Cavaliers, Huskies: Take 2
U.Va. hits the road with 10 starters from'07 team that barely won at home
Saturday, Sep 13, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

The University of Virginia's coaching staff is more familiar with Connecticut's personnel than with Florida State's. Go figure.

These things happen in the expanded ACC. U.Va. hasn't played FSU since 2006, and the teams won't meet again until 2010. Virginia faced UConn last season, however, and the rematch is tonight. The Huskies (2-0) host the Cavaliers (1-1) at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., in a game ESPNU will televise.

"When you play a nonconference team two years in a row, then you begin to build up your familiarity with them," Cavaliers coach Al Groh said, "as opposed to . . . a one-time shot, say like when we played Middle Tennessee last year."

Nineteen starters returned from a UConn team that shared the Big East title and went 9-4 last season, including senior quarterback Tyler Lorenzen.

"I thought he was one of the better quarterbacks we played last year," Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim said. "He's able to make plays with his feet as well as his arm."

The Huskies know less about the Wahoos. Of the 24 players who started for U.Va. against UConn last year at Scott Stadium, including punter Ryan Weigand and kicker Chris Gould, only 10 remain in Groh's program.

Randy Edsall knows next to nothing about Marc Verica, but UConn's 10th-year coach is not alone in that regard. Verica, a redshirt sophomore who never has thrown a pass for the Cavaliers, will start tonight against the Huskies. He ascended to the top of the depth chart this week after Groh and U.Va. officials decided that sophomore Peter Lalich, who started Virginia's first two games, would not travel with the team to Connecticut.

Verica may not be the only quarterback U.Va. uses tonight. Groh said before the season that he'd consider playing multiple quarterbacks in some games, and "I could certainly see that circumstance being a possibility this weekend," he said Thursday.

Graduate student Scott Deke is the only other scholarship quarterback on U.Va.'s travel squad. Asked Thursday whom he'd use in an emergency tonight -- if Verica and Deke weren't available -- Groh laughed and said, "Can we get onto a little bit more upbeat possibility here?"

A season ago in Charlottesville, Virginia edged UConn 17-16. The Huskies had gone up 16-14 on a field goal with 8:06 left, but Gould answered from 19 yards at the 3:20 mark. UConn then self-destructed on a drive that looked at first as if it would end with a field goal attempt, if not a touchdown.

"Last year, it took everything that we had to win by one point at home," Groh said. "Less than 50 percent of our starting lineup from that game returns. . . . Almost all of UConn's starting lineup returns."

It's difficult to know what to expect from U.Va. tonight. In Groh's first six seasons as coach at his alma mater, his teams generally struggled away from Scott Stadium. But the Cavaliers won at North Carolina, Middle Tennessee, Maryland and, most emphatically, Miami (Fla.) in 2007.

"I guess we just have to maintain that same attitude," Sintim said. "Our house is anywhere inside the white lines. It doesn't really matter where you play. It's the same field everywhere you go."

UConn has won eight consecutive home games at Rentschler Field, by an average margin of 19 points.

"It's meant a lot," Edsall of the 40,000-seat stadium, which opened in August 2003. "Allowed us to make sure we really got in the Big East. . . . think it's just a great college venue and a great situation for us."

 

Preview: Virginia vs. Connecticut
Saturday, Sep 13, 2008 - 12:07 AM

Virginia at Connecticut
Where : Rentschler Field (cap. 40,000), East Hartford, Conn.

When : 7:30 p.m.

On the air: TV -- ESPNU (not widely available in Virginia). Radio -- WRVA (1140), 6:30 p.m.; XM Ch. 190, 7:30 p.m.

Line : UConn by 11

Records : Virginia 1-1, UConn 2-0

Players to watch: U.Va. -- WR Kevin Ogletree, 12 catches, 124 yards; TB Cedric Peerman, 18 carries, 92 yards; TE John Phillips, 7 catches, 56 yards; DE Matt Conrath, 3 tackles for loss, 1 blocked field goal, 2 pass breakups. UConn -- TB Donald Brown, 59 carries, 360 yards, 5 TDs; QB Tyler Lorenzen, 24 for 47 passing, 270 yards, 4 INTs, 0 TD, 18 carries, 97 yards; CB Jasper Howard, 5 punt returns, 95 yards.

