CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -When Virginia and No. 16 TCU meet on Saturday, the Horned Frogs would love to demonstrate for the Cavaliers what their offense could look like.
Playing its first game of the season, TCU long ago mastered the spread offense that Virginia is just learning, and the attack has allowed its defense to be pretty stout, too.
“They get it, they keep it, they don’t turn it over,” Virginia coach Al Groh gushed about the Horned Frogs this week. “And that enables them to put together long drives, keep the ball and then they have been real good at the turnover deal, taking the ball away, and then when they take it away and they’ve got it, they don’t give it back again for a long time.”
had seven turnovers that led to 19 points, gained just 268 yards and could have lost by more if not for two close calls.
Mary had two receivers get behind the secondary, but overthrew them both.
The performance highlighted for TCU coach Gary Patterson how precarious openers can be.
“We need to try to minimize our mistakes,” he said.
It was, to quarterback Marc Verica and the rest of the team, a disappointing start to the season. It left each player wondering what he could have done to make it better.
It also was the kind of start the Cavaliers have grown accustomed to; Virginia has lost its first game in the past four seasons, and rebounded with a victory the first three times.
“There’s a lot of guys on this team who have seen the highs and have seen the lowest of lows,” Verica said. “That past experience is something you can rely on in a situation like this. This isn’t the first time we’ve been in this circumstance where the first game didn’t go as well as we had hoped, and we really only had each other. Everyone was against us.
“So this situation is no different.”
But in so many ways, it’s very different.
Groh said this week that he’s having to remind himself to be patient as his team learns the new offense, which new coordinator Gregg Brandon brought along from Bowling Green.
as none of the three in the mix – Vic Hall, Jameel Sewell and Verica – have yet to distinguish themselves. A hip injury to Hall could complicate things further, since he’s listed as doubtful to play.
Patterson, though, sees Virginia more as a dangerous team waiting to hit its stride.
“Looking at their personnel, all the way down to their snapper, they don’t have a real weakness,” Patterson said. “We know they are a good program and a good football team.”
But nothing, at least on paper, compared to his Horned Frogs, who finished last season ranked seventh in the Top 25 and have star quality on both sides of the line.
Defensive end Jerry Hughes is on the list for every major defensive award for which he’s eligible and leads a defense that finished No. 1 in the nation in yards allowed last season.
Hughes led the country with 15 sacks in 2008 and even had two interceptions, but while Patterson said he’s “bigger, faster and a better football player than a year ago,” he also noted to he doesn’t have the same supporting cast and will likely draw more attention.
On offense, Andy Dalton seems the ideal quarterback for the offense. He threw for 11 touchdowns, all in the last six games, and ran for eight more last season as TCU went 11-2.
The junior has also already been the MVP of two bowl games, and Patterson hopes he can bring that big game mentality to Scott Stadium, where TCU has never before played.
“We have to find a way to hate somebody for three hours,” Patterson said.
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