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Cedric Peerman and the Cavaliers will face Miami’s speedy defense Saturday. |
The Cavaliers have made the climb from the cellar of the ACC to No. 1 in the Coastal Division in just four weeks. Riding high on their four-game win streak, a win against Miami this weekend would put the Hoos in excellent position to make a run at the conference title and would make them bowl eligible.
But, no Cavalier, including head coach Al Groh, is looking past any one on the schedule, including Miami this weekend.
“We might not win another game, we might win them all. I can see where every one of them’s going to be hard to win and I can see where every one of them, we’ve got a chance. I think the players see that too,” Groh said.
Despite the fact that the Cavaliers shellacked the Hurricanes last season 48-0 in the last game in the Orange Bowl, no one is expecting victory to come easily. Last season, perennial contender Miami was still adjusting to new head coach Randy Shannon as Groh pointed out to reporters Tuesday.
“I think that transition year can be very tricky in terms of a coach having all the players fully on board with exactly how he wants to do it. It’s always going to be different from before even if the coach was part of the previous staff,” Groh said. “Sometimes there’s resistance, sometimes there’s no resistance, it’s just not complete buy-in. … It’s probably a case where the team belongs to him to a much greater percentage that would most often be the case in just the second year.”
While Miami has had a year to adjust to its new coach, one thing that hasn’t changed is its blazing speed, especially on defense. This is one benefit of playing young, raw talent, Groh said.
“It’s a big difference,” he said of the differences between last year’s Miami squad and this season. “That’s what these young players have brought in. What they lack in terms of polish, they’ve got in terms of raw speed.”
Miami’s speed on defense is certainly nothing new. This season the Hurricane’s rank fourth in the ACC and 15th nationally in total defense, holding opposing offenses to 283 yards per game. Peerman said that the speed of the defense presents a whole set of new challenges to the offense.
“Blocking speed is probably one of the most difficult things to do,” Peerman said. “It’s going to be a tremendous challenge for our offense to block those guys. We’re just going to have to be very in-tune and practice what’s going on. The scout team has to give us a really great jobs of getting us looks and we just have to work together and we have to be able to get the looks and be prepared for the speed.”
If the Cavaliers are able to slow down Miami’s speed and earn a victory, they may also earn a spot in the national rankings, something that has thus far proved elusive. Virginia still finds itself unranked and looking up at ranked Maryland and UNC teams (both lost to UVa). While he insists he doesn’t employ the rankings to rally his team, which has continually been seen as an underdog this season, Groh admitted he didn’t know how the voters reasoned it.
“We keep on,” Groh said of not being ranked again this week. “We do what we have to do a few more weeks. Whatever we deserve will be forthcoming. … It does kind of make you wonder about the rational thinking behind those things.”
Sintim’s Steady Development
Since the beginning of his career at UVa, linebacker Clint Sintim has come a long way, Groh told reporters Tuesday.
“Last year was a very good year for him obviously,” Groh said. “But when Clint was first here, it was all about flashes of ability and even when he got to play early as a redshirt freshman, it was about flashes of ability but now he’s very, very, very zoned in on his performance. … Right now, he’s right up there with the best of what we’ve had.”
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Clint Sintim leads the ACC with 1.19 sacks per game this season. |
Sintim has followed nicely in the pass-rushing footsteps of another Virginia great, Chris Long , Groh said. And it’s more than just being around Chris during his career, Groh said.
“Not only being around Chris, but being around the whole family, Howie, Diane, Chris, Little Howie, Kyle, it’s definitely had a very positive impact on him,” he said.
Sintim’s 1.19 sacks per game ranks him fifth nationally and first in the ACC. One reason for his production, Groh said, is the amount of preparation the senior does on his own, for the next game.
“Monday’s our day off,” Groh said. “He’s in there every Monday for a couple of hours on his own watching tape on the upcoming team, wanting to get a head start on it. … He has a professionals’ take on how to get ready for games without being a so-called professional.”
Groh’s investment in Sintim’s development goes back to his years of experience at the position that has lead to a deeper relationship than head coaches often have with individual players.
“Because of the particular position he plays and the amount of years that I’ve spent involved with the position, I’ve had the opportunity to have more day to day and nuts and bolts work with him at the position than if he was playing say wide receiver or offensive tackle or something like that,” Groh said. “We spend a lot of time together during the course of his career.”
