2013-14 Preview (ACC) Cavaliers
The Virginia Cavaliers have not made the kind of progress expected since promising coach Mike London took over. After an initial 4-8 season the Cavs jumped to 8-5 but then dropped back to 4-8 last season.
Virginia Cavaliers (Team Link)
Coach: Mike London
2012 Record: 4-8
Odds of winning BCS Championship: +2000 (field)
In a league that appears to only be getting tougher that puts a lot of pressure on London this season. From the outside it looks like he may not have the kind of teams that can save his job this season.
That is because Virginia has a very tough schedule and is untested in key areas like quarterback and defensive line. This team could easily start the season 1-5 and if that happens London may not even make it through the season. Virginia is one of those places where they seem to have one successful season per recruiting cycle.
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If that was the 8-5 year a couple of years back than this season could be very ugly indeed.
Even though the Cavaliers return more experienced players the assumption is that sophomore David Watford will be starting under center in the opener. Watford redshirted a year ago and was a surprise to leapfrog Phillip Simms who played a lot last season, splitting time with Michael Rocco.
No matter who is QB, he will have two experience receivers to throw but Darius Jennings and Tim Smith are far from the most productive combo in the conference even though they have a lot of game experience.
Since the offense was so feeble last year London has brought in a new offensive coordinator in Steve Fairchild, the former head coach at Colorado State. While in Fort Collins, he always had very good ground games and that is what they want at Virginia. With 4 returning lineman it is a good place to start, especially with an inexperienced QB.
Starting tailback Kevin Parks was solid last year but actually took a slight step back from his freshman season. If he can take a big leap forward it would mean everything for this offense.
Virginia should be better on defense this year thanks to seven returning starters. Last year they were fourth in the conference against the pass but with the entire secondary returning they could easily zoom to the top.
All 4 players are juniors too so this could be a two year run where they make it really tough to throw the ball. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
In a league with so many accomplished senior signal callers defending the pass is huge. It would also help if they could turn the ball over. Despite their statistical success the team had just 4 picks.
They were last in the ACC with just 12 takeaways
2013-14 Record Projection: 2-10
The projected record looks terrible but I am not expecting Cavs to be brutally awful. Part of this is scheduling as Virginia did themselves no favours scheduling non-conference games against BYU, Oregon and Ball State. All these games are at home but all are against significantly better teams. Within the ACC I only like them to win their home game against Duke, with a trip to Maryland a game that could go either way. Road contests at North Carolina and Miami, forget it, and even visiting Pittsburgh is a real challenge. The defense should be pretty good but I wonder about the offense. How are they going to score enough points to keep them in games, or even keep them relatively close. I just don’t see with the lack of playmakers on the roster. Unless the defense becomes special and really helps the offense out it is going to be a long season.
2013 Cavaliers Schedule:
AUG 31 – BYU
SEP 7 – Oregon
SEP 21 – VMI
SEP 28 – @Pittsburgh
OCT 5 – Ball State
OCT 12 – @Maryland
OCT 19 – Duke
OCT 26 – Georgia Tech
NOV 2 – Clemson
NOV 9 – @North Carolina
NOV 23 – @Miami
NOV 30 – Virginia Tech
