It’s gut check time for Virginia football. The Cavaliers’ entire season is on the line at high noon Saturday when Georgia Tech comes to town.
A win will make the Wahoos bowl eligible and could provide the late-season spark that Coach Al Groh has been looking for. A win could also give UVa a tie for fourth place in the ACC standings, conceivably a tie for third if certain things happen. But all that’s low in the pecking order.
The only thing the Cavaliers should be concerned with right now is beating the Yellow Jackets.
Still learning
Groh’s biggest task is getting that point across to a very young team. Some of these players just don’t seem to “get it” sometimes. One of them who does get it, junior tailback Alvin Pearman, may have to spread his understanding to his younger teammates.
“It has finally gotten to that point where it’s do or die,” Pearman said. “In weeks past it has been important for us to win, but it’s at the point of the season where we have to win. We don’t have any choice.”
A win could open some doors for the Cavaliers, who could still post a fairly impressive season. A loss could cost the program a little momentum, something it can ill afford with the change in the ACC’s make-up heading into next season.
Too much hype?
Virginia has come under increasing criticism over recent weeks from fans who had higher expectations. After last season’s surprising 9-5 record and a bowl blowout over West Virginia, several preseason publications ranked the Cavaliers perhaps higher than they deserved.
People forgot that this was still one of the youngest teams in the country and that while the overall talent might have been better this season, there was the potential for more losses because of how the schedule played out with several key games on the road. Last season, UVa won a lot of the same close games that they have lost this season: Clemson and N.C. State for example.
Groh’s thoughts
Asked if he thought last year gave fans a false impression of where the program was at the time, Groh answered affirmatively.
“I think it gave a lot of people, not me,” Groh said. “That doesn’t make it any different than a lot of other teams. There’s a lot of teams that didn’t have a good season last year that played pretty good ball.
“That’s the way it is ...As I said repeatedly, it’s not about who’s got this or who’s got that, it’s about who’s got more points, and that’s part of it,” Groh added. “You’re not lucky when you get them and you’re not unlucky when you don’t. That’s part of the game.”
If Virginia is going to win another game, then the brunt of the responsibility is going to fall on the ample shoulder pads of the Cavaliers’ offensive line and on the defense. Outside of poor punting, those have been the weak links on
this football team.
While the offensive line was supposed to have been a strength, their overall performance this season has been disappointing in terms of creating holes for two talented running backs.
The defense has shown signs of improvement. Their numbers have improved but they are still giving up too many rushing yards, too many big plays and letting things get away from them in tight game situations. After 10 games, players are still blowing assignments and either not lining up in the right place or not remaining in the proper place for outside containment responsibilities.
One frustrated fan called the other day and placed the blame squarely on the defensive coaching staff when he said: “I just read the salaries of our defensive coaches and how they rate near the top of the ACC. Well, I don’t think we’re getting our monies worth.”
The Cavaliers haven’t been dogs this year. They’ve been in just about every game they’ve played.
Outside of the South Carolina game where the Hoos were missing quarterback Matt Schaub and tailback Wali Lundy, Virginia has been close in every loss. They took Clemson into overtime, lost late in the game to N.C. State, overcame a lousy first half to almost comeback and beat Maryland and gave Florida State fits.
“That shows how the ACC is now,” Pearman said. “The talent pool has evened out. It’s not just the teams that have better athletes that can win now ... it’s the teams that execute. We haven’t executed like we’ve needed to in close games. It’s the fine details that have separated the two teams.”
I told you that Pearman gets it. Smart kid. It’s leaders like that who can get this thing turned around, but it has to be done in practice the rest of this week and in the team’s mental approach to Saturday’s showdown with the Ramblin’ Wreck.
This one is going to go to the team that wants it the most. Do the Cavaliers want to go bowling or sit home and watch on TV? The latter makes for a long, cold winter.
Exhibition games are not supposed to supply this much drama.
Instead of a ho-hum, 20-point walk through, the Virginia men’s basketball team needed a double-clutching 3-pointer at the buzzer by Todd Billet to dispatch the Coaches vs. Cancer All-Stars 91-90 before 1,253 University Hall on Tuesday night.
Virginia led by 17 early in the second half but a late surge by the All-Stars erased that advantage and gave them an 89-86 advantage with 32 seconds remaining.
They kept that lead when Billet failed to convert a traditional 3-point play with 19 seconds remaining but then relinquished it when Billet buried the trey from the right side.
The shot brought both elation and no doubt relief from the UVa bench.
