Have we seen the real Virginia?

Virginia’s coaches believe the real Cavaliers haven’t shown up yet this season. They have company.
TCU coach Gary Patterson is convinced he’ll face a different UVa team this Saturday when his Horned Frogs trek eastward to open their season at Scott Stadium. TCU was one of only two teams in the nation that didn’t start the season last weekend and Patterson is a little leery about catching the Cavaliers coming off an embarrassing loss to William & Mary.
“I expect a better Virginia team this week,” Patterson said Tuesday. “There’s no way I think [Virginia’s] a bad football team. I think it’s a good football team in waiting.”
Some will perceive the Texas Christian coach’s comments as simply coach-speak, telling UVa what it wants to hear. Patterson went on to explain why he believes his first trip to Charlottesville won’t necessarily be the stroll in the park that many predict.
“It looked like to me that [the Cavaliers] were trying too hard,” Patterson said after reviewing film of Virginia’s blunder-filled, 26-14 home loss to FCS opponent William & Mary last Saturday.
“Sometimes when you do that, you make mistakes.”
He pointed out that one of the bad snaps from center Jack Shields to quarterback Vic Hall, the one that hit Shields’ leg and never advanced back to Hall in the shotgun, was one of those “trying too hard plays.”
“On the muffed snap, instead of diving on the ball, the quarterback tried to pick it up,” Patterson said, inferring that Hall felt the pressure and was trying to make something happen.
That was one of seven Wahoo turnovers, four lost fumbles, three interceptions. All in all, it was a night of poor execution by UVa, which was favored to win the game against a very good W&M opponent.
“I think you can see on film that they’re athletes,” the TCU coach said of Virginia. “They have big guys that can move up front, receivers that can get down field, and quarterbacks and running backs that can hurt you. I think it’s a very dangerous offense ... but hopefully it’s not this week.”
TCU is one of the best programs in the country that few east of the Mississippi know about. That’s one of the reasons the Horned Frogs of the Mountain West Conference are coming East.
In fact, two of their first three games are in the Eastern time zone against ACC opponents, UVa this weekend and Clemson Sept. 26 in Death Valley.
“I’m not excited about playing Virginia because I know what kind of coach Al Groh is,” Patterson said. “But I’m excited because by going to the East Coast we get in front of a lot more TV sets.”
Consider that since 2000, TCU has the 10th-most wins by any FBS
program in the country with an 83-23 record, a winning percentage of .748. That’s only six less wins and one less loss than Virginia Tech, friends.
Since ’05, TCU has a better record than the Hokies, with a 41-10 mark. During that same span, the Horned Frogs have the second-most wins of any football program in the state of Texas, behind only Mack Brown’s Longhorns at 45-7.
While Patterson may say that opening up on the road is a challenge, his purple-clad warriors have done a pretty good job on the road during the last six seasons, having posted a 26-13 road record, the eighth-best road mark in the country.
And, of course, there’s always the old BCS chip-on-the-shoulder thing.
Only Utah and Navy have more wins by non-BCS teams over BCS schools since ’03.
Patterson said he believed that Virginia had a chance to get the kinks out in its opener and is hopeful that his team won’t suffer the same type of agony with execution problems and turnovers that the Cavaliers experienced a few days ago.
“They have a game under their belt, can correct the mistakes,” Patterson said. “I’m sure they studied us over the summer, so they have a feel for what we’re going to do.”
Groh said that indeed his coaching staff did a lot of research of TCU during the summer so to be prepared heading into game week.
What weighs in TCU’s favor other than incredible team speed and good toughness is that Patterson has had good success in shutting down spread offenses. Virginia did a good job of stopping itself, shooting itself in the foot over and over last Saturday.
“We have good players, we have guys who can run and I think that helps you against the spread,” Patterson said. “You still have to stop a triple option concept attack, but the five defensive backs we use (4-2-5 defensive scheme, somewhat like Virginia Tech’s), allows us to play base defense and zone blitz.”
Virginia fans are hoping that Patterson is right in his analysis that the real Cavaliers haven’t shown up yet.
Just like the old game show of “What’s My Line?” used to go, Will the Real Virginia Please Stand Up.