Even though the W for USC is not even a day old, there is already some debate as to what exactly the merit of that win was. Honestly, I could not honestly claim to know anything about Virginia myself. I knew that Chris Long was taken #2 in the NFL draft, and that they had a few players either suspended or ruled academically ineligible during the summer, but other than that zilch. So I decided to look into it a little:

UVA's record over the last five seasons has been 38-25, keyed by nine win seasons in 03-04 and 07-08 (9-5, 9-4 respectively). While not particularly impressive, it is a respectable winning record regardless.  I had been under the impression that the Cavaliers were some kind of perennial doormat for the rest of the ACC and that last year was some kind of abberation, but I guess I was mistaken. Anyways, we can talk about past performance all we want, but the defection of their best player along with starting QB Jameel Sewell kind of puts a dent into this kind of analysis.  With that in mind I decided to look at Virginia's talent level by looking at player ratings from Rivals coming out of High School:

While UVA may not appear talented compared to a team loaded with blue chip prospects like USC, its hardly as if cupboard is bare. The team is composed of mostly three star prospects, with a four start here and there for good measure. And even though both Cooper and Glaspy are walk-ons at the same time both of those players are multi-year starters who were a part of quality Virginia defenses over the last two years. Moreover, the starters are almost all juniors and seniors* with the youngest player being three sophomores and a red shirt freshman. Despite the loss of a number of players it is still fair to say that Virginia is an experienced team.

Take all of this for whatever its worth, but I think this is a better win than many will give it credit for. Judging from the opening weekend the ACC looks like it may be in for a down year, but a win over a reasonably talented (and in recent history, reasonably successful) team in a BCS conference on the road is still worth something. Besides, I will take a convincing blowout against UVA over a convincing blowout of Sisters of the Poor any day of the week.

note*: This includes returning both RBs from last year and the entire Offensive line. Also, Lalich was not completely green as he had 61 pass attempts as a true freshman last season.