“This is a pretty good team. They beat Iona College and Wright State. They lost a couple of close ones to some good teams. … Todd made a big shot at the end to help us win the game,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen. “It’s a good learning experience. We’ll take it. We have a ton of work ahead of us. We made a lot of mistakes.”
Derrick Byars led Virginia with 21 points while Elton Brown added 20 and 10 rebounds. Freshman Donte Minter finished with 18 while Todd Billet had 14 and freshman Gary Forbes had 11.
Virginia played without junior swingman Devin Smith, who is suffering from a sore back. Smith, who scored 21 in Virginia’s exhibition victory last week, was dressed for the game but was held out just prior to the game because of the injury.
Chris Crosby led the All-Stars, who lost to Farleigh Dickinson by 20 on Monday night, with 18. Harold Arcenaux, who torched North Carolina in Weber State’s NCAA first-round upset of the Tar Heels in 1999, had 17 while Dominic Smith, an Ashland native, had 16.
While questions always persist as to what a team can learn from a lopsided exhibition victory, it’s equally puzzling as to what a team can learn from a nip-and-tuck, down-to-the-wire exhibition win.
The answer might be that Gillen gets the ultimate teaching tool without the stigmatism of a loss to an exhibition team.
“You want to win. It’s an exhibition game and doesn’t count on your record but you still want to win. We did some good things. We came back from being down and Todd hit a big shot,” Gillen said. “We played a lot of young guys and they made some mistakes but they did a lot of good things, too.”
Added Billet: “We’re up a decent amount and then we went down. We could have caved in and lost our composure but we didn’t. We should have closed the game out and won by 20 but that wasn’t what happened, but we did hold it together at the end.”
Of course, there is a different perspective.
“I wasn’t hoping it would end up like this. I didn’t plan on it being this close,” Byars said with a chuckle.
With the Smith injury, Gillen started Billet, freshman J.R. Reynolds, Forbes, Minter and Brown. According to Gillen, it’s just something of experiment now to find the right starting five.
“We’re just trying a lot of combination and different groups in there and seeing what fits and what works,” Gillen said.
Notes. Byars, who scored 25 points in exhibition game last week, was 9 of 12 from the floor Tuesday and is now 19 for 23 from the field in the two exhibition contests. … Minter, the 6-foot-8 lefthander, is a combined 15 for 18 from the floor in the two games. … Virginia had 15 assists compared to 17 turnovers Tuesday. Last week, Virginia had 25 assists and 15 turnovers in its win over the Big Apple All-Stars. … Virginia will open its season on Sunday against Mt. St. Mary’s at 7 p.m.
2002's good breaks this year's bad breaks
Georgia Tech at Virginia: Saturday at noon, WDBJ. Records: Georgia Tech 6-4,
Virginia 5-5
By Doug Doughty
CHARLOTTESVILLE - In fashioning a 9-5 record in 2002, Virginia overcame 21-0 and
17-0 deficits, won five straight games in which it was outgained and sustained
few game-changing penalties.
This year, the Cavaliers have learned that a team can't live dangerously
forever.
"I have witnesses who could tell you that I constantly told people that we had
to approach this season in anticipation of the absence of certain things that
happened last season," coach Al Groh said Monday. "It goes both ways over a
period of time."
Virginia (5-5, 3-4 ACC) has lost four of its last five games, including four
consecutive conference games. The Cavaliers have been as close as seven points
in the fourth quarter of all of those losses.
"Last year, we made ourselves hard to beat," Groh said. "This year, we make it
hard on ourselves."
Virginia did not have a turnover Thursday in a 27-17 loss at Maryland but also
failed to cause a turnover for the third time this season.
"Those things are a curious thing," said Groh, whose team entertains Georgia
Tech (6-4, 4-3) at noon Saturday. "Sometimes, they just come. Right now, we're
at about 50 percent of what we had last year.
"As I look at the numbers in the league, curiously, many of the teams are very
low in takeaways this year. A lot of fumbles are caused in the pocket, [but] a
lot of teams are getting the ball out in a hurry."
3-4 revisited
In the course of the ESPN broadcast Thursday night, analyst Lee Corso questioned
the Cavaliers' 3-4 defense and suggested that a three-man UVa front might have
been a factor in a 257-yard rushing night by Maryland sophomore Josh Allen.
"Think we ought to switch to same 4-3 defense that Pittsburgh played, or
Minnesota played, or Michigan State played, or North Carolina State or Florida
State?" Groh, referring to a handful of blowouts, asked. "Down there,
[reporters] are probably asking them the same thing.