Outlook : Sophomore Marc Verica, who never has thrown a pass in a college game, will start at quarterback for Virginia tonight. This might not be the easiest place for him to make his debut. Coach Randy Edsall's Huskies have won eight consecutive home games, one of the nation's longest streaks. . . . In the first football game between these schools, U.Va. won 17-16 at Scott Stadium last season. . . . UConn returns 19 starters, including quarterback Tyler Lorenzen, from a team that shared the Big East title in 2007. . . . The Cavaliers haven't played in Connecticut since 1944, when they tied Yale 6-6.

 

History on UVa's side with new QBs UVa QB
Inexperienced players have performed well for the Cavaliers in past emergency situations.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

It seems almost incomprehensible that Virginia would be entering the third week of the season with a starting quarterback who has never attempted a pass in a college game.

Incomprehensible but not unprecedented.

Three times since 1985, injuries or a suspension have caused Virginia to turn to inexperienced backups and the Cavaliers prevailed on all three occasions.

"One of the things that happens is that the rest of the team plays better," said George Welsh, Virginia's head coach from 1982-2000. "The other guys pick up the slack."

The advantages that emergency UVa starters Scott Secules, Bobby Goodman and David Rivers had was that they were playing at home. Marc Verica, a redshirt sophomore, will make his first start at 7:30 tonight at the Connecticut Huskies' Rentschler Field.

"That makes it harder," Welsh said.

Verica was named starter Wednesday, at the same time that Virginia was announcing that sophomore Peter Lalich would not be making the trip.

Lalich started UVa's first two games, including a 16-0 victory over Richmond. That came two days after he was charged with violation of a probation stemming from a July citation for underage alcohol possession.

Lalich said in a Tuesday interview that he had not used drugs or smoked marijuana during his probation, but head coach Al Groh said Wednesday that he had not abided by the "standards and values" of the program.

Some old-timers find it reminiscent of the 1985 suspension of then-Cavaliers quarterback Don Majkowski. Majkowski was found to have violated curfew on the Thursday night before a Saturday game with North Carolina and was placed on one-game suspension.

Sophomore Scott Secules, who entered the game with eight career passing attempts, directed the Cavaliers to a 24-22 victory over the Tar Heels.

"Secules was very good," Welsh said, "but [tailback] Barry Word rushed for something like 190 yards that day."

Welsh was close. Word, the 1985 ACC player of the year, carried 33 times for 170 yards. Then, the next week, he missed his final college game as the result of an academic matter.

Welsh said that Majkowski, a junior in 1985, was never a problem again.

"I remember that [Jim] Dombrowski and some of the others came to me and asked, 'Can't we suspend him next week?' " Welsh said. "They said, 'He's had all the work this week. Why can't we take another approach? Make him run laps.' They made all sorts of arguments, but I had to do it."

The only time that Welsh ever started a quarterback who had never attempted a pass was in 1991, when Matt Blundin injured his elbow in UVa's season-opening, 17-6 loss at Maryland. Welsh was forced to go with Goodman, who had been on the kickoff team for the Cavaliers' high-powered 1990 team.

Welsh was also apprehensive about Virginia's opponent, but the Cavaliers beat Navy 17-10 on a day when they rushed for 302 yards as a team. Goodman became a full-time starter in 1992.

For sheer drama, nothing rivaled Rivers' performance in 1999 against seventh-ranked Georgia Tech. A redshirt junior from Augusta, Ga., Rivers had four career pass attempts before subbing for Dan Ellis, who had suffered a concussion against Florida State.

Rivers passed for 228 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-28 UVa victory. He never started again and transferred to Western Carolina.

"He had a great game," Welsh said. "It was the first time I was ever tempted to sit the starter down after [missing] one week. If it would have been two weeks, I would have given Rivers another chance, but I had a team rule like that."

Presumably, Lalich could return to the starting role Sept. 27 at Duke, provided he gets past a Sept. 26 hearing on the probation violation. UVa has an open date next Saturday, but Groh could be faced with a decision if Verica distinguishes himself against UConn.

"That's a little bit too much 'what if' for right now," Groh said. "But, it's pretty clear. If we were to go on a nine-game winning streak and then change quarterbacks, it would probably add to the impression that the coach is a dope."
 

