UVa defense offers some hope

Fans throughout Scott Stadium cringed in disgust as the football clanged off the hands of cornerback Chase Minnifield and bounced around the field.

With perfect execution, the play would have resulted in seven points for Virginia at a time when the offense was in dire need of help.

The same, of course, could have been said for an errant pass thrown towards the direction of linebacker Denzel Burrell.

It was a pair of plays that could have changed the outcome of a hapless affair with in-state foe William & Mary. It also summed up a night of missed opportunities in a 26-14 loss.

“Clearly those are lost opportunities,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “Those are lost opportunities to have an impact on how the game is going to turn out.

“Just as if we throw a pass into the end zone and a player drops it — that stands out to everybody. We had those opportunities to change the game with takeaways.”

It would have been easy for Groh, now “officially” the defensive coordinator, to applaud the effort of his defense after the Cavaliers’ offense lost the ball seven times. And the defense was, in fact, on the field for a majority of the game and held the Tribe to a touchdown and seven field goal attempts, of which they converted four.

“Now you can say the defense did a good job of coming in in difficult circumstances to keep it from being a touchdown and hold it to a field goal,” Groh said, “but in reality we had our opportunity to turn it into a zero [points] and on the other end we had an opportunity to turn it into seven.”

In all, Virginia allowed William & Mary to gain 309 yards of total offense and 15 first downs, three of which came off a penalty. Senior cornerback Chris Cook, playing his first game in a year, also came up with an interception.

Was the defensive-minded Groh “satisfied” with the end result?

“Satisfied is almost not existent, I would say, in most coaches’ mentality. Certainly satisfied is not a word I ever think or use,” Groh said. “But, I thought there were a lot of positives and clearly there were a lot of positives in what the defense did.”

Entering games that were played Monday, Virginia ranked No. 94 in total offense and No. 55 in total defense. The team’s top ranking nationally? The Cavaliers rank No. 31 in pass efficiency defense and sacks allowed.

Snapping snafu

With the move to the spread offense followed adjustments for Virginia center Jack Shields.

The Cavaliers (0-1) were in the shotgun formation on every snap of the contest, even a 4th-and-1 that was eventually a quarterback keeper.

It was far from a walk in the park — Shields fired a rocket that quarterback Jameel Sewell lost the handle on and snapped another that seemed to clank off his leg and resulted in a fumble.

“I think it’s pretty apparent that they are [an issue],” Groh said. “They had an impact on the game. They cost us one lost series because it created a 2nd-and-20. Could the ball have been caught? Yes.

“Should the ball have been in the bull’s eye? Absolutely. That’s the center’s job, put the ball in the bull’s eye. It’s only going five yards. You ought to be able to do it.”

Extra points …

Groh said that he did not anticipate significant changes on Virginia’s depth chart for the upcoming game. … Texas Christian, the Cavaliers’ opponent Saturday, has never played a game in the state of Virginia. … UVa is 12-17 against ranked teams under Groh. TCU is ranked No. 17 and likely to climb following the results of the opening weekend. … Virginia linebacker Steve Greer became the first freshman to register 10 tackles in a season opener since Antonio Appleby did the feat in 2005. … Fourteen rookies made their debuts against William & Mary. … It has been 26 years since the Cavaliers had back-to-back losing seasons. It is the 16th longest in the country.