"There are a lot bigger issues than what the numbers are. A lot of times we
start in a 3-4 and shift into something else. Mickey Andrews, the defensive
coordinator at Florida State, has this statement that 'it's not up front where
you lose games; it's always in the back.'"
n UVa traditionally has had problems with Maryland's running game. Of the 14
games in which a Terrapin player has rushed for 200 yards or more, five have
come against UVa, including a school-record 306-yard performance by the Terps'
Lamont Jordan in 1999.
Official challenged
By Monday, Groh had cooled off somewhat since a Friday teleconference in which
he railed at a no-call on Maryland's first touchdown, a 4-yard pass from Scott
McBrien to Latrez Harrison.
Groh felt that Harrison should have been called for pushing off on UVa
cornerback Muffin Curry. Groh was in an official's ear after the play and took
the bait Friday when asked when a push-off becomes offensive pass interference.
"When the official decides to call it," snapped Groh, who has won and lost games
at Clemson on similar no-calls. "There was more pushing off on that play the
other day than either of the Clemson plays. Did [Harrison] push off? You bet he
did. Could the official have called it? You bet he could have."
Lundy hamstrung
Virginia rushing leader Wali Lundy, replaced by Alvin Pearman and limited to one
carry in the second half Thursday night, said he was not in pain but never felt
as if he got loose on a 38-degree night. Lundy was run down at the Maryland
3-yard line following a 62-yard gain on a screen pass.
"I can't really open up," said Lundy, who has had lingering hamstring problems
since the preseason. "My speed is not where it was last year. It's definitely
not where it was in the summer. I felt like I had gotten faster. I'm just not
where I should be right now."
Some bad bounces not stopping Mann
Although not the marquee-type player some envisioned, "I feel I'm playing the
best football of my career right now," Raymond Mann says.
By Doug Doughty
One play typifies Virginia's football season and maybe Raymond Mann's entire
college career.
"I think I'm going to remember that play for a long time," Mann said Monday as
he began preparations for Game11 of his senior season.
A career that began with considerable buildup was just starting to reach its
peak when Virginia travelled to Clemson in early October.
With Virginia in need of a defensive stop after taking a 17-10 lead, Mann was in
swift pursuit of Tigers quarterback Charlie Whitehurst after blowing past
would-be blocker Dwayne Coleman.
A sack, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, maybe even a recovered fumble. All
of those things were in Mann's grasp.
Whitehurst did fumble, but the ball bounced neatly into the arms of Coleman, who
had been trailing the play.
Coleman motored 13 yards for a first down and, three plays later, Clemson had a
tying fourth-quarter touchdown in a game the Tigers would win 30-27 in overtime.
Mann could have been a hero. Instead, he was a footnote.
That's been the story of his career. A classic case of "what if?"
Mann, who will make his 26th start Saturday against visiting Georgia Tech, has
had a respectable career but hasn't been the marquee-type player that some
envisioned when he came out of Hampton High School in 2000.
Mann was named Gatorade state player of the year following his senior season at
Hampton in 1999. He was rated the No.2 prospect in the state by The Roanoke
Times, behind Fairfax High School running back Brandon Royster.
Of the other players on the top five, only No.3 Chris Perry, a running back for
Michigan, has had a more distinguished career than Mann. Injuries have plagued
the Nos.1, 2 and 4 players on that list - Royster at Stanford, wide receiver
Maurice Shanks at Maryland and linebacker Chad Cooper at Virginia Tech.
An injury also played havoc with Mann's career, causing him to miss five games
and limiting his effectiveness during the 2002 season.
A late-season Virginia surge coincided with coach Al Groh's decision to move
senior Merrill Robertson from inside linebacker to left outside linebacker,
Mann's normal spot.
"I wasn't 100 percent when I came back," said Mann, who was one of four UVa
players who suffered knee injuries Aug.31, 2002, against Florida State. "If I
wasn't 100 percent, I wasn't helping the team. I don't want to say it was
difficult. Athletes get injured every day."
Mann doesn't like talking about himself and views interview requests "the way
some people look forward to having a tooth pulled," UVa sports information
contact Michael Colley said.
"Ray was terrific about it," said Groh of the benching. "He was the person who
knew the most about how he was affected by the injury; he was the one who had
it. He knew he wasn't at the top of his game as a result of it, but he just kept
working and was the same guy."
Mann was a defensive tackle in high school and an undersized defensive end
(6-foot-1 and 233 pounds) in his first year at Virginia, mostly out of
necessity. He was moved to outside linebacker when Groh installed a 3-4 package
in the spring of 2001.
