University of Virginia Library

On The Inside

What To
Expect

With Doug Doughty

DEPENDING ON WHO YOU ARE, you either think
Virginia is a good football team, a bad one or, most probably,
you can't make heads or tails of the Cavaliers this fall.

Discounting that evidently facetious group that looks for
the 'Hoos to appear in the UPI listings each week, the biggest
group of Virginia supporters has no idea what kind of team
plays at Scott Stadium every other Saturday.

WELL, JOIN THE CLUB because the Cavaliers have proven
a huge enigma to anyone who has tried to pick their game with
West Virginia this weekend. The first po of the week saw a
poll of UPI "specialists" rank Virginia as six-point favorites.

Despite reports from Morgantown that the Mountaineers
have played like old ladies in practice all week, AP
prognosticators have chosen West Va. by a 21-7 score, Sports
Kickoff sees West Virginia by 6.1 and finally, for those people
who put their money where their mouths are, Jimmy the
"Greek" picks the Mountaineers by six.

THE WEST VIRGINIA-VIRGINIA SERIES has never been
predictable. Although West Virginia has traditionally had a
stronger team, the Cavaliers lead the series with nine wins, four
losses, and a tie. Most recently, in 1965, the Mountaineers
traveled to "Hooville" with a nationally-ranked, Sports
Illustrated-touted outfit that got clobbered, 41-0. Hopefully,
the tarnish of that shellacking has worn off and West Virginia
will come to town less revenge-minded.

There will be some things you can expect to see Saturday.
First of all, West Virginia's passing offense has sputtered
against the Mountaineers' two opponents, Villanova and
Richmond. Bernie Galiffa and Ade Dillon (a transfer from
Navy) have completed only 14 of 42 passes so far and the fact
that Dillon is playing at all, suggests that Galiffa's third-year at
the West Virginia helm has gotten off to a rocky start.

DOUBTLESS, COACH BOBBY BOWDEN has been
reminded by his scouts that two running backs named Paul
Adams (a freshman, no less) and Rodney Schnurr, of little or
no previous note, took turns romping through huge gaps in the
Virginia defensive line last week. Bowden, no dummy, has no
doubt scheduled numerous excursions for Kerry Marbury and
Brian Chiles up the middle, Saturday.

Only if you don't like college football have you not heard
of Kerry Marbury. Brian Chiles may not have come up over
dinner but these two are the mainstays of the Mountaineer
ground game. Marbury, a junior ran for 175 yards in the
Ridgerunners' 28-7 win over Richmond and he's an
All-American candidate. Chiles was third leading rusher last
year but he's being pressed by 6-4, 216 pound sophomore Ron Lee.

THESE THREE ARE HEALTHY, with good bets that
they'll challenge a Virginia line which they outweigh. This all
downgrades the Cavalier defensive line, but, honestly, watch
Bill Williams and Stan Land Saturday. They rush the passer
each play and the primary up-the-middle tackling is left to the
linebackers. Critchley, Blakley and Gehr are good but the
West Virginia offensive line should tear them apart.

You can presume West Virginia will score and may be even
score big. The problem is how will Virginia do against the
Mountaineer defense. Harrison Davis is likely to have his best
day of the year, not because West Virginia has a weak
secondary, but because it's about time he stopped getting
inconsistent. He'll pass a lot again with his favorite target
Dave Sullivan given a pre-game chance of breaking the school
reception record.

THE CAVALIER RUSHING GAME has been anything but
awe-inspiring this season, with Kent Merritt the sole threat in
the pigskin-toting category. Dickerhoof and Lacika run too
upright to faze the Mountaineers for too long so Coach
Lawrence better count on Davis and Merritt to score against
the Mountaineers. While we're at it Coach, how about
returning Gerard Mullins to punt returns; we need him.

In the final analysis, both teams are going to score points.
Before the game West Virginia would have to be rated the
favorite (I'd say by 28-20), but the Cavalier defense is the
key–if it plays well and controls the run, Virginia wins, if it
doesn't, "we'll see you in Durham next week."