Last weekend, Brigham Young suffered a 29-3 defeat in Jacksonville at the hands of defending national champs Florida State. Tomorrow BYU makes the trek back to the East Coast to take on Virginia at 3:30 p.m. in the dedication game of the expanded Scott Stadium.
For BYU, Charlottesville is the next stop on an exhaustive cross-country road trip that also includes a jaunt to Syracuse later this month. The Cougars (0-1) will log 10,874 frequent flier miles this season.
But don't expect the Cavaliers to serve as a much-needed respite in what is both their 2000 opener and dedication game for the new $86 million Carl Smith Center. Last year, Virginia emerged victorious in a 45-40 shootout in Utah.
The Cavs said they are confident about a repeat performance tomorrow. Senior Ahmad Hawkins, who will line up on the other side of the ball this season as he switches from wide receiver to cornerback, said the Cavalier defense is ready for the task at hand against Brigham Young's pass-happy offense.
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"I feel we are prepared to go get the quarterback," Hawkins said. "I'm sure BYU has worked hard, but we can't worry about what they have been doing. I have faith in our front seven."
Hawkins and the rest of the Cavalier secondary will likely be tested early and often. Boasting an impressive list of former quarterbacks, Brigham Young is well known for its potent passing attack, though it may be less potent this year under developing sophomore signal caller Bret Engemann. Engemann was 12 for 28 in his starting debut last week against the Seminoles. Junior Charlie Peterson also should see time as the Cougars sort out their unsettled quarterback situation.
Though both teams may be somewhat untested at certain positions, their coaches certainly are not. Tomorrow's game truly will be a clash of college coaching titans, with BYU's LaVell Edwards and Virginia's George Welsh sitting at seventh and 27th respectively on the NCAA's all-time wins list.
Edwards, however, won't be pacing the Cougar sidelines for much longer, having announced his retirement effective at the conclusion of this season.
Welsh said he expects Edwards to expand his offensive game plan against his Cavaliers tomorrow.
"I think that BYU is going to be more spread out and do a lot more things against us [than they did last week]," Welsh said. "BYU is a better team than they looked there for a while. They did a good job in the second half."
Sophomore strong safety Shernard Newby agreed that BYU's performance against the 'Noles likely was not indicative of their full potential.
"It was their first game of the season, so they're going to have first-game jitters," Newby said. "We're not going to take them lightly."
Senior defensive back Tim Spruill said he sees the home opener as an opportunity for the Cavaliers to silence some of their critics.
"We really want to put all the doubters aside," Spruill said. "This is going to be very important for us to come together"
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