For the first time in the 122 seasons of Virginia football, the Cavaliers venture west to the Golden State to square off tomorrow against perennial BCS championship contender No. 16 Southern California (1-0).
Virginia (1-0) will enter the City of Angels to face Lane Kiffin's team after last weekend's strong showing in its season-opener against Richmond. Offensively, the Cavaliers relied on a steady balance of run and pass to rack up nearly 500 yards of total offense in the 34-13 victory. Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball, the Cavaliers only allowed the Spiders to convert on 5-of-15 third-down attempts and held Richmond to a mere 189 yards through the air.
Despite having an impressive outing against a talented FCS opponent, the Cavaliers know that the Trojans will be a whole different animal.
"It's a program that has won 11 national championships," coach Mike London said. "You see athleticism from everybody. Even the water boy is athletic and fast."
Many members of the Virginia squad are familiar with the Trojans' talent and speed on the gridiron. Twenty-two current Cavaliers played in the last meeting between the two teams in 2008, when USC dismantled Virginia in front of a record-breaking crowd of 64,947 at Scott Stadium.
If the Cavaliers hope to avoid another embarrassing loss like the 52-7 rout in 2008, senior quarterback Marc Verica needs to have a career day against a USC defense that surrendered 588 yards and 36 points to Hawaii last week. Verica - who completed 24-of-35 passes for 283 yards against Richmond - should have his best chance to exploit the defense's weaknesses downfield against a relatively young and inexperienced Trojan secondary.
Following the 2009 season, the Trojans were forced to replace their entire secondary unit that ranked 16th in the nation in pass defense efficiency. The 2010 corps features a senior with only five career starts, two sophomores and a true freshman. Their collective inexperience seemed to show last Thursday as they allowed Hawaii to tally 459 yards through the air.
The only way Verica can approach similar numbers, however, will be if the offensive line can continue to protect him in the pocket and open up holes for the running game to be successful. Sophomore offensive tackle and ACC co-offensive lineman of the week Oday Aboushi bolsters a Virginia front that allowed only one sack last week and helped the offense rush for more than 200 yards.
"USC has two big inside players that can just bull rush and take you back and all of a sudden put you in the quarterback's lap," London said. "And they've got two outside rushers, tall, athletic, that can collapse the pocket. We'll have our work cut out for us."
The Virginia defense will have its work cut out for it as well as they face quarterback Matt Barkley in his second season at the helm of the Trojan offense. The sophomore standout completed 18-of-23 passes, threw for five touchdowns and showed great poise during USC's season-opener.
Injuries in the Virginia secondary could allow the talented Barkley to pick apart the Cavalier defense as he did against Hawaii. The Cavaliers may be without junior safety Rodney McLeod for a second consecutive game because of a lingering knee injury, and senior cornerback Ras-I Dowling's return is still a question mark. Dowling was sidelined against Richmond because of soreness in his hamstring, and London wants to continue to be cautious with the All-American.
In addition to dealing with injuries, the players also must adjust quickly to the three-hour time difference. To try and alleviate the typical struggles associated with a trip to the West Coast, London altered the team's weekly schedule so that the Cavaliers could fly out on Thursday to begin adjustment to the time change.
"We'll probably stay up a little later than normal, and then let them sleep a little bit," London said.
Despite all the obstacles the Cavaliers face this weekend, many of the players remain eager to prove themselves in front of upwards of 90,000 Trojan fans at the Coliseum tomorrow.
"The Coliseum is obviously a very historic stadium, and we're all looking forward to going out there to play," senior tight end Joe Torchia said. "But we have to look at it as another game. We just have to go out there and play our hardest. Whatever happens, happens."
Following their matchup against the Trojans, the Cavaliers enter a bye-week before gearing up to play VMI at Scott Stadium on Sept. 25. Kickoff tomorrow is at 7:30 p.m. PST.
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