Like Rod Stewart told us “Leave Virginia alone.” Well, opposing ACC offenses will not b leaving the Virginia secondary alone this fall. They’ll be picking at them early and often.
Does UVA have enough to outshoot them and win the ACC? The Cavaliers could contend for the division title, if and only if the offense is strong enough to carry the d.
2011 was: another solid year, an 8-5 campaign. This is a program moving in the right direction. But the offense didn’t have enough scoring punch. They moved the ball, but didn’t have enough big explosion plays, hence their rankings in yardage categories was much better than in scoring. They didn’t get many sacks though; maybe that will change with addition of top recruit, DE Eli Harold.
The Wahoos lost to Auburn in the Chick-fil-A bowl; and I’m assuming that bowl game does not endorse gay marriage- given recent headlines.
2012 will go smoothly if: The Cavs offensive coordinator Bill Lazor is a hot commodity, he’s got a good game plan for this bunch. QB Michael Rocco is a classic, drop back passer. Yes, these are all code words for being white. The offense should carry the load for the defense this year.
2012 will be rough if: there’s not much in the DL, and very little pass rush. There’s also not much experience in the secondary- which adds up to problems. Still they came a long way in 2010 to 2011 when they made the transition from the 3-4 to the 4-3.
BMOC: Rocco, RB Perry Jones, OT Oday Aboushi, CB Drequan Hoskey
All Name team: FB LoVante’ Battle, WR Miles Gooch, DE Michael Moore
Bottom Line: They should be better than .500 as 7-9 wins could happen, but is not guaranteed. After all this season really is nothing more but a bridge to 2013-14 when they could really take off. Mike London was truly a great hire.
One more thing, they got to get better at scoring 4th quarter points, they averaged just 3.7 a year ago.
Rankings:
Lindy’s- 34, Athlon- 36, Phil Steele- 56
All the 77s
#36 UCF
#40 Penn State
#45 Mississippi State
#47 Northwestern
#67 Southern Miss
#73 Kansas
#76 Minnesota
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, MSN, Walter Football and Yardbarker
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too