A performance to build on

Virginia coach Al Groh is not ready to thrust Marc Verica’s name into the race for the Heisman Trophy.

Good or bad, one game is just that.

Verica, a redshirt sophomore, lifted his team and a struggling offense to a 31-0 win over Maryland on Saturday as he threw for 226 yards and had just nine incomplete passes.

He also avoided a turnover, something he was unable to do his first two starts against Connecticut and Duke.

“The way that I would think of it is that he’s had a third game that is significantly different from the first two,” Groh said. “Now whether that means that strides have been made or he just had a better third game, we’ll find out more as a result of games four, five, six and seven.”

In its next four contests, Virginia (2-3, 1-1 ACC) will play better defenses, at least statistically, than the Terps. East Carolina (No. 64 in total defense), North Carolina (No. 57), Georgia Tech (No. 15) and Miami (No. 34) rank substantially ahead of Maryland (No. 90) to date.

“If [Verica’s performances] continue in that direction then it will be clear that we can go back to game three and say, ‘Yep, that was the game in which a lot of strides were made,’” Groh pointed out. “If those strides don’t continue or if there is a slip back, then we will say, ‘Yep, all that is was a one-week deal.’

“Obviously it would be much to our advantage, to all of us, if it does become confirmed that [it was against Maryland] in which he really started to break through.”

Verica agreed that the performance, which snapped a two-game losing streak and almost doubled Virginia’s scoring output this season, was just something for an offense that was in a “drought” to use as a starting point.

“I guess you could call it a monsoon or whatever,” Verica said. “It was fun. For everything to click the way that it kind of did, there was a collective sigh of relief on our part. It’s something to build on.

“In our preparation for ECU, we will keep in mind that we can make big plays, we can get first downs, we can put up points and it takes a tremendous amount of pressure off the defense. We are going to try to build off that.”

Definitely deep

Without debate, wide receiver is one of Virginia’s strengths this season.

To date, five wideouts have caught at least five passes.

Better proof is served in the inability of Dontrelle Inman and Staton Jobe to break into the rotation consistently. Last year, the duo combined for 34 catches. Thus far, Inman has a pair of catches and Jobe, who is healthy, has just one.

“Well, we certainly do have more candidates for playing time than we had at any point last year,” Groh said. “It started out thin and there was a point for three or four games where Maurice Covington was unavailable. It got thinner at that point.

“Some weeks there was talk about putting a guy in there for one week to give us some aid at those positions, talk about playing a couple of freshman if we had to do that. We were able to bypass that situation.”

Two redshirt freshmen — Jared Green and Kris Burd — have collected five receptions apiece this season. They rank seventh and eighth, respectively, on the team in catches.

“This year we certainly have a lot more guys competing for playing time,” Groh added, “so it does give us that competition there.”

ECU suspends Bryant

East Carolina (3-2) will travel to Virginia this weekend without one of its starting wideouts.

Pirates coach Skip Holtz announced that wide receiver Jamar Bryant was suspended indefinitely for an undisclosed violation of team policy.

“There is an expectation of conduct associated with being a member of the Pirate football program,” Holtz said in a released statement.

Bryant, a junior, had started 18 straight games and ranked second on the team with 19 catches for 216 yards and three touchdowns.

ECU is currently a six-point favorite.