Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • C1

1 091 9TDRYD1C good CMY; direct 1 091 9TDRYD1 ZALLCALL 66 00:101 091904 STATE C2-3 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2004 IttdjtltOll) SlttteS'Btepatd) ACC C4-6 TOP 25 C6-7 SECTION PORTS Sfasr i' (v j) college football jbemlnprtfmesdispatdi.coffl WELCOMING WIN FOR TECH 'Breeze inn MadkslbMr FT New ACC member finds that everything works against Duke BY MIKE HARRIS ACC serves Devil's -food cake to Tech BLACKS BURG They wont all be this easy. OK, so maybe the next time Virginia Tech takes a Saturday drive against Duke itTl be this easy. Maybe when the Hokies scrimmage a scout team pretending to be Miami itTl be this 1 -J COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME DAY STATE William and Mary 9 New Hampshire 7 James Madison 17 Villanova 0 Lehigh 34 Liberty 16 Hampton 40 Western Illinois 20 Tenn.Tech 16 VMI 10 Virginia State 19 Fayetteville State 3 Winston-Salem State 20 Virginia Union 13 Shenandoah 24 Randolph-Macon 20 ACC 7 West Virginia 19 -21 Maryland 16 Jl Miami 48 Louisiana Tech 0 9 Ohio State 22 at N.C. State 14 North Carolina 34 Georgia Tech 13 -8 Florida State 34 7 Wake Forest 42 at North Carolina 3 Texas 27 Ctemson 6 Coverage, Page C4-6 Six days from now against N.C. State, it doesnt figure to be this easy.

Butthafs what warm-up acts are for. Duke is the I. fc BOB Upper TmesDispatch Staff Wbtter blacks burg Finally, it worked. At least once a season since he's been on the Virginia Tech football team, senior receiver Tcru a Richard John- VA. TECH 41 son has at- DUKE 1 7 tempted a pass in a game.

Not once did it result in a completion. Yesterday, on a surprisingly pleasant afternoon at Lane Stadium, the Hokies trotted out the oT receiver-option pass again. Johnson took the handoff from Bryan Randall, rolled to his right and connected with redshirt freshman Josh Hyman on a 34-yard touchdown pass. It was just one of the highlights for the Hokies as they opened their Atlantic Coast Conference era with a 41-17 whipping of Duke. A crowd announced as a sellout of 65,115 there were numerous empty seats saw Tech improve to I-0, 2-1.

Duke fell to 0-1, 0-3. Later, Johnson caught an II-yard touchdown pass from Randall to become the first Tech player in 23 years to throw and catch a touchdown in the same game. Tony Paige did it against Wake Forest in 1981. The touchdown reception was the second of Johnson's career. As a receiver, those are expected.

Throwing them is a rarity. "We just executed it so well in practice this week that we knew we were going to hit it," Johnson, a high school quarterback, said of his touchdown pass. 1 fed the joy of what Bryan feels when he throws a pass and sees the whole operation work. I like it" A special coin-flip ceremony was conducted to mark Tech's SEE HOKIES, PAGE C4 ACCs desig- nated welcome point of view mat When Florida State steamrolled through the door in 1992 to save ACC football from terminal mediocrity, Duke was offered up as first bite in an introductory creampuff sale. Final score: 48-21.

When Tech jogged into Lane Stadium yesterday for its ACC debut, Duke again was the setup du jour. Final score: 41-17. The Hokies weren't A-game superior, mind you. They were a little ragged early and a tad inattentive late, and they committed a whopping 13 penalties. But they rambled for 422 yards, squashed what passed for Duke's attack, got some nice plays from their young wideouts and all in all made this an inaugural to build possibilities on.

"We waited for this day for a long, longtime," said Tech coach Frank Beamer. "People who have been around Virginia Tech know how super it is to be in the ACC, and right now we're 1-0 in the ACC I told our football team we were either going to the top or the bottom in this game. So we know where we are right now, SEE LIP PER, PAGE C4 TBI A880CMXKD PBBS Adrian Peterson ran for 183 yards in No. 2 Oklahoma's win. TOP 25 p.

nvnr hobixvuhb-dbpaich Virginia Itch's Justin Hamilton takes the high road to the end zone over Duke defenders in the first half of the Hokies' first ACC victory, a 41-17 decision in Blacks burg. Staunch defense zaps Zips 1 So. California at Brigham Young late 2 Oklahoma 31 Oregon 7 3 Georgia 13 Marshall 3 -14 Auburn 10 -5LSU 9 -13 Tennessee 30 -11 Florida 28 -15Utah 48 Utah State 6 16 Iowa at Arizona State jate -17 Michigan 24 San Diego State 21 Portland State at -19 Fresno State late -20 Wisconsin 9 Arizona 7 -22 Minnesota at Colorado State late -23 Boise State at Texas-FJ Paso late -25 Memphis 47 Arkansas State 35 Coverage, Page NEXT WEEK VA.TECK vs. N.C. State ywM noon, ESPN VIRGINIA: vs.

