What went wrong for Cavs?
Virginia gets back to work with Wyoming on deck
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
September 4, 2006

Labor Day equals a holiday for many in Central Virginia.

For Al Groh, it will turn into a long day of work.

Coming off what Virginia’s coach called an “embarrassing” loss - a 38-13 setback at Pitt - the Cavaliers must regroup. A home date with Wyoming (1-0) looms on Saturday.

“We need to get back on track right away,” Groh said. “If you’re a competitor, you’re ready to come back after a loss right away.”

Virginia (0-1) gave up two long touchdown passes on the first play of two respective drives and Pitt returned a pair of interceptions for scores en route to the blowout win in the season opener for both teams.

While the secondary was to blame for the miscues on Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko’s two scores and new quarterback Christian Olsen struggled in his debut, Groh was quick to mention that the team had the will to win.

“In looking at it, we grade for a number of categories and one of them is ‘loafs,’ and you shouldn’t ever have very many,” Groh said on Sunday. “There were hardly any on the grade sheet.

“There was a good amount of physical effort involved, but amongst the things that were disappointing was that there were some very poor during-the-play decisions made, whether it was who to block on a kickoff return, how to play a coverage, where to throw the ball against a certain coverage, things like that.”

Those miscues have Virginia heading back to the drawing board.

Marcus Hamilton, a senior, said the veterans have to make the younger players aware of a critical thing.

“It is just one game,” said Hamilton. “One game doesn’t determine the season. You can’t let one game get you down.

“We will watch film [this] morning and after that the game is over. You have to move on and focus on the next team. We can’t let this one linger or it will linger into the next game and we will lose that one also.”

Wyoming snapped a six-game losing streak that dated back to the middle of last season on Saturday with a 38-7 win over Utah State.

Groh said on Sunday that he had not seen the film yet of the game, but Virginia tight end Tom Santi said his team needed to regroup internally before focusing on the Cowboys. There is, however, no better place than at home, Santi said.

Virginia has back-to-back home games - the Cavaliers play Western Michigan on Sept. 16 - before opening the ACC schedule at Georgia Tech on Sept. 21.

“We absolutely need to bounce back when we go home,” Santi said. “This was a terrible way to start. We will look to regroup. This game is over, it’s time to move on to the next one and that’s what we plan on doing.”

Groh said on Saturday night that fifth-year senior Christian Olsen would get the starting nod against Wyoming.

Olsen was 17 for 34 against Pitt, but those completions netted only 133 yards. He also tossed one of the first of two interceptions by the Cavs.

Olsen is focused, he said, on moving past the sour start, one that included just 13 first downs, a total that was less than the Cavaliers registered in any game in 2005.

“We’ll need to reassess where we are and come back and practice hard,” Olsen said. “The game didn’t go our way but we can’t dwell on it.

“We’re just disappointed we weren’t able to make plays.”

Groh said he is confident Olsen will rebound.

“Certainly it wasn’t all his fault,” Groh said, “but now he’s got a different type of challenge to meet. He’s met all his other challenges well, and it’s important to his team how he meets this challenge.”

Recruiting News

Romale Tucker, an outside linebacker from Washington, D.C., has reportedly given a verbal commitment to play football at Virginia.

Tucker, who stands at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, told TheSabre.com on Sunday that his commitment will become official when the written offer arrives from UVa.

Tucker, now a senior at Ballou High, had 15 sacks last year at defensive end for his former school, Coolidge High.

 

Sports Focus: U.Va. Football
Picking up the pieces After Pitt pummeling, Cavs need to get back to basics in home opener
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 4, 2006

In theory, a football team as inexperienced as the one that Pittsburgh humbled on opening night should have more room for improvement than a veteran squad.

"It sure better be that way," University of Virginia coach Al Groh said last night.

Groh started only five seniors against Pitt, including Christian Olsen, a career backup until Saturday night. Olsen struggled, as did most of his teammates, as the Cavaliers fell 38-13 at Heinz Field in the most one-sided nonconference loss in Groh's five-plus seasons as coach at his alma mater.

