Wahoo Wire

A few weeks ago, I had a friend of mine who is currently a senior at the College of William & Mary bet one of my UVa friends $50 that the Tribe would defeat the Cavs in Saturday’s upcoming season opener. Either he wasn’t very conscientious of his spending habits, or he actually thought William & Mary should be favored to win. And why wouldn’t he? It was only two years ago when UVa committed seven turnovers in an absolutely pathetic 24-16 loss to the Tribe.

UVa comes into this season with a good deal of depth and veteran leadership, as well as one of the top-ranked freshman recruiting classes in the nation. However, the depth chart at the quarterback position has only been recently elucidated after an offseason in which all four quarterbacks on the roster were listed as interchangeable.

This summer’s training camp was dominated by a four-way battle for the starting quarterback job between incoming freshman David Watford, sophmore Michael Rocco, sophmore Ross Metheny, and redshirt freshman Michael Strauss. It was only this past Monday, however, that Coach London announced that Michael Rocco would be the starter.

As a fan, you have to hope that Coach London will have learned from Coach Groh’s abysmal handling of the quarterback position in 2009’s disastrous season-opening loss to William & Mary. Coach Groh seemingly played a new quarterback every series, with Vic Hall, Marc Verica and Jameel Sewell all rotating. A quarterback cannot function if he is fearful that one mistake will get him pulled, and Rocco has to know that despite the three capable quarterbacks behind him, London will have faith in him no matter what.

As for the 2009 debacle, which was UVa’s first ever loss to a DI-AA program, several current Cavaliers have assured the fans that they will not take William & Mary lightly. Senior cornerback Chase Minnifield has come out and said that back in 2009, “We kind of was like, ‘Okay that’s William & Mary,’ and we didn’t know much about William & Mary. We just knew it was a lesser school.” This time around, Minnifield has promised that the Cavs will “take this team as if it’s a regular game.”

The Tribe of William & Mary, while not the most formidable opponent on the Cavs 2011 schedule, should not be overlooked. Many preseason polls have the Tribe ranked as the No. 1 division 1-AA team in the nation. They return 13 starters from a team that last year was the No. 2 seed in the D1-AA tournament and that won the CAA title.

William & Mary have legitimate playmakers on their team, especially on the offensive side of the ball. They return senior quarterback Mike Paulus and last year’s CAA offensive player of the year in RB Jonathan Grimes.

The biggest key to a UVa victory on Saturday will be for the Cavs to establish the run early and often. Rocco is a very inexperienced passer, and setting up a gashing running attack will help him get comfortable and acclimated to the game atmosphere. UVa’s offensive line is one of its biggest strengths, as it returns four starters from last year’s line, including 6”6, 335-pound sophomore right tackle Morgan Moses. The line should easily create wide running lanes for junior tailback Perry Jones, and with the W&M defense forced to respect the run, Rocco should have many more looks through the air.

If the Hoos harbor legitimate thoughts of bowl eligibility this season, then Saturday’s contest is a must-win. Look for the Hoos to treat it as such and come out with a victory in their home opener.