My colleague Mr. Crane is right -- February is such a tease. Pitchers and catchers will soon report to spring training, but the baseball season is still two months away. College basketball's schedule is heating up, but the conference tournaments and March Madness are still a month away. The Super Bowl is now over, leaving only the abominable Pro Bowl to remind us of professional football. As a quick aside, I must say how happy I am that New England again proved that, though our states are small, our heart is large.
Monday's announcement of Virginia's 2004 football schedule may not have grabbed front page headlines, but the combination of the schedule and today's recruit signings only leave us salivating for more from General Groh and Co. With 'Hooville lying mostly dormant despite tonight's battle with Maryland (a game in which our slim NCAA tournament hopes might rest in the balance), I've been having trouble getting my typical sports fix. So the best option available to me is to stare at our new football schedule, imagining an assortment of possible outcomes.
I love it. I love our new schedule. To the point of jealousy from the girlfriend. It meshes the right mix of difficulty (to appease the BCS), bye weeks (to prepare for big games) and home dates with exciting opponents. I selfishly want it all for my fourth year, and the football staff nearly delivered, save a disappointing single home game in the month of October (though a Thursday night home game against Clemson might be worth it).
What may be most important to note about the schedule is its soft beginning. I can't imagine Virginia's first-ever meeting with Temple being a challenging opener, even if it is held in Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field. The Owls, by the way, went 1-11 a year ago.
The road match with Temple segways nicely into a three-game home stand against North Carolina, Akron and Syracuse. The Cavaliers have defeated the Tar Heels for the past two seasons and dismissed the Zips, 48-29, two years ago. Even the perennially strong Orangemen are coming off a disappointing 6-6 season.
What does this all mean? Confidence. I'll save you Groh's recurring sermon about confidence, but that's what Virginia will need for its young quarterback next season. No one knows who will be at the helm, and if someone does know, they don't want you to know that they know. Ya know?
We are left to speculate whether it will be junior Marques Hagans, transfer Chris Olsen or the darkhorse, redshirt freshman Kevin McCabe. The smart money's on either Hagans or Olsen, leading me heretofore to refer to our two-headed quarterbacking monster as "Marchris."
With the emergence of the running game (196 yards in Tire Bowl II) and the defense last season, there won't be much pressure on Marchris to take control of the offense and put up large numbers immediately. The soft start to the schedule with its three home games ought to put the Cavaliers at 4-0 entering the middle stretch of the season.
A well-timed bye week and Thursday game ought to give Marchris and the Cavaliers plenty of time to prepare for a tough two-game set against Clemson and Florida State. Even the Thursday kickoff with the Tigers gives Virginia two precious days of additional preparation for the team's most challenging game at Tallahassee.
Though Duke has improved, a road contest with the Blue Devils ought to be a throwaway win before entering a second bye week and the killer four-game finale to the schedule that includes home contests with Maryland and new ACC foe Miami before road bouts at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. Optimistically, we can win three of those games. Realistically, maybe only two. But suppose I only predict two wins in the final four games -- that still leaves Virginia with a 9-3 record (counting a loss at Florida State). All three of those losses would be in-conference, which would mean another year of missing an automatic BCS berth but would finally crack Virginia into a Gator or Peach Bowl. A few loose balls or tipped passes going the Cavaliers' way might be all they need to finish even higher.
With Valentine's Day approaching, it's only appropriate that I've found a new love in my life -- the 2004 Virginia football season. Pitchers and catchers reporting to spring break should not be overlooked, but now I have both Virginia football and Red Sox baseball to occupy my mind with glorious fantasies during the deceptively long sports void of February.
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