While there were a lot of positives in Thursday night's loss to Colorado State, reasons to give Cavalier fans optimism for the future of the program, there remained a couple of bugaboos that are driving the coaches and fans crazy.

Turnovers and giving up big plays are the most obvious sticking points. However, run defense remains a burr in Virginia's saddle.

Failing to shut down an opponent's running game gives a foe the ability to run its entire playbook. Take away the run and the opponent is forced to put the ball in the air where anything can happen.

Colorado State ran the football 41 times for 187 yards. Twelve of UVa's last 13 opponents have rushed for no less than 123 yards in a game. Six of them have stacked up more than 200 yards and one (Florida State) rushed for more than 300.

Add CSU's Cecil Sapp to a long list of running backs who have gained more than 100 yards in a game against the Cavaliers during that 13-game span. "Cecil the Diesel" rushed 25 times for 178 yards (7.1 per carry), as he became the ninth back in the last 13 games to break the century mark.

Four times last season the opponent's premiere running back didn't reach 100 yards rushing. Virginia won all four games.

While big plays hurt the Cavaliers, this columnist argues that opponents wouldn't have as many big-play opportunities if the defense could shut down opposing rushing games and stop sustained drives.

Still, if there was one major disappointment among Cavalier fans who watched the 35-29 loss to the Rams, it was the defensive performance.

Understandably, the Hoos had some trouble up front where five of the first six players on the two-deep had never played in a college game. Those players should get better.

The secondary suffered too many critical breakdowns and some of the tackling by the entire team remained suspect, reminding fans too much of similar performances from the last three seasons.

"We gave up two long plays at inopportune times and until we can eliminate those plays, we can't say we're playing the way we would like to," said Groh of UVa's defense.

One of those came early in the second quarter when Sapp ran into a logjam of defenders up the middle, pulled away from at least one Virginia defender, bounced outside and outran the secondary for a 72-yard touchdown. Another came just before halftime when a Rams receiver got behind the defense and scored on a 34-yard fly pattern.

Nothing gave Cavalier fans more flashbacks to prior defensive shortcomings than CSU's escape from near disaster with 8:16 to play and the score deadlocked at 29-all.

After a snap sailed over quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt's head and a penalty tacked on, the Rams were facing a first-and-32 at their own 4-yard line. First-and-32. Instead of having to punt and giving Virginia strong field position, three plays later CSU was standing first-and-10 at their own 37.

From there, they marched in for what turned out to be the winning touchdown with 4:07 to play.

"The first play there was a six-yard gain and we were happy because things were looking positive," said Groh. "The next play, if we knew it was coming or could play if over again, we would have had the same coverage ... but just hoped to play it a little better. There should be optimal coverage for that pattern."

But you rarely get a mulligan in football, only if there is a penalty involved. The Rams passed three straight times, for 6, 16 and 11 yards, one more yard than needed for a first down.

The defensive line turned out to be the least of Groh's worries on that side of the ball.

"I thought for obvious reasons you can understand why I was concerned that we might be in a little over our heads on the defensive line in this game," Groh said. "But I don't think that was the case. We certainly weren't dominant but we did OK. Some of the other positions I was disappointed we didn't play better than on the defensive line."

Overall, UVa gave up 416 yards of total offense to the Rams, allowed them to convert 7 of 15 third-down opportunities, and perhaps even worse, watched Colorado State convert all five of its Red Zone opportunities into scores.

"The players can see that in terms of fundamental execution that they can do a lot of things well," said Groh. "We stepped up and rushed for 221 yards, the most since we've been here. We can see that we're making blocks and runs.

"We wanted to complete a higher percentage of our passes (18 of 27) and we saw that we can throw and catch and protect the quarterback pretty well. But the biggest lesson of this game is that you can do all that and if you give up quick, easy scores and turn the ball over, it's going to be really hard to win."

This defense, which could have really used Kai Parham (injured) and Ahmad Brooks (prep school), has a long way to go before it can stop drawing comparisons to failures on that side of the ball since 1999.

For the Cavaliers, the collective performance of their freshmen was among the most redeeming qualities of Thursday's 35-29 loss to Colorado State.

Of 52 players who saw action, 10 were true freshmen and five were redshirt freshmen. The young players showed why Virginia's most recent recruiting class was considered among the best in the nation. The freshmen flashed unusual speed, size and play-making ability. Moreover, they exhibited poise beyond their years in their first collegiate game.

"They didn't seem nervous. They made a lot of plays for us," senior linebacker Angelo Crowell said. "As the rest of the season goes on, I think they'll be able to help us out a lot more."

Right off the bat, their contributions were considerable. Before Thursday, no true freshman had started a season opener for Virginia in 10 years. Four were in the starting lineup against the Rams: left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, defensive end Kwakou Robinson, punter Tom Hagan and kick returner Wali Lundy.

Ferguson played the entire game and "was really excellent, all things considered," UVa coach Al Groh said. "He played every play in the game, which is pretty remarkable. Even more remarkable is to do it at left tackle."

Robinson was credited with two tackles. "I thought he had a positive start certainly - most positive than you'd really predict from a first-year - a first-game - defensive lineman," Groh said.

The coach praised many of the freshmen, and for good reason.

l Hagan averaged 39.6 yards on five punts. Only two were returned for 24 yards.

l Lundy led the team in rushing with 94 yards on 20 carries. He finished with 184 all-purpose yards.

l Michael Johnson rushed five times for 37 yards, caught two passes for 11 yards and had a 38-yard punt return that set up a third-quarter touchdown.

l Outside linebacker Darryl Blackstock made six tackles, including a sack in the second quarter.

l Marques Hagans, a redshirt freshman quarterback, put energy into a sputtering offense when he entered the game in the second quarter. He directed two touchdown drives and nearly produced the game-winning score before fumbling at the goal line in the final seconds.

l Another redshirt freshman, Heath Miller, became the first UVa tight end in three years to catch a touchdown pass. He tied for the team lead with four receptions for 42 yards.

Seeing limited action were four other true freshmen: fullback Jason Snelling, defensive linemen Braden Campbell and D.J. Bell, and safety Willie Davis (on special teams). The other redshirt freshmen who played were starting defensive end Brennan Schmidt, kickoff specialist Kurt Smith and nose tackle Melvin Massey.

Groh said he didn't "want to make too much of the one-day wonders," because those players need to show consistency and keep improving for the team to be successful. Still, he said that many of them made a significant impact, "particularly in terms of speeding up the game."

Not only were they fast, they were fast learners. The freshmen made few glaring mistakes despite playing in a televised game in front of more than 57,000 fans.

"I felt right at home out there. I felt great," said Johnson, who - like many Virginia fans - could envision better days ahead. "Me, Wali, Darryl, Marques, all of us playing together. When we take over, it's going to be a dynasty."