Former starting QB accounts for 2 TDs
WVU in no position to contain Hagans

Marques Hagans throws a touchdown pass from the fullback position and returns a punt for a score.

By MARK BERMAN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Marques Hagans never lined up at quarterback Saturday, but he still had a major impact on the game.

    Hagans threw for a touchdown on a fullback-option pass and scored on a punt return to help Virginia flatten West Virginia 48-22 in the Continental Tire Bowl.

    Hagans, a redshirt freshman, played so well in relief of quarterback Matt Schaub in a season-opening 35-29 loss to Colorado State that he started in a 40-19 loss to Florida State in the second game. Schaub regained his starting job for the third game and went on to become the ACC player of the year.

    Hagans has continued to contribute to Virginia's season, though.

    Hagans lined up at fullback for a trick play in the first quarter Saturday. He took a backward pass from Schaub and, throwing from the left side of the field, found tailback Wali Lundy wide open in the right side of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown pass and a 7-3 lead.

    It was Hagans' only TD pass of the season.

    "We've been working on that play for a long time. We just never got a chance to run it," Hagans said.

    Schaub said the Cavaliers figured "misdirection" would work against the Mountaineers.

    "They're aggressive. They flow to the ball," Schaub said of the Mountaineers. "Wherever the ball is, they're going to go there. If the ball's over here, they're not over there, so we throw back over there."

    Hagans, who became UVa's primary punt returner in the fourth game of the season, broke Saturday's game open in the second quarter. He fielded a punt, stopped himself from falling with his left hand and bolted down the field for a 69-yard return that extended the lead to 21-10 with 7:53 left in the half.

    "I saw one guy come, I saw another, and then I just saw a whole bunch of daylight," said Hagans, who averaged 7.1 yards on 27 punt returns in the regular season. "We took it to the house. Special teams can win or lose ballgames for you. I'm just glad it won it for us this time."

    UVa coach Al Groh said the return changed the momentum of the game. It was the first time a Cavalier returned a punt for a TD since Tiki Barber did against North Carolina State in 1996 and the first time a Cavalier ever returned a punt for a TD in a bowl.

    "The punt return took a little wind out of our sails," WVU coach Rich Rodriguez said. "It was a low kick and not covered very well."

    Hagans also was versatile in the regular season. He completed 13 of 24 passes. He caught a pass. He ran for 102 yards and two TDs on 31 carries, including the winning 13-yard run with 6:13 left in a 38-34 victory over Wake Forest. He even picked off a pass against Akron out of punt formation.

    "My coaches got a lot of faith in me to make plays," he said. "I've just got to come through for them."

    Hagans has had to look on from the sideline while Schaub shined at the quarterback job he once had, but Hagans said he doesn't mind.

    "When I got in, he supported me. The rest of the season, when he's been in, I've been supporting him," Hagans said. "We [are] like brothers, man. We stay in the same hotel room every week. It's no, like, wishing against nobody. It's all love."

Young staff proves itself on sidelines

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   CHARLOTTE, N.C. - For all the orange-and-blue and blue-and-gold in evidence Saturday at Ericsson Stadium, it's likely that there were a few Carolina Panthers fans in attendance.

    Think they realized what they were missing?

    In the six years he was coaching in the NFL while the Panthers were in the league, Virginia coach Al Groh did not visit Ericsson Stadium. However, one of his assistant coaches was very familiar with the surroundings - or as familiar as somebody can be in less than half a season.

    Virginia quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave was Carolina's offensive coordinator until his resignation four games into the 2000 season.

    The sense of the Charlotte media at the Continental Tire Bowl was that Musgrave felt he could not coexist with then-Panthers coach George Seifert. While the Carolina fans barely got to know Musgrave, the media wondered if he had committed career suicide.

    Groh does not permit his coaches to do in-season interviews, not that Musgrave had to say anything. A 48-22 Cavaliers victory over 15th-ranked West Virginia did all the talking.

    Musgrave constantly had the Mountaineers off-guard on a day when Virginia lost two-time All-ACC wide receiver Billy McMullen to a dislocated elbow on the sixth offensive play and did not have promising first-year fullback Jason Snelling, whose absence Groh attributed to "a medical issue."

    The Cavaliers already were without veteran offensive tackle Mike Mullins, who had undergone disc surgery earlier in the week. From tight end to tackle, the Virginia offensive line included two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen, one of whom, Brad Butler, was making his first career start.

    The "X" factor was Musgrave's play-calling, which sometimes has quarterback Matt Schaub looking at the play chart on his wristband and wondering, "Are you sure?"

    The Cavaliers have scored four touchdowns on trick plays this season, including Virginia's first touchdown Saturday, when backup quarterback Marques Hagans took a backward pass from Schaub and flipped the ball across the field to Wali Lundy.

    Hagans was lined up at fullback on the play, meaning Virginia has gotten touchdown passes this season from a quarterback, tailback, tight end, wide receiver and fullback.

    "We knew they were going to run a lot of trick plays," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "They ran the whole gamut, I guess, and executed them well."

    Rodriguez must have been referring to multiple reverses and fake reverses, although reporters who cover Virginia have become so accustomed to that aspect of the offense that it now seems routine.

    To single out Musgrave would be unfair to the rest of a youthful Virginia staff that was put together with an eye toward recruiting but clearly has grown on the job. Offensive-line coach Ron Prince, dubbed "Big Sexy" by Groh when it was suggested that line play was not sexy, has done wonders with his unit.

    Groh's predecessor, George Welsh, received widespread acclaim for building the UVa program, but there has not been a better coaching job than Groh did this year in winning nine games with a team picked to finish eighth in the ACC. When Groh was named ACC coach of the year, it just as easily could have been a staff award.

