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Al Groh and the Cavs will try to put a loss in the opener behind them as Richmond comes to town this weekend. |
On last week’s call-in show, the “Voice of the Hoos” Dave Koehn made many references to the anticipation and excitement that was building for the showdown between the Cavs and the mighty Trojans of USC. After the 52-7 loss handed out by the football powerhouse, the only bit of anticipation we as fans had remaining was to see what coach Al Groh had to say about his team’s performance. Coach Groh was given that opportunity on this week’s call-in show.
To start off the show, Koehn alluded to the fact that in going into the game, we all knew that USC was good. However, he wanted to know if Coach Groh knew they were “that good.” Groh answered by saying that he knew they were going to be “every bit of that good.” He referenced their Rose Bowl victory a year ago and the fact that they were the only team in the country to go to six straight BCS games. He said the disappointing part of that equation was how poorly his team played and that everybody associated with the team should be held accountable including himself.
Koehn then asked “what was the most impressive element … that USC brought to the table?” Groh responded: “That’s easy, talent. They’re a national all-star team.” Koehn then wanted to know what coach “takes from a game like this?” Groh said that it’s pretty much what he takes away from every loss, that they’re disappointed in the loss and are going to try to do better the next time. Groh then said that the team’s philosophy in approaching the game was the same as USC’s. He said they aimed to use the pass to open up the run. Obviously, USC was able to execute that plan better than they did. Koehn and Groh then went on to praise the turnout and the intensity of the crowd, at least at the beginning, before moving on to take phone calls.
Brad from Richmond was the first caller of the evening. Brad noted that there were obviously a lot of negatives in the game. However, he wanted Groh to comment on the positives, most notably the play of Byron Glaspy. Groh said Byron was both “positive about his performance and very upset about it” at the same time. He explained that Glaspy was in on a lot of plays and very well prepared for the game but was the first one to recognize that he missed an assignment on the long TD pass to Stephon Johnson. Groh praised him because he was in Groh’s office the next morning apologizing and holding himself accountable for that very play. He also praised Vic Hall and Cedric Peerman for their play even though Cedric’s numbers might not indicate how well of a game he had.
As happened last week, a couple of callers were disconnected. Koehn took the opportunity to talk about the starter for UVa at quarterback. He asked Groh if after all the hype of who was going to open the game, was Lalich the starter all along? Groh said “that’s why they started him in the game.” He said that we could still see the other two at any time, however they wanted to throw Peter out there and let him go the whole game to see “if that’s our guy.” Groh felt “Pete kept his poise throughout” the game even in facing pressure from the USC defense and moved well in the pocket. He said that Peter needs to understand that the quarterback is “judged on the entirety of the game and not just what throws he’s able to make.” He was alluding to the turnovers that Pete was involved in.
Whitey from Charlottesville wanted to know what Coach Groh was expecting from Mike London this weekend. London, obviously, worked as UVa’s defensive coordinator last season. Groh chuckled and said “we love Mike, he’s one of our all-time favorites.” He said that they (Groh and London) are both thinking the same thing right now. That is, they both want to make each other miserable this Saturday then wish each other well the rest of the year.
Dave from Richmond commented on USC’s team speed and wondered if anybody in the ACC had speed to match up with USC. Groh agreed with him and said USC was “the best looking, physically, college football team he had ever seen in terms of size, speed, and athletic ability.”
Next up was the Advance Auto Scouting Report which focused on this week’s match-up with Richmond. Koehn continued the theme of familiarity between Richmond’s coaches and the UVa football program and asked Groh if he changes anything up scheme-wise because of it. Groh said really the only thing that gets changed are the signals that are sent to the players. He talked about the coaches with former ties to UVa. Those coaches are Mike London, and three former UVa graduate assistants, Bill Polin, Vincent Brown, and Byron Thweatt. Thweatt is also a former player at Virginia. Koehn also talked about Richmond being a veteran team with 16 starters returning to a team ranked No. 4 in the nation in Division I-AA. Groh called them a “very good team” and said “you don’t get to the national semifinals without being good.”
The most intriguing question of the night came from a caller named Mark from the Eastern Shore. Mark seemed to want to make a point but was very methodical in how he asked his question. Mark commented on Groh’s vision of ACC and National Championships when he took over the helm. He then asked if Groh was disappointed in the fact – after being in the program for now his eighth year – that we still have such a disparity between our program and that of USC. Groh paused and said “he really hasn’t taken the time for an introspective look at that.” He also said that it’s “almost difficult for any program” to look at themselves comparatively to USC.
With the exception of a few miniscule comments and questions, that was mostly the gist of the whole show. So like Groh and the whole production team of the UVa football radio program, we as fans try to forget the results of last Saturday and turn our attention to Scott Stadium this Saturday at 3:45 p.m. That is when the Cavaliers face the Richmond Spiders, a team that could pose a challenge to the Wahoos.
