After sneaking away with its first victory of the season, the Virginia football program has found itself amidst a quarterback controversy. Senior Christian Olsen led the Cavaliers in their opener against Pittsburgh and for more than half the game against Wyoming, before yielding to junior Kevin McCabe, who led Virginia to an overtime victory.
"We just weren't scoring points," Olsen said. "A quarterback's job is to get his team into the end zone. Twice we got the ball into the red zone and all we got were field goals. So, that wasn't good enough."
The mid-game replacement of Olsen has put Virginia coach Al Groh in a unique position. The Cavaliers have not had a quarterback quarrel since 2002, when sophomore Matt Schaub took the job from freshman Marques Hagans. As the sole leader of the offense, the quarterback must have a personal relationship with the offense for every play to be effective. It is the one position where a team rarely benefits from having multiple players with equal ability.
With Groh unlikely to make an announcement, it seems probable no one will know who has been given the starting nod until the offense takes the field Saturday.
"I'm not really concerned with naming a quarterback for the public," Groh said. "If someone gains an edge in practice, that will be part of the decision."
That leaves both McCabe and Olsen preparing to start Saturday, with disappointment looming for one of them.
"I just have to be ready to go when they call my name," McCabe said.
McCabe was eight for 13 against Wyoming with 85 yards and threw the game winning touchdown pass. While McCabe has played well, he still lacks serious game experience.
However, Olsen's game experience is not much better. Against Wyoming, Olsen displayed a lackluster performance, completing 12 of 21 passes for only 89 yards. Against Pittsburgh, he was 17 for 34 for 113 yards and no touchdowns.
"Obviously, I was upset to come out of the game," Olsen said. "But I realized that the coaches had to do what they thought was best for our team to get the win. [McCabe] got a chance to go in there and make some plays, and he did a real good job."
But Olsen was already tapped as the offensive captain and has been on top of the depth chart since last spring.
Given that the team is only two games into the season, it is impossible to tell how players will perform for the rest of the season.
"It'd be pretty difficult to say anyone has performed a whole lot better or a whole lot worse than anybody else," Groh said.
While Groh evaluates talent and weighs the heavy decisions, his players wait anxiously.
"[Olsen] and I have always had a good relationship," McCabe said. "We're going to do what is best for the team. It's going to be tough, but at the same time, we've talked about it and we're still friends. We're both in it to get a 'W,' helping out in any capacity."
Meanwhile, Groh is still attempting to downplay the hype that has arisen around the story.
"The public is not going to choose the quarterback," he said. "You guys can have all of your little internet polls that you want, it doesn't really make a difference what the polls say. That's not the way you choose a quarterback."
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