Unless you've been hiding under a basaltic igneous rock, stranded on some remote island off the coast of Costa Rica the past few weeks, you're probably familiar with the 50 Cent/Kanye West album-release challenge. Kanye West and 50 Cent, both giants in the rap industry, have planned to drop their albums on the same day, Sept. 11, and use record sales to crown the true "Rap Titan." This huge publicity stunt, rooted in excessively hyped-up release dates, has become an event in and of itself, better known as the "Clash of the Titans."
Reviewing Saturday's exhaustively hot home opener, it occurred to me that the Duke/Virginia game was in a way a clash event of its own -- a clash for the title of 'Most Full of Potential Despite the Odds.' Virginia's seventh consecutive win against Duke this weekend (marking the 600th win in Virginia football history), along with Duke's enduring three-year losing streak should be proof enough that the title goes to ... the Wahoos!
Virginia showed significant progress Saturday on the offensive side of the ball. Poised and accurate, freshman quarterback Peter Lalich completed 13 of 18 passes for a total of 131 yards and a touchdown. In last week's season opener against Wyoming, sophomore quarterback Jameel Sewell was 11 of 23 for 87 yards. And while the Cowboys contained the entire Virginia team to 100 yards last week, Cedric Peerman racked up 137 yards alone this past Saturday.
Nevertheless, creases remain for Virginia to iron out. In particular, special-teams errors, bad snaps, fumbles and blocked kicks are definitely key points to address. These mistakes kept Duke in the game when its own offense wasn't.
The question is: How will the Cavaliers resolve these issues before Saturday when the team travels to Chapel Hill, N.C. for an ACC contest against UNC (1-1, 0-0 ACC).
The Tar Heels will undoubtedly bring their "A" game, seeking revenge after their upset this weekend by East Carolina. This could spell trouble for a Virginia team notorious for below-par play away from Scott Stadium.
According to Lalich, the first true freshman quarterback to have an impact on the Virginia offense since Bryan Shumock in 1978, road games are no different than home games.
"Our house is between the white lines," Lalich said.
We, as the Cavalier faithful, must understand this is a house drawn up from plans with high goals, founded on determination and structured to overcome adversity. This is the house that coach Al Groh has built.
Virginia's long list of returning starters certainly works in its favor -- 18 to be exact (eight on offense and 10 on defense), along with both kicking specialists. The last Virginia squad to boast this record-high number of starters won the school's first ACC Championship in 1989. This season, Virginia's combination of seasoned veterans with fresh talent has the potential to achieve the same success, but simply scoring lots of touchdowns won't do it. Neither will simply preventing opponents from scoring. Virginia's success ultimately depends on the effectiveness of both its offense and defense: The two must work together. Defense may win championships, but only with an effective offense will the team make it there.
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