When it comes to Virginia’s unsettled quarterback position in its new spread offense, embattled Cavaliers coach Al Groh doesn’t expect to pull a rabbit out of a hat. He’s not intentionally being secretive. Of the team’s three quarterback options, none could avoid producing multiple turnovers in last weekend’s disastrous home defeat to William & Mary. Or was it to Peter, Paul & Mary?
Doesn’t matter.
With No. 16 Texas Christian traveling to Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Groh may need to put together the best coaching job of his career to get the Cavaliers pointed in the right direction. According to Virginia media, if Groh doesn’t and the team, which faces one of the country’s most challenging schedules, gets off to a poor start, there are already rumors flying that UVa could pull a Clemson from a year ago and replace Groh with one of his assistants during a bye week.
(That would be Sept. 26 on calendar planners, for all the wanna-be Dabo Swinneys out there).
In past years, however, Groh has been superb in bringing back teams from slow starts. And it’s no secret the Cavaliers will need to get a much, much better performance from their offense, specifically at quarterback, to have any chance against the Horned Frogs in their season opener. TCU, relaxed and rested, finished last year ranked seventh and has been one of the nation’s most successful programs during the last decade.
“Until one [quarterback] steps up and establishes that this is the guy we should ride, which hasn’t been the case so far, we feel it will be necessary to use, whoever and how many are necessary to get the position to play well enough,” Groh said Wednesday during the ACC teleconference call.
“Clearly, as we searched throughout the game last week for the level of performance we needed … we really weren’t able to come up with enough.”
The Cavs used three different quarterbacks and had seven turnovers overall in their 26-14 defeat to Bill & Mary. Jameel Sewell threw two interceptions, converted defensive back Vic Hall fumbled twice and Marc Verica mixed it up with one of each. The trio combined to complete 18 of 33 passes for 137 yards with just one completion longer than 20 yards.
When asked if he had decided on a starter for the TCU game, Groh said no. But it was obvious he desperately wants one of the three to establish himself behind center. The Cavs had 268 total yards against the Tribe, converted just 5-of-17 third-downs and lost the possession of time battle by 10 minutes. UVa was in the shotgun formation on every snap of the contest, even a fourth-and-1 that was eventually a quarterback keeper.
“It’s not a secret. It’s based on performance by the players and which one seems to be more comfortable with the plan and who can execute the plays,” Groh said.
“We are not trying to pull any magic tricks or be secretive; we are just looking for executing. Until we find the consistent level of execution that we need, we will have to continue to search. We would like it to be otherwise, I am sure …
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