Offensive Line Continues to Improve
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Eugene Monroe continues to anchor a quickly improving offensive line. |
At the beginning of this season, it certainly looked like the offensive line might be one of the biggest areas of concern with three new starting interior linemen. Through its first four games, Virginia was only averaging 66.0 rushing yards per game and 2.5 yards per carry. The numbers got especially rough in the red zone, having only scored 3 rushing touchdowns in the early going.
The last four games, however, are a different story. The offensive line began creating better holes for the running backs and that by extension has opened the passing game. After the last four games, the Cavaliers are now averaging 106.4 rushing yards per game with 11 rushing TDs on the season.
The rapid development of the offensive line was termed a “big huge leap” by Groh on Tuesday
“Fortunately really every one of the five has, even those who played well at the beginning like Eugene [Monroe], every one of the five is playing better than he did in the beginning and collectively as a group they are playing much more cohesively together,” Groh said.
Viewing the line’s development up close each week, Peerman agreed, pointing to the leadership of Will Barker and Monroe.
“The offensive line is improving each and every week doing really good things out there,” Peerman said. “We have three guys in the middle that are starting their first season so they are starting to gel. Our guys on the outside, Monroe and Barker are really leading those guys and helping us out tremendously.”
Hall Succeeds in Many Roles
Junior defensive back Vic Hall’s fourth-quarter game-clinching interception against Georgia Tech Saturday is further evidence of his progression as a player, Groh said.
“Vic is very confident in his game,” Groh said. “He is one of the players who prepares the very most diligently for games and as his skills have developed and his understanding of what’s going on on the other side and how to fit every coverage on it, he’s become just that much more assertive in situations.”
It wasn’t just his interception that earned Groh’s notice Saturday, but also his effort on punt returns.
“Inspirational returns,” Groh said of the runs. “He battled out 10, 11 yards every time. … Kind of ran the ball with the same mentality that Cedric runs his runs.”
In his time at Virginia, Hall has worn many hats for the Cavs. His roles have included cornerback, punt and kickoff return and coverage, punt returner, and holder.
In all of those roles, Hall is able to rely on his speed, a quality that Groh says he can really see in practice.
“He’s got good speed,” Groh said. “I make note of it during the week when we’re doing punt return work. When he’s got room to just get out and run straight ahead for a period of time, he really runs well.”
Depth Chart Notes
This week’s depth chart only shows minor changes with most as a result of injury.
- Darren Childs and Antonio Appleby remain listed as “or” at ILB but swap their positioning, with Childs taking the top spot.
- At Nose Tackle, Nate Collins is now listed as an “or” with Nick Jenkins . Collins is now listed first
- Yannick Reyering resumes his PK duties this week with Robert Randolph no longer listed as an alternate but as a back-up.
- On kickoffs, Reyering takes a backseat to Chris Hinkebein who is listed first.
Double Trouble at Quarterback for Miami
Clint Sintim and the Hoos’ defense will most likely have two different targets behind center Saturday as the Hurricanes’ offense features both Robert Marve and Jacory Harris at quarterback.
Both players are inexperienced – Harris is a true freshman while Marve is a redshirt freshman – but despite that, both have been able to produce in the passing game. Harris has thrown for five TDs while Marve has tossed seven.
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Byron Glaspy and the Hoos’ secondary will have to adjust quickly to Miami’s dual quarterbacks. |
According to Groh, the two quarterbacks actually have a very similar style and don’t alter the scheme of the offense too much.
“They’re both very athletic players, they are very effective outside the pocket and as a result, Miami conducts its game the same with both of them,” Groh said. “Harris played two and a half quarters of the Duke game and so we had plenty of continuous plays to see of him and everything looked to be much the same.”
Fun With Numbers
- The Cavaliers have won 15 of their last
17 homecoming games. - Virginia’s schedule was rated the 2nd toughest in the nation (1st in the ACC) in this week’s Sagarin ratings.
- This is only the 6th meeting between the Cavaliers and the Canes all-time; Virginia has won 2 of the 6 contests.
- In last season’s 48-0 victory over Miami, Virginia outgained the Hurricanes 418-189.
- Last weekend’s victory over then No. 18 Georgia Tech was the Cavaliers’ first road win over a ranked team since beating No. 19 Clemson in 2001.
Worth Quoting
“It was kind of like a blur, I felt like I had a pretty good grip on it. I have some very small hands. I knew that the ball was going to come out as soon as it hit the pylon. I thought I had held onto it long enough so it wouldn’t be a fumble.” – Cedric Peerman on his game-winning touchdown against GT.
