A long day for Verica

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: September 27, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. — Saturday was a long, long afternoon for Virginia sophomore quarterback Marc Verica.

Thrust into the starting role a couple of weeks ago after regular starter Peter Lalich was booted from the program, Verica was roughed up by Duke’s aggressive defense in a 31-3 loss at Wallace Wade Stadium.

What made it such a frustrating day was four — count ’em, four — interceptions, with three of them leading to Blue Devil scores.

Verica went the distance for the Cavaliers, unlike the last outing when he was relieved late in the game by backup Scott Deke. However, UVa coach Al Groh said he never considered pulling Verica during the loss to Duke.

“No, because that’s part of growing up as a quarterback. ... you can’t run for the hills when things get tough,” Groh said after watching the Cavaliers fall to 1-3 and 0-1 in the ACC. “You have to stand out there.

“Other players have some tough circumstances, and there’s no one out there to bail them out,” Groh said. “It’s good, one, for him to be put in that circumstance, and two, for us to see how he’ll deal with it and how he’ll handle it. We have every confidence that Marc will go in the right direction.”

Verica did manage to complete 19 passes to his teammates out of 42 attempts, covering 194 yards. He was sacked only once. However, Virginia’s streak of four games without a single touchdown pass remained intact.

Afterward, he talked about the frustration of losing in such a manner to the Blue Devils.

“It was unexpected,” said Verica, a redshirt sophomore from Lansdowne, Pa. “You never expect to lose, especially this way. I was confident. We had a good week of practice. But the execution wasn’t there and that’s what it boils down to.”

He admitted it was frustrating and difficult in the second half when he threw four picks, leading to three Duke touchdowns and perhaps thwarting a potential touchdown for the Cavaliers.

“They were poor decisions and bad throws,” Verica said. “We were down and I was trying to force things, trying to make something happen.”

While Duke brought plenty of pressure on second and third downs, Virginia’s quarterback said the Blue Devils didn’t give him anything unexpected. He had prepared against the same fronts and coverages that Duke used during last week’s practices.

Making only his second start and playing only his second game of note in his college career, Verica realized that Saturday was part of the maturation process.

“I think everyone has these kind of days and it’s my job as quarterback to bounce back, not get down, and work harder on trying to get better. We practice [today] and I’ll try to correct some of the things I did wrong. I felt comfortable out there. I wasn’t nervous. Just some times my execution wasn’t good. I need to get better.”