Cavaliers knocking on BCS door
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
November 8, 2004

The hunt for the ACC title continues and thanks to a shutout win over Maryland, Virginia remains a major player in the outcome.
The Cavaliers used an exceptional running game and pressure defense, which caused three turnovers, to dispose of the Terrapins, 16-0. More importantly, the win keeps UVa locked in the top spot in the league.
“We’ve been trying to work to be this type of team for the better part of three-plus years now,” said Virginia coach Al Groh, whose team improved to 7-1 overall. “I’ve said on other occasions we’re closer to the model than we’ve ever been and maybe we closed in a little bit more on the model.”
With only three regular-season games left - a home game on Saturday with Miami and road games at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech - the win also gives the team a momentum boost for the stretch run.
“This game should put our confidence back at the highest level,” said running back Wali Lundy, who scored Virginia’s two touchdowns against Maryland. “After we lost to Florida State, we didn’t have much confidence in ourselves. This game gives us confidence going into Miami.”
Confidence might not be a word associated with the Miami football program at the moment.
Thanks to an overtime loss to Clemson on Saturday, the Hurricanes enter the showdown with Virginia reeling with a two-game losing streak and stuck in second place, but within striking distance of earning a bid to the Bowl Championship Series.
“It’s really amazing that we are where we are and still have an opportunity for something special to happen,” Miami coach Larry Coker said. “We’ve lost two games we could have won. But from the standpoint of having lost two conference games and still having a chance to go to a BCS bowl game, that’s pretty amazing.
“We have a lot to play for. Like I told our team, it’s going to test our character, show what we’re made of. I think we’ll get a Virginia team on an upswing. They need to get a Miami team ready to fight back,” Coker added.
Virginia coach Al Groh said the back-to-back setbacks would do little to change his planning for the upcoming contest.
“We’re preparing for the personnel and the schemes that they have and we know the quality of the personnel and we know the difficulty of the schemes,” Groh said on Sunday. “I don’t think we’d have prepared any differently for them if they had won those two games [and] we’re not preparing any differently for them that they didn’t win those two games.”
Virginia linebacker Ahmad Brooks, who had the first two interceptions of his career against Maryland, said he expects Miami to be focused.
“We know what’s in front of us,” Brooks said. “We want to make the BCS. They want to make the BCS. It will be a fascinating environment. I can’t wait.”

Moving on up. Virginia’s win over Maryland helped the Cavaliers jump two spots in the national rankings. UVa is now ranked 10th in the country, which makes them the top-ranked team in the ACC. Florida State is ranked 11th, Virginia Tech climbed to 16th and Miami dropped to 18th.

Getting the job done. Virginia quarterback Marques Hagans has had better games, at least statistically, but when he was called on, he was
effective.
Hagans completed 10 of 17 passes for 114 yards and threw two interceptions. On the drive that Virginia scored its first touchdown, Hagans connected on three straight passes.
His play received a favorable review from Groh.
“I thought he did what he needed to do,” Groh said. “He made two or three excellent plays on the bootleg [and] he got the ball out there for us. He did a real good job on a couple of screens. Without him being the guy making the throw, we probably would have had
difficulty.”

U.Va. taking a run at it
Faith in Groh's system has Cavs three wins away from a BCS bowl
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Nov 8, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- After rushing for at least 225 yards in each of its first five games, Virginia managed only 20 on the ground in a humbling 36-3 loss at Florida State on Oct. 16.

The Cavaliers didn't panic. Fourth-year coach Al Groh is a Bill Parcells disciple who loves power football. U.Va. couldn't always play that way in its first three seasons under Groh, but it entered 2004 with a experienced offensive line and a talented stable of running backs.

Even after the loss in Tallahassee, the Cavs never considered returning to those days in the not-so-distant past - see the 2003 game against FSU, among others - when their passing attempts outnumbered rushing attempts.

"If one game like that would make us abandon it, then we never really had faith in it at all, did we?" Groh said. "If you can lose your faith that fast, you don't have much faith."
Click here for free spyware and adware removal!

That faith was rewarded in the Cavaliers' Oct. 23 rout of Duke, a game in which they rushed for 348 yards, and again Saturday against Maryland.

"They just ran the ball down our throats," Terrapins coach Ralph Friedgen said after the Cavs won 16-0 before a record crowd of 63,072 at Scott Stadium.

