Cavs fall to elite-level competition

It didn’t take long for the naysayers to come out of the woodwork and declare the 2008 Virginia football season officially over.

If the Cavaliers were to take some of these posters seriously, they might as well turn in their uniforms, forfeit the remaining 11 games and start playing field hockey. Thank goodness that the 100 or so kids on the UVa roster show more maturity than half the fans that follow them.

Did anyone out there in fandom really think Virginia was going to play USC close? If so, they need to take a refresher course in Football 101.

Learning opportunities

We learned a few things about the Cavaliers this weekend, and a few things about the Trojans.

The Associated Press pollsters, who probably know a little more about football than those ripping Al Groh and his team on the message boards, boosted USC to the nation’s No. 1 team. Many football experts familiar with the Trojans stated over the weekend that this Southern California team looks better than last year’s, which lost several starters to the NFL.

We’ve been around the block a few times and have seen some great teams over the years. However, this USC team might just be the best we’ve ever seen in person. If there’s a better college football team in the country than Southern California — and I was skeptical about that until I saw them play — then I’d like to see that team.

Ohio State had better brace itself, because I don’t think there’s any way that the Buckeyes match up with the Trojans.

We were curious if it was the best college team that Groh had seen over his vast career, and he pretty much confirmed so during his weekly press conference Tuesday.

Groh said that while in the NFL, he had been assigned to evaluate some of the nation’s best college players for the draft and that included several trips to Miami and Florida State back in the ‘90s. However, Groh didn’t see them play in person, just on tape. Rather, he worked out the players without pads as many NFL scouts do.

As good as it gets

“From my limited experience over the last 20 years or so with college football, that’s physically the finest looking team that we’ve seen ... size, speed,” Groh said.

Keep in mind that 10 of Virginia’s players were starting for the first time in their careers against the Trojans and that 15 Cavaliers made the first appearance of their careers in the game.

Certainly that should bode well for next year’s UVa team, but it should be fun watching this group of Cavaliers grow up before our very eyes this season. Groh said back in July that this should be an evolving team that will play better as the season goes along.

If you look at the big picture, last year’s season-opening loss at Wyoming was a whole lot worse that Saturday’s loss to USC. The Cavs bounced back to win seven in a row — just after some clown painted Beta Bridge insisting that Groh, who went on to be named ACC coach of the year, must go. Brilliant.

Under review

Some brief observations from Saturday’s game:

Other than the mishandled shotgun snaps, quarterback Pete Lalich did a good job. His quick release is going to come in helpful until the offensive line gets its act together, and he can make all the throws that a big-time passer needs to have in his arsenal. We also liked the way he moved in the pocket considering that he has limited playing time under his belt. He will get better.

Using the spread was a good idea. With an offensive line that hasn’t quite yet grasped the concept of run blocking, throwing the ball was about all UVa could do, especially against perhaps the best defense in the nation. It takes less time to hold a pass block and with Lalich’s quick release, a host of receivers, and running backs that can catch, it made perfect sense to go airborne.

We were kind of disappointed that UVa didn’t use more short passes to the running backs, particularly to Mikell Simpson, who is a proven receiver. Screens, swings and some dinks would have been interesting. But heck, maybe nothing would work against the Trojans.

Cary Koch, Jared Green and John Phillips were impressive receivers that should give Lalich a lot more targets to throw to as the season progresses.

The running game should make an impact this week against Richmond. While the Spiders boast a good, experienced defense, it pales in comparison to USC’s (but then again, whose doesn’t?). Cedric Peerman and Simpson should be able to provide a little more balance this weekend.

Under the circumstances, the kicking game showed promised. Freshman punter Jimmy Howell is going to be a good one (38.2 yards per punt on eight kicks). Ex-soccer star Yannick Reyering missed his lone field goal attempt, but he showed plenty of leg on the miss. He just needs to work out the accuracy thing.

Defensively, the secondary got toasted a few times and that may not be the last time, but there were a few times that Virginia’s defenders had their opponents well covered and the USC receivers made incredible plays. Plus, it’s highly unlikely that UVa will face another quarterback the rest of the way who was as hot as USC’s Sanchez.

UVa’s linebackers were solid but looked slow compared to USC’s offense. The D-line has some work to do, which we expected.

Forget USC

The players have put this behind them, chalked it up as a learning experience and have moved on.

The real key to Virginia’s football season lies in the next three games: Richmond here; UConn on the road; Duke on the road. Virginia has to win at least two of those and then hunker down for a three-game homestand.

Retro week

This should be a fun week for Virginia fans who experienced the George Welsh teams from 1984 on to the early 1990s.

We will take a look at a couple of those great moments during this retro week leading up to Saturday’s Richmond game when UVa rolls back the game ticket prices to 16 bucks.

The Cavs will be wearing retro uniforms and hopefully with discover a retro running game sometime before kickoff. That could come in handy if a hurricane has anything to do with the game.

Getting it right

For the last few seasons now, we’ve been getting e-mails, we’ve been hearing fans who have been getting something completely wrong. We want to clear it up for once and for all.

Don’t know how many times we’ve seen a disgruntled fan write or say something like: “Whatever happened to Al Groh stating that he was going to win a national championship at Virginia?”

Well, Groh never said that.

We looked back on statements from the press conference when Groh was introduced as Virginia’s head coach and the person who spoke of winning a national championship was UVa president John Casteen, not Groh.

Here’s the direct quote:

“My perspective on this is we wanted to find an appropriate way to build toward the next level,” Casteen said. “A level where we are able to compete, using players who succeed in our academic programs, but to compete on the very highest level nationally. Our intention is to support Al in building a program that will be a strong competitor and we hope, periodically, a winner at the level of the national championship.”

Just for the record, since 1990, there have been only two national champions that have been ranked among the top 12 universities in the country by the U.S. News & World Report’s annual survey: Michigan in 1997 and Georgia Tech (a split title) in 1990.

We rest our case.