"We just got to go back to the basics and get better," said senior tailback Jason Snelling, who scored U.Va.'s only touchdown on a 2-yard run late in the second quarter.

Olsen's 17 completions -- he attempted twice that many passes produced only 133 yards, and he threw an interception that cornerback Darrelle Revis returned 19 yards for a third-quarter touchdown that effectively sealed the victory for the Panthers.

"Certainly it wasn't all his fault," Groh said of Olsen, a team captain, "but now he's got a different type of challenge to meet. He's met all his other challenges well, and it's important to his team how he meets this challenge."

U.Va.'s senior-less offensive line allowed only one sack but generally was manhandled, forcing Olsen into hasty throws and poor decisions. In his first start, redshirt freshman right tackle Will Barker didn't impress. Neither did his replacement, seldom-used sophomore Zak Stair, who was twice called for a false start.

Olsen's backup, Pittsburgh resident Kevin McCabe, also threw an interception that was returned for a TD. That the Cavaliers' passing game didn't scare Pitt made it more difficult for them to run. Of Virginia's 211 yards of offense, only 52 came on the ground.

"Not much worked," Groh said. "I'd like to say that something did, but not much did there offensively."

Asked after the game if Olsen would start this weekend against Wyoming in Virginia's home opener, Groh dismissed the notion that he has a quarterback controversy.

"Let's not go down that road, OK?" Groh said. "We played one game here now today."

Led by linebackers Jon Copper and Jermaine Dias, who had eight tackles apiece, U.Va. played solid run defense, holding the Panthers to 107 yards on 33 carries. But the Wahoos' pass defense was atrocious.

On a night when he faced little pass rush, Pitt senior Tyler Palko completed 77.3 percent of his throws for 283 yards. His three touchdown passes included one of 72 yards and another of 78 against what's supposed to be the strength of U.Va.'s defense: a secondary led by senior cornerback Marcus Hamilton (second-team all-ACC in 2005) and senior safety Tony Franklin, each of whom was burned on a Palko bomb.

"Was it alarming?" Groh said of his secondary's performance. "It certainly was when you give up two long touchdown passes, particularly when [each comes] on the first play of a series."

In addition to Copper and Dias, junior safety Nate Lyles and junior kicker Chris Gould stood out in the losing effort. Lyles' 47-yard interception return set up Virginia's TD, and he had two tackles for loss. Gould was 2 for 2 on field goals, connecting from 48 and 42 yards.

 

Very few bright spots for Cavs
UVa coach Al Groh does praise the play of linebackers Jermaine Dias and Jon Copper.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

PITTSBURGH -- With an announced game-time temperature of 54 degrees, it was definitely midseason weather. For Virginia, it was not midseason form.

At least the Cavaliers hope they aren't playing this way at midseason.

Pittsburgh's defense outscored UVa's offense, not that the Panthers' offense needed any help in a 38-13 season-opening victory at Heinz Field on Saturday night.

A modest crowd of 46,758 watched the Panthers blow the game open during a 21-point second half in which Pitt ran only 19 plays and had three first downs.

Two of Pitt's three second-half touchdowns came on interception returns -- the first time in 50 years that UVa had given up two interception returns for touchdowns in the same game.

The Panthers had a 14-play touchdown drive on their first possession of the game but didn't need more than one play on any of their four subsequent touchdowns, including 72- and 78-yard touchdown passes by fifth-year senior quarterback Tyler Palko.

Virginia also started a fifth-year senior quarterback, Christian Olsen, but, unlike Palko, who entered the game with 753 passing attempts, Olsen had thrown only 23 passes in his college career.

When asked Sunday what Olsen could have done better, UVa coach Al Groh said, "It's a pretty good list of things."

Groh summoned backup quarterback Kevin McCabe with six minutes remaining and the Cavaliers trailing 31-13, but that was not a benching, nor was his decision to insert redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell after McCabe yielded an interception that Clint Session returned for a touchdown.

