UVA Week 3 Review: We Found a QB, Now Anyone Out There to Help Him?
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by user BigPPup
On Thursday night the Virginia Cavaliers traveled down to Atlanta to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Hoos are coming off one of the most embarrassing losses in Cavalier history, while the Rambling Wreck have been on fire since an early lost to Notre Dame. Something had to give, and it would not be the Yellow Jackets defense.
Early in the week, Al Groh admitted that the future is now, and agreed to start red shirt freshmen Jameel Sewell. Sewell came into the game during the second half of the Western Michigan game and provide a bit of a spark for the stagnant offense. On Thursday he would get his first start against a defensive unit that is ranked in the top 25 nationally in every major defensive category. Needless to say Sewell was being tossed to the lions.
In his first start Sewell put up some decent numbers for a wide eyed young player. He carried the ball 8 times for 32 yards. Once again he showed good decision making in when to stay in the pocket and buy time to make a pass, and when to use his athletic ability to get out and down field to gain some yards. Sewell struggled a bit in the passing, game going 15-31 for 115 yards 2 picks and 1 TD. However, those numbers could have been a lot better if Sewell had gotten any help from his receivers. The Cavalier wide outs dropped at least eight passes, including two TD passes. These were all passes that were all catchable passes from Sewell.
As a whole the UVA offense struggled once again. The Rambling Wreck held the Hoo’s to 166 yards total offense. More importantly the Cavaliers were held to 51 yards on the ground. This is unacceptable. Groh mentioned on several occasion he desire to help Sewell as much as possible in his first start. One thing that will help the young QB would be an efficient rushing attack. Just enough to take the pressure off of him, and give him the option to run some play action passes. Sewell is a threat with his feet, if they Cavaliers can run some play action it will provide him the opportunity to roll out and make plays with his feet and his arm. Also a viable running game will allow the Cav’s to avoid 3rd and long, thus allowing Sewell to convert manageable plays rather than asking him to save the world.
Jason Snelling is a serviceable back, but he is a fullback by trade (even if it is a west coast system full back). Sadly he is the best tailback on the UVA roster and that is why he is getting his number called so often in the backfield. Michel Johnson may be the biggest disappointment in UVA history. During Thursday’s game, UVA was down 24-7 early in the fourth quarter and they had the ball moving down field deep in Ga. Tech territory. Then came Michel Johnson for his game breaking speed; he fumbled, and the ball was turned over to the Yellow Jackets. That’s the story of Johnson’s career. Tons of athletic potential incapable of performing the little task required to be a feature back. Cedric Peerman is the third back used in the Cavalier system. He had a few good carries as freshmen, however in his sophomore year; he does not have the size or the speed to be a reliable back. Thus Virginia has three RB’s who cannot manage to do the job of one. Sewell may just be the best RB in the backfield as well as QB.
The other problem with the Virginia offense has been the repeated phrase “They are a young bunch who is inexperienced.” Yes, that is very true, this is a young team and it is a rebuilding year. However, it was a young team in 2001, and 2002. Those teams played with pride and played hard every game. Also those were talented recruits. UVA is no longer finding the Elton Browns and Heath Miller’s of the world. Also the players they have in the system now are no longer young. That is a terrible excuse. Fitzgerald is second year player and he has put forth the best performance of any Cavalier this season. Youth cannot be used as a crutch for mediocre play it’s unacceptable.
The bright spot from Thursdays game was the 4th and 9 converted for a touchdown by the Hoo’s. Even if the game was out of hand by that point it meant a lot for UVA to throw for a TD and get some respect. More importantly it was the type of gutsy play call that Coach Groh used to make when he first came to UVA. At the beginning of his tenure Groh was a risk taker, and became infamous for his gimmick plays to free up his talented players. In more recent years he has dumped those plays from his playbook opting to play it safe much of the time. The result is a vanilla playbook that has become too predictable.
Going for it on fourth down proved that Groh still has some of that daredevil spark to him; however he has to learn to trust his young QB. Perhaps the most disturbing part of Thursday’s game was not the lost but Coach Groh’s tone during his press conference. Groh seems less than happy with the play of his young QB; placing blame on him for missing out on passes and not showing arm accuracy. This is disappointing because Sewell played a good game, but his receivers left him out to dry, yet Coach Groh did not address that. It is obvious that Groh is still hesitant about having Sewell being his starting QB. Yet, he is stuck with him and he is by fart the best option for the Hoos.
After Thursday nights lost the Cavaliers have dropped to 1-3 on the season, and they are just getting ready for the hard part. Next week they are on the road at Duke (no longer a give me game). Then it’s off to Maryland and UNC for two games that could easily go either way. The Cavaliers must pick up wins during the early part of October because the last three week of the season they run the gauntlet facing off against FSU, Miami and Va Tech. Wins will be at a preimium at these venues. If Coach Groh wants to avoid complete disaster and a possible firing he needs to win these next 3-4 games in a row. Cavalier fans will live with a 5-6 or 6-7 season,even if they are unhappy. Anything worse than 1 under .500 and Groh will feel the torch of the hot seat.
Date
Fri 09/22/06, 9:02 am EST
