Virginia players search for answers after loss to Trojans
The Daily Progress/Andrew Shurtleff
Antonio Appleby’s fourth-quarter interception was one of the few highlights for Virginia in a 52-7 loss to Southern California in the Cavaliers’ season opener.
An impending date with the University of Richmond may have never looked so appealing.
After failing with flying colors in Saturday’s opener against No. 3 Southern California, another football game cannot arrive soon enough for Virginia.
The Trojans, apparently primed for a seventh-straight trip to a Bowl Championship Series bowl game, raced out early in the season-opening contest and eventually settled for a 52-7 victory in front of Scott Stadium’s largest crowd ever.
“USC was a big, powerful, fast team with superior quarterback play,” said Virginia coach Al Groh. “We were anything but big and fast and our quarterback turned the ball over too many times.”
First-time starter Matt Conrath may have said it even better.
“Speed kills,” the defensive end said.
The Trojans, known for their recruiting prowess under coach Pete Carroll, put UVa in a statistical dilemma nationally by gaining 558 yards of total offense and allowing just 187.
“We can hope that this game gets us ready for what’s ahead,” said Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim.
Tight end John Phillips added: “I think we worked really hard to get ready for this game. They did pretty much everything we expected them to do. We just did not execute. It doesn’t matter who you play … if you don’t execute you can’t win games.”
Virginia can take some solace in the fact that the Cavaliers (0-1) may not face another team ranked in the top 10 the remainder of the year. Future opponents Clemson and Virginia Tech were upset in a rough opening week for ACC teams.
Pending encounters are not likely to include a defense that will have quarterback Pete Lalich, the quietly-named starter, on his heels to the same degree either. The sophomore passed for 155 yards, but coughed up two late fumbles that drew the wrath of his head coach.
Lalich took the blame for the entire outing — justifiable or not.
“Sometimes, I just didn’t make the play,” he said.
It was, however, the best passing effort from a first-time starter since David Rivers torched Georgia Tech for 229 yards in 1999. And Virginia showcased versatility with multiple offensive sets that included extra pass-catching options.
“[Virginia] made a big change in their style,” said USC coach Pete Carroll. “They went to the shotgun stuff and the big spread offensive-line stuff.
“We kind of guessed that was happening and we were really ready for it.”
The Trojans certainly made that appear to be the case.
“[USC] is very good,” Lalich said. “I haven’t seen that many defenses, but they are the best that I have seen.”
Richmond (1-0) will be hard-pressed to present the same challenge to Lalich or his teammates. The Spiders, ranked fourth among teams in the division formerly known as Division I-AA, beat No. 15 Elon on Saturday, 28-10, on the road.
The upcoming opponent also has a familiar face — former Virginia defensive coordinator Mike London took over Richmond’s program, his alma mater, in January.
Before entertaining thoughts of a reunion with their former coach, several Cavaliers said the previous experience needed to serve a springboard internally.
“If you don’t play well, you won’t win,” said cornerback Vic Hall. “We have to take what we learned from this game and get better on it for next week.”
Injury update
Groh said an MRI was scheduled Sunday for linebacker Aaron Clark. The senior was helped from the field in the third quarter and did not return. … Virginia sophomore Jack Shields left the contest in the second half after suffering from cramps in his hand. He returned to the game.
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How can Virginia Cavalier fans possibly say that coach Al Groh must go just because the Cavs got walloped by the 800 pound gorilla that is USC? If coach Groh had the same talent pool that USC has then he would have a reasonable chance of beating Pete Carroll. One of the reasons that USC is an 800 pound gorilla is that in leaving Los Angeles, the Rams and the Raiders left a football vacuum that USC just stepped right into.
I am in 100% agreement with Big Al. I would rather keep Groh around. He has keep the standards of kids around the UVA football team that makes me proud to be a UVA fan to begin with. I am not a grad from UVA but really wish I could have been. It all started with Bruce Arena way back when with me. Another coach that had tons of class just like Groh. I hope my HOOOOOOS have a great year. Keep Groh as coach
The title of the this piece was “Virginia players search for answers…“. No disrespect, but that certainly should not take long. What would they expect playing a team like the Trojans? Whoever set this up perhaps thought it would help UVA to play a team such as this. That is the only rational I can come up with. I hope this fiasco did not cost UVA too much money!
Groh doesn’t need to go anywhere. The team they faced on Saturday is arguably the best in the country - considerably better than anybody UVA has ever played in the ACC. Probably the best team they’ve ever played, period.
That said, this does illustrate that if Virginia wants to compete for a national championship, which they’ve been saying, they need to get a lot faster on the edges and in the backfield. And of course they need a reliable, confident quarterback. Lalich might get there, but he’s not there yet and we’ve seen nothing to give much hope that he’s going to get there this year. Unlike Hagans and Sewell, he lacks the athletic talent to run or improvise his way out of trouble.
If you just consider the ACC teams that are fast - Miami, FSU, VA Tech - Virginia rarely beats them, and is often not very competitive when they play them. They’ve been lucky to catch Miami on a low, but that will change quickly. And Clemson, despite losing to Alabama, is a very fast team.
If Virginia lowered its academic standards for athletes they could get faster. But - and I may be speaking only for myself - I hope they don’t do that. I’d much rather see them be competitive with actual students than see them be more competitive with players who don’t really need to be accountable for their academic performance.
This isn’t a Virginia phenomenon. The same thing is happening at Notre Dame. They are no longer dominant, and they have strict academic requirements as well. They have excellence coaching (as does Virgina) and play year to year what is probably the most consistently hard schedule. And they aren’t lowering standards, either.
It’s getting to the point where there are haves and have-nots in college football where the dividing line is academic. This is purely hypothetical, but it might be kind of cool to have a conference of colleges who are not willing to compromise on their academics (kind of like an Ivy League for large schools). Virginia, Notre Dame, Stanford, Duke, Carolina, Army, Navy, Air Force, Probably a few more. Heck - if you remove Stanford and Air Force (sorry, guys) you’d have a conference that is almost geographically workable.
It could still be a BCS conference - there’s no way the BCS would refuse a conference with Notre Dame from having an automatic slot.
Maybe it’s a pipe dream, but think of the cultural statement it would be making. A conference with standards that has the potential to be highly competitive. It’ll never happen, of course.
sad day 30aug
groh really must go
what a imbrassing on national tv no less!!
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