    If Musgrave committed career suicide in 2000, his reincarnation is unmistakable.

    "The way the situation turned out [in 2000]," Groh said, "I think you could say that it was a good thing for the people in Charlottesville and not such a good thing for the people in Charlotte."

Lundy wins matchup of Holy Cross High alums
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A postgame conversation between Wali Lundy and fellow Holy Cross High School alumnus Avon Cobourne was cordial but brief Saturday.
Lundy could understand Cobourne's reticence.

"You don't really want to talk to a person after you get beat like that," said Lundy, who scored four touchdowns as Virginia upset 15th-ranked West Virginia 48-22 in the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl.

Lundy, a 6-foot-1, 212-pound freshman from Willingboro, N.J., had 239 all-purpose yards and received the Jerry Richardson Most Valuable Player Award.

"That's not what I play for," said Lundy, seemingly uncomfortable with the recognition. "They could have given it to a lot of guys."

Lundy, who had rushed for 127 yards in the Cavaliers' 21-9 loss at Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale, matched that total Saturday with bowl statistics that the NCAA will add to regular-season statistics this year for the first time.

Lundy also had team highs of five receptions and 76 receiving yards, and he added a 36-yard kickoff return.

"There's not one single thing about it," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "If there was, a lot of guys would have it. He listens, he's coachable, he's confident, but he's humble. He's been blessed with a lot of God-given skill but he's also got the will to learn how to use it."

Lundy's first touchdown came on a 14-yard pass from Marques Hagans, a backup quarterback who lined up at fullback, went in motion toward the left sideline, took a backward pass from Matt Schaub and then connected with Lundy in the right side of the end zone.

"I just wanted to make sure and catch it," Lundy said. "Sometimes, when you're that wide open, you don't focus as well."

Lundy later took a screen pass and weaved 48 yards for his longest reception of the season, and a late 31-yard touchdown run matched his longest carry of the season. It also lifted him past Cobourne, who rushed for 117 yards as their ex-Holy Cross coach, Tom Maderia, looked on from the crowd.

"I really don't think this guy needs to measure himself against anybody," Groh said. "He's going to be a big-time player."

TO THE RESCUE: An illness to fullback Jason Snelling meant extended duty for sophomore Brandon Isaiah, who carried three times for 13 yards and caught three passes for 10 yards. Isaiah, injured for most of the 2001 season, did not have a rushing attempt in his college career before Saturday.

Fourth-year junior Ryan Sawyer, pressed into service after an early injury to All-ACC wide receiver Billy McMullen, had four receptions for 41 yards and four first downs after catching seven passes in his college career before Saturday. Only six of UVa's completions went to wide receivers, including the pass that ended McMullen's day with 12:31 left in the first quarter.

MILESTONES: When linebacker and co-captain Angelo Crowell led a group that dumped a water container on Groh in the closing minute, it marked the first time in Groh's 36 years of coaching that he had received a celebratory shower.

Crowell was credited unofficially with a team-high 13 tackles, lifting him over the 150-tackle mark for the season. The school record had been 144, which Crowell got in 2001. Crowell, McMullen and Shernard Newby established a school record by playing in their 50th games.

Darnell Glover, a fifth-year senior tight end from Cave Spring High School in Roanoke, made his first appearance for West Virginia since the opening game. ... West Virginia's Cobourne became the 10th player in Division I-A history to rush for 5,000 yards or more during a career.

BOWL MANIA: Continental Tire Bowl executive director Ken Haines said that his game's Web site received 3.5 million hits starting with the day the Virginia-West Virginia pairing was announced Dec.8. There were 680,000 hits in a 24-hour period ending Dec.9.

 

Cavs deflate WVU
Lundy scores 4 TDs as Cavaliers roll
By MARK BERMAN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Virginia finally left some skid marks on a bowl opponent.
The UVa football team snapped a four-game bowl losing streak Saturday, squashing West Virginia 48-22 in the Continental Tire Bowl in front of 73,535 fans at Ericsson Stadium.

It was the Cavaliers' first bowl win since a December 1995 victory over Georgia in the Peach Bowl.

"To get a bowl win now sets a whole new tone for our program," said junior quarterback Matt Schaub, who threw for 182 yards and one touchdown and also ran for a TD. "There was only a few of us older guys that had been in the last two bowl games in Hawaii [in 2000] and Fort Lauderdale [in 1999], so we were aware of it. The younger guys ... we made them aware that we're not going to go out and settle for another loss."

Freshman linebacker Darryl Blackstock said the bowl skid had "set a bad reputation for the school." That reputation is different now.

"We wanted to change that," said redshirt-freshman quarterback Marques Hagans, who threw a fullback-option TD pass and scored on a punt return. "We made a statement that it's a new UVa around here."

The No.15 Mountaineers (9-4) were the fourth ranked team UVa (9-5) has beaten this season.

"They just was a little more excited about the game," WVU running back Avon Cobourne said. "We came out flat. We just thought we was going to dominate."

UVa's fifth win in 13 bowl appearances was also its most lopsided bowl victory. UVa outscored WVU 21-0 in the second quarter to build a 28-10 halftime lead. The Cavaliers extended their cushion to 38-10 with 6:48 to go in the third quarter.

"We really didn't come out here to party and do all the other activities. We came out here to win a bowl game and that's what we did," said game most valuable player Wali Lundy, a freshman who ran for 127 yards and two touchdowns and caught two TD passes.

Lundy outshined Cobourne, a third-team All-American who is the leading rusher in WVU and Big East history. Cobourne had 117 yards and two TDs on 25 carries. He had two carries in the second quarter, when WVU had the ball for less than six minutes.

"They confused us," Cobourne said. "They used their hands so much and they had a separation on our O-linemen, which gave them a chance to peek their head in one hole and then put it in another hole."

