From here on out, the phrase "early-season tune up" is being officially retired. The preseason is over ?- it's time to bring on the ACC.
No. 23 Virginia (2-0) plays its first-ever game in the newly-created Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division Saturday, when Duke (1-2, 0-1 ACC) comes to town for Homecomings weekend.
Head coach Al Groh has never lost a Homecomings game, and he has never lost to Duke. But his team has looked anything but bulletproof early on this year -- just look at game footage from Western Michigan and Syracuse to see how Virginia has responded against teams it would have blown out in 2004.
Duke falls under that very category, but you won't catch even the slightest whiff of overconfidence from Groh's players.
"Historically, Duke has always given Virginia some trouble -- every year I've been here at least," senior inside linebacker Mark Miller said. "We have always given up some yardage to Duke that we haven't wanted to give up. They do a good job using trickery to get involved, so we're prepared for them to throw everything at us."
A recurring problem this season has popped up on pass defense. Both Western Michigan and Syracuse found success by repeatedly exploiting the five-yard cushion that Virginia's secondary concedes to opposing offenses ?- a cushion designed to defend against the deep ball.
The zone coverage has worked so far, but not only for Virginia. Western Michigan and Syracuse both designed their game plans to exploit its inherent weakness. While the deep ball has been absent -- a 32-yard pass in the opener is the longest single-pass play the Cavaliers have allowed -- the flip side of the strategy is that the Cavaliers get burned on short catch-and-runs.
All those harmless five-yard bootlegs have added up -- Virginia sits eighth in the ACC in passing defense, giving up an average of 221.5 passing yards per game.
Syracuse tight end Joe Kowalewski did a lot to add to that figure, pulling down seven catches for 96 yards in last week's home loss to Virginia. Miller promised an improvement against the Blue Devils.
"[Coverage on tight end rollouts] is a shared responsibility -- sometimes it's inside linebackers, and sometimes it's the safeties," Miller said. "The key to this game is to be sharper on how we do share that position and make sure it's covered."
As they search for an antidote to a small-ball offensive approach, Duke should be a nice respite for the Cavalier secondary. After three games, the Blue Devils are dead last in the ACC in passing offense. With junior quarterback Mike Schneider taking a majority of the snaps thus far, they have completed just 46.5 percent of their passes for an average of 92.3 yards per game in the air.
But don't expect Groh to recline in his chair and relax over that statistic.
"Our mentality is that no matter who we're playing, you'd better ready to prove yourself every week," Groh said. "Teams that don't have that mentality usually end up with an unpleasant result."
Almost every game Virginia plays from here on out will help determine who emerges from the Coastal Division to play in the first-ever conference title game in Jacksonville, Fla.
Bring on the ACC.
No. 23 Virginia (2-0) plays its first-ever game in the newly-created Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division Saturday, when Duke (1-2, 0-1 ACC) comes to town for Homecomings weekend.
Head coach Al Groh has never lost a Homecomings game, and he has never lost to Duke. But his team has looked anything but bulletproof early on this year -- just look at game footage from Western Michigan and Syracuse to see how Virginia has responded against teams it would have blown out in 2004.
Duke falls under that very category, but you won't catch even the slightest whiff of overconfidence from Groh's players.
"Historically, Duke has always given Virginia some trouble -- every year I've been here at least," senior inside linebacker Mark Miller said. "We have always given up some yardage to Duke that we haven't wanted to give up. They do a good job using trickery to get involved, so we're prepared for them to throw everything at us."
A recurring problem this season has popped up on pass defense. Both Western Michigan and Syracuse found success by repeatedly exploiting the five-yard cushion that Virginia's secondary concedes to opposing offenses ?- a cushion designed to defend against the deep ball.
The zone coverage has worked so far, but not only for Virginia. Western Michigan and Syracuse both designed their game plans to exploit its inherent weakness. While the deep ball has been absent -- a 32-yard pass in the opener is the longest single-pass play the Cavaliers have allowed -- the flip side of the strategy is that the Cavaliers get burned on short catch-and-runs.
All those harmless five-yard bootlegs have added up -- Virginia sits eighth in the ACC in passing defense, giving up an average of 221.5 passing yards per game.
Syracuse tight end Joe Kowalewski did a lot to add to that figure, pulling down seven catches for 96 yards in last week's home loss to Virginia. Miller promised an improvement against the Blue Devils.
"[Coverage on tight end rollouts] is a shared responsibility -- sometimes it's inside linebackers, and sometimes it's the safeties," Miller said. "The key to this game is to be sharper on how we do share that position and make sure it's covered."
As they search for an antidote to a small-ball offensive approach, Duke should be a nice respite for the Cavalier secondary. After three games, the Blue Devils are dead last in the ACC in passing offense. With junior quarterback Mike Schneider taking a majority of the snaps thus far, they have completed just 46.5 percent of their passes for an average of 92.3 yards per game in the air.
But don't expect Groh to recline in his chair and relax over that statistic.
"Our mentality is that no matter who we're playing, you'd better ready to prove yourself every week," Groh said. "Teams that don't have that mentality usually end up with an unpleasant result."
Almost every game Virginia plays from here on out will help determine who emerges from the Coastal Division to play in the first-ever conference title game in Jacksonville, Fla.
Bring on the ACC.
