Lalich survives first test

Pete Lalich looked like a long-tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Any direction the Virginia quarterback turned it seemed like Tommy Trojan was in his face, on his back, collapsing the pocket protecting the sophomore. What a way to break in as a first-time starter.

All of it was part of the maturation process for a young quarterback. Matt Schaub went through it, Shawn Moore, and even current Cavalier offensive coordinator Mike Groh. They all went on to some impressive finishes to their UVa careers.

Lalich, the golden arm from West Springfield High School, the kid who was groomed to be a passing quarterback from early on, launched his ownership of the Virginia quarterback job under the sternest test on Saturday. Southern California’s veteran defense threw everything it had at the young right-hander and he survived.

Elite competition

Sure, USC put a 52-7 thumping on a largely inexperienced Wahoo football team, but that was somewhat expected. The Trojans were arguably the best team that’s ever graced the field at Scott Stadium. If not, then certainly among the most elite.

They came. We saw. They conquered. It wasn’t very pretty unless you were one of the several thousand Southern California fans that accounted for a record crowd of 64,947.

Pete Carroll’s Trojans lived up to their billing as one of the few teams favored to win the national championship. With more depth than an NFL team, USC manhandled the Cavaliers all afternoon. Big, fast, strong, experienced. If this team had a weakness, we couldn’t spot one.

Lalich, who lined up in shotgun formation most of the day to help negate the fierce USC pass rush, did OK for a sophomore making his first start.

His numbers weren’t awe-inspiring. For the record he was 18 of 35 for 155 yards. He threw for a touchdown. He threw one to the Trojans. He lost a couple of snaps and was sacked twice.

Considering that he was under siege most of the day by the superior USC defense, he held his own and kept his composure for the most part.

Keeping a cool head

“He did a pretty decent job,” UVa coach Al Groh said of Lalich. “He made some real nice throws. I think everybody who watched the game could see the type of throws he’s capable of making. That pocket didn’t hold up very long on many occasions.”

Blessed with a strong arm and a quick release (something that came in pretty handy when Southern California’s defense came head hunting), Lalich made some impressive throws, particularly on Virginia’s lone scoring drive.

He directed a six-play, 62-yard march in which he completed three of four passes and benefited from a pass interference and a roughing the passer call to cover the distance.

Of course, the Trojans were up 21-0 before the record crowd could blink. Lalich was trying to get the home boys on the board.

As good a job as Lalich did — we can’t call him a rookie because he played in eight games as a backup as a true freshman — the mistakes overshadowed any of the positives.

“He made some very positive throws,” Groh said. “But you evaluate a quarterback on a total game. When you turn the ball over two or three times like that, you have to make a lot of awesome throws to balance those out. Maybe a lesson he learned or something he will come to understand is that it’s not about the good throws that you make, but it’s about how you conduct the overall game.”

Most quarterbacks endure those peaks and valleys. Schaub, who owns most every passing record by a Virginia quarterback, was actually benched after the first game of his junior season because his opening performance was so shoddy. He went on to become the ACC’s Player of the Year that same season.

Clearly, Lalich’s turnovers didn’t help, however, USC was so good that it wouldn’t have mattered.

Lalich, who was just as composed in dealing with media after the game as he was in handling the USC blitz packages during it, said he was encouraged by part of his performance but acknowledged there are things he needed to improve upon.

No doubt that ball security rests atop that checklist. Coverage recognition would be right behind.

There’s something to be said about a kid who didn’t come apart at the seams under all that pressure. Carroll wisely blitzed from all over the place against a fairly inexperienced quarterback and made Lalich’s day just a little bit longer.

Groh’s shotgun formation and version of the spread offense was a good counter to a dominating defense, but in the end it was overwhelmingly obvious of who was No. 2 in the country and who wasn’t. The shotgun provided Lalich a little more cushion before the Trojans got their mitts on him.

USC’s defense was so strong that Virginia knew it couldn’t run against them with any sustained success. Airborne was the way to go, but even that only worked half the time.

Still, the youngster didn’t lose confidence.

“I don’t have much experience right now, but I definitely think I have enough talent to make some of the plays I left on the field,” Lalich said. “I think that when myself and our team really executes at the highest level that we can make plays on anybody. We need to make strings of plays like that in a row.”

One thing is for sure. It’s not going to get any tougher the rest of the way. Virginia won’t meet anything else in the same league as Southern California. The Trojans are in a league of their own.