Two years ago in Charlottesville, USC came to town and scored 24 points on their first 4 possessions and embarrassed the Wahoos in front of a sold-out crowd. Saturday night in front of nearly 82,000 fans in Los Angeles, Virginia almost received redemption. Virginia had a chance on an onside-kick to have one more shot, but the nearly perfect Chris Hinkebein effort was grabbed-up by USC’s all-world receiver Ronald Johnson.
Virginia’s Groza Award candidate kicker Robert Randolph missed two field goals and is now 0-3 on the season. But, even with the misses, Virginia had plenty of chances to win this game.
In the first half USC’s quarterback threw two touchdowns, one to Brandon Carswell, and the other to