Cavs absorb blowout loss to Trojans

Early in Saturday’s season opener, Virginia officials warned a record crowd of severe weather in the area through a message on Scott Stadium’s jumbotron.

Thanks to good fortune, the contest played without interruption.

Those in attendance, however, were still entitled to a display of thunder and lightning. Southern California provided that — and then some. 

The third-ranked Trojans methodically dismantled Virginia, 52-7, delivering the Cavaliers their worst season-opening setback since 1984.

“We kind of knew what we were going to open up with when we scheduled the game,” said Virginia coach Al Groh. “We wanted to put ourselves out there and take a challenge against a team that we think is in a league of their own in college football. I think they proved it to us today.”

USC (1-0) scored three touchdowns in the game’s first 11 minutes, survived a small hiccup in the second quarter, and never looked back, amassing 558 yards of total offense. The Trojans scored four touchdowns on the ground and added three more through the air.

“The first thing, obviously, for us is we had a really nice day today,” said USC coach Pete Carroll. “We got done exactly what we wanted to get done today.”

Virginia (0-1) could not say the same — the Cavaliers committed four turnovers, forced rookie punter Jimmy Howell to kick eight times and mustered only 187 yards of total offense under the direction of sophomore quarterback Pete Lalich.

“We knew it was going to take a lot on our part to be able to pull this off,” Groh said. “We could have understood it a little bit differently if we had played better and lost, but to play as poorly as we played and have lost is not acceptable.”

UVa, which lost 55-0 to Clemson in 1984, routinely made matters easier for USC, allowing the Trojans to have an average starting position at their own 39-yard line.

“Field position is the key thing in all football games and when you play a team that is in a league that USC is in, your only chance is to play with advantageous field position,” Groh said. “We gave them far too many short fields for us to play against an offense that we knew was going to be very hard to stop.”

The record crowd of 64,947 witnessed Virginia’s pass-happy, opening drive stall after Lalich narrowly avoided an interception on third down. Just eight plays later, USC capped an 8-play, 56-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run from Stafon Johnson.

The script was repeated. Virginia promptly punted. USC quickly reached the end zone in just five plays.

And it happened again.

In fact, USC led 21-0 after C.J. Gable scored on a 33-yard run with 4:01 left in the opening quarter. Virginia, at that point, had failed to register a first down.

Finally, Virginia was able to get on track on its fourth possession, one that was fueled by two Trojan penalties. Lalich did his part, too, completing two passes for 26 yards to eventually set up a 7-yard touchdown run by tailback Mikell Simpson.

The Cavaliers would not score again and managed to run just 17 more offensive plays in USC territory over the game’s final 47 minutes. They also spoiled their best opportunity to add points when new kicker Yannick Reyering pushed a 46-yard field goal to the right with 4:35 left in the second quarter.

For the game, the play of the Cavaliers’ newly-appointed quarterback fluctuated. Often with little time to read the defense due to heavy pressure, Lalich finished 18 of 35 for 155 yards passing. He was also sacked twice and lost a pair of fumbles in the final quarter before giving way to Marc Verica for the final possession.

“There were times our execution needed to be better — there were a lot of open guys out there that I needed to hit,” Lalich said. “That was my first start and I’m hoping to improve every week.

“[USC’s] speed was pretty unbelievable the whole game. It’s something they have across the board, at every position, and they really were able to use it to their advantage.”

The Trojans showcased their athleticism on offense, too.

Four different tailbacks rushed at least six times, combining for 202 of the team’s 218 rushing yards. C.J. Gable paced the attack with nine carries for 73 yards. Joe McKnight added 60 yards on six carries and Allen Bradford ran nine times for 41 yards, including a 2-yard TD run with 10:47 left in the fourth quarter.

USC quarterback Mark Sanchez, who finished 26 of 35 for 338 yards, showed no ill effects of the dislocated kneecap that he injured early in training camp. The signal-caller threw two of his touchdown passes in the third quarter, one of which was hauled in by Ronald Johnson on a 49-yard lofting spiral.

“Mark really has the eyes for getting the ball down field,” Carroll said. “You give him time and he’ll find guys who’ll take advantage of it. He has a way of taking advantage of the system that we have.”

Virginia, which lost its third straight opener, will look to bounce back at home against the University of Richmond on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. Numerous players said they were hopeful that they could rebound as they did last year after a 23-3 loss at Wyoming in the first contest.

For now, the loss — and the margin — stings throughout.

“I don’t know that you can categorize losses,” said Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim. “We just didn’t perform. I think this might be a little hard because we knew what USC was doing. They showed exactly what we reviewed. I know everything we reviewed, they did and we just didn’t stop it. That’s disappointing.

“That’s the sign of a really good team and a bad performance by us.”