BLACKSBURG AVirginia Tech football season that began with national championship dreams, then changed its focus to Atlantic Coast Conference title aspirations has come to this. Can the Hokies make it to the Champs Sports Bowl? The Music City Bowl? If things really go badly in the remaining weeks, will they have to take a bus ride to the Eagle Bank Bowl in Washington?

A new no—contact zone is left to officials to precisely outline. The invisible rectangle is 18 by 24 inches, from the front of the rim to the front of the backboard.

Sometimes the other team is just better. Yesterday, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were better in every regard than the Cavaliers. And just as with the TCU game six weeks ago, the Virginia program was exposed for how wide the chasm is between it and the top 15 teams in the country. The question isn’t why Georgia Tech is so much better than Virginia. The question is why are the Yellow Jackets, with just one loss, only rated as the 12th-best team in the country, according to the first BCS standings.

Almost everyone has an idea on how to fix the Washington Redskins, and many begin with firing Vinny Cerrato and hiring a “real” general manager. That idea misses the point. Cerrato, the executive vice president of football operations, is not the problem. Replacing him with a “real” general manager will not solve anything.

A former Bingo caller is now the Redskins’ play-caller. Columnist Paul Woody wonders why, oh why, did coach Jim Zorn agree.

“We have a new cafeteria that is the most incredible eating facility you’ve ever seen on a college campus,“ Larranaga said. “You walk in, pay one price and there’s a salad bar, a fruit bar, a hamburger and hot dog grill, a pizza place, wraps. It’s got a cappuccino machine. “My wife and I went there for Sunday brunch, and they not only serve omelets, they make them right there.“

LANDOVER, Md. No NFL team is out of the playoff picture six games into the season. But with a 2-4 record and consecutive losses to clubs that had been winless, the Washington Redskins are in serious trouble. And while they are not yet eliminated from the playoff race, it is clear they have eliminated themselves from the points race.

Sometimes, a team is so good it can overcome bad luck. The best combination is to be lucky at the right times and good at the right times. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the resurgent Virginia Cavaliers. Yesterday at Maryland, on a raw, rainy day, the Cavaliers had luck on their side. For example, wide receiver Kris Burd caught a pass while on his back, barely in bounds. It appeared there would be an interception on the play. Instead, the Cavaliers gained 28 yards and the catch set up a field goal.

The Flying Squirrels? Hmmm. It will take some getting used to, but it could have been worse. No, really, it could have. Richmond Rhinos? Nah. Richmond Rock Hoppers? What would the mascot have been, a frog? Who wants a frog for a mascot? A princess in search of her Prince Charming, perhaps, but no one else. Richmond Flatheads? That’s an ugly fish or a screwdriver or an indictment of the way people think. Doesn’t work.

Just when it seemed U.Va. fans could let the soothing thoughts of the upcoming basketball season wash away another bad gridiron experience, here comes Al Groh, with his contract-renewal offense and hope-for-tomorrow game plans. The Virginia football team should be done. The Cavaliers were embarrassed at home by William and Mary, handled at home by TCU and ran out of gas at Southern Mississippi.

CHARLOTTE So it’s true that no good deed goes unpunished. Byron Westbrook, who spent two seasons on the Washington Redskins practice squad and worked so hard to make the 53-man roster this season, was just doing his job, trying to protect punt returner Antwaan Randle El. And then Westbrook’s world, as well as that of the Redskins, turned upside down. Or right side up. Or every which way but loose. This much is certain: it was not sunny-side up.

Youth will be served, but more often than not, experience carries the day. With 1:07 left in the game and victory just six yards away for the James Madison Dukes, redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Thorpe took the snap, stepped back, then darted up the middle. He was almost around Richmond nose tackle Martin Parker and things were looking good for the Dukes, except for one thing.

Full Throttle, an “energy drink”, is the sponsor of the National Hot Rod Association, and a more perfect combination of product and sport could not be found. Everything about the NHRA is full throttle. There is no following another driver for a couple of laps, or a couple of hundred laps, before making a move. In the NHRA—Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock or Pro Stock Motorcycles—the idea is to blast off, reach full speed as quickly as possible, maintain it and hope the parachute opens at the end of the quarter-mile track.

Gilbert Arenas shows he’s back as Wizards defeat Memphis 101-92 in exhibition game in which the Grizzlies miss the services of an injured Allen Iverson.

LANDOVER, Md. That huge sigh of relief that was heard all the way to the Outer Banks yesterday at 3:47 p.m.? That was Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn, happy to have a victory, pleased to have an entire week’s worth of job security, content not to have lost to one of the worst teams in the NFL. “I can’t wait to watch it,“ Zorn said. “It was a great effort.“