Groh made it clear that Olsen will start the Cavaliers' home opener Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Wyoming (1-0).

"Let's not go down that road," said Groh, who wants no part of a quarterback controversy.

The suspense ended so early Saturday night that it was natural to assume that the statistics would be uglier than they were. Pittsburgh had "only" 390 yards in total offense against the Cavaliers, who yielded more than 500 yards in two games last season and more than 400 in two others.

Groh, who said Saturday that he was not interested in "silver linings," conceded that junior outside linebacker Jermaine Dias and sophomore inside linebacker Jon Copper had been "very productive."

Copper, a walk-on from Roanoke's Northside High School, was credited with a team-high seven tackles in his first college start.

In comparison, UVa defensive end Chris Long had a stop on Pittsburgh's first offensive play and did not have another one. His one tackle tied him with Palko, who tackled Nate Lyles on an interception return, and UVa place-kicker Chris Gould.

Pittsburgh left offensive tackle Jeff Otah had the blocking assignment against Long and did pick up two holding penalties.

"I thought [Long] had a decent night," Groh said.

Groh didn't complain about a rush defense that limited Pittsburgh to 107 yards on the ground, but that still was twice what UVa gained -- 52 yards on 21 carries.

"With 52 yards rushing, what would you think?" Groh said when asked how his offensive line had graded out. "That would be like a kid with a paper with a lot of spelling mistakes on it."

Will Barker was so ineffective in his first start at right offensive tackle that he was on the field for fewer plays (28) than backup Zak Stair (32). Stair, assigned the No. 1 because he was penalized on the average of once a day during the preseason, had two false starts.

"I think he might have earned a No. 2," Groh said Sunday.

Groh might have expected some mistakes from first-time starters like Barker and Olsen, but a veteran secondary had few excuses.

"Was it alarming?" Groh asked in repeating a question. "It certainly was when you give up two long touchdown passes."

Fifth-year senior cornerback Marcus Hamilton said a 78-yard touchdown reception by Derek Kinder was typical of his night.

"Unfortunately, that's football and it happens at every level," Hamilton said. "Chalk it up to whatever you want to chalk it up to, but I believe that performance was very, very uncharacteristic of how our secondary is going to play this year."

1. Offensive production: D

Virginia's only touchdown resulted from a 47-yard interception return by Nate Lyles to the Pittsburgh 13 late in the first half. UVa's offense did not penetrate the Panthers' 20-yard line on its own.

2. The kicking game: C-plus

UVa junior Chris Gould was perfect on field-goal attempts from 49 and 42 yards but the burden of kicking field goals and extra points, kicking off, punting and even making a special-teams tackle took its toll. Pitt's Adam Graessle averaged 43.4 yards on five punts; Gould averaged 39.1 on seven.

3. The pass rush: C

Virginia's only sack was on a blitz that required both safeties, Tony Franklin, who got the first shot at Tyler Palko, and Byron Glaspy, who finished him off. The Cavaliers rarely hurried Palko.
 

Ranking UVa's programs
Men's lacrosse is tops
Doug Doughty

There is nothing in the title to this column, “UVa Insider,” that limits the content to football and men’s basketball, but I’ve always worried that readers might be turned off by too much discussion of other sports.

(Like they’re not turned off by what’s written about football and men’s basketball!)

That said, I’ll be the first to confess that I’m an Olympic-sports junkie. So, too, is the media gadfly, Jeff White, when he isn’t obsessing over Olu Hall.

White’s contention is that nobody with as much buildup has ever been the object of as little discussion as Hall, who was rated the No. 1 football prospect in Virginia as a senior at Robinson High School in 2003.

Hall, now a sophomore at Virginia after spending the 2004-2005 school year at Hargrave Military Academy, won’t be making the trip to Pittsburgh this week. Coach Al Groh says Hall is working on becoming a complete outside linebacker and not the would-be pass specialist that he was last year.

That’s the kind of issues that this column should be treating two days before the opening game, but, instead, I find myself working on the all-sport UVa rankings that I have been promising to The Gadfly and others.

