Despite air attack, U.Va. didn’t pass test
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 19, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE

When Virginia fell behind 13-0 in the first half of Saturday’s game against seventh-ranked Florida State, it may have felt like 30-0 to Cavaliers fans.

It did not, at that point, look or feel like the game that had been promised on paper weeks ago. But then, up to that point, U.Va. had not always looked like the team that was the trendy pick to contend for the ACC title.

In fact, you could have made the case that U.Va. had been paper tigers, a team that, with the loss to Clemson last week, had not built enough on its promise of a year ago.

That Virginia team entered Scott Stadium Saturday night by running through machine-created fog, then, with the largest crowd in Scott Stadium history looking on, the Cavaliers’ offense played as if it were in a fog for much of the first two quarters.

Even taking into account the competition, U.Va. struggled like it had not all season, at least in games played outside the state of South Carolina.

On this big occasion, Al Groh’s team looked like it would come up very, very small when Florida State scored on a 79-yard pass, when a U.Va. defensive back stumbled and a safety whiffed on a tackle as wide receiver Craphonso Thorpe glided downfield.

This inauspicious start was followed by a Matt Schaub interception, and then, in the second quarter, a fumble by the usually reliable tight end Heath Miller. Both turnovers led to FSU scores, but only field goals.

A potential wildfire had been contained by the U.Va. defense, so that when the Cavaliers scored in the closing seconds of the first half on a 21-yard screen pass to Alvin Pearman, the scoreboard gave the impression of a close game.

So it went in the second half. U.Va. fans saw glimpses of a team that, except on paper, had not always materialized this season. For sure, the Cavaliers caught Florida State at a good time — a week after an emotional loss to Miami. Then again, U.Va. was without Wali Lundy, its leading rusher. Never mind about that; Groh’s game plan all but disdained the run. In the first half, Schaub threw 33 passes, while U.Va. ran the ball four times, Pearman getting the call every time.

Mostly, Pearman was used as a receiver, as Schaub dinked the ball here and there, and Pearman set a school single-game record for receptions.

How dedicated was U.Va. to the pass? On fourth and a foot at the FSU 15-yard line in the third quarter, Schaub faked a handoff and hit fullback Brandon Isaiah for a first down. It led to another pass — 8 yards to Miller — and another touchdown, making the score 16-14.

But that, as it turned out, was that for U.Va. Even with the big crowd roaring, with all the support coming from inside Scott Stadium, the Cavaliers couldn’t make the big play or force the big break that would bring down a team as good as FSU.

Since shocking Bobby Bowden’s ’Noles in 1995, U.Va. hasn’t threatened FSU. For a while Saturday, it looked like the trend would change. The Cavaliers’ defense bent but did not break, surrendering another field goal by Xavier Beitia. With the score 19-14, the ’Noles handed the home team a break, missing a field goal with 8:39 to play.

But the Cavaliers did nothing with the ball. Miscommunication led to a snap that sailed past the unsuspecting Schaub, who was in the shotgun. Schaub raced back and fell on the ball like it was a live grenade. The Cavaliers punted and never saw the ball again.

U.Va.’s plan was to throw the ball, and the Cavaliers surely did — 54 times to only seven runs from scrimmage.

So much offense through the air, and yet for another time, U.Va. couldn’t pass FSU’s test.
 

Cavs' Hagan not measuring up
Tom Hagan averages 28.5 yards on eight punts Saturday against the Seminoles with none traveling more than 31 yards.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Anointed as Virginia's punter before his graduation from high school, Tom Hagan now finds his reign in jeopardy for the first time.
"Obviously, we have to look at something there," said UVa coach Al Groh after a 19-14 loss to seventh-ranked Florida State at Scott Stadium.

"The ball hasn't looked especially good in the air for a while here now. Whatever the cause of that is, the result has been readily apparent to the naked eye."

Hagan heard boos Saturday night after averaging 28.5 yards on eight punts, none of which travelled more than 31 yards.

"It's pretty embarrassing," said Hagan, a sophomore from Cave Spring High School. "No excuses. I just didn't step up for the big game."

One week earlier, Hagan had averaged 34 yards on seven kicks at Clemson, where only three of his punts went over 30 yards.

"The last three or four weeks, I've been just trying to fix stuff," Hagan said. "I'm not finding a solid pop on the ball. It doesn't even have to 'turn over.' You just want to hit it solidly instead of [kicking] that weak knuckler that hangs up there."

Three of Hagan's punts were downed inside the 20-yard line Saturday, giving him 13 kicks inside the 20 for the season, compared to 15 in 14 games last year. However, UVa missed several opportunities to bury Florida State even deeper in its territory.

"It's pretty apparent that that's not working the way that it needs to," said Groh, speaking of the punting in general. "It cost us an awful lot of field position in a game against a team against which field position - favorable position - is certainly your advantage."

Groh acted as if he were unaware that walk-on punter Noah Greenbaum, wearing No.1, was taking snaps at one point.

"Frankly, I don't even know who No.1 is," Groh said. "That must be a duplicate number. He's [Greenbaum] No.20 during practice."

He didn't have much more to say about the situation on his weekly teleconference. Apparently, Greenbaum is not the only punting hopeful.

"Most of them like to think they're punters," Groh said. "If I told you the whole list of them, nobody knows who they are anyway. Look, let's not turn this punting thing into another one of your quarterback routines. OK? When we have a different punter, we'll have a different punter."

Hagan said he thinks the competition might help.

"Definitely," he said. "We've got a couple of young guys now and, actually, we've helped each other. That's something that I really didn't have last year. Maybe it would have been better to have come in here and had an older guy to go to, but that was the situation I had."

