With its 2001 schedule as one of the most demanding in school history - Sports Illustrated ranked it No. 33 in the nation - the Virginia football team will face fierce battles on the playing field this season.
But the biggest battle that will take place this season won't be between the Cavaliers and an opponent. Instead, it will be between sophomore quarterbacks Matt Schaub and Bryson Spinner, who will be vying for the starting job after the departure of Dan Ellis.
"Obviously, I want to start," Spinner said. "I want to be the quarterback. Matt wants to be the quarterback. There's definitely competition going on."
Even though Schaub started on Saturday in the 26-17 loss at Wisconsin, and Spinner took over midway through the second quarter, the starting job has not yet been set in stone. Virginia coach Al Groh, Schaub and Spinner will be the first ones to admit that both quarterbacks play at similar levels and that it will take at least a few games to tell who will start for good. In fact, Groh waited until just four days before the Cavaliers' season opener against the Badgers to make a decision on who would start for that game.
"These are two good players," Groh said. "What it's about is which one can get his team in the end zone the most.... That's all a quarterback is, and the only way to find out is when the end zone is the goal."
Spinner, who played in five games last year and started three when Ellis suffered an injury, is the more experienced quarterback of the two. At 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds, he completed 39-of-83 passes for 589 yards and a touchdown in 2000 and also rushed for 93 yards, including a 61-yard scramble against N.C. State, the longest run by a Virginia quarterback since 1964. On Saturday Spinner was 10-for-22 for 154 yards and had two touchdowns.
Schaub saw limiting playing time in four games last season, completing 13-of-18 passes for 97 yards. The 6-5, 226-pound Schaub was 3-for-10 for 24 yards and was intercepted twice on Saturday.
Although the media has portrayed the two players as having contradictory styles - Schaub as a classic drop-back quarterback and Spinner as a modern mobile one - both insist that their playing styles are more similar than most people think.
"We're both even, we both play at the same level, and we think alike," Schaub said. "There isn't much difference between us. The types that people give us aren't a reality. They're just stereotypes. [Spinner] can throw just as well as he can run, and I can run just as well as I can throw."
Even though competition to become Virginia's leader on the field is high, Schaub and Spinner are good friends off the field. Both agree that their friendship and joint efforts can only help each of them.
"It's friendly competition, and it's not like we have any animosity towards each other," Spinner said. "We help each other out, we push and motivate each other, and it's going to make each one of us that much more better. I know he's not going to back down, and I'm not going to back down, so there's no room for slacking off."
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