Akron Preview: The Breakdown

Overview

Virginia moved up three spots to No. 12 in this week’s Associated Press poll after pounding North Carolina, 56-24, in its ACC opener. The ‘Hoos have used an aggressive style of defense, great plays in the return game and a physical, power running game to post victories of 30 and 32 points.

Akron coach J.D. Brookhart spent the past seven years at Pittsburgh, including the final four as offensive coordinator. His last game as an assistant coach with the Panthers came against Virginia in the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl. UVa defeated Pittsburgh, 23-16, so Brookhart is no stranger to the Cavaliers.

The Zips have begun the season 0-2 with losses to Penn State (48-10) and Middle Tennessee State (31-24).

Not only is a new coaching staff in place, along with new offensive and defensive schemes, but much of the offensive production has departed from last season’s 7-5 squad. Brookhart and offensive coordinator Jim Pry needed to replace over 80 percent of the receiving production and over 60 percent of the rushing production from a year ago. Six starters, however, do return from last year’s offense, including star quarterback Charlie Frye.

Brookhart and defensive coordinator Jim Fleming will use a 4-3 base scheme but try to give the Cavaliers different looks. The defense returns six starters, including three of its top four tacklers from last season, and will lean on some veterans.

The Akron Offense

As Virginia fans saw with Matt Schaub, having a big, heady, experienced quarterback on your team can be a wonderful thing. The Zips have that commodity in All-American candidate Charlie Frye, who ranks third on the NCAA active career total yards list (9,516) and fourth on the active career passing yards list (9,048). Frye is also ranked third nationally among active quarterbacks in career completion percentage at 64.4.

Entering the season, Frye held 49 school records and was the top-ranked player nationally in total offense (319.8 yards per game) among returning players and seventh among returnees in passing efficiency (148.6 rating). After two weeks of action, Frye ranks sixth in total offense (327.5 ypg) and has completed 75 percent of his passes.

At tailback, Brett Biggs has clearly taken the reign from projected starter Jerrel Riggs and is not likely to release it any time soon. He’s a good north-south runner and can break tackles. The problem is he and Frye virtually have to do it all for Akron and Biggs may tire late in games. He has 105 rushing yards on the season, 64 receiving yards and 89 yards on kick returns.

The Zips’ number one fullback over the past three seasons is Dan Basch. The senior has played in both the two-back and one-back sets during his career. Basch is a solid blocker who is a threat in the passing game and also plays on several special teams units.

One of the biggest questions heading into the season was how the receiving corps would perform. Akron entered the fall without its top three receivers from a year ago, all of whom had completed their eligibility. It appears the Zips may have found some replacements.

Domenik Hixon and Jason Montgomery both posted their first career 100-yard receiving games vs. Middle Tennessee State. Hixon, a converted defensive back, hauled in seven passes for 116 yards, while Montgomery grabbed 10 for 118. On the season the pair has combined for 29 catches for 328 yards. Another top performer at wideout is also the number two man on the quarterback depth chart in freshman Jabari Arthur. Four of Arthur’s five receptions last Saturday went for first downs.

Hixon, Montgomery and Arthur rank first, second and third in the MAC in receptions per game. Hixon (87.5) and Montgomery (76.5) are also the top two in receiving yards per game in the conferencel. Senior Morris Ellington is also in the mix with five receptions for 38 yards.

One area where the Akron staff felt they had some strength and experience was in their offensive line. This unit entered the season with four returning starters, but so far it has been inconsistent and often ineffective. The Virginia defensive front will not make modifying that trend very easy.

The line is anchored by center Jim Borrieci. The senior was named to the Rimington Award preseason watch list. The award honors the nation’s top center. He was rated 20th nationally among centers by The Sporting News and has made 24 consecutive starts.

To the left of Borrieci is senior left guard Aaron Conley. Conley was a preseason first-team All-MAC choice by Athlon, Lindy’s and The Sporting News. He has started a team-high 35 consecutive games, tops among offensive linemen in the MAC. At right guard, two-year starter Mike Piccirillo has made 24 consecutive starts and joins Borrieci and Conley in starting each game on the offensive line over the last two seasons.

Tim Crouch started 11 games at left tackle as a redshirt freshman last year and returns to the top of the depth chart at that position. Mike Grzeskowiak replaces two-year starter Jud Cummins at the other tackle spot.

Dennis Basch is started the opening game at tight end, but Kris Kasparek made his first career start against Middle Tennessee State and logged his first career reception, hauling in a 40-yard screen pass.