There is one criterion for the Doughty Rankings: the degree to which UVa’s athletic programs impress me at this point in time.

Columns like this aren’t designed to make friends or even influence people, but all it takes is one big win or an ACC championship for impressions to change. Hopefully, these rankings could become an annual feature. Check back next Sept. 1 and the order could be a lot different.

(Where men’s and women’s teams have the same coach, they will be judged as one program:)

1. MEN’S LACROSSE – Reigning NCAA champs for the third time since 1999; wins with class

2. WOMEN’S SOCCER – ACC title in 2004 spoke volumes; team set school record for wins in 2005

3. MEN’S TENNIS – Team didn’t live up to preseason No. 1 ranking in 2005 but coach Brian Boland hasn’t eased up on accelerator

4. BASEBALL – Three straight 40-win seasons and NCAA appearances would have been unfathomable 10 years ago

5. SWIMMING – Should have done better in 2006 NCAAs but has remarkable streak of men’s ACC championships against good competition.

6. WOMEN’S TENNIS – Marc Guilbeau’s first team made the NCAAs and his first recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the country; program on the rise

7. WOMEN’S GOLF – Getting top-of-the-line talent but missed out on the NCAAs last year

8. MEN’S BASKETBALL – New building, new coach, top recruits have sparked interest; now they’ve got to make it back to the NCAAs.

9. FOOTBALL – Other sports don’t operate under the same microscope as football; Cavs could struggle this year, but recruiting for 2007 has been good

10. . WOMEN’S LACROSSE – One year after reaching the NCAA title game, Cavs were upset in first round of 2006 NCAAs; too up and down.

11. CROSS COUNTRY – UVa made the NCAAs last year in men’s and women’s cross country for the first time in school history; men won ACC title

12. MEN’S SOCCER – After 11 seasons, George Gelnovatch owns three ACC titles and nine NCAA trips but has been unable to escape Bruce Arena’s shadow.

13. WOMEN’S ROWING – Second in the NCAAs in 2005 but didn’t get a bid last year; how does that happen?

14. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL – Only one NCAA appearance in past three years; Monica Wright should help, but numbers say the program has slipped.

15. SOFTBALL – Made huge mistake not recruiting Angela Tincher and still paying for it, but there were positives last year under new coach Karen Johns.

THE BOTTOM FIVE (Alphabetically)

FIELD HOCKEY – Cavaliers enter the season with 20 consecutive ACC losses but new coach Michelle Madson has team in top 20.

GOLF (MEN’S) – Can’t see where Bowen Sargent is an upgrade over predecessor Mike Moraghan

TRACK AND FIELD – Twenty years after the fact, still paying for letting Dennis Craddock get away

VOLLEYBALL – Program has been in existence for 25 years without winning an ACC title; last NCAA bid was in 1999.

WRESTLING – Not sure Lenny Bernstein should have been pushed out – if he was – after a 4-1 ACC regular season but Cavs’ last ACC title was in 1977

 

Preseason top 40 late as usual
No consensus past No. 2
Doug Doughty

While football recruiting buffs have learned that they can expect The Roanoke Times Top 25 on Christmas Day each year, less predictable has been the preseason top 40.

Most of the time, it doesn’t even come out before the season, which is the case again this year.

There is a preseason top 40, which accompanies this week’s Notebook Plus, but, when it will get in the print edition of The Roanoke Times, I can’t say.

If anybody has been looking for a preseason list of the state’s top prospects, it hasn’t been hard to find one. Rivals.com has one; so does virginiapreps.com, which is affiliated with rivals. Two other publications, the ACC Sports Journal and SuperPrep, asked me to contribute to their lists.

There isn’t a lot of variety on any of them, most of which list quarterbacks Tyrod Taylor of Hampton and Peter Lalich of West Springfield as Nos. 1-2. Taylor has committed to Virginia Tech and Lalich to Virginia.

