A poor debut for the spread

Virginia’s new spread offense laid an egg large enough to cover the Commonwealth in omelet Saturday night in a mistake-riddled, 26-14 home loss to William & Mary.

This was supposed to be the debut of a devastating weapon, something akin to college football’s version of Star Wars, unleashed against what was supposed to be an undermanned FCS opponent for a test run.

Jimmye Laycock’s Tribe didn’t get the message. Rather, Laycock and his coaching staff put together a brilliant game plan aimed at taking away favored Virginia’s advantages.

What neither Laycock or Virginia coach Al Groh counted on were a plethora of Cavalier turnovers.

Give it away

Seven — count ’em — seven devastating turnovers by the Cavaliers, the most since 1994 (also seven) against Clemson. Somehow, Virginia won that game.

Last night, those miscues doomed the Cavaliers, who couldn’t overcome three thrown interceptions by Jameel Sewell — the second of three UVa quarterbacks to try their luck at beating the Tribe — along with four lost fumbles.

As a result, an opportunistic W&M offense kicked the Cavaliers to a slow death with four field goals made and three others missed or blocked.

“All the way up to going on the field, the single biggest emphasis of training camp was ball security,” Groh said after Virginia’s fourth consecutive loss in a season opener. “That was the most disappointing aspect of the game.”

This certainly wasn’t what new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon had in mind when he brought the no-huddle, spread attack from Bowling Green, where it had produced mind-blowing numbers for more than a decade.

Then again, he probably has seldom seen such poor execution by one of his offenses.

Stuck in neutral

Virginia posted a mere 269 yards of total offense and at times stunk up the joint so badly that the performance aroused a smattering of boo-birds among the 54,000-plus that showed up at Scott Stadium anticipating an offensive show.

After three years of fielding one of the worst offenses in major college football, Wahoo fans licked their chops at the prospects of making up for past failures by stacking up some eye-popping numbers. Instead, they walked away in dismay.

Even as bad as UVa’s offensive unit was at times last year when it finished 100 and something in the nation, the ’08 group managed more than 269 yards on eight out of 12 occasions.

Virginia fans expected a shiny, souped-up sports car that hummed to perfection. What they got was a jalopy that broke down over and over.

A trio of quarterbacks could only muster 137 passing yards on 33 attempts, three of those to the other guys. Combined with 131 rushing yards, the new offense didn’t look any better than the old one.

“Everything is correctable,” said starter Vic Hall, who suffered a hip injury during a fumbled snap late in the first half. “It’s football and mistakes happen. You’ve got to learn from the mistakes.”

Hall started the evening restoring Wahoo fans’ hope that something magical might happen as he darted 34 yards on the third play from scrimmage for a touchdown. On the evening, he rushed for 54 yards and threw for only 7, not exactly what he had envisioned.

“There were just too many three-and-outs,” said Marc Verica, the third quarterback in the rotation and the returning starter from last season.

His analysis was right.

Spread offenses just don’t work when they’re not moving the chains. Ask Oregon.

Time of possession is sometimes a meaningless statistic in football, but concerning the spread it’s a telltale sign of whether it’s operating on all cylinders or not.

Virginia converted only five of 17 third-down situations, actually a little better than William & Mary’s five of 20, but the Cavaliers didn’t benefit from seven turnovers. The Tribe didn’t have to convert because its defense did a much better job than UVa’s.

“We just didn’t execute,” said Hall, who limped noticeably out of the postgame interview room.

Virginia’s offensive line, which returned almost intact from last season, struggled mightily against a good W&M defense, perhaps its best in 30 years. The Cavaliers’ early pass rush was negated when Laycock wisely went to a quick passing game, executed brilliantly by senior quarterback R.J. Archer, who grew up in the shadows of UVa’s program, a kid who kept his poise all night long.

“Clearly, we have a lot more work to do,” said the embattled Groh. “I wish I had something more profound to say, but I think we all know what the story of this one was.”

Nationally-ranked Texas Christian, which rolls into Charlottesville next weekend, is already frothing at the mouth waiting to stick a big number on the Cavaliers.

Star Wars might actually occur, but not by the team Wahoo Nation expected.