Virginia football has struggled on the road since the George Welsh days, and as I sat watching the Indiana game Saturday evening, I thought to myself, “Here we go again”…
This game was a tale of two halves. In the first half the Wahoos looked pretty good. Quarterback Michael Rocco struggled in his first road start of his young career, but he did not appear rattled, or in over his head.
Rocco chucked a badly thrown interception on the first play of the game. The INT was the first turnover of the season for Mike London’s team, but Anthony Poindexter’s special teams blocked Indiana’s field goal attempt, so there was no blood drawn because of the mistake.
Rocco got it turned around, and in the first half he threw for 110 yards. At halftime the Hoos were up 16-3, and things were starting to click on all cylinders for offensive coordinator Bill Lazor’s squad.
In the third quarter, well, things fell apart for the Hoos. Both teams had a turnover, but Virginia only gained 37 yards compared to IU’s 146. Virginia only made one first down in the third stanza, compared to eight for Indiana. IU’s all-world receiver Demarlo Belcher and their other receiver Duwyce Wilson started to use their size advantage to pick on the smaller Virginia corners.
As the 4th quarter began, the Hoos were up 23-10, and things were looking like London was almost certainly going to win the first road-game of his short tenure in C-Ville.
Scratch all the positivity Hoos fans! Yikes… Indiana scored on four straight possessions in the 4th including a fumble in the backfield by Perry Jones that was returned 54-yards by Lawrence Barnett. The crowd was back in the game, and the momentum was clearly back to the Indiana side of the ball.
Coach London on his teams morale after losing the big lead: "We were down eight and the guys started talking about, ‘we’re going to come back and win this game.’ They started talking about, ‘when we score, we’re going to go for two.’ That kind of talk – you could look cross-eyed at someone – but I think that you start to build a level of confidence in what’s going on in the moment and we spoke it and it happened. We have to start finding ways to win games. To grind out big wins by a lot, by a little, last second, whatever it is.”
IU went up 31-23 with 6:34 to go in the game after a Wright-Baker 18-yard pass to Wilson. Game over, right? Not so fast…
The next possession for Virginia, the Hoos marched the ball down the field as Rocco completed 4/8 passes for 35-yards, and tailback Perry Jones carried the rock six times for 22-yards including a 3 yard TD run. The game was tied at 31-31.
Things were really starting to look like we were headed for an overtime affair, and then all of the sudden…wham! Virginia defensive end Cam Johnson just hammered IU’s quarterback Wright-Baker. Cam strip-sacked the QB and ended up with the ball. Virginia ran a couple of conservative plays, and as time expired, senior kicker Robert Randolph kicked a 23-yard field goal to give the Hoos the win.
Virginia did not play perfectly in this game. Four turnovers, no 100-yard rushing effort for any Wahoo tailback, and no 100-yard day for any Wahoo receiver. But what they did do was get to 2-0, just four more wins from being bowl eligible, which should be the goal of this program year in and year out. Finishing 6 for 6 in the red zone is pretty damn good as well. A win is a win, and all the fancy-ass statistics in the world aren’t better than simply putting a W in the win column.
Go Hoos! Virginia plays UNC Saturday down in Chapel Hill at 3:30 p.m. in what is the South’s oldest rivalry, before returning to Charlottesville to play Southern Mississippi at 3:30 p.m. in Scott Stadium. The UNC game is on ESPNU, and the USM game will be televised by Comcast Sports Net.