Why Taylor is rated ahead of Lalich is hard to say, other than Taylor’s running ability puts him in the mold of previously successful Tech quarterbacks like Michael and Marcus Vick and Bryan Randall. Lalich is in the mold of ex-UVa quarterback Matt Schaub, who was the 2002 ACC Player of the Year.

Randall was the ACC Player of the Year in 2004 but neither of the Vicks was, which would make for a good trivia question. Michael completed his Tech career in 2000 – four years before Tech became eligible for ACC play – and Marcus fell one vote shy of Wake Forest running back Chris Barclay in 2005.

I’m not sure there is a consensus vote for the No. 3 prospect in the state this year. Rivals.com actually had Lalich behind Lake Taylor wide receiver Jay Smith, who joined Smith as one of two Virginians on rivals’ preseason top 100, but some of us would have liked to see more production out of Smith before rating him that high.

Smith had 17 receptions last year at Kempsville High School, which featured running back Kevin Simmons, which might have been a reason for Smith’s transfer to a more pass-oriented scheme.

Smith definitely ranks among the state’s top undecided prospects, along with Highland Springs defensive back Cris Hill, whom I have at No. 3. The recruiting of Hill has an interesting twist, because it also could affect the recruiting of uncommitted Henrico speedster Corey Mosley.

Both Tech and Virginia have made scholarship offers to Mosley, who may be underrated at No. 24 on the accompanying list, but, with 26 players committed already, Tech probably is not in position where it can take both Hill and Mosley.

Virginia has 16 commitments, including a trio of 2006 signees who are at Hargrave Military Academy. While the Cavaliers aren’t likely to sign 25 players, they have a little more flexibility than Tech right now and can afford to go full-bore after Mosley.

The figure of 26 for Tech includes two players (Taylor and Brandon Barnett) who may enroll at mid-year and count toward 2007, another player (D.J. Thomas) who won’t enroll until January 2007 at the earliest and could count toward 2008, and a “soft” commit in Sarasota, Fla., linebacker Hunter Ovens.

So, Tech could have room for Varina teammates Jamar Jackson, a defensive end, and Bud Tribbey, a defensive tackle, but the Hokies don’t have as much room to maneuver as the ‘Hoos.
 

U.Va. tries to remain positive after loss at Pitt
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 4, 2006

PITTSBURGH - The message during preseason: We're better than people think.

The message after one game: OK, we're better than we looked.

After living down to the lowest expectations anyone could have had for them during a season-opening 38-13 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday night, the Virginia Cavaliers seemed more angry than humbled, more embarrassed than discouraged. The quiet optimism that surrounded a team picked fifth in the ACC's Coastal Division remained unshaken.

"That's not the type of team we are," tight end Tom Santi said. "But it's easy to say that. It's harder to prove it."

Cornerback Marcus Hamilton called the performance "uncharacteristic." The secondary he leads, supposedly the strength of the team, was victimized on touchdown passes of 72 and 78 yards, two of four single-strike scores from the Panthers.

"Chalk it up to whatever you want to chalk it up to, but I don't believe that's how our secondary is going to play the rest of the year," he said.

Hamilton could have been speaking about any number of units - the offensive and defensive lines, the linebackers, running backs, receivers, quarterbacks. None came close to performing at the level needed to beat a team like Pittsburgh on the road.

"Not much worked," coach Al Groh said. "I'd like to say something did, but not much did."

Not much worked on offense. The Cavaliers rushed for 52 yards. Most of new quarterback Christian Olsen's passes were of the dump-off variety, and went to receivers who had Panthers waiting to wrap and tackle them. Longest gain of the night: 20 yards.

Not much worked on defense. The Panthers controlled the clock early and struck with big plays later. Virginia's lone sack came with a safety and cornerback blitzing. Defensive end Chris Long, touted as an All-American candidate, managed one tackle.

Not much worked in the open field. All the momentum-swinging plays went Pittsburgh's way, the two long scoring passes and a pair of interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.

No team had returned two Virginia interceptions for scores in 50 years.

Just one of those nights? With 11 games remaining, starting with Wyoming on Saturday, the Cavaliers have to believe it was.