UVa safety Jerton Evans said "Cobourne's mouth" inspired the Virginia defense.

"Their defense is not horrible like Rutgers, but they're not like Virginia Tech or Pitt," Cobourne told The Charlotte Observer earlier in the week. "They're kind of inbetween. On paper they're not good, but when you get out on the field and start getting hit, things can change."

He made other comments during the week - and during the game - that left the Cavaliers eager to show him how good they really were.

"He was doing a lot of talking for a guy to be so small," Evans said. "We really let him know that this wasn't a soft defense. ... When somebody sits up there and looks you in the face and says you ain't nothing, you tend to rise up to the challenge. ... He was saying [during the game] we're sorry. I just told him to look at the scoreboard."

"He talked a lot of junk out there, man, but we stepped up as a defensive unit," linebacker Angelo Crowell said.

Cobourne said the UVa defense was better than he expected.

"When you look at them on film, it's different than when you're playing in a game," he said. "It was just shocking to see how they play like that and still being so successful."

UVa recorded two interceptions. Blackstock foiled a trick play by picking off receiver Phil Braxton's pass at the UVa 43 after a WVU reverse. He returned it 9 yards. Ten plays later, Lundy scored on a 4-yard run to extend the lead to 28-10 with 19 seconds left in the second quarter.

"I was ready to fold on the reverse, and then when I saw the pass, I was ready to keep rushing. Then I saw the ball in the air and I was like, 'Gimme, gimme,'" Blackstock said.

Muffin Curry picked off quarterback Rasheed Marshall's pass at the WVU 35 and returned it 26 yards. UVa capitalized with a 30-yard Connor Hughes field goal that extended the lead to 38-10 with 6:48 to go in the third.

UVa lost its best receiver, Billy McMullen, to a dislocated elbow on the sixth play of the game. UVa still had a balanced offense, passing for 196 yards and rushing for 195.

Hagans threw a 14-yard fullback-option pass to Lundy for a first-quarter touchdown. Hagans also returned a punt 69 yards for a TD to extend the lead to 21-10 with 7:53 to go in the second quarter.

"All three phases, we had breakdowns," said WVU coach Rich Rodriguez, whose team had ended the regular season on a four-game winning streak. "It's not the way we were playing football at the end of the season, so it's very disappointing."

West Virginia hurt itself late in the second quarter. An offside penalty against WVU on a missed field-goal attempt by Hughes gave UVa new life. The Cavaliers capitalized on the next play with Lundy's 4-yard TD run to build a 28-10 cushion. Rodriguez said that turn of events "really hurt."

"That's just giving somebody seven points, because he missed the kick," Rodriguez said.


 

UVa stands tough against Hoyas
The Cavaliers take care of business in the lane with Georgetown forward Mike Sweetney in foul trouble.
By RICH RADFORD LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Georgetown's mascot is a bulldog, appropriate in that the Hoyas often play basketball as if in an alley fight, snipping and chewing and sometimes even growling at opponents until they wear them down.
This edition of the Virginia Cavaliers seems to have some scrap of its own and displayed it often in a 79-75 victory over the previously unbeaten Hoyas on Saturday at University Hall.

Virginia (7-2) weathered a rough start and a rougher finish. In the middle - both of the game and in the paint - it was the Cavaliers who were tough to handle.

"Elton Brown and Nick Vander Laan and Jason Clark and me, we worked all summer in the weight room for this," Travis Watson said of the Cavaliers' four post players. "We're big ourselves."

Alas, it was the training room, not the weight room, that Watson and Brown had been visiting this week with regularity. Both were on the bench at the start Saturday, victims of sprained ankles. Watson had hurt his nine days before against Gardner-Webb. Brown turned his ankle against Rutgers a week ago.

Watson, a 6-foot-8 senior center, was able to play 30 minutes and finished with 16 points. Brown had 14 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

"Travis gave them a lift two times today," Georgetown coach Craig Esherick said. "I thought he gave them a lift when he came into the game, and then another to begin the second half."

When Watson came in with 15:50 left in the first half, the Cavaliers trailed 8-2 and had turned the ball over four times in seven possessions. The Hoyas may not have come in ranked in the national polls, but they did enter ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense, having held opponents to averages of 54.2 points and 35.7 percent shooting.

"They came out early and stunned us," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We got unraveled."

A 3-pointer by Brown with 10:55 left in that first half tied it at 14, and the Cavaliers seemed to regain their poise.

One Cavalier who could not get on track, however, was Todd Billet. After torching Rutgers for 22 points in the previous game, Billet was shadowed throughout by Tony Bethel and Gerald Riley. Against Riley, 6-foot Billet was giving up 6 inches.

Billet didn't score until making the game's final points on two free throws with eight seconds left. He had come in averaging a team-best 14.5 points per game, but all he managed were three off-target 3-point tries.

"It was clear in our scouting report that he'd be someone we'd emphasize," Esherick said.

The rest of the Cavaliers shot very well. Georgetown (7-1) hadn't allowed a team to shoot better than 41 percent from the field this season. Virginia shot 56.3 percent. Devin Smith and Derrick Byars each were 4-for-7 from the field and finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers' worries centered around Hoyas forward Mike Sweetney and his averages of 20.7 points and 10 rebounds per game. Foul troubles did in the 6-8 junior as he managed 11 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes before fouling out. Riley was left to fill the void and finished with a game-high 19 points.

Virginia looked as if it would put this game away in the second half, leading by as many as 14 points and holding a 68-55 advantage with 5:55 remaining. The Hoyas stormed back and actually took a 71-70 lead on a free throw by center Wesley Wilson with 2:36 remaining.

