Revving up the Cavaliers’ offense

Moments after Virginia’s embarrassing performance in a season-opening game at Pittsburgh in 2006, a member of Virginia’s offense placed the blame on his unit’s poor preseason preparation.
The offense, the player said, was in such shambles that it did little to prepare their defensive counterparts to face any opposition.
The misery lingered for weeks as the Cavaliers rotated quarterbacks early and won just two of its first seven games. The unit finished the year ranked 113th in the nation, bettering only six FBS programs in total offense.
Progress was made last year — albeit limited steps forward. With an improved ground game that ranked sixth in the ACC, the unit operated by offensive coordinator Mike Groh climbed 12 spots nationally in total offense.
The woeful numbers did garner Groh’s attention.
“I am aware of it, but ultimately our job is to score more points than the other team, and we have to do it with the personnel that we’ve got,” Groh said. “So, that’s what we try to do every year. You kind of start from the inside out and build your offense that way and whatever those guys can handle, that’s what you do, and you have to find a way to win despite.
“I think we were able to do that and overcome a lot of injuries last year and overcome some of the other things that other people might be more efficient at and still find ways to win games. And ultimately that’s what we are judged on.”
Despite their bottom-feeding status, Groh was correct — Virginia’s offense complimented a stout defense just enough to register nine wins and advance to the Gator Bowl.
With another season opener on the horizon Saturday against third-ranked Southern California, questions linger with unproven players manning the middle of the offensive line and the depth chart at quarterback unknown, but positive reviews trickled out of the most physical training camp in recent history.
“I think we are very happy with where our team is right now going into the first week,” said tight end John Phillips. “We worked really hard in training camp. We got a lot of things defined for us and we are trying to figure out who we are. I think we know who we are right now.
“We’re a tough team right now. We figured that out in training camp. We did a lot of things to make ourselves tough and real competitive right now. You have to have a physical camp when you have a great team like USC coming in here the first week.”
The onus, however, will not fall solely on the offense in the high-profile opener and beyond.
Much will be asked from a defense that must replace its entire defensive line, two defensive backs, a linebacker and an emotional defensive coordinator. The unit ranked
No. 19 last year in scoring defense and No. 23 in total defense, but returned only one of 11 interceptions for a touchdown and advanced only one fumble from the spot it was lost.
A new-look special teams unit, including a rookie placekicker and punter, will also be thrown into the spotlight. Virginia averaged only 19.8 yards per kickoff return last year and the ever-explosive punt returner Vic Hall amassed only 44 yards over his last 11 attempts.
Collectively, advancements must be made on the scoreboard to ensure Virginia provides head coach Al Groh with his sixth winning season in seven years.
“We are going to have to score more points,” the elder Groh said. “As well as we played on defense the last two seasons, as far as keeping the other team’s points down, the one thing that we have not accomplished that we wanted to was to score a lot on defense ourselves.
“So between defense and special teams, it is an objective of ours to raise our point producing in those two areas, as well as offensively.”