UVa QB puzzle won't go away
Dave Fairbank
September 13, 2008

Until Al Groh and Peter Lalich pen their memoirs, we're unlikely to know the details that occurred between "Of course he's our quarterback" and "Just not today."

In the continuing saga of Virginia's most scrutinized footballer, there is one conclusion we can draw with some certainty: Lalich's circumstance, to borrow one of Groh's fallback words, changed drastically and rapidly.

Otherwise, how else did we get from a spirited defense of Lalich and full-on preparation for today's game against Connecticut to telling him to sit this one out and plugging in Plan B, all in a matter of hours?

Groh said as much Thursday during one of his regular chats with reporters, that "everything changes from a day-to-day basis."

He said there was no hidden agenda to Lalich's enforced sabbatical, that it wasn't tied to guilt or innocence or upcoming court dates. Groh did allow that the decision to sit him this week was an attempt to control the debate and move forward with the business of football.

"It's just as the whole thing has taken on legs," he said, "we decided to cut the legs off it."

Not to disappoint Chairman Al, but immediately after the decision, the Lalich situation was fitted for prosthetics and, last we checked, was running around like Oscar Pistorius.

This isn't going away any time soon. Not when the starting quarterback of an ACC program gets arrested and later admits that he violated the terms of his probation.

Not when there's a court date on the horizon, during the season while everyone is engaged. Not when the actions and judgments of the principals are in question, from the kid with the hype and the big arm to the coaches who hitched their wagon to him.

Unfair as it might be to persecute a 20-year-old athlete for the sort of behavior that thousands of college students practice in blissful anonymity, it's not as if the rules of engagement have changed.

The higher the profile, the greater the acclaim and the deeper the guano. It's the way of the world, and everyone knows it going in.

The Lalich conundrum has the Crossed Sabre crowd predictably aflame.

For one segment of the faithful, everything generates a referendum on Groh, who isn't as courtly or cuddly, or successful, as some would like. Any opportunity to de-pants him — in their minds, the Lalich affair qualifies — provides one more argument for change.

Conspiracy theorists see administrative fingerprints all over Lalich's game-day vacation — the action being so swift and sudden. Indeed, Lalich's father, Todd, told the Charlottesville Daily Progress that his understanding was that the decision came from "on high."

One deep thinker on Virginia's athletic message board, The Sabre, wondered if UVa president John Casteen stepped in as a favor to the football team at UConn, where he served as president from 1985-90. It's a demonstrably absurd theory, since everyone knows that Casteen's involvement with Cavaliers football consists exclusively of overpaying for the head coach.

Athletic director Craig Littlepage attempted to squash talk of administrative bigfooting. In an e-mail response to a fan, posted on The Sabre, he wrote that neither Casteen nor Vice President Leonard Sandridge "directed any action regarding Peter Lalich's status."

There's every reason to believe Littlepage, which brings us back to Groh. The succession of statements from last Saturday through Wednesday was jarring at first blush, though telling upon further review.

Following the Richmond game, Groh said there was no hesitation about playing Lalich, despite the legal cloud over his head, and that those who would judge the quarterback without all the facts should examine themselves.

Early this week, Groh talked about Lalich being the victim of tabloid journalism. He said that he was satisfied that the player had conducted himself well in the interim.

Then came Wednesday, when Groh issued the statement that Lalich would not accompany the team to Connecticut. He said that the team stood by Lalich, but the decision was in everybody's best interests, short-term.

Groh didn't retract his prior statements about premature judgment and tabloid journalism. Given that, as well as his remarks about day-to-day evaluations, it's reasonable to surmise that Lalich did or said something that fried his bacon when it was brought to his attention and all but forced him to act.

Perhaps Lalich wasn't appropriately contrite or humbled by this experience. Maybe he didn't convey the proper gratitude to Groh and teammates who publicly had his back as outsiders banged away.

Whatever the case, Groh indirectly justified Lalich's status by saying that the team would not compromise its values and standards just to win football games.

There are worse messages. No matter the circumstance.

 

Cavs get their first road test
By Jay Jenkins
Published: September 12, 2008

HARTFORD, Conn. — John Phillips remembers the moment vividly.

In the minutes that preceded Virginia’s road game last year at Middle Tennessee State, a Blue Raiders fan picked player after player to berate.

As a native of the state, former tight end Tom Santi was an easy target.