Brown made a difficult turnaround jumper from the baseline at the other end. After Wilson missed a short jumper, the Cavaliers upped the advantage to 74-71 on a finger roll by Watson.

"Elton made the play of the game with that turnaround jumper," Gillen said. "He's a big-game player and this one was on CBS."

Virginia made five of six free throws in the last minute.

The Cavaliers play twice more - hosting Liberty on Monday and Wofford on Thursday - before diving into ACC play at N.C. State next Sunday.

 

Skid marks on WVU
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 29, 2002

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - West Virginia fans outnumbered Virginia supporters at the start of yesterday's inaugural Continental Tire Bowl. By the middle of the third quarter, the dominant colors inside Ericsson Stadium were orange and blue.

The day belonged to unranked Virginia, whose superiority persuaded many WVU fans in the sellout crowd of 73,535 to make an early start for home. The Cavaliers, fueled by four touchdowns from freshman Wali Lundy, cruised to a 48-22 victory over the 15th-ranked Mountaineers.

The win was U.Va.'s fourth over a ranked opponent this season and third in its past four games. It also ended a string of four postseason losses for Virginia. The Cavaliers, picked to finish eighth in the ACC, ended their second season under Al Groh with a 9-5 mark.

"It's been a remarkable team in how it came together and what it accomplished," Groh said.

Two minutes and 29 seconds into the game, Virginia lost its best wideout, senior Billy McMullen, with a dislocated left elbow. That left the Wahoos with no seniors on a first-team offense that included three true freshmen. The drive ended with a Tom Hagan punt, but he was never called on again. After that, the only possession on which the Cavaliers didn't score was their final one, when they ran out the clock.

"Perhaps that puts in pretty good perspective what this team has been all about," Groh said. "Right from the start, their mentality has been, whatever adversity and whatever obstacle might be put in front of them, they had a tremendous resolve to succeed.

"Here's one of the best football players who's ever played in this conference, a guy who's kind of been the heart of our team for a while, and we just went on and played, which says a lot about the players' reliance on each other and not just on one player."

West Virginia, the Big East's second-place team, finished 9-4. The 48 points matched the most the Mountaineers had allowed this season.

The game featured two tailbacks from Holy Cross High in southern New Jersey. WVU senior Avon Cobourne entered with the bigger name, but Lundy stole the spotlight by scoring two touchdowns receiving and two rushing. He matched his career high with 127 yards rushing, gained 76 yards on five catches and was named the game's MVP.

"I could dream of" an effort like that, Lundy said, "but I didn't know it was going to happen."

Virginia junior quarterback Matt Schaub, who'd struggled in a 21-9 loss to Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale, bounced back in emphatic fashion. Schaub, the ACC player of the year, completed 16 of 22 passes for 182 yards and one TD. He carried seven times for 39 yards and another score.

"To turn it around like this was the way we wanted to go out," Schaub said, "especially for the seniors."

On its first possession, WVU drove 72 yards but had to settle for a field goal that made it 3-0. Lundy returned the ensuing kickoff 36 yards, and a 26-yard completion from Schaub to tight end Heath Miller gave U.Va. a first down at the WVU 32.

Five plays later, offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, whose play-calling continually befuddled the Mountaineers, dipped into his bag of tricks. On second and 10 from the 14, backup quarterback Marques Hagans lined up at fullback. Hagans, a redshirt freshman, went in motion left, then stepped back and caught a long lateral from Schaub. Hagans then passed back across the field to a wide-open Lundy in the end zone.

"The way Musgrave was calling plays, they didn't know what was coming," McMullen said.

WVU regained the lead on the first of Cobourne's two TD runs, but U.Va. answered with a 70-yard drive that ended with Schaub scrambling, on fourth and goal, for a 1-yard touchdown.

"He may not be as fast as some other quarterbacks," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said, "but he's fast enough to make plays, and that's what he did today."

The Cavaliers' fastest quarterback is Schaub's understudy, Hagans, who's also the team's punt returner. After a three-and-out series by WVU, Hagans caught Mark Fazzolari's punt at the U.Va. 31, took off running, eluded a defender, nearly fell, reached down with his left hand to steady himself and then raced to the end zone.

Not since Oct. 19, 1996, when Tiki Barber ran one back 74 yards against N.C. State, had a Cavalier returned a punt for a TD.

The Cavaliers had no turnovers. The Mountaineers had two, both interceptions thrown by Rasheed Marshall. Linebacker Darryl Blackstock returned the first one 9 yards to the WVU 48, and from there, the Cavaliers quickly moved to the 9. The drive stalled, but WVU committed an offside penalty on Connor Hughes' 27-yard field goal attempt, which hit the right upright and bounced away.

That gave U.Va. a first down at the West Virginia 4, and Lundy ran in to make it 28-10 with 19 seconds left in the half.

On the Cavaliers' opening drive of the second half, Lundy caught a third-down screen pass from Schaub. Lundy ran for the first down, broke a tackle at the WVU 25 and sprinted down the U.Va. sideline to the end zone to complete a 48-yard TD play. And there ended the Mountaineers' hopes for a miraculous comeback.
 

Groh's opus concludes on high note
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Dec 29, 2002
Contact Bob Lipper at (804) 649-6555 or e-mail blipper@timesdispatch.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Goodness, what an exclamation point. That half-a-hundred-minus-two on the scoreboard? A sonic boom that reverberated from Mecklenburg County to the Rotunda. The trophy presentation at midfield? Ditto. The whoops of joy, the helmets thrust into the air, the huge grin that creased Al Groh's face, the giddy, wait'll-next-year anticipation for the thousands of rooters as they flew on air out of Ericsson Stadium? Hey, was this a football game or Mardi Gras?

Which raises another question: Could there have been a splashier grand finale for these Virginia Cavaliers?

