The 1999 college football season may still be in its infancy, but the season's first full week may as well be summed up by one word: redemption.

	Virginia's George Welsh decided he'd had enough.

In four cases, high-profile coaches showed faith in untested underclassmen as well as returnees who have failed before. And each time, the coach was rewarded with a key victory -- the kind championship teams (see: Tennessee, 1998) must win somehow, some way.

At Virginia, Cavaliers coach George Welsh faced a difficult decision coming into his pivotal season-opener at North Carolina. Should he stay with junior kicker Todd Braverman, who missed seven of his last 10 field-goal tries last season, including an extra point and a 48-yarder in the final seconds of a 35-33 Peach Bowl loss to Georgia, or go to sophomore David Greene, who had kicked better than Braverman in practice?

Welsh stuck with Braverman's experience and was rewarded when he nailed a career-best 50-yarder with 27 seconds left to give the Cavs a 20-17 win. For his part, Braverman remains a kicker at heart saying, "I'm only 5-7 and I can't see over the line. ... I only knew it was good when I looked over at Coach Welsh and saw him stick his hands up instead of throwing his hat."

Meanwhile at Arizona, the still-smarting Wildcats were watching their season of great expectations go right down the toilet as they trailed upstart TCU, 25-7, midway through the third quarter Sunday night in Fort Worth. But coach Dick Tomey stuck with his curious two-quarterback rotation and was rewarded when Ortege Jenkins' three touchdown passes rallied the team to a 28-25 lead.

However, TCU fought back to take a 31-28 lead with just 3:41 left when Tomey inserted starting quarterback Keith Smith back into the game, for the first time since early in the second quarter when his fumble was returned for a touchdown by the Horned Frogs. Smith responded with a 30-yard TD toss to emerging star Dennis Northcutt.

If the Wildcats can rebound to make their first Rose Bowl ever, Tomey's decision to put Smith back in will be where it all started.

At Michigan, Lloyd Carr faced a similar two-QB dilemma trying to accommodate fifth-year senior Tom Brady and highly touted Drew Henson. Both played in Saturday's epic battle with Notre Dame, one in which the Irish seized a 22-19 lead with 4:08 left.

But Carr stuck with the Brady, who completed a pair of clutch passes to help set up Anthony Thomas' game-winning TD plunge with 1:38 left. This was just another impressive move by the underrated Carr (40-11 record with a national title in his fifth year).

Meanwhile at Colorado State, it wasn't so much redemption for Rams coach Sonny Lubick as a confirmation. Lubick has achieved much in his six seasons in Fort Collins (49-23 record, two WAC titles, three bowl trips). But one thing was missing: a win over arch-rival Colorado. The Rams were 0-4 against the Buffaloes under Lubick, including last year's 42-14 shellacking.

So all Lubick did was take his team, which returned only 10 starters, and trounce Colorado, 41-14, Saturday night in the clearly overrated Gary Barnett's coaching debut at CU. Now, if only Lubick could have gone out and broken up the postgame riot when CSU fans tried to tear down the goal posts at Mile High Stadium but were beaten back by police using tear gas (some Denver police, in a move no doubt endorsed by Janet Reno, claimed Rams fans brought the tear gas with them. What?).

The point is that coaching is a key to any team -- especially early in the season. This isn't the NFL where you get free dress rehearsals known as preseason (thank God). So coaches must enter the season with the right feel for their teams.

These four did their homework and were rewarded.

(John Lindsay writes for Scripps Howard News Service.)