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Arkansas State won at Texas A&M. Bowling Green upset Pitt. Louisiana Tech beat Mississippi State. But the ACC laid the biggest egg of all in Week 1, reinforcing its reputation as a weak conference. Preseason ACC favorite Clemson was squashed by Alabama. ECU upset the Hokies. USC flattened UVa. Maryland only beat Delaware by a 14-7 score, and UNC had to rally to beat McNeese State. On Thursday, South Carolina shut out N.C. State. At least Wake Forest beat Baylor. But the ACC was an object of ridicule on national sports talk radio Saturday night, and rightly so. And it won’t get any better next weekend when Miami visits Florida. — Mark Berman

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The largest crowd in Scott Stadium history watched third-ranked Southern California hammer Virginia 52-7, handing the Cavaliers their most lopsided loss of the eight-year Al Groh coaching era.

Virginia sophomore quarterback Peter Lalich was 18-of-35 for 155 yards in his first start but had three second-half turnovers, including two fumbles. Trojans junior Mark Sanchez was 26-of-35 for 329 yards and three touchdowns only 22 days after suffering a dislocated kneecap in practice.

UVa's previous worst loss under Groh was a 52-14 setback against Virginia Tech in 2005. The Cavaliers last loss by more than 45 points was to Clemson, 55-0 in the opening game of the 1984 season.

Southern California leads Virginia 24-7 at the half and the Cavalier fans are happy it isn't any worse. After scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions, the Trojans had a field goal to show for three second-half possessions, although the final possession was an abbreviated one, a kneel-down at the end of the half.

Virginia didn't have a first down until its fourth possession, when the Cavaliers had four of them, two via penalty, before Mikell Simpson scored on a 7-yard run. The Cavaliers had six rushing attempts in the first half, one on a called pass that resulted in a sack and two on direct snaps to Simpson.

Ronde Barber's jersey is being retired at midfield as the band takes the field at halftime.

We're hearing that sophomore Peter Lalich will start quarterback at for UVa.

Southern Cal wins the toss and defers. Cavs receive so we'll find out soon enough.

They've just announced that Lalich will start.

As you might expect, the result of the Virginia Tech game was greeted warmly hear at Scott Stadium as we prepare for kickoff of USC-Virginia. Still no word on who's starting at quarterback here. I've got plenty of thoughts on the Tech loss -- half of which I heard on the radio, the other half I watched on television in the press box -- but that'll have to wait. Jeff Gilbert's in the house in Charlotte to give you all the gory details.

--Aaron McFarling

Sophomore cornerback Ras-I Dowling is not in uniform for Virginia and will be replaced in the starting lineup by Chase Minniefield, a redshirt freshman playing in his first college game.

Minniefield is the son of former NFL cornerback Frank Minniefield, who played for the Cleveland Browns when UVa coach Al Groh was a Browns' defensive assistant.

Groh's only mention of a Dowling injury came two weeks ago, when Groh said Dowling had a sore leg that had limited his running.

Virginia Tech made some big plays on special teams Saturday, but it East Carolina made the biggest plunder.

The Pirates' T.J. Lee blocked a punt and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown with 1:52 left in the game to beat the Hokies 27-22 in Charlotte, N.C.

Tech punter Brent Bowden said after the game that it was the first punt he'd ever had blocked. Lee said he got the punt with his left arm, quickly looked around to see who would get the ball and saw the ball bouncing right to him. He grabbed it and raced untouched into the end zone without taking a glance up at the video board.

"I didn't want to get caught from behind," Lee said when asked if he looked up to himself sprinting toward the end zone. "When I scooped the ball I just wanted to get in the end zone and get this win."

The debut of the 2008 Hokies didn’t look anything like what we’re used to seeing.
Are the Hokies good enough to compete for another ACC title? Can they get better in the areas they stunk at? Will this team with inexperience at so many positions be mentally strong enough to show the resiliency that the Pirates showed?

All questions that will most assuredly spark different opinions.

-- Jeff Gilbert

Turnovers set everything up the first half as Virginia Tech took a 14-7 lead over East Carolina in Charlotte, N.C.

The Hokies made it 7-0 in the second quarter when Stephan Virgil picked up a fumble and returned it 30 yards for the score. The fumble was a result of QB Patrick Pinkney’s backward pass that wide receiver Dwayne Harris couldn’t get a grip on.

ECU fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Tech recovered at the ECU 25. Six plays later, Kenny Lewis scored from a six yards out for a 14-0 lead with 8:54 left in the half.

Tech seemed to be headed for a 14-0 lead until Sean Glennon threw over the middle out of the shotgun on third-and-16 from his own 17 and hit ECU backup middle linebacker Nick Johnson between the numbers with 2:36 left in the half. The safe play would have been to hand off, punt and leave it to the defense to end the half halfway to a shutout. But the Hokies passed, and Johnson returned the interception to the one.

Tech’s defense came close to stopping the Pirates, but on third-and-1 backup tailback Jonathan Williams finally scored from the 1.

The 2008-09 schedule for the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team was released this week, and the Hokies will begin and end the ACC portion of it in noteworthy fashion. Their ACC opener will be a Sunday night visit to Durham on Jan. 4 to take on Olympic coach Mike Krzyzewski and Duke in a game airing on Fox Sports Net. Their next game features a visit to Cassell Coliseum by Virginia. And the Hokies better hope they have a good record before their final three games of the regular season, because that will be the toughest stretch of their year by far. They host Duke in an ABC game on Feb. 28, followed by a March 4 visit from Tyler Hansbrough and North Carolina in an ESPN game. The regular-season finale is a trip to Florida State, where Tech always loses. — Mark Berman

Ken Sheeran brought more than his engineering talents to the Roanoke Valley when he came South from Canada in 1960. He brought a love of hockey big enough to spread around.

Sheeran, a member of the Roanoke Valley Hockey Hall of Fame and the winner of USA Hockey’s inaugural Chet Stewart Award, died Wednesday. He was 86.

Sheeran broke his hip in a fall in July, and had suffered with complications since, his son Doug Sheeran said.

Born in tiny Kirkaldy, Alberta, Sheeran served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II before going to work as an electrical engineer for Canada GE.

GE transferred him to Salem in 1960, and that is when Sheeran began volunteering his time, energy and garage space to youth hockey. He also gave his money, donating the fees he earned as an official to help offset the costs of playing hockey for local kids.

Sheeran was a founding member of both Valley Youth Hockey Association (1965) and the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League (1983). He coached in the VYHA from 1965-1999 and was on its board of directors for decades.

For 21 years, he was also a registered referee with USA Hockey, and training and supervising off-ice officials for the professional hockey teams in the valley. In 1987, Sheeran was the coordinator of off-ice officials for the U.S. Olympic Festival.

In 2000, Sheeran was inducted into the Roanoke Valley Hockey Hall of Fame and later given USA Hockey’s Chet Stewart Award, inaugurated that year to honor outstanding contributors to USA Hockey Officiating Education.

A memorial service will be held for Sheeran on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Oakey’s South Chapel.

-- katrina waugh