Cavs' offensive outburst welcomed

Last week we wrote that the eyes of Wahoo Nation would be on new Virginia offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, who would attempt to breathe life into a unit that had been one of the nation’s most stagnant offenses over the past four years.

Well, Wahoo Nation liked what it saw, and so did Lazor.

The Cavaliers piled up 488 yards of total offense in an easy win over Richmond. We thought that yardage was the most in at least a couple of seasons, but discovered upon a little research last night that UVa had more than 500 yards of offense against Indiana last season. Still, the 488 has been somehwat of a rarity in recent seasons around Charlottesville.

Virginia’s offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, quarterback Marc Verica played a turnover-free and intelligent game, and — surprisingly to most — wide-body running back Keith Payne bulldozed through a worn down Spiders defense with ease. Impressive, yes, but don’t get carried away just yet.

Richmond played like a team that will finish sixth in its own conference, living up to preseason expectations. This Spiders team could struggle and so could Virginia.

It may be until October, when the Cavaliers play three straight ACC opponents, before we know what this Virginia team is really all about. It’s one of those cases where the Cavs aren’t as good as they appear against UR and VMI and perhaps not as bad as they could look at USC this weekend. Probably somewhere in between is more realistic, but still a team that this columnist believes will struggle to win more than four games.

The two biggest question marks coming into the season in my mind were: Which Marc Verica were we going to get at quarterback? And would the offensive line be better than last year’s?

So far, Verica more resembles the good memories we had of him in 2007 than the bad ones. So far, the O-line looks better. Again, we caution, it was only Richmond, and not the same Richmond team that has played in three consecutive NCAA playoffs.

What did Lazor like about Verica? Did the QB play exactly how UVa needed him to play?

“It wasn’t exact, that’s while we’ll be able to coach him tomorrow to get better,” Lazor said. “The things that Marc did really well, were that he was poised, the ran the offense in the huddle, he ran the offense at the line of scrimmage, he seemed very much in control of any situations we had to deal with on the sidelilne.”

Verica clicked with Lazor immediately. The young quarterback has had great respect for the new coordinator’s football knowledge from Day One. They communicate well, they both appreciate the attention to detail each share, even on something as simple as a quarterback sneak.

When Lazor was asked how important in the grand scheme of things it was for Verica to have a solid start on opening night, Lazor said we’d have to ask Verica, and we did.

“I don’t know [Verica’s] past as much,” Lazor said. “It was important, I think, for him to prove that what he did in training camp, the success he’s had in practice, could work in a game. I feel good about his first game in this system and I have no reason to believe that he won’t just keep getting better.”

Verica is one of those guys who has put the “student” back into student-athlete. He’s an economics major and has a hunger for knowledge. He has absorbed Lazor’s system. Now, he’s trying to perfect it.

“I’m not going to lie,” Verica said. “I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you that I really wanted to have a good outing — not just for myself, but for my teammates, my coaches and my family. Everybody has high expectations of me. I have high expectations for myself, too. That’s the hardest thing. You don’t want to let those people down.”

Verica knew that if Virginia was going to get off to a good start and accomplish its first major goal of winning the season home opener, then it would be a matter of him playing well, and he did.

He was 25 of 35 for 283 yards, one TD, completed a 51-yard pass to what appeared to be an improved Kris Burd, and perhaps the biggest thing in every Wahoo fans’ mind was that Verica didn’t turn the ball over a single time.

That’s something to build on.