"I'm personally embarrassed," Santi said. "I don't think anybody on the team didn't want to win. Everybody tried to win. Be that as it may, I'm still embarrassed."

Olsen faulted himself for his most costly mistake of the night. Pinned at the Virginia 2 after a botched punt return, he lobbed a pass to freshman Kevin Ogletree that was picked off by Darrelle Revis, an All Big-East corner who returned it 19 yards for a touchdown that made the score 24-10 midway through the third quarter.

Revis jumped and snatched the ball from in front of Ogletree. It was a risky call, poorly executed. The match-up of the veteran corner and the young receiver was no match at all.

But even match-ups that appeared favorable for the Cavaliers didn't go their way. Hamilton, considered one of the top cornerbacks in the ACC, misplayed a ball that was lofted to Panthers receiver Derek Kinder. Hamilton thought he was in position to intercept the pass, but Kinder came down with it and Hamilton wound up on the turf after turning the wrong way. "Typical of the night," Hamilton said.

Other than a Nate Lyles interception and 47-yard return, Virginia didn't make a real impact play.

"Their stars played like stars," Groh said. "We had no stars."

Virginia knew before the season that it would be short on star power. During winter conditioning, players wore collared work shirts with "Joe" across the breast pocket. The team was going to have to win with smart, physical play and crisp execution.

"We can't sit here and dwell on this," tailback Jason Snelling said. "If we do, it's going to be a long season."

 

Cavaliers didn't distinguish themselves
Christian Olsen is skittish in a forgettable first game as the Cavaliers' quarterback.
David Teel
September 3 2006

PITTSBURGH -- Occasions that almost always raise the cringe factor:

Kevin Federline rapping.

Movie stars politicking.

Quarterbacks starting their first game.

The level doesn't matter. From pee-wees to the pros, maiden voyages usually are harrowing.

Christian Olsen's was no exception for the University of Virginia on Saturday.

Not that Olsen deserves total blame for the Cavaliers' season-opening 38-13 defeat at Pittsburgh. In fact, other than safety Nate Lyles and perhaps kicker Chris Gould, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone outfitted in orange-and-blue who distinguished himself.

Virginia mustered little pass rush, blocked and tackled poorly, and got suckered in the secondary. But quarterbacks, especially rookies, cannot duck the scrutiny usually reserved for lab rats.

Except for a brief third-quarter flurry - completions of 20, 14 and 11 yards in a four-play stretch - Olsen played like someone who had not started since his high school days. Which he hadn't.

A fifth-year senior, Olsen certainly showed no nerves during the afternoon. Instead of locking himself in his hotel room curled in the fetal position, he relaxed in the lobby with family, munching on peanuts by the handful.

By game time, however, he was skittish, and it showed. His footwork was unsure, his passes inaccurate.

Still, the Cavaliers trailed only 17-10 when they took over at their own 2 early in the third quarter. And unlike his counterpart, Pitt senior Tyler Palko, Olsen had not committed a turnover.

"It's right there," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "It's a playable game" at 17-10.

Until Olsen dropped back into the end zone on first down and lofted the ball toward Kevin Ogletree. Blanketed by cornerback Darrelle Revis, Ogletree was helpless as Revis intercepted the pass and returned it 19 yards for a touchdown.

To his credit, Olsen rebounded with his best series. But he finished with a mere 133 yards passing, completing 17 of 34 attempts.

The Cavaliers' running game was equally impotent, netting 52 yards on 21 rushes.

"Not much worked," Groh understated. "I'd like to say that something did, but not much did."

Not from the start, when the Panthers took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown. Abandoning his standard CEO pose along the sideline, Groh kneeled in front of his defense and diagrammed X's and O's on a greaseboard.

It was for naught on this night, and Groh called himself "extremely disappointed and embarrassed."

Some perspective, too often in short supply after openers:

Neither Marques Hagans nor Matt Schaub, two of Virginia's best quarterbacks, lasted until halftime of his first college start; Aaron Brooks, another of the program's finest, had an interception returned for a touchdown.