Former safety Jamaal Jackson also drew the creative fan’s wrath. Jackson had a uniform malfunction — the numerical sticker on his helmet was different than his jersey number.

“Are you No. 3 or No. 27? Maybe we should add them together and call you No. 31.”

Chris Long, Virginia’s defensive star last year, was also the brunt of a late-game joke when the Cavaliers found themselves trailing.

“Why the Long face, Chris?” the fan shouted.

Such is life on the road in college football.

Some of Virginia’s players will find that out for the first time tonight. The Cavaliers (1-1) play their first road game of the season at Connecticut (2-0) at 7:30 p.m. at cozy Rentschler Field.

The Huskies would love nothing more than to duplicate what they encountered in Charlottesville last year inside Scott Stadium for their guests from the ACC.

Inside Scott Stadium, which is not known as one of the louder venues in the league, UConn struggled with the soaring volume levels late in the game, forcing a pair of bad shotgun snaps.

UConn coach Randy Edsall drew chuckles during his weekly press conference when he challenged the Huskies’ fan base to duplicate Virginia’s trickery.

“We need to make sure that they fumble some snaps and get some procedure penalties because it was a tough environment going down there to Virginia last year,” Edsall said. “Our fans have been great, but this is one of those games where we need them to be as loud and crazy as they can be to keep our winning streak alive at home.”

UConn, which beat Temple last week in overtime, has won eight straight games at home by an average of 19 points.

Regardless of the outcome, Virginia should discover its team identity away from home. Last year, Virginia was 4-2 in road games, winning at North Carolina, Maryland, Miami and Middle Tennessee State. That came after the Cavaliers won just two total road games in 2005 and 2006.

“You learn about it at home. You learn about it away from home,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “There’s something to be learned every time the team plays.

“Clearly, we learned something about our team every time that we played last year well into the very end of the season. We would anticipate that we will learn that in this circumstance.”

Senior linebacker Clint Sintim, one of Virginia’s captains, said the youthful Cavaliers must buy into a certain mentality.

“I guess we just have that attitude, ‘Our house is anywhere inside the white lines.’ It doesn’t really matter where you play,” Sintim said. “It is the same field everywhere you go.

“To have that attitude that we can play anywhere would really benefit us and the younger guys that haven’t been [on the road].”

That may be drastically important for sophomore quarterback Marc Verica. On Wednesday, Groh announced that Verica would replace starting quarterback Pete Lalich, who did not accompany the team on the trip as he awaits a hearing on Sept. 26 in Charlottesville General District Court.

Verica has appeared in only one game, but did not attempt a pass. He will be backed up by senior Scott Deke, who could play, Groh said.

While Verica is more of a threat to run than Lalich, Edsall said the late announcement did not alter the Huskies’ prep work.

“When you read the things, they basically said all three quarterbacks really have a similar style,” Edsall said. “It’s not going to affect what we prepared for and what we practiced for.

“You go into every game studying some things on tape, but there’s going to be some things that will be ‘what if’ situations.”

 

UVa edges out W&M
By Whitey Reid
Published: September 12, 2008

Coming into Friday night’s game against William & Mary, the Virginia women’s soccer team had taken 128 shots and scored 16 goals through its first five games.

For the mathematically challenged, that translates to a 12.5-percent clip.

By comparison, UCLA — the top-ranked team in the country — had connected on nearly 19 percent of its shots this season.

Against William & Mary, No. 9 Virginia’s shooting efficiency (or lack thereof) was once again on display. The ninth-ranked Cavaliers scored on just two of their 18 shots. Fortunately, it didn’t come back to bite them as they squeaked out a 2-1 win in front of a crowd of 1,097 at Klockner Stadium.

“I think we definitely should have put them away,” said Virginia freshman Lauren Alwine, who had a hand in both of UVa’s goals, “but we didn’t.”

Virginia (5-0-1) dominated play in the first half, outshooting William & Mary, 12-1. UVa had several quality chances but couldn’t sneak one past Tribe goalie Meghan Walker.

“With the execution of a final pass here and there, I thought we could have had two or three in the first half,” Swanson agreed.

Instead, it was a scoreless game at the break. Finally, in the 46th minute, Alwine caught up with a long volley by Allie Fries and beat Walker with a perfectly angled, left-footed shot to the far right post.

