The Virginia Cavaliers will try to ward off Wake Forest when they return home to Scott Stadium tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. The football team looks to pick up where it left off two weeks ago after trouncing Western Michigan 56-14 on the road.
The game pits the minds of two Virginia alumni, Virginia coach Al Groh and Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe. Grobe, who started for the Cavaliers in the 1970s, is now in his third year as head coach for an improving Wake Forest team. In the last meeting between these two coaches, Groh's Cavaliers staged a 17-point come from behind victory on the arm of quarterback Matt Schaub.
Groh announced yesterday to the Washington Post that there is a "very good chance" that Schaub will play tomorrow, though he has not decided whether he or sophomore Marques Hagans will start. The Heisman hopeful Schaub injured his throwing shoulder in U.Va.'s opening game victory against Duke and has been forced to watch the last two games from the sidelines. Schaub did not return to practice until this week.
If Schaub is unable to start, Hagans likely will get the call for the second time this year. Last week, he directed the Cavaliers' victory against Western Michigan, passing for 162 yards and three touchdowns, and scampering for an additional 68 yards. Hagans backed-up Schaub last season at quarterback, but moved to wide receiver before the start of this season. He has adjusted well to his sudden position change.
"For the last game, we were really just trying to get him ready to play in the game," Groh said of Hagans. "He jumped on that very quickly. He was good from the first day."
The Cavaliers will need Hagans to be good again this weekend, but he likely won't have to do it all alone. His supporting cast includes sophomore tight end Heath Miller, who leads the team with 120 yards and 11 receptions. Tailback Wali Lundy will look to repeat his performance of two weeks ago, where he rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
Wake Forest (3-1) started the season solidly after beating Boston College and upsetting NC State to achieve its first top-25 ranking in 10 years. A loss to Purdue dropped them out of the rankings, but the Demon Deacons rebounded with a solid victory against in-state rival East Carolina last week.
In order to defeat Wake Forest, the Cavalier defense must stop the Deacon's arsenal of running backs led by Chris Barclay, Cornelius Briggs and true freshman D'Angelo Bryant. The three running backs have each averaged over 30 yards per game and will look to dominate a Virginia run defense that gives up 162 rushing yards a game.
"It's going to be a real deciding point for our defense to show that we can stop the run," sophomore defensive end Brennan Schmidt said. "They run the ball who knows how many times. It keeps you on your toes. They don't have a few set plays that you can look for; they have a bunch."
It's not only the rushing attack that the defense has to fear. Wake Forest is known as a team that throws many different formations at opponents.
"They give you everything," Groh said. "They give you a ton of formations. They run inside. They run outside. They run counters. They run reverses, and now they have a deep passing threat in [Jason] Anderson who's got the highest yards per catch of any receiver in this conference."
Virginia has won 18 out of the last 19 meetings with Wake Forest. Nonetheless, tomorrow's confrontation between two well-disciplined teams looking to climb back into the national ranking should make Scott Stadium rumble.
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