The Virginia Cavaliers kicked off their 2012 season in style, crushing the overmatched Richmond Spiders 43-19 in Charlottesville on Saturday. Despite the dominant victory, the win revealed some flaws for the Cavaliers, which need to be addresses moving forward for the team to succeed. The gang over at SB Nation's Cavaliers blog Streaking the Lawn, have more details:
The low-point of the game: UVA's performance in the trenches. The defensive line got beat badly by the Spiders on their two quick-strike touchdown drives and failed to get consistant pressure on Richmond's quarterbacks. The offensive line could never seem to get a good push against an undersized UR front, notably failing to get Kevin Parks a yard on 4th and 1. There are explanations: Richmond's short-passing game neutralized our pass rush (but didn't allow the Spiders the chance for needed game-changing plays). Their loading up the box on defense neutralized the UVA running game at times (while allowing Rocco to throw over their heads). Still, in a game against inferior competition, I expect the Hoos to dominate the trenches, and they didn't. I would like to see improvement from both units, and I expect that we will see it.
Virginia will host the Penn State Nittany Lions next Saturday. Penn State was upset 24-14 by Ohio in Happy Valley on Saturday.
For more on Cavaliers football, be sure to visit the SB Nation Virginia blog Streaking The Lawn.