Hagan's 36.7-yard average last year was the lowest by a Cavaliers punter since 1974, and he's currently at 34.8. However, he's preparing as if he will be the man Saturday, when UVa (4-3) entertains Troy State (4-3) at 3 p.m.

"That was pretty bad," he said of his performance Saturday. It's tough. I know I can do it. I've kicked the ball 50 yards before. It's just confidence. It's mental. Sometimes you just need to forget about it for a day or two. Put a wall behind the last one and move on to the next game."

 

Groh stands by play choice
FSU's run defense couldn't be beaten, Virginia coach says
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published October 20, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Rather than saying he conceded the running game Saturday night, Virginia coach Al Groh prefers the theory that he played the percentages. Florida State was giving up 2.7 yards per rush. And with ACC rushing leader Wali Lundy in street clothes with a bad ankle, Groh figured the Cavaliers would have to pass - early and often - to beat the Seminoles.

And pass Virginia did. Of the Cavs' 63 plays from scrimmage, 56 were called passes. Only seven times did Virginia, the league's best-rushing team after five games, try to run. The strategy didn't net a win - the Cavs lost 19-14. But U.Va. had two offensive touchdowns against a defense that had yielded only four all season.

"They're really a hard team to run the ball against," Groh said. "This is a team that had faced a schedule that includes teams with an ongoing commitment to running the ball. Georgia Tech likes to run it, Maryland likes to run it, Colorado and Miami - that's pretty challenging. And those teams combined for 2.7 yards a carry. You could slam it up there 47 times just to say you could do it, but it probably wouldn't be enough to be efficient."

Groh makes a good case. Florida State is now giving up 81.8 rushing yards a game after Virginia netted a minus-5 Saturday night. The Cavaliers officially had nine rushes, counting a sack of quarterback Matt Schaub and Kevin Bailey's ill-timed shotgun snap, which resulted in a team loss of 17 yards. That's the fewest rushes in a game since Nov. 27, 1943, when the Cavaliers had seven in a loss to North Carolina.

Groh, who would much rather have the "run with authority" approach, knew what he was up against Saturday night. And the play-calling disparity turned out to be 89 percent pass, 11 percent run. Schaub completed 39-of-53 passes for 326 yards. Only once did the Cavaliers run on back-to-back plays.

"That was sort of our game plan going in," Schaub said. "We felt that was the way we had to do it. We felt if we could get the lead with our passing game, hopefully our running game would open up. But with the passing game working like it was, why go away from it?"

FSU coach Bobby Bowden was hoping the Cavs would.

"He was so successful with the other stuff," Bowden said, "there was no reason to run it."

Tailback Alvin Pearman caught a school-record 16 balls for 134 yards and a touchdown. Interestingly, Pearman didn't make his first catch until the next-to-last play of the first quarter.

"The coverage changed after a while," Groh said. "That kind of pushed the ball in his direction."

Virginia gets better and worse
Cavs came closer to FSU, but 4-3 record puts them behind last season's pace
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 20, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE - After seven games last season, Virginia's football team was 5-2 and in the midst of a six-game winning streak that stunned most ACC prognosticators.

Seven games into Al Groh's third season as the Cavaliers' coach, his team is 4-3 and has lost two straight. But Groh looks at his team's most recent defeat and sees cause for optimism.

A season ago at Doak Campbell Stadium, Florida State built a 33-0 lead over Virginia and coasted to a 40-19 victory. Those Seminoles would finish a disappointing 9-5 and ranked No.21 in the final Associated Press poll.

Saturday night at Scott Stadium, the'Noles held off U.Va. to win 19-14. FSU is tied for No.6 in the latest AP poll. Virginia, relying almost exclusively on its passing game, amassed 321 yards of offense against the nation's No.1 scoring defense. The Seminoles entered allowing only 9.8 points per game.

"Overall, I think it's a better Florida State team than we played last year," Groh said last night. He didn't want to claim a moral victory, he stressed, but added, "I'd like to think we're a better team than we were last year, too."

Maybe so, but the Cavaliers will have to finish with a flourish to match their 2002 total of nine victories. Of the five teams left on Virginia's schedule, each is above .500. Their combined record is 24-11, led by third-ranked Virginia Tech's 6-0 mark.

U.Va., 3-2 in ACC play, dropped into third place in the conference standings, behind Florida State (5-0, 6-1) and Maryland (2-1, 5-2). The loss to FSU wasn't the result of any lack of effort, particularly on the part of junior tailback Alvin Pearman.

Starting for the injured Wali Lundy, who may also miss this weekend's homecoming game with Troy State (4-3), Pearman showed why Groh had worked him at wideout early in his career at U.Va. Pearman didn't make his first reception Saturday night until the final minute of the opening quarter, but he finished with 16 catches for 134 yards and one touchdown. Had the Cavaliers had the ball longer in the final quarter - they snapped it only eight times, including two Tom Hagan punts - Pearman might well have hit the 20-catch mark.

His 16 receptions are a school record, and the most ever in a game by an ACC running back. His 134 yards receiving are the most ever by a U.Va. running back, and they weren't easily gained against a swift and hard-hitting FSU defense.

In his teleconference with reporters yesterday, Groh was asked several times about Hagan, whose confidence level has dropped and whose punting has declined noticeably in recent games and practices.

"The ball hasn't looked especially good in the air here for a while now," Groh said.

Noah Greenbaum, a freshman walk-on punter from Collegiate, dressed out Saturday and spent part of the game warming up his leg on the U.Va. sideline. Groh did not say a change at punter is imminent, but last week he praised Greenbaum's "lift," and that was two days before Hagan averaged 28.5 yards on eight punts against the Seminoles.

For the season, Hagan's average of 34.3 is the lowest of any starting punter in the ACC.