And one more: Would you have set yourself up on a small island in the Bahamas if you'd made book last summer this all would come to pass?

These Cavaliers were picked to wind up eighth in their league, remember. They tied for second and whipped four teams that were ranked in the Top 25. They were wetter behind the ears than Mark Spitz. They hung tough like grizzled veterans when faced with larger deficits than United Airlines. They were 0-2 when September dawned and saddled with a brewing quarterback mess. They collected themselves and knocked off six straight opponents to resurrect their season.

They were underdogs in yesterday's Steel-Belted Radials Bowl and lost their best player - senior wideout Billy McMullen - six snaps into the game's opening possession.

And they romped 48-22, playing offense like magna cum wizards from Hogwarts and defense when it mattered.

And McMullen - Henrico High's own, his dislocated left elbow cradled in a sling - stood in the middle of the celebration and gazed around the locker room for the last time in his glossy college career and provided a benediction.

"It was all good," he said. "I couldn't be more excited for my guys. A couple of times, tears were coming to my eyes the way they played."

The Cavs dazzled on this day, and they razzled as well. Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave bamboozled the 'Eers with end-arounds, faked end-arounds, flea-flickers and a highlight-reel option pass that went for a TD. Marques Hagans, who tossed the pass, also zoomed 69 yards to score on a punt return. Meanwhile, U.Va.'s defense spotted WVU leads of 3-0 and 10-7 and then gave up nada till it was 38-10 and capital-O over.

"We knew they were going to run a lot of trick plays," said WVU coach Rich Rodriguez. "They ran the whole gamut, I guess. They did a good job of keeping us off-balance. Watching it from my view, we never got them in third and long very much. We never got them out of their rhythm."

The Cavs did all this with an offense that included no senior on the two-deep after McMullen went down and with a defense that's only slightly closer to senior citizenship. Nine freshmen started all told. "It's going to get better and better," said Hagans - but the arms Groh draped around McMullen and fellow senior Angelo Crowell at game's end amounted to a freeze-frame bow to the elder-statesman moxie that'll be left behind.

"This has been a remarkable team," Groh said. "Even though we're only losing a few guys, we'll have to put the team together again."

He's on the money there. For all the talk about U.Va.'s rookies - for all the trumpet flourishes that greet every schoolboy signing - a team can be a fragile thing. These Cavs came close to losing at Duke and Wake Forest, you know. But they wriggled free and moved on to create memories.

"There were times we were 21 down, 17 down - and we came back," said safety Jerton Evans, another senior. "That's special in itself. When we played, we played together. That's all that matters."

Matt Schaub was the barometer. He's the quarterback. He lost his starting job after the first game, regained it a couple of weeks later, performed nobly thereafter. Yesterday, at his unspectacular best, he put the Cavaliers ahead to stay when he hot-footed it into the end zone after failing to locate a receiver when he faded to pass.

"It didn't look good to start," Schaub said.

You could pretty much say the same for this U.Va. season.

But, oh, Lordy, what a finish.
 

Hobbled forwards save Virginia
Cavs hold off Hoyas' late charge
BY VIC DORR JR.
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 29, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Between them, University of Virginia post players Travis Watson and Elton Brown own two healthy ankles. Georgetown's Hoyas likely will not want to be in the neighborhood when two is upgraded to four.

U.Va.'s frontcourt bruisers combined to score 30 points and capture 12 rebounds yesterday as the Cavaliers recovered from a second-half skid in time to hang a 79-75 defeat on the previously U.VA. 79 G'TOWN 75undefeated Hoyas.

Both men are dealing with nasty ankle sprains. Brown did not practice during the week, and Watson practiced sparingly and gingerly. But each seemed more than robust to Georgetown. Watson scored 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Brown bagged 6 of 9 shots and finished with 14 points.

"I was questionable right up until game time," said Watson, a 6-8 senior who played 30 minutes in a reserve role. "It was my decision. I figured I'd warm up and see how it felt and then we'd decide."

Yes, he said, his mobility was somewhat reduced and "there were still some things I couldn't do. But when you get out there and the [television] lights are on and you see the crowd - all you want to do is play. The last thing you're thinking about is pain or injury."

Brown, a 6-9 sophomore who came off the bench to collect 20 minutes, gave Georgetown a great deal to think about. He buried the game's biggest shot: a turnaround 12-footer from the left baseline for a 72-71 lead with 2:21 remaining. U.Va. was, at that moment, staring squarely into the eyes of an embarrassing collapse. A 20-5 surge enabled Georgetown to transform a 14-point deficit at 7:49 into a 71-70 advantage - its first lead of the second half - at 2:36.

U.Va.'s three previous possessions had produced nothing when Brown went to work against Georgetown's 6-10 Wesley Wilson. Said Brown: "I used that move a couple of times in the first half and I realized that their big guys weren't adapting to it. I said, 'If they can't stop it, why not keep using it?'"

Watson scored from the lane on Virginia's next possession to give his club a three-point advantage. The Cavaliers (7-2) secured their triumph by sinking 5 of 6 free throws in the final 38.6 seconds.

Low-post play - or rather, the lack thereof - was no less pivotal from Georgetown's point of view. The Hoyas (7-1) played all but 15 minutes without the services of Mike Sweetney, their 6-8, 260-pound enforcer. Sweetney leads the Hoyas in scoring (20.7) and rebounding (10.0). He rang up 11 points against Virginia but played only three minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. He fouled out with 6:26 remaining.

Georgetown coach Craig Esherick took care to say, on several occasions, that "Virginia beat us fair and square." Sweetney's absence, he said, "wasn't the reason we lost in any way, shape or form."

