DATE: Tuesday, October 28, 1997             TAG: 9710280440

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY

LENGTH: 75 lines

U.VA. REPORT

U.Va. rushing game

ground to a halt

vs. Florida State

CHARLOTTESVILLE - For a football coach whose offensive beliefs start with a strong running game, the numbers from Virginia's 47-21 loss to Florida State were not pretty.

Try this one: The Cavaliers had one rushing first down.

``When's the last time that happened,'' asked Welsh, a Division I coach for 25 years.

``It's always been a priority,'' said Welsh, whose team did not have a rushing attempt of more than 8 yards. ``We would like to run the ball better, get more first downs on the ground, help control the clock . . . do all that good stuff. We haven't been that successful the last few games, (but) we're not doing anything differently.''

Coming into the 1997 season, Virginia had rushed for 100 yards or more in 18 consecutive games, a streak that ended when the Cavaliers were held to 93 yards rushing in a 28-17 loss to Auburn. U.Va. ranks eighth in the ACC and 96th out of 112 Division I-A teams in rushing offense.

``We're at the bottom of the barrel,'' offensive guard Doug Karczewski said. ``We can't play Maryland (U.Va.'s opponent Saturday) quick enough after Saturday night.''

Not what he meant

Karczewski said he arrived home after Saturday night's game in time to hear his name on ESPN's ``SportsCenter,'' which made mention of a pregame quote attributed to him.

The Seminoles were told that Karczewski had called them ``just another ACC team,'' and sources said the team used it as a rallying cry before traveling to Charlottesville.

``I was on the opening - my quote, and then they showed all the highlights,'' Karczewski said. ``I think that I would have to say that things got a little misconstrued.

``I wasn't saying they're an average team. I'm just saying that, in college football, everybody has a chance. You're limited in what you can get and limited in what you can keep. It's more even that it's ever been.''

Tight-lipped

It was easy to tell that Welsh was choosing his words carefully about three intentional-grounding calls on U.Va. quarterback Aaron Brooks, two of them on consecutive plays that resulted in a fourth-and-52.

``It's a judgment thing,'' Welsh said. ``You see those things all the time and they don't get called. I've seen things exactly like that.

``I can't explain it. Florida State threw the ball over the middle one time and nobody was within 25 yards of that. What's the difference between throwing it in the middle and throwing it out of bounds?''

Brooks back

Welsh said Brooks took part in a workout Sunday night and will start Saturday at Maryland, pending a flare-up of his ankle injury.

``Brooks should be 100 pecrent in a couple of days,'' said Welsh, who went with true freshman Dan Ellis after Brooks was injured shortly before halftime Saturday night.

``The reason I wanted to use (Ellis) anyway was in case Brooks went down. I have to think of the team. What are we going to do if Brooks went down? We've thought for a few weeks that Ellis was ready.''

By the numbers

As it turns out, Florida State's 511 yards in total offense against Virginia were its lowerst since the first game between the two teams, when FSU gained 413 in a 13-3 victory over the Cavaliers in 1992. The Seminoles subsequent totals have been 560, 513, 546, 533 and 511.

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