If Virginia fans don’t have an exact grasp of how good the USC team that Virginia will face Saturday is, let Virginia coach Al Groh put it in simple words.
“They have clearly been in a league of their own during the decade of 2000 on,” he said.
Over the last six seasons, USC has won two national championships, three Rose Bowls, two Orange Bowls, six straight Pac-10 titles and 70 of 78 games, including a 44-6 record in Pac-10 play.
“This is the most talented college football team since when I had to do pre-draft work on the Florida State teams in the middle 90s – Warrick Dunn, Peter Warrick, Marvin Jones, [Andre] Wadsworth, Reinard Wilson, Samari [Rolle] – those guys,” Groh said. “This is the most talented college team that I’ve seen since then.”
It is a rare thing for Virginia to play a high-quality opponent to start the season. For USC, it’s been a standard occurrence during coach Pete Carroll’s time there. Carroll has gone on the road to start the season against BCS conference opponents Auburn in 2003, Virginia Tech in 2004 and Arkansas in 2006, and he looks forward to the challenge Saturday.
“Those games have always been really difficult challenges for us and really good ones for us to take on to start the season,” Carroll said. “The focus is there, the need to prepare beautifully to get ready for the opener is so obvious. [The Virginia game] is one of those opportunities for us.”
It should be noted, however, that in the games against Auburn, Virginia Tech and Arkansas, USC won by an average score of 32-9, which Carroll has not forgotten.
“It means a lot to us that we know how to go on the road; we know how to play difficult opponents; we know how to play in front of big crowds,” Carroll said.
One difference between the Cavaliers and other opponents USC has faced to start the season, however, is that Carroll and Groh have a history of coaching against each other. Carroll was an assistant at N.C. State from 1981-82, while Groh was head coach at Wake Forest. Additionally, Carroll and Groh coached against each other twice a year from 1997-99 when Carroll was head coach of the New England Patriots and Groh was the linebackers coach for the New York Jets. Carroll noted the similarities of Groh’s Virginia team to Groh’s approach with the Jets.
“The style of play is familiar to me because of the 3-4 stuff that he coached up with Bill [Parcells] over the years in the NFL,” Carroll said. “The offensive stuff is very NFL-oriented and the style of play and the things that they choose to do.”
As of Wednesday night, USC was a 20-point favorite on the vegas.com spread, but that doesn’t mean Carroll will take Virginia lightly. USC does have a history of losing in shocking upsets, such as to Stanford in 2007, Oregon State and UCLA in 2006, and California in 2003.
The Virginia coaching staff “plugs in players really well to do the things that [the coaching staff] wants to do,” Carroll said. “We’ve got our hands full taking care of these guys. It’s going to be hard.”
USC will face off against Virginia with junior Mark Sanchez starting at quarterback. Virginia’s quarterback isn’t as certain, but Carroll has an expectation of who the starter will be.
“We saw more of Peter Lalich last year so we’re kind of thinking, ‘That’s the guy,’ because we have to watch him on film,” Carroll said. “But I know they’re holding it kind of close to the vest, so we’ll wait and see what happens on the field.”
All of the Cavalier fans are excited to see what happens against one of the best programs in the nation — Virginia Athletics officials expect Scott Stadium to be at full capacity — and Virginia’s football players are up for the challenge.
“Why not play one of the better teams?” Virginia senior linebacker Clint Sintim said. “To know where your program is at, you’ve got to play one of the better teams.”
USC certainly qualifies as that.
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