Esherick then expressed disgust over the performance "of one particular referee today." The Hoyas coach said he had every intention of complaining to the Big East's supervisor of officials "because to me it doesn't make any sense, at this level of play, to have that kind of disparity" on an officiating crew.

Starting wing guard Devin Smith (14 points) and reserve forward Keith Byars (10) helped Virginia shoot .563 against a Georgetown club that permitted its first seven opponents to shoot only .353. Forward Gerald Riley led the Hoyas with 19 points.

5 Thoughts ... 2002 Continental Tire Bowl
Virginia 48 ... West Virginia 22

1. Bringing a knife to a gun fight
For all the moaning that West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez did about his team not getting to the Gator Bowl, his team didn't seem prepared for the task at hand. West Virginia almost played like it didn't respect Virginia and was playing in a bowl that was well beneath them, and it got steamrolled. The defense didn't seem to have a clue of how to slow down the Virginia balance, while the offense couldn't move the ball with any sort of pace once it fell behind. With a veteran team like West Virginia had, it should've played far better, but it didn't seem to have to proper attitude.

2. The problem with top rushing teams
The biggest problem with having an offense so heavily skewed towards the run, is that it's impossible to come from behind. Nebraska had no real way to move the ball all season when the rushing attack wasn't working, and West Virginia couldn't get anything going once Virginia started to make things happen with its offense and with the punt return from Marques Hagans. The West Virginia running game was fine at times, but it took way too long to move the ball with time killing drives once it got behind. There has to be some element of a passing game to go to in a pinch.

3. Having a bowl with fans
The Continental Tire Bowl may have been a blowout, but it was a huge success with the fans selling out with both programs so close to Charlotte. Compared to some of the other mid-tier bowls that get crowds of 20,000 at best, the spirit of the game seems so much more exciting when the house is packed. Sometimes, fans and programs get hung up on getting to a certain bowl for national respect, but teams can have far more fun when the fans are around providing support. Compare the excitement surrounding this game with the atmosphere of the Tangerine Bowl and upcoming San Francisco Bowl.

4. Where does Virginia go from here?
Get the promotional machine rolling, cause Virginia will be the hot team in the off-season. With QB Matt Schaub, RB Wali Lundy, TE Heath Miller, WR Michael McGrew and nearly the whole offensive line coming back on offense, the Cavaliers will be able to move the ball. The defense will need some of the young players to step up. Without LB Angelo Crowell and FS Jerton Evans, the D will be missing some key players. The line will be strong with the return of future NFL top pick Chris Canty, but the D revolves around the linebackers. Young stars and the top recruits have to step up. Al Groh will find a way to get this defense to work, and this will be a preseason top 25 team with designs on the ACC title.

5. Where does West Virginia go from here?
There's talent returning, but next year will be a rebuilding one. QB Rasheed Marshall is back and Quincy Wilson will be the team's main ball carriers, but several key players on the offensive line will graduate, and the defense will be decimated by graduation. Rich Rodriguez is one of the best young head coaches in college football, but he'll have his work cut out for him with the loss of almost all the starters on the defensive line, LB James Davis, and SS Angel Estrada. The Big East should be as strong as ever next season, and it'll be hard for West Virginia to repeat this season's success.
 

Playing through the pain
Brown, Watson propel Virginia to 79-75 win over Georgetown
By Dave Fairbank
Daily Press
Published December 29, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Elton Brown spent three days on crutches this week with a sprained ankle and didn't know if Virginia coach Pete Gillen would let him play. Until game time, Travis Watson wasn't sure he'd be able to go, due to a variety of ailments.

Sit the bench? At home? Against Georgetown? In a national TV game? Are you kidding?
Brown and Watson played through their maladies and contributed heavily as Virginia held off the Hoyas 79-75 Saturday at University Hall.

"Once I got out there and saw the big crowd and started moving around, I was all right," Watson said. "The last thing you want to do is think about injuries."

Watson and Brown combined for 30 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for the Cavaliers (7-2), who built a 14-point second-half lead and then weathered a Georgetown comeback for their fourth consecutive win.

"I was shocked that Coach Gillen let me play," said Brown, a sophomore from Newport News. "But once I got on the court, I was so hyped, I just wanted to go out and play."

Though Virginia committed 19 turnovers and got just two points from season-leading scorer Todd Billet, the Cavaliers dictated tempo much of the game by playing a zone defense. They also shot a season-best 56.3 percent from the field and made half of their 14 attempts from 3-point range.

"We didn't have many easy baskets that I can recollect," Gillen said. "We had to earn them, but we did have a good day shooting, and we needed to. If we didn't have a good day shooting, we wouldn't have been successful."

Brown contributed the game's biggest shot, biggest rebound and biggest free throw, all in the final 21/2 minutes. Playing its first road game this season, Georgetown (7-1) erased a 65-51 deficit and took a 71-70 lead on Wesley Wilson's free throw with 2:36 remaining.

But Brown, who had missed two free throws a minute earlier, never hesitated and calmly sank a turnaround jump shot from the left baseline on the ensuing possession over the 6-foot-11 Wilson to give the Cavaliers the lead for good.

"It was just a move I realized their big guys weren't adapting to," said Brown, who finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. "I said, 'This is a big play, so I was going to a patent move.' "

With Virginia clinging to a 76-73 lead, Brown rebounded Tony Bethel's potential tying 3-point attempt with 26 seconds left. He was fouled immediately, then sank a free throw with 25.7 seconds left to make it a two-possession game.

"He's getting more confident," Gillen said of Brown. "He's a very good offensive player. He's a big-game player. He likes big games. He gets excited to play in big games. ... He did a heck of a job, considering he's not 100 percent."