Syracuse wyO' 3:30 p.m. RICHMOND: Lafayette OQ 1 pjti. 12th-ranked U.Va. led 44-0, and Akron had 57 yards of offense. Before a homecoming crowd of 57,868 on a breezy afternoon, the Cavaliers fin- ished with 51 points.

The Zips? Zip. Akron managed 27 yards of offense in the final quarter, raising its total to 84. Not since Sept 22, 1979, when Virginia Military Institute piled up 51 yards, had U.Va. VIRGINIA 51 AKRON 0 INSIDE: U.Va. tailback Wali lundy has been in a zone of his own.

PaetCS. Cavaliers amass 522 yards of offense, allow Akron just 84 in their homecoming romp BY JEFF WHITE Times-Dispatch Star Writer Charlottesville Rarely has a player touted as a Heisman Trophy candidate been treated as rudely as Akron quarterback Charlie Frye was yesterday at Scott Stadium. A 64 senior who'd completed 75 percent of his passes in the Zips' first two games, Frye had no time or room in which to operate against a ferocious University of Virginia defense. By the time Frye's coach mer senior defensive end Chris Canty, who led Virginia with 10 tackles, including three for loss. In his 2002 visit to Scott Stadium, Frye completed 27 of 47 passes for 336 yards and one touchdown.

He also ran for two TDs. Yesterday, he went 10 for 23 for 72 yards and was sacked four times. The Cavaliers picked off two of Frye's passes as Akron was shut out for the first time in six years. "When the front seven puts pressure on the quarterback, it leads to bad throws, and bad throws make the back four look good," said sophomore cornerback Marcus Hamilton, who snared one of U.Va.'s interceptions. The Cavaliers weren't challenged in their wins over Temple and North Carolina, but SEE CAVALIERS, PAGE CS allowed so few in a game.

The Zips (0-3) netted only 6 yards rushing and never drove past the U.Va. 33. The Cavaliers (3-0) had nine tackles for loss. "We were definitely disruptive as a unit, and thafs reflected in the total yards they put up and the points they scored," said CIBIBTT BXITinU E8 DB PATCH Complete sdwdulfl, PageCT Virginia's defense engulfs Akron running back Brett Biggs in the second quarter. cifully pulled him from the King Tutt does it all in Spiders' win combined for 76 yards yesterday.

"Our main plan was to line up to stop the run. We knew that last year, that's what killed us," said Spiders de and creativity, along with a physical defensive effort, carried URtoa 24-14 Atlantic 10 Conference win over Massachusetts, Division I-AA's ninth-ranked team. "He can run. He can pass. When yards) set up a TD then shut out the Minutemen (0-1, 2-1) through the last three quarters.

Feebler competed only occasionally, at about half-speed, following those plays because of a leg injury. UMass, which committed 15 penalties for 111 yards, never found another reliable manner in which to move the balL Massachusetts has been nagged 46 times for 383 yards in three youVe got a quarterback like that, you've always got a chance," UR tailback David Freeman said of UR 24 UMASS 14 fensive end Ryan Cameron, who recovered a fumble and collected a sack. "Our goal was to take them out of that personnel group and make them pass the ball, and thafs exactly UR's junior QB passes and runs up a storm in upset of No. 9 UMass BY JOHN O'CONNOR Tmes-Dispatch Star Wbher amherst, Man. The last player out of the University of Richmond's locker room yesterday was the one with the most mud to wash off: Stacy Tutt.

The Spiders' junior quarterback ran 18 times for 117 yards and a touchdown (41 yards). Tutt threw a pair of touchdown passes, including a 40-yarder to Harry Wilson as the first half ended. His offensive leadership I what we did. Tutt UR (14, 2-1) Tutt, a 6-2 230-pounder. As important as Tutf contributions before 4,986 at McGuirk Stadium was the Spiders' spine vs.

the run. Two 225-pound Massachusetts hacks Steve Baylark and Rich De-mers each gained more than 120 yards in a 30-17 UMass win over Richmond last season. That pair TBI A880CMXBD PBBS Yesterday began with flood watches for the area. Steady rain started Friday night and continued until about 10 minutes before kickoff. McGuirk Stadium's grass playing surface Friday night was covered by a SEESPIDERS, PAGE C2 gave up two damaging completions to UMass All-America receiver Jason PeeUer in the first quarter one scoredaTD (50 yards), the other (64 Richmond's David Freeman gets ready to lower his shoulder against Massachusetts.

He gained 79 yards on 1 8 carries in the Spiders' victory..