DATE: Thursday, September 25, 1997          TAG: 9709250574

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN

                                            LENGTH:  101 lines

ACC REPORT

U.Va. alumni won't let Welsh forget rivalry with UNC

Virginia coach George Welsh prompted a chorus of laughter during Wednesday's ACC media conference when asked about his school's rivalry with North Carolina.

``What rivalry?'' Welsh dead-panned.

Actually, Welsh knows very well about the rivalry. Alumni have been reminding him of it since his first season at Virginia in 1982.

``I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but I learned it is,'' Welsh said.

Welsh's Virginia teams are 10-4-1 against North Carolina and have won eight of the last 10 games in the series.

The bad news is Virginia has not won in the Tar Heels' Kenan Stadium - site of Saturday's game - since 1990.

Davenport or Keldorf? Stay tuned, Brown says

Welsh normally is the one who gets a little paranoid before big games. This week, though, he has seemed relaxed while UNC coach Mack Brown has been uptight.

Brown put quarterback Oscar Davenport off limits to the media and once again is playing a guessing game with his quarterbacks.

Chris Keldorf, last year's All-ACC quarterback, was benched last week in favor of Davenport.

Brown said he'll decide on a starter for the Virginia game based on their performances in practice.

First-quarter droughts not a Tar Heel concern

The Tar Heels are 3-0 and their fifth-place ranking is their highest in 14 years but all is not perfect.

The Heels, yet to score in the first quarter, have had to come from behind in each of their three wins against Indiana, Stanford and Maryland.

``I guess when you are averaging 30 points a game, people have to talk about what happened in the first quarter,'' Brown replied sarcastically when asked about the quirk.

He said he has not discussed the problem with his players.

``If you talk too much about a slow start and your players start to press, that is not going to help,'' he explained.

Think they might get off to a better start if they knew who was going to be the quarterback?

Lacrosse player helped Duke get a feel for Army

Nick Hartofilis, a key player on Duke's Final Four lacrosse team last year, was credited with helping the Blue Devils snap their 15-game losing streak last week against Army.

With two of Duke's quarterbacks injured, Hartofilis put on the pads in practice and played the role of Army quarterback Johnny Goff on the scout team.

``He did a great job of helping us get ready,'' coach Fred Goldsmith said.

Hartofilis was an all-state quarterback in New York and his team ran an offense similar to Army's.

He isn't giving up lacrosse yet, but says he might give football a serious look next year.

Georgia Tech coach knows how to shake up players

Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary used a can of Coke to get his team's attention after a sluggish first-half against Wake Forest.

After shaking the can violently, O'Leary hurled it against the cinder-block wall of his team's dressing room.

``I didn't hit anyone with it,'' O'Leary said. ``I just told my offensive lineman I wanted them to come out in the second half and explode like that can did.''

It worked.

Tech scored 21 points in the first 21 minutes of the final half to beat the Deacons 28-26.

The Yellow Jackets are home Saturday against Clemson.

Second-half shortcomings a problem for Deacons

Wake Forest coach Jim Caldwell may have a few cans of Coke waiting for him in the dressing room tonight when the Deacons play North Carolina State (ESPN, 8 p.m.).

The Deacons are 1-2, but only three points short of being 3-0. In losses to East Carolina and Georgia Tech, the Deacons lost big halftime leads.

``We don't seem to have the same hunger in the second half as we do the first half,'' said Caldwell.

Bowden on agents, burgers

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden thinks he's found a way to get agents out of Tallahassee so they won't be harassing his players.

``I am getting a special letter out to them to see if they can go to Clemson and get (linebacker) Anthony Simmons to leave school early,'' Bowden joked. He says Simmons, a junior, ``simply is one of the best in the country.''

On another subject, Bowden says he went through 18 hamburgers while filming that Burger King TV commercial.

``I didn't eat that many,'' he added. ``I just took a bite out of them and spit it out.''

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