The Akron Defense

The Zip defense has been poor at best over the first two games and doesn’t figure to get any better since defensive line standout Chase Blackburn will likely miss the Virginia game with an injury. Senior Doug Sutton is expected to replace Blackburn at defensive end. Opposite Sutton, senior Dwayne LeFall has started 27 career games for the Zips and leads the team in tackles for loss (2) while posting a sack and six tackles on the year. LeFall was a preseason All-MAC candidate whose 6.5 sacks in 2003 rank second among returning players in the conference.

Jermaine Reid won the starting job at defensive tackle in camp after appearing in eight games last season. A sophomore, Reid redshirted in 2002. Serving alongside Reid on the Akron interior line is junior Kiki Gonzalez, who will make his fourth career start Saturday.

The linebackers are the strength of the Akron defense. They are led by senior John Fuller, an Ohio native who ranks ninth in the MAC with 10 tackles per game. A mainstay in the secondary over the past three seasons, Fuller moved to weakside linebacker in the spring. Like LeFall, Fuller has 27 career starts and has played in 35 games for the Zips.

Fellow backer Diontre Earl is tied for 15th in the league at 8.5 stops per contest. An All-MAC candidate, Earl has posted 17 tackles from his middle linebacker position. He is solid in run support and has started 26 consecutive games at linebacker.

Canadian and junior-college transfer Cam Yeow has recorded six tackles this season and will start at the strong side linebacker position.

The clear weakness of the Zip defense is an inexperienced secondary. The defensive coaches shuffled the deck this spring as change was the order of business. However, many of the adjustments were out of necessity due to the loss of three starters from a year ago.

Appropriately named for the position he plays, cornerback Reggie Corner won the starting job in the fall after a successful spring camp. The sophomore has posted nine tackles in 2004. Following a solid 2003 season as a reserve cornerback and strong spring campaign, Dionte Henry vaulted into the other starting cornerback slot. He served as the third cornerback last season. Henry joined Dennis Basch and Jason Giachetti as the only true freshmen to see game action last season. Henry has posted nine stops on the season.

Over the last two seasons, Dion Elie has played as a reserve safety and special teams standout in all 24 games. This will be the junior’s first season as the starter and he’s off to an excellent start with 15 tackles on the season. Redshirt freshman Chevin Pace was a first-team all-state selection as a senior and first-team All-Dade County choice in 2002 at Miami Central High School in Florida. He won the starting job in fall camp and has 10 tackles in two games.

The Akron Special Teams

Junior place-kicker Jason Swiger was named to the Lou Groza Award preseason watch list in August. A second-team all-MAC performer in 2003, Swiger connected on 14 of 20 field-goal attempts and 49 of 50 PATs. A walk-on, Swiger was been tabbed preseason first-team All-MAC by Lindy’s, Street and Smith, and the Sporting News. In two games this season Swiger is 2 for 4 on field-goal attempts and perfect on four PATs.

Billy Sullivan is back as Akron’s punter after averaging 42.2 yards in 2003. He dropped 13 of his 41 kicks inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. So far this season he is averaging 40.3 yards per punt.

A breakout performance by Biggs last Saturday did not go unnoticed. He was named MAC East Division Special Teams Player of the Week after rolling up 201 all-purpose yards against Middle Tennessee State. That included 78 yards on three kickoff returns. His average of 26 yards was a marked improvement from the opening week at Penn State when the Zips averaged just 12 yards on three kickoff returns

Domenik Hixon handles the punt-returning chores.

Akron Offense vs. Virginia Defense

Frye accounted for 68 percent of the Zips’ offense (3,837 of 5,643 total yards) in 2003. He threw for 22 touchdowns and rushed for seven more, accounting for 58 percent of the Zips’ offensive TD production. Against Penn State, Frye was responsible for 81 percent of the offense when he threw for 223 yards and rushed for another 17. He handled 83 percent of the load vs. Middle Tennessee State with 415 of the 502 yards of total offense. It’s pretty simple what Virginia must do. Find a way to contain Charlie Frye, something they could not do two years ago in Charlottesville.

Akron is a passing team that in many ways resembles the Matt Schaub-led offenses at Virginia, at least schematically. Against Penn State, not a single one of Frye’s completions went farther than 15 yards and only four went more than 10. This is an efficiency-based offense with a very accurate passer under center.

Look for multiple looks in passing situations and expect the ‘Hoos to show a ton of nickel. The front line will be asked to shut down the Akron running game while the linebackers alternate between well-timed and well-disguised blitzes and dropping back into coverage zones.

