards, has yet to throw a touchdown and tossed one interception against Connecticut last weekend.
“Enough,” you say. “I get it, the 2008 version of Duke is not the same team of previous seasons. But the students at Duke still can’t wait until basketball season, right?”
Apparently not. Duke’s athletic Web site states that an average of 27,079 fans are attending games. That’s not a lot you say. The problem is Wallace Wade Stadium only holds 33,000 people. That’s not a bad turnout given the recent history of Duke football.
I know you’re devastated by this point, but maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps the troubles surrounding Lalich were distracting the team. Maybe the players will be more focused and are better off without him.
And though Duke has improved, it is not USC — or Connecticut, probably, for that matter. The Blue Devils still have not won an ACC game since 2004. They still need to prove themselves to a conference team, and they get their first chance this year with Virginia. We can also hope Duke serves the same function as last season, being the springboard the Cavaliers need to a surprisingly successful season.

Virginia sophomore forward Meghan Lenczyk headed a corner kick from freshman forward Lauren Alwine during the 77th minute against Florida State to give the Cavaliers a win last night in their first ACC match of the season.
It was Czyk’s team-leading seventh goal and Alwine’s team-leading sixth assist on the season. Senior goalkeeper Celeste Miles only needed to make one save to post her fifth shutout of the season.
The win in Tallahassee marks Virginia’s sixth consecutive victory in ACC openers.
Virginia moves to 7-1-1 (1-0 ACC) with the win while the Seminloes fall to 6-2-1 (0-1 ACC) with the loss.

Journeying through the crowded, winding maze of the Student Activities Fair might lead a new student to believe there are simply no interests that are not represented by some University organization. Last August, however, then-first-year College students Margaret Lipman and Will Stewart, who attended the same high school in northern Virginia, found an exception.
“We saw that there were a ton of clubs with really specialized interests, like the Classics Club, or the Strategy Gaming Club and stuff like that,” Lipman said. “Tons of people like Harry Potter, we really like Harry Potter — there should be a Harry Potter club!”
From this resolution came the birth of Wahoo Witches and Wizards — the first Harry Potter club at the University — which became an official CIO in fall 2007. The club, Lipman said, drew its inspiration from a similar organization at the College of William & Mary, which in recent years has gathered a large membership.
The club, officially titled Wahoo Witches and Wizards: A Harry Potter Appreciation Society, has from the beginning stressed an extremely casual atmosphere. The group even held its first meetings in Stewart’s suite in Watson and in the classrooms of Cauthen dormitory. (They now typically meet in Minor Hall.)
“We try to keep it very informal and laid-back and we don’t have a strict schedule or anything, or any agenda,” Stewart said. “We’re just trying to have a good time and talk about Harry Potter because we love it.”
Meetings, therefore, have little aim other than to provide a positive, relaxed atmosphere where members can foster their love for the magical creation of British author J.K. Rowling. Meetings typically consist of trivia games — where members divide into the four House teams (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin) and compete for points — and Harry Potter related video viewings, as well as the occasional experimental beverage.
“Will and Margaret [the club’s founders] were kind enough to make butterbeer —‘Muggle’ butterbeer, in reference to the Muggles [non-magical people] in the books,” second-year College student Jonathan Welch said. The two created the drink as a tribute to the imaginary beverage popularly consumed by the characters in the series. The recipe, which contains butterscotch, melted butter, condensed milk and cream soda, was one that Lipman found on the Food Network. The result, Lipman said, was “interesting.”
Even with such an intentionally laid-back atmosphere, Stewart and Lipman take their meetings seriously. They encourage discussion of controversial topics, such as Rowling’s announcement that Professor Dumbledore, one of the most noble and admirable heroes of the book, was gay, as well as the lawsuits surrounding a Web site called the “Harry Potter Lexicon.”
The general response to the club has been positive, Stewart said, and the founders are prepared to address any criticism of the series.
“If someone objected to something and wanted to discuss the morality of Harry Potter, that would be an awesome thing to discuss in a meeting,” Lipman added.
Just as a variety of topics are covered during meetings, there also exists a wide range in levels of enthusiasm among members.
“There are some people in the club who are very intense about it, and, you know, good for them,” Welch said. But he, on the other hand, represents another end of the spectrum. “The books were interesting, and I guess I just decided to go to the club to see what other people thought and not because I was super fanatic.”
One member at the group’s first meeting this year, which took place earlier this month, hadn’t even finished reading the series.
While Stewart and Lipman welcome new members of all commitment levels, they especially encourage those who would be willing to help them take the club even further, because the CIO is still in its early stages of development. Meetings occur roughly once a month, and outside activities, though popular among club members, are somewhat rare. Last year, the club rented the fifth and latest movie, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” and showed it in the Gilmer Hall auditorium. They also attended the movie showing in Newcomb Hall Theater as a group.
Still, Lipman said, “We … want to try and expand what the club does.” Consequently, the club plans to hold elections during its next meeting. Elections will include the position of Quidditch Captain, a reference to the one and only popular sport of the Harry Potter series. Among the activities the co-founders hope to organize are Quidditch games, not unlike the one hosted by Brown Residential College earlier this year where the Golden Snitch, a self-propelled ball that flies through the air, was a student with a ball duct-taped to his back.
Other proposed events, which Lipman and Stewart hope new officers will help to organize, include more movie screenings and possibly a Triwizard Tournament and Yule Ball — both of which took place in the fourth book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”
“It’s going to be exciting, these events I hear,” Welch said. “Hopefully we’ll get some new members.”
Ultimately, the club’s primary goals are to grow — its Facebook group has almost 70 members, Lipman said — although the attendance at meetings is closer to 20 — and to have fun. “We’re just a laid-back group of people who like to hang out,” Lipman said.