“She played a great ball through and I just shot it,” Alwine said. “[Walker] got a piece of it. It wasn’t the best shot but it went in.”

Then, less than two minutes later, Alwine dribbled along the Tribe end line and slipped a perfect pass to Meghan Lenczyk in front of the net. The sophomore one-timed a shot past Walker for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.

Swanson said he wasn’t surprised by the nifty playmaking of Alwine.

“Lauren’s been one of our most dangerous players all through the season,” he said. “I can’t believe she hadn’t scored a goal until tonight. She’s created chances for herself and chances for others. She’s got a great presence and has done an exceptional job for us. I thought she was a difference-maker in a lot of ways.”

But in the 56th minute, William & Mary (2-3-1) pulled to 2-1, taking advantage of an over-aggressive Virginia offense. In transition, Krissy Vomadore blasted a shot from the left wing that deflected off a UVa defender and beat goalie Celeste Miles.

“I thought we had them right where we wanted in the second half,” Swanson said, “but instead of really putting the hammer down, we got caught once on a counter — but give them credit. It got them back in the game. I think we got a little panicked at that point and weren’t as sharp as we had been.”

Alwine said Virginia will learn from the game as it prepares to face Dartmouth on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the finale of the Nike Soccer Classic.

“Hopefully we can come out strong early this time,” she said, “and put them away.”

 

Latest on Division I-A signees: 2009 list could top 60 in Virginia
What about signs at Tech, UVa football games?
By Doug Doughty

One of the few promises I’ve made of late was to prepare a printable list of the roanoke.com preseason list of the state’s top 40 football prospects, so, before I set the cruise control for my trip to Connecticut, here it is.

The list originally appeared in the Aug. 15 edition of Notebook Plus, which was exactly four weeks ago, so you would think there might have been some commitments – even some decommitments – over that time.

Not so.

From all indications, there will be more Division I-A signees out of Virginia than ever, but there’s been a lull since mid-August, at which point 31 players off the top 40 had made oral commitments.

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised.

In 2007, Virginia Tech had 21 commitments as of Sept 17 and didn’t get another commitment until Nov. 24, when wide receiver Jarrett Boykin made up his mind.

Virginia, which had a smaller class, did not have a commitment between Aug. 18 (Buddy Ruff) and Oct. 9 (Jimmy Howell). Then, the Cavaliers’ next commitment was from Rod Wheeler on Dec. 12.

Almost nobody commits in September.

A Division I-A commitment that has not appeared in roanoke.com or The Roanoke Times was the pledge that Marshall received from James Rouse, a 6-foot-6, 213-pound defensive end from Harrisonburg High School.

The Rouse commitment took place in late July, although rivals.com had a story this week in which Rouse reiterated his commitment to the Thundering Herd.

Normally, a player is assured a spot in the top 40 if he has committed to Virginia Tech or UVa, but the Cavaliers have two recruits (LoVante’ Battle and LaRoy Reynolds) who did not make the roanoke.com preseason top 40 and the Hokies have one (Giles place-kicker Cody Journell).

That will be revisited before the final list that comes out in December, as will the position of Tech recruits Theron Norman and Duan Perez-Means at No. 27 and No. 33, respectively. If a player has offers from both Tech and UVa, as was the case with Hermitage teammates Norman and Perez-Means, that generally correlates to a spot in the final Top 25.

This year will be different. We already know that. Add Rouse, Battle, Reynolds and Journell to the 31 committed players on the preseason top 40 and that makes 35 Division I-A bound players.

Throw in the nine uncommitted players on the top 40, all of whom have I-A offers, and that puts the number at 44.

Wake Forest has taken commitments from two Virginians outside the top 40 (Matt Muncy and Mike Olson), Duke has one (Garrett Patterson), North Carolina has one (Curtis Campbell) and Louisville has one (Mike Privott).

That puts the number at 49 and there’s another group of players outside the top 40 who have Division I-A offers, including the likes of Brookville offensive lineman Devin Bolling, Western Branch “athlete” Javanti Sparrow, Ocean Lakes safety Shamarko Thomas, Centreville tight end Zach Glatter and Woodbridge offensive lineman Jay Weatherington.

That doesn’t include the fourth-year, high-school seniors playing on the postgrad teams at Hargrave and Fork Union Military Academy and you’re easily looking at 60 or more I-A signees from Virginia this year.