The safeties will not be required to offer a great deal of run support and will look to help in pass coverage to try and limit the single coverage exposure by the cornerbacks.

When Virginia does blitz, look for second down to be a common choice, especially in second and 6-15 yards to go. The Zips have a 4/15 pass-to-run ratio on this down and distance.

The new offensive scheme may make Frye a little easier to get to than a year ago. Under Pry, the new offensive coordinator, the Zips have become more of a dropback passing team and are relying less on the sprint-out option they’ve utilized over the last few seasons. Clearly Frye will be a little easier to find if he stays in one place.

I wouldn’t look for a lot of razzle-dazzle from the Zips either. One, it’s a good possibility a disciplined Virginia defense will not be “dazzled” and the Cavs simply have the speed to recover if by chance they are. Second, why waste your trick plays in a non-conference game that will probably not work and be displayed in a losing effort?

Virginia Offense vs. Akron Defense

The ‘Hoos enter this week’s contest averaging 50.0 points per game. They rank 12th nationally in total offense, averaging 526.5 yards per game, and sixth in scoring offense.
The Virginia running game ranks 10th nationally with an average of 291.5 yards. Eleven of the Cavaliers’ 14 touchdowns this season have been rushing scores. That doesn’t bode well for an Akron defense that in the first five quarters of the season allowed 644 yards of total offense and allowed opponents to covert on eight of 10 attempts in the red zone.

If you like teams that air it out, you might want to visit the concession stand when Virginia has the ball. In Akron’s season opener, 13 of Penn State’s 40 carries went for 10 yards or more and 24 of its runs went for five-yards plus. Virginia’s offensive line and backs are better than Penn State’s. Expect a heavy dose of Lundy, Pearman, Snelling, Johnson and Isaiah on Saturday. And bring me back one of those Super Dogs, please, because I like watching power football.

The Edge

Quarterbacks – Akron

Running Backs – Virginia

Wide Receivers – Even

Tight Ends – Virginia

Offensive Line – Virginia

Defensive Line – Virginia

Linebackers – Virginia

Secondary – Virginia

Special Teams – Virginia

Stone-Cold Lock Prediction

This one will be ugly. If the game gets ugly early (which it will), it will be interesting to see just how long Brookhart goes with his starters considering his team has a game against a MAC divisional rival next Thursday. The Zips are not going to win. This is a payday for Akron, nothing more.

There is a swagger and a confidence with this Virginia football team unlike anything I’ve seen since the early ’90s. The ‘Hoos expect to win and they expect to dominate inferior opponents. Akron is an inferior opponent. Expect domination.

Virginia – 51 (if Groh calls off the dogs by the middle of the third quarter)

Akron – 10

John’s take: It’s easy to forget that Charlie Frye and the Zips really made Virginia sweat two years ago at Scott Stadium. The Cavs led just 34-29 midway through the fourth quarter before tacking on two touchdowns to win by 19. The final score was deceptive. Frye threw for 336 yards and also ran for two touchdowns as Akron outgained UVa, 495-414. If not for touchdowns on a blocked punt and an interception return, it could have been an embarrassing homecoming result for the Wahoos.

So will this homecoming rematch be any different? Short answer: Yes.

Frye, now a senior, is back and may be the best quarterback in the country. But he doesn’t have the supporting cast he had in 2002. Some of Akron’s skill-position players are decent, but the line is mediocre and the defense is atrocious. Frye also won’t be facing the same Virginia defense. No way will Akron gain anywhere close to 500 yards Saturday. UVa’s front seven is too good. The Cavalier secondary will get tested after a poor outing last week in which they looked susceptible to a vertical passing game. But the Zips don’t go vertical. They are a short-passing team that will have trouble dinking all the way downfield without making mistakes. I except three turnovers, maybe even a defensive touchdown for the Cavs.

Offensively, there is no reason to think Virginia won’t dominate on the ground, just as it did in the first two games. Akron is completely overmatched up front. If the Zips decide to crowd the line of scrimmage, look for big days from Marques Hagans, Heath Miller and Deyon Williams . Don’t look for a busy day from Sean Johnson. There probably won’t be much punting.

Heavy rain also figures to be an advantage for the Cavs, as if they need it. Virginia has never been upset by a MAC team in seven outings. That won’t change. As a conference, the MAC has been underrated in the past, but it stinks this season. Just look at Western Michigan, which lost 63-0 to the Hokies last week. I’m tempted to pick a similar score for Saturday’s game, but Frye is too good for that.

John’s prediction: Virginia 63, Akron 13

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