All three, by the way, lost.

Hagans faced the most daunting debut, at Florida State in 2002 as a freshman. Groh pulled him in the second quarter in favor of Schaub.

The year prior at Wisconsin, Schaub made his first start. He was a sophomore, threw two first-half picks and watched the final two-thirds of the game from the bench as Bryson Spinner finished up.

Brooks, a junior, opened the 1997 season at home against Auburn (Virginia faithful may recall that as the dark day Ronald Curry committed). He passed for 305 yards and two scores, but his lone interception was critical in an 11-point defeat.

Not that Olsen has their natural skills. But for all his limitations, Olsen is hardly Virginia's lone concern.

The offensive and defensive lines were terrible; defensive backs misplayed balls and bit on play-action fakes.

Pitt yielded 30 sacks last season, at least one in every game. Yet Virginia rarely pressured Palko, registering one sack, that on an all-out blitz.

No surprise, really. The Cavaliers' 19 sacks last season ranked next-to-last in the ACC.

Virginia's defensive highlight certainly had nothing to do with its sorry pass rush. On a three-step drop, Palko threw an out route, but his receiver ran a slant, gift-wrapping an interception for Lyles.

His 47-yard return set up a 13-yard touchdown drive. It was the Cavaliers' only touchdown.

Olsen's most productive drive was 48 yards, and Groh replaced him with six minutes remaining. But don't expect a change at quarterback for next week's home opener against Wyoming.

"Let's not go down that road right now," Groh said.

Indeed, the 2006 road may be rugged enough as is.
 

Cavaliers' first night is failure
Virginia makes history in all the wrong ways with a season-opening loss at Pittsburgh.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
September 4, 2006

There are facts, and then there are shocking truths.

Fact: Virginia lost its season opener Saturday night, 38-13 at Pittsburgh.

Shocking truths: It was the Cavaliers' most lopsided non-conference, regular-season loss since 1988, when they fell 42-14 to Penn State. It was Virginia's worst season-opening loss since '84 and a 55-0 defeat against third-ranked Clemson, which went 9-1-1 in '83. (Pittsburgh went 5-6 last season. Four of those wins came against Division I-A teams that finished a combined 16-29.)

Fact: Pittsburgh returned two interceptions for touchdowns - both on the first play of a drive. Shocking truth: The last team to return two Virginia passes for touchdowns was Duke in 1956.

Fact: Pittsburgh quarterback Tyler Palko threw touchdown passes of 72 and 78 yards - both on the first play of a drive - against a Virginia secondary that was supposed to be its defensive cornerstone.

Shocking truth: A team hadn't completed a pass that long against Virginia - any pass, not just a touchdown pass - in the Cavaliers' past 30 games. (Florida State had a 79-yarder in 2003.)

Shocking, but true. And a shaky foundation to what Virginia coach Al Groh has deemed a rebuilding process.

OFFENSE

New coordinator Mike Groh's unit had 86 yards in the first half. Of Virginia's 11 drives that didn't end in turnovers, five went three plays and out. New starting quarterback Christian Olsen settled for too many short passes. The offensive line flopped - especially right tackles Will Barker and Zak Stair - as Virginia had just 52 rushing yards.

DEFENSE

PITTSBURGH IMPROVED SINCE LAST YEAR, BUT THE PANTHERS AREN'T AN OFFENSIVE MENACE. THEY SCORED 38 POINTS JUST ONCE LAST SEASON. THEY HAD 256 YARDS IN THE FIRST HALF AND GAINED 7.1 YARDS PER PLAY FOR THE GAME. THE CAVALIERS' FRONT SEVEN MADE PITTSBURGH COACH DAVE WANNSTEDT LOOK LIKE AN OFFENSIVE WIZARD - BY CONSISTENTLY FAILING TO STOP A SIMPLE DRAW PLAY. SPECIAL TEAMS

Chris Gould hadn't place-kicked since high school, but he made field goals of 48 and 42 yards. Gould's punting was lackluster (seven punts for a 39.1-yard average). On a third-quarter punt, Tony Franklin bumped into teammate Emmanuel Byers, letting Pittsburgh down the ball at Virginia's 2.