"That [2001 season] was a transitional year from being a down player to being an
outside linebacker with the most responsibilities of anybody on the defense,"
Groh said. "Then, a game and a half into his junior season, he got hurt. When he
came back, he wasn't himself."
Mann says he was a better player in 2001 for having played in 11 games as a true
freshman, but the trade-off hardly seems worth it. He played 111 plays in 2000.
"There are some young linebackers on the team right now who are redshirting,"
Groh said. "When they're in their fourth year of school, as Ray is, they'll have
another year [of eligibility]. Picture Ray if he had another year to go after
this one."
The knock against Mann is that he has not been an instinctive player - that he
tends to think too much on his feet - and even he admits that it didn't truly
become second nature until this season.
He may be gone before he's fully appreciated.
"I was expected to come in here, start right away and be an All-American," Mann
said, "but I never paid much attention to the hype. I feel I'm playing the best
football of my career right now and that's all that really matters."
At U-Va., A Good Season Gone Bad
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 19, 2003; Page D09
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Nov. 18 -- The Virginia Cavaliers began the season talking
championship. Their fans were eager to enjoy the ride, especially after last
season's 9-5 record gave the program some national prominence.
Something went wrong on the journey from promising young team to title
contender. The high expectations have yielded to a 5-5 record; title discussions
have given way to talk of a low-level bowl, if the Cavs should make it that far.
Virginia's surprisingly mediocre record is the result of a handful of factors: a
steep drop-off in defensive takeaways, the offensive line's inability to open
holes consistently for the running game, injuries to several key starters and a
lack of speed at wide receiver and defensive back. Overall, the program's talent
isn't yet at a championship level, despite two strong recruiting classes brought
in by third-year coach Al Groh.
Yet, as Groh points out, last season's nine-win squad had obvious weaknesses as
well. It compensated by avoiding mistakes and coming up with crucial plays late
in games. Sometimes that included a dose of luck.
"I've been around few teams that 'got it' as good as that team did," Groh said.
"Last year, we made ourselves a team that was hard to beat. This year, we're a
team that makes it hard on ourselves. We're right there, but we make it too hard
on ourselves."
Indeed, the Cavaliers can easily torture themselves by playing a "what if" game
with most of their losses this season. What if quarterback Matt Schaub hadn't
missed the South Carolina game with a shoulder injury? What if just a few plays
had gone differently in the three-point loss to Clemson or the eight-point loss
to Florida State or the last-minute loss to North Carolina State?
Last season Virginia was 6-3 in games decided by two touchdowns or less. This
season it's 1-4, including losses in its past four ACC games.
Groh said he knew coming into the season the Cavs couldn't count on all the
intangibles going their way this time around. Despite closing last season with
three wins in four games -- including a dominant performance in the Continental
Tire Bowl, where the Cavaliers beat West Virginia, 48-22 -- the coach was not
among those who thought the job of rebuilding the Virginia program was complete.
"He sat us down in camp and told us things weren't going to be the same as they
were last year," right guard Elton Brown said.
The Cavaliers have been a little bit off for most of the season, but against an
early-season schedule that included ACC doormats Duke and North Carolina and a
nonconference tuneup at Western Michigan, they won nevertheless.
"It seems like we're not doing as good as we were during the early season, but
actually we messed up early," junior wide receiver Ottowa Anderson said. "The
mistakes that we had in the early games . . . are just coming back to haunt us
now."
Some of those mistakes -- though by no means all -- can be traced to Virginia's
place among the youngest teams in the country, based on preseason depth charts.
Half of its starters are freshmen and sophomores.
"There's a reality that says there's still going to be some more growth for some
of these players and different experiences that they have to learn from," Groh
said, "but we are who we are right now. Hey, we were a young team last year, so
if we start using that as a copout for not playing well, we're really saying
that for a period of time here, that we're willing to settle for less than what
we're aiming for."
Virginia's aims now could be a berth either in the Continental Tire Bowl or the
Humanitarian Bowl, if the Cavaliers can beat Georgia Tech on Saturday or No. 12
Virginia Tech in the regular season finale the following weekend.
"We're down because we're losing, but still we have confidence because we know
we can do it," Anderson said. "That's the thing, man. We know we can play good."
Cavaliers Notes: Carson Ward, the walk-on running back who suffered a serious
head injury in an on-campus fight 21/2 weeks ago, has been discharged from the
University of Virginia Medical Center. . . . Heath Miller is among eight
semifinalists for the John Mackey Award, which goes to the country's top tight
end. Kicker Connor Hughes and Schaub also remain in the running for national
awards at their respective positions.