The expected duel between Watson and Georgetown's Mike Sweetney never materialized. Sweetney, a 6-8, 260-pound All-America candidate, picked up two fouls in the game's first 2:01 and spent most of the first half on the bench. He wound up with 11 points and four rebounds, both season lows, in 15 foul-plagued minutes.

"They beat us fair and square," Georgetown coach Craig Esherick said. "Mike Sweetney didn't have a thing to do with that victory, and I don't want anyone to think or to say that I blame anything in relation to Mike Sweetney for the game."

Indeed, when Sweetney fouled out with 6:26 remaining, the Hoyas trailed by 12 and came back without him.

"We did a really good job of playing without Mike," Esherick said. "At points, we played better without him."

Peninsula players produce for Cavaliers
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published December 29, 2002

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If memory serves, Marques Hagans returned two or three punts for touchdowns in his days at Hampton High. Then again, he can't be sure. "They didn't kick it to me very much," he said.

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez no doubt wishes he had followed that strategy Saturday afternoon. Hagans' 69-yard punt return midway through the second quarter broke the game open and lifted Virginia to a 48-22 victory over the Mountaineers in the Continental Tire Bowl. It capped an eventful day for a freshman officially listed as the Cavaliers' second-string quarterback - though that description doesn't really cover it.

Virginia's media guide doesn't include this, but you have to think Hagans is the first player in decades to return a punt and throw for touchdowns in the same game. His 14-yard scoring pass to Wali Lundy in the first quarter came as he lined up at fullback.

"I can't say I've ever see that," Cavaliers coach Al Groh said.

Hagans was averaging 7.1 yards per punt return, but his teammates were certain he'd break one eventually. As it turns out, his timing couldn't have been better.

"Last night, we were telling him it was his time," cornerback and former Crabbers teammate Almondo "Muffin" Curry said. "Every time we look at TV and see somebody else do it, we tell him it's his turn. He said he woke up today feeling a little sick, but we were like, 'Naw, that sickness ain't going to be today.' You're going to take one to the house."

Hagans nearly was stopped before he got going. A WVU cover man snagged his leg a split second after the catch, but Hagans put his left hand on the ground to stay on his feet. After that, there was no stopping him.

"Once I got up, I could see the whole field," he said. "The blockers had already cleared a hole for me."

Earlier, Hagans became the fifth Virginia player this season to throw a touchdown pass when he took a lateral from quarterback Matt Schaub and found Lundy wide open in the end zone. "That one's been in (the playbook) for a while," he said. "I can't tell you how long that one has been in."

Hagans was the headliner, but the Peninsula District was well represented in the Cavaliers' victory Saturday. Curry factored in both Mountaineers turnovers. First, he clobbered WVU wideout Phil Braxton as he attempted to throw, leading to an easy interception by linebacker (and Heritage graduate) Darryl Blackstock. Then, he picked off quarterback Rasheed Marshall and returned it 26 yards to set up a field goal.

Blackstock had his first career interception and knocked down two passes. Tailback Michael Johnson from Heritage had a 16-yard run, the second-longest of his career, to set up a touchdown. Nose tackle Mevin Massey from Warwick, who had been in just 30 plays this season, made a solo stop of Marshall on a quarterback draw.

The Bay Rivers District also fared well. Lafayette's Connor Hughes made both of his field-goal attempts and was perfect on six point-after tries. And former Ram Kase Luzar threw a key block on Johnson's long run.
 

Cavs End Season in Driver's Seat
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, December 29, 2002; Page D01

CHARLOTTE, Dec. 28 -- Virginia's surprisingly successful season ended with one of its most dominant performances. The Cavaliers, predicted in the preseason to finish near the bottom of the ACC, earned their ninth win by rolling over No. 15 West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl, 48-22.

Virginia silenced the pro-Mountaineers crowd of 73,535 at Ericsson Stadium with 21 second-quarter points that turned a 10-7 deficit into a 28-10 lead. The Cavaliers opened the third quarter with 10 more points, all but ensuring their first bowl win since the 1995 Peach Bowl, capping the sixth nine-win season in the program's 113-year history.

"We had some ideas as to what we could do" against them, Virginia Coach Al Groh said. "Fortunately they worked out pretty well for us. I think that game kind of went the way we tried to sketch it out, frankly."

Virginia (9-5) did it without senior wide receiver Billy McMullen, whose prolific college career ended when he dislocated his left elbow on the sixth play from scrimmage. Freshman tailback Wali Lundy compensated with a star performance, earning MVP honors with 203 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns. The Virginia passing game didn't suffer, either. Quarterback Matt Schaub completed 16 of 22 passes for 182 yards. Utility man Marques Hagans threw for a 14-yard touchdown on a trick play.

"Perhaps that puts in pretty good perspective what this team has been all about," Groh said. "A guy who's kind of been the heart of our team for a while [gets hurt] and we just went on and played. It says a lot about players' reliance on each other and not just on one player."

Virginia punted on its opening drive, then scored on its next eight possessions before running out the clock to end the game. Hagans returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown, Almondo Curry and Darryl Blackstock grabbed interceptions, and the Cavaliers tied a season high in points.

"I'm obviously very disappointed in how we played," said West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez, whose team finished 9-4 after going 3-8 last season. "In all three phases [of the game], we had breakdowns."

With 127 rushing yards and 76 receiving yards, Lundy outshone West Virginia senior Avon Cobourne. The Big East's career leading rusher had 117 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries.

"He ran his mouth, and he got smacked in the mouth," Virginia safety Jerton Evans said, referring to trash-talking he said Cobourne did at a news conference this week and during the game today.

Leading 14-10 after scoring on the first drive of the second quarter, Virginia forced West Virginia to punt after three plays. Hagans, who caught the ball at his 31, was brushed by a defender but regained his balance, shimmied through onrushing Mountaineers and took off for the end zone, giving Virginia a 21-10 lead.

