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TheSabre.com
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After struggling on offense for the first two weeks of the season, the Virginia football team dialed up some changes for its road trip to Southern Miss on Saturday. The moves helped jumpstart the offense to the tune of 34 points - the fifth highest total points for the Hoos since the start of the 2006 season. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers still fell 37-34 to the Golden Eagles.
Jimmy Laycock and his staff deserve a great deal of credit for a game plan that maximized his team's strengths and minimized its weaknesses. Virginia, on the other hand, didn't do a very good job at all with the plan or the execution. Check out the "Stock Report" for what's trending up, what's trending down, and Greg's Game Grades.
The news about Dave Leitao's departure has set off the usual firestorm of speculation among Virginia fans. Who is UVa likely targeting? Who would accept the job? The first step in picking a coach, in my opinion, is picking a program model from three S's. Successful, similar, and sustainable. What model is out there already for Virginia? I point to Pittsburgh.
The Virginia men's basketball team has struggled in ACC play the last two seasons, compiling an 8-23 record entering Saturday's regular season finale with Maryland. Clearly when a program goes through such a stretch, there are plenty of things to dissect as target areas for improvement. Some are subtle and go unnoticed from the fanbase. Others are easier to spot and draw more attention - a lot more - from the fans.
Enter inbounds plays. Try not to groan Cavalier fans. The Sabre takes a look at some of the inbounds plays in this edition of ChalkTalk.
When Virginia's Sylven Landesberg converted a tough lay-up with 1:34 to go in the first half against Florida State, the fans at the John Paul Jones Arena responded with a loud and somewhat sarcastic cheer Saturday. The reason? It was just the second field goal of the game for UVa, which finished the half with three made baskets and 16 points. It was a bad half for Dave Leitao's squad. Just one of those days. Or was it?
With about 15 minutes remaining in Thursday night's game, a concession salesman walked up the aisle at the John Paul Jones Arena and shouted 'For $5 you can see what's in box one.' In other words, take a chance and see what you get. For Virginia, that's what its offense looked like for much of the night against a North Carolina team that rolled to an 83-61 win.
When a basketball team is floundering around a .500 record, many things raise the ire of fans. In Virginia's case this season, the struggles on offense frequently have been in the crosshairs. Simply put, the Hoos are not very consistent on offense, often going minutes at a time not only without scoring but also without producing any high quality opportunities.
Why? What happens when the Cavaliers' version of a motion offense isn't working?
TheSabre.com continues its review and analysis of the 2008 season with a look at the more analytical based part of the breakdown. In Greg's Stock Report for the season, we look at the end of year grades for each unit, the superlatives for the season, and the 2008 trend report. In reviewing the 2008 Cavalier football season, there were several situational or operational trends in particular that had a significant impact on wins and losses. The Sabre delves into some of the more interesting trends, including the biggest impact factor on wins and losses for 2008.
It's become a constant refrain in recent weeks; the Virginia defense played well enough to win but the offense could not execute when it counted to deliver a victory. After a 2007 season where Virginia made the key plays to win the close games, setting a record for the most wins in NCAA history by two points or fewer, the tables turned on the Cavaliers this fall, losing two of their final four games by a touchdown or less including one in overtime. The most recent loss, concluded with a game-tying field goal attempt in Virginia's sight. A field goal Virginia never attempted.
While the 17-14 loss to the Hokies wasn't exactly the defensive stalemate it was predicted to be, Virginia's defense made its mark on the outcome of the game, for better or worse. The game was not ultimately as close as the box score would indicate as Virginia Tech's offense ultimately dictated the outcome - the Hokies dominated the time of possession by holding the ball for 35:33 and tallying 24 first downs. But as porous as UVa's defense looked at times, it just as convincingly held the Hokies in their tracks at others.
Both Virginia Tech and Virginia enter this contest with a lot in common. Special teams play has been inconsistent for both clubs. The respective defenses have been solid. The two offenses? Not very pretty. The winner of Saturday's contest will be determined by which offense executes and avoids turnovers. If you're looking for a 48-38 shootout, you might find Steel Magnolias more thrilling because this one will be ugly.
On a day when the Virginia defense played well enough to win, the Cavalier offense and special teams failed to live up to the performance of the defense. But on a day where no operation made enough plays, the effort of the defense was not sufficient as is failed to produce a sack since the season opener against Southern California, failed to make stops in critical situations, and was unsuccessful at forcing a game-changing play that clearly the offense or special teams was not going to deliver.
Virginia senior linebacker Clint Sintim had a very respectable game on Saturday as he finished with 6 tackles against the Tigers. While Sintim did not record a sack, he did find his way into the backfield on numerous occasions to force Clemson's Cullen Harper to move his plans from the pocket to elsewhere. Of course, he also drew a 15-yard personal foul penalty as well.
But one play that impressed me probably didn't draw much attention from anyone else. After all, it was just one of 68 total offensive plays for Clemson. Just one random play of rushing the passer.
Entering the 2008-09 season, expectations aren't high for the Virginia men's basketball team. The Hoos have been pegged to finish 12th in the ACC. Most pundits would be surprised if they found their way into a postseason event like the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. After all, last year's Cavaliers only managed a spot in the CBI and lost their best individual player in Sean Singletary.
About midway through the third quarter of Saturday's game in Winston-Salem, amid the jeers of "fire this guy" and the frustrations of hundreds of disgruntled Wahoo fans sitting around us, my 5-year-old son came up with maybe the best cheer of the day. Raising his little fists in the air he shouted, "Do something better! Do something better!" From the mouth of babes comes so much truth. The fact is the Cavaliers did little right against Wake Forest and the grades and outcome are simply further proof of that truth.
An average performance from the offense and defense produced average grades and a below average outcome. As we come down the stretch, there are several disturbing trends that hopefully were more a result of a superb Miami defense and not habitual problems. What trends? In order to make a run at the ACC title game, Virginia will need to perform better on first down, sustain drives, find a way to stop late game scoring drives by the opposition, and figure out how to stop the run more effectively.
During Virginia's disappointing 24-17 loss to Miami, there were several near misses that have created a lot of 'what if' feelings for the Cavaliers. One group that didn't have a 'what might have been' day, however, was the punt coverage unit led by true freshman Jimmy Howell. Howell recorded 7 punts for 299 total yards, an average 42.7 yards per punt. That included a career-long 58-yarder.
After a disappointing 24-17 overtime loss against Miami on Saturday, Virginia coach Al Groh noted that the Cavaliers had several chances to pick up another win but "it was kind of like sand in our hand; we had it but we couldn't wrap our hands around it". Groh wasn't directly referring to turnovers in that statement, but he could have been. After all, two uncharacteristic fumbles somehow slipped out of Hoo hands and ended any chance of pulling off another late-game win.
Miami leads the ACC in scoring offense by averaging 32.0 points on average in league play. They are 38th nationally in scoring offense (30.5 points per game) as well. But is it because they're really good or because their defense and special teams make scoring a lot easier? Read on to find out.
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