And that was no small feat. The Terps entered with the ACC's top-ranked rushing defense, having allowed an average of only 79 yards in conference games. A week earlier, in an improbable upset of FSU, Maryland held the Seminoles to 50 yards rushing.

Undeterred, Virginia ran right at the Terrapins, who seemed shell-shocked by the attack. Senior tailback Alvin Pearman rushed for 170 yards, junior tailback Wali Lundy added 107, and the Cavaliers totaled 295.

"That's what we do," said Pearman, who has topped 100 yards rushing in three of his past four games. "We run the football."

Can the Cavs run the ball as successfully against the Miami Hurricanes? If so, Virginia may well find itself one large step closer to the ACC title come Saturday night.

In its home finale, U.Va. (4-1, 7-1) meets Miami (3-2, 6-2) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Hurricanes woke up two days ago ranked No. 11 in The Associated Press poll and tied for first in the ACC with Virginia and Virginia Tech. Both of those teams captured hard-fought wins, but the 'Canes couldn't keep pace.

Miami lost in overtime to unranked Clemson at the Orange Bowl to cap another wild weekend in the expanded ACC.

"Every time I have occasion to talk to one of the other coaches in the league," Groh said last night, "whether it's on the field or on the phone, everybody's just shaking their head."

In the AP poll released yesterday, Virginia rose two spots to No. 10. Miami - which, incidentally, doesn't have a highly regarded rushing defense - fell seven spots to No. 18.

The Hurricanes' stunning loss to Clemson came a week after they fell at North Carolina and left U.Va. and Virginia Tech tied atop the ACC. The Cavs have three regular-season games left, including a Nov. 27 visit to Virginia Tech. If they win out, they'll be ACC champions and Bowl Championship Series-bound.

Groh, naturally, wants his players to give no thought to the big picture.

"All we're trying to do is figure out how to beat the guys we're playing this week," he said. "You can only win one game a week, and that's what we're trying to do."

 

'Hoos grind out 16-0 win over Terps
In Bounds
Patrick Hite

Entering Saturday's game with Maryland, there was little question what Virginia was going to try to do on offense.

The Cavaliers entered the game sporting the top-ranked rushing offense in the Atlantic Coast Conference, averaging 249 yards a game. That's more than 32 yards a game ahead of second-ranked Wake Forest.

There was only one game this season where the Cavs had failed to finish with less than 200 yards, but that one game was enough to make some wonder about the running game in Charlottesville. In Virginia's 36-3 loss at Florida State, Virginia finished with 20 yards rushing on 29 attempts.

But give up on the run? The thought never crossed coach Al Groh’s mind.

Groh said, "If one game like that would make us abandon it, then we never really had faith in it at all, did we? If you can lose faith that fast, then you don't have much faith."

And the coach had faith. That's why his team ran the ball 61 times against Maryland, compared to just 17 pass plays. Not that there was any reason to go to the air. Virginia's running game tallied 295 yards on the day as the Cavaliers blanked Maryland 16-0.

The win improved Virginia to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the conference, good enough for a first-place tie with Virginia Tech in the ACC. Miami fell out of first by losing to Clemson Saturday night.

Virginia was never really challenged by the Terrapins, who came into the game fresh off of a three-point upset win over Florida State. But 13 second-quarter points by the Cavaliers, combined with a stout defensive effort by the home team, spelled disaster for Maryland, which dropped to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the ACC.

Maryland managed just 214 yards total offense, including only 51 on the ground, and finished the game with just seven first downs.

But it was the Cavalier rushing game that controlled the day, allowing Virginia to hold onto the ball nearly 39 minutes on the day and accounted for both touchdowns.

Following the game, one reporter asked Wali Lundy if he was surprised how well Virginia ran the ball against, what he termed, "a very good defense."

Said Lundy, "We had our way with them. So I don't know if they were a good defense or not. Our offense had our way with them. We controlled the line the whole game."

But the reporter wasn't finished. He told Lundy that, statistically, Maryland’s defense was pretty good, considering it had held four of its last five opponents under 100 yards rushing.

Lundy, with a grin on his face, said, "Well, I guess the statistics were wrong, 'cause I didn't really see it."

The reporter was correct in pointing out that the Terrapins had held those four opponents under 100 yards rushing. But numbers don't always tell the whole story. Of those four games, Maryland lost two of them. And, coming into Saturday's game, two of the teams (Duke and Clemson) were ranked 10th and 11th in rushing in the ACC. The other two were sixth and seventh.

Still, in its last two outings, Maryland kept Florida State to 50 yards on the ground and Clemson to just 36 yards. So maybe it was a bit of a surprise to see Virginia run for 295 yards against the Terps.

Lundy accounted for 107 of those yards. He also scored both Virginia touchdowns, one on a 4-yard carry and the other on a 15-yard scamper that saw him reverse direction on his way to the end zone. Both scores came in the second quarter, giving him 38 touchdowns for his career.

The junior is now just two behind Thomas Jones for total touchdowns in a career at Virginia. Thirty of those scores have come on the ground for Lundy, one short of Tiki Barber for second and six in back of Jones on the career list.

What makes Lundy's performance this season even more impressive is that he has been splitting time with two other backs. On Saturday, he and Alvin Pearman both got plenty of touches.

"It was definitely an old-school football game," said Lundy. "Between us we had a lot, like 50 carries. That's the type of ... running backs dream to have a game like that."

To be exact, the pair combined for 55 carries. Pearman had the most attempts (31) and yards (170), but Lundy wasn't complaining.

"I think it's easier on the backs to make the cuts," said Lundy. "Because once you get tired it's hard to see the holes, hard to make the right cut. I think with us, with me and Alvin, I think it's a good one-two punch, and it keeps us fresh so when we get in there we know that we can perform at our top capability."

After the game, Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen was trying to explain what happened.

"They blocked us, especially on the backside," Friedgen said. "I thought there were times we contained them on the front side, and they did a good job of blocking on the back side. And sometimes our pursuit didn't get there, and that's very rare for our defense."

Friedgen called his team's performance flat, questioning whether his team had anything left in the tank after last week's big win. If that was the case, he blamed himself.

"I don't know if it was because of last week or what it was," Friedgen said. "I have to evaluate myself. If they can't get up for this game, I don't know what the hell is wrong with me."

On the other side, Groh couldn't say enough good things about his team's effort, especially in running the ball.

"They really did a great job," Groh said. "When you run the ball, it has to be a very cohesive effort. Sometimes when you pass the ball it's a little more ... some individual guys can make it work, the throw, the catch. But when you run the ball, there's a lot of guys, pretty much all 11, that have to be in synch. They certainly were tonight."

Along those lines, Groh said it was more than just Lundy and Pearman getting the job done. The coach said the blocking for those backs was responsible for the performance. He said the 295 yards against Maryland and the 348 against Duke in Virginia's prior game said a lot about the offensive line.

"Numbers and I have a fight, but I'll use numbers in this particular case ... that says everything that needs to be said about the offensive lineman," Groh said.

But he didn't completely ignore Lundy and Pearman when handing out praise.

"Our runners were really aggressive with the ball," Groh said. "They have a lot to be proud of."

 

Cavs run all over hyped Terrapin D
Virginia gains 295 yards on ground, holds on to first place in ACC with win over Maryland
Joe Lemire, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

Virginia's defense pitched its second shutout of the season, holding Maryland to just seven first downs and 51 rushing yards as the No. 12 Cavaliers (7-1, 4-1 ACC) knocked off Maryland (4-5, 2-4), 16-0, before a record crowd at Scott Stadium.

Senior running back Alvin Pearman amassed 170 yards on the ground one week after narrowly missing the school's single game rushing record. Junior Wali Lundy added 107 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 14 this season.

"They really did a great job," Virginia coach Al Groh said of his backs and offensive line. "To run the ball, it has to be a cohesive effort. Pretty much all 11 of them have to be on the same page, and they certainly were [Saturday]."

Thanks to its steady rushing attack, Virginia was able to control the flow of the game, holding the ball for 38 minutes and 41 seconds of possession time. The Cavaliers carried the ball for a total of 295 yards on 61 runs -- nearly four times the number of passes attempted.

"This time of the year, we have to stick with what we do best, and that's run the ball," Pearman said.

Quarterback Marques Hagans threw only 17 passes, completing 10 for 117 yards. He also threw his third interception of the season -- one of two Virginia turnovers on the day. The other came when Pearman lost his first fumble since the Cavaliers played Penn State in November 2002.

Maryland entered the game with the conference's ninth-ranked offense and mustered only 214 yards and no points against a stingy Virginia defense.

"Our defense came out with tenacity," said Cavalier nose tackle Andrew Hoffman, who had six tackles and a sack. "We came out with the mindset to be relentless and ruthless, and that's how we came out."

Saturday's contest was a striking change from last year when Terrapin tailback Josh Allen rumbled for 257 yards in a 27-17 Maryland victory. Allen managed only 39 yards this year, but Groh denied that he targeted him as a point of emphasis for the defense.

"We never mentioned that player in particular," Groh said of Allen. "What we did talk about was that we had to do a much better job against the running game in general."

The Cavalier defense recorded three sacks, including two by outside linebacker Darryl Blackstock, and forced three turnovers. Inside backer Ahmad Brooks notched the first two interceptions of his career, and cornerback Tony Franklin forced a fumble.

The Cavaliers were not flagged for a penalty while Maryland was victimized four times for 35 yards.

Virginia kicker Connor Hughes' woes continued. He missed his third extra-point of the season and hit only one of three field goal attempts. His 53-yard attempt fell short, and his try from 35 yards was blocked.

The Cavaliers remain tied with Virginia Tech atop the conference standings, and will return to action against No. 18 Miami Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Cavaliers don't need a phonebook for a playbook
Sean McLernon, Cavalier Daily Sports Editor

It was one of the finest moments in American film history. Trailing the Urbana Cowboys with time left for only one play, the Little Giants pulled out their secret weapon: "The Annexation of Puerto Rico." A complicated play involving several passes and laterals, the Annexation won the game for the underdogs in the timeless cinematic classic from 1994, "Little Giants."

While the movie couldn't have ended without the good guys coming through in the clutch to win, the fact that Rick Moranis' character and his rag-tag bunch of players were able to emerge victorious over a bigger and more talented squad through creative play calling is consistent with a common belief among football experts: The more surprise plays you have in the vault, the better.

Why? Because the last thing you want to do is commit the mortal sin of running the same play twice in a row. I can't even remember how many times I sat frustrated at my Sega Genesis as John Madden's voice came through the speaker saying something to the extent of, "You're not going to fool them twice in a row." And if you can't trust John Madden when it comes to football advice, who can you trust?

While running "HB toss left" over and over again didn't do me any good as a nine year old in John Madden Football '92, the Virginia Cavaliers proved yesterday that Madden might be mistaken in his analysis after all.

In their 16-0 shutout over Maryland Saturday, the Cavaliers not only silenced the non-believers (I'm looking at you, Herbstreit), but did it with Maryland knowing exactly what Virginia was going to run every time. The Cavaliers ran for 295 yards against the Terrapins despite using the same six or seven plays over and over again.

"It's not hard -- teams know what we're going to do," running back Alvin Pearman said. "They know what type of plays we're going to run. We're not a dink and dunk team -- we're not going to do anything crazy out there. We just stick to good old fashioned football, and that's run it right at you."

The Cavaliers ran three times as many rushing plays as passing plays, as the offensive line put forth a dominant performance to help Virginia steadily march down field on almost every drive.

Play after play, the Terrapins saw the same thing over and over again. Sometimes it was Alvin Pearman, other times it was Wali Lundy. Either way, a Cavalier running back was running off tackle, dicing through holes opened up by the offensive line. Virginia was content with "pounding the ball down [Maryland's] throat" as Terrapin coach Ralph Friedgen put it, without any need to disguise their plays. In fact, the Cavaliers take pride in their unoriginality.

"We feel like if you have to keep using different plays to beat a team, than you're not going to be a very good team," running back Wali Lundy said. "If we're able to run the same play at you every down and just dominate you, than we are going to have good plays."

The irony of all this is that Friedgen, the losing coach, is famous for his comprehensive playbook, said to be as thick as the New York City phonebook with its 600-plus pages. All those plays didn't do him much good against the Cavaliers, who kept his team off the scoreboard throughout the entire game.

The Annexation of Puerto Rico may have won the game for the Little Giants (and chances are Friedgen has his own version of the play buried deep inside his playbook), but Virginia doesn't need gimmicks to find success. The team plays hard-nosed, smash-mouth football. And that's something even John Madden would approve of.