Blackstock picked off a pass eight plays later -- thanks to Curry's hit on the passer, wide receiver Phil Braxton. Taking over at the West Virginia 48, the Cavaliers set out on a drive that stalled at the 9. The Mountaineers seemed to have escaped unscathed when Connor Hughes's field goal attempt hit the right upright, but a West Virginia player was offside, re-igniting the drive. Lundy plunged in from four yards out, giving the Cavaliers a 28-10 lead with 19 seconds left before halftime.

"The one that really hurt was [the offside penalty on] the field goal," Rodriguez said. "That's just giving somebody seven points, because they missed the kick."

Virginia pushed the lead to 38-10 in the third quarter when Lundy took a screen pass 48 yards for a touchdown, and Hughes made a 27-yard field goal. West Virginia scored two late touchdowns, but Hughes and Lundy added 10 points to keep the Cavaliers well in front.

Lundy was at it all afternoon. After the Mountaineers kicked a field goal on their opening possession, he returned a kickoff 36 yards, setting the stage for a quick touchdown drive capped by a bit of trickery. Schaub started the play at the West Virginia 14 by throwing a screen to Hagans, who was split wide left. Hagans took a step back after catching the ball and threw it diagonally across the field to Lundy, who had sneaked out of the backfield into the right corner of the end zone.

Cobourne's six-yard touchdown run on the next drive gave West Virginia a 10-7 lead, its last of the game.

Virginia Notes: McMullen finished his college career with 210 receptions, six shy of the ACC record, and 2,978 receiving yards (fourth best). . . . Senior inside linebacker Angelo Crowell's 12 tackles gave him 153 for the season, breaking the school record he set last year. . . . Lundy had 58 receptions for the season, tying the ACC freshman record set by Maryland's Frank Wycheck in 1990.

 

U-Va. Goes All the Way
Sweetney Fouls Out as Hoyas Suffer First Loss: Virginia Men 79, Georgetown 75
By Preston Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 29, 2002; Page D04

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Dec. 28 -- On a day when University of Virginia supporters focused on the school's football bowl game, the men's basketball players proved worthy of attention by clinging to a 79-75 win over previously unbeaten Georgetown in front of 8,251 at University Hall.

There was a smattering of empty seats, perhaps vacated by fans who made the trip to Charlotte to watch Virginia upset West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl. But just about all the seats were unoccupied in the heady final minutes, when an on-their-feet crowd, egged on by arm-waving sophomore forward Elton Brown, helped carry the team to victory in front of a national television audience.

But in beating Georgetown for the seventh time in the past nine meetings, the Cavaliers could have done without the dramatic finish. They squandered a 14-point lead in the final 71/2 minutes and briefly fell behind before Brown made a turnaround jumper over Georgetown senior center Wesley Wilson to put Virginia back on top with 2 minutes 24 seconds left.

"Beating them and taking it to them that good, I think we can do the same thing in the ACC," said Brown, who was on crutches this week and was surprised to play today. But "we have to learn to take care of leads.

"Beating Georgetown, beating Rutgers. That's the sign of a good team. I really think this team right here is going to be real good."

Virginia (7-2) made five of six free throws in the final 38 seconds to stave off a Georgetown team that hoisted some hasty shots after an inside basket by Wilson had pulled Georgetown (7-1) to within one with 55 seconds left.

By that time, Hoyas junior forward Mike Sweetney, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, was long gone. Sweetney, who had strained a hamstring in practice Wednesday, played just 15 minutes today, after picking up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game. He notched his fifth with 6:26 left and his team trailing by 12.

Wilson also battled foul trouble. These personnel setbacks, in part, prompted Georgetown Coach Craig Esherick to chastise one of the officials in his postgame news conference, not in response to a question but delivered as a carefully worded jab.

"I think that it's interesting that the Big Ten can even think about suspending [Indiana Coach] Mike Davis for six games for running out on the floor, and I have to keep my mouth shut after the job one particular referee did today," Esherick said. "I can't say anything. I'm not allowed to say a word. . . . It bothers the heck out of me. . . .

"I feel bad for [Virginia Coach Pete Gillen] that I'm saying this. I don't want to take anything away from Virginia. Nothing. But I'm not too happy right now."

The Cavaliers were frowning early on, when they committed six turnovers in the first five minutes to quickly fall behind by six. "They came out early and stunned us," Gillen said. But shortly after the winning bowl score was announced, the Cavaliers seemed to catch a spark, thanks in part to Brown and his bench cohorts, who combined for 25 of the team's 36 first-half points to help spur a six-point lead by the break.

To start the second half, Virginia made a concerted effort to work the ball inside to senior forward Travis Watson (41 career double-doubles), who did not start the game because of an ankle injury that kept him out of the team's Dec. 21 win at Rutgers. Watson scored six of his team's first 11 points of the second half, but it was sophomore guards Devin Smith and Keith Jenifer who keyed an 11-1 run that swelled the lead.

No opponent had shot better than 41 percent against the Hoyas this season, but the Cavaliers topped 50 percent in each half and made seven of 14 three-point attempts. And this was with the team's leading scorer, junior guard Todd Billet, not making a field goal.

"Our problem was transition defense," said Esherick, whose team was playing its first road game of the season. "I really didn't think we did a good job of getting back during the segments when they built a lead both in the first and second half. I thought we left them open in transition too much.

"We were down 14 and we could have quit. And we did not. That's a really good sign. . . . I thought we did a really good job of playing without Mike today. There were segments of that game when I thought we actually played better without Mike in the game."

Georgetown freshman guard Ashanti Cook scored all six of his points in the final 4:23, including a three-pointer and two more on a nifty baseline move that tied the score at 70.