COACHING

Saturday's effort was surprising, considering how well Virginia's patchwork coaching staff performed in last year's Music City Bowl. Mike Groh's call to pass from his own 2 after the botched punt return - Pittsburgh's Darrelle Revis intercepted the ball and strolled into the end zone - surely furrowed more than a few brows. «

OVERALL: D-
 

Too early for the doomsayers
Barney Breen-Portnoy, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

PITTSBURGH -- So maybe all the off-season pessimism was warranted after all. Presented with their first opportunity to prove all the doubters wrong, Virginia failed miserably Saturday night at Heinz Field, as it indeed looked and played like a mediocre squad in the midst of a rebuilding process.

Despite the ugliness of the loss, however, I want to stay optimistic. The easiest thing for a sportswriter to do following a game like that is to write a column bashing the team. That may sell newspapers, but it is intellectually lazy. Yes, there are many aspects of Virginia's performance deserving of criticism (i.e. poor pass defense, failure to establish a running game, the list goes on). But let's also try to keep a healthy perspective at the same time.

No one said this team would go undefeated. So despite the bitter taste of losing a season-opener, it might actually be beneficial in the long term that the Cavaliers got a wake-up call this early in the season. That is the beauty of scheduling a tough out-of-conference road test to start the season. It illuminated many areas in which this team is deficient (i.e. susceptibility to the big play, lack of production from the wide receivers, etc.) and will need to work hard to improve. But it is better to learn these lessons at the beginning of September rather than in early October after racking up three or four wins over patsy opponents and building up an inflated ego.

The past two seasons, Virginia started out 5-0 and 3-0, respectively, before having to undergo the requisite soul-searching process following a loss. In 2004, for example, the Cavaliers were 5-0 and ranked No. 6 nationally before being exposed as a paper tiger when they lost 36-3 to Florida State in Tallahassee. Believe me, that debacle was more painful than this loss to Pittsburgh.

Saturday's loss is an excellent reminder for fans to hold modest expectations for this team. At least six wins and a trip to a lower-tier bowl would be a solid achievement for a program that lost so many key players after last season.

In the midst of defeat, there were a few bright spots. In his first career start, sophomore linebacker Jon Copper posted seven tackles, five of them solo. Virginia's defense generally contained the run well, with only a few notable exceptions. Copper played a major role in holding the Panthers to 127 rushing yards.

On special teams, junior punter/place kicker Chris Gould proved to be the jack of all trades. He hit field goals from 42 and 48 yards, averaged 39.1 yards on seven punts and recorded two touchbacks on kickoffs.

Despite my intention to shun overt negativity, I would be remiss if I did not comment on the less-than-impressive performance of Virginia quarterback Christian Olsen. To be blunt, he did not have a very good game. But then again, while it certainly was not the performance he envisioned, there were at least a few salvageable moments. On a 10-play scoring drive in the middle of the third quarter, Olsen completed three passes of 10 yards or longer. Only three other times throughout the game did wide receivers make receptions. Finding ways to get more passes to Fontel Mines and Kevin Ogletree should be one of offensive coordinator Mike Groh's top priorities this week.

At least a quarterback controversy was averted when both Kevin McCabe and Jameel Sewell looked less-than-stellar in the one series of garbage time duty that each received.

If Virginia can come home and win the next two games over weaker out-of-conference foes, it will have the opportunity to reignite its season at Georgia Tech Sept. 21. That now has been elevated to being the most important game on Virginia's schedule. The games against Wyoming and Western Michigan are just salad dressing. Virginia's performance in Atlanta in two and a half weeks will be the true measure of if and how it has rebounded from the loss at Pittsburgh.

It was not a great night to be a Virginia fan. But there will be other nights. In football, as in life, losing is humbling. How Virginia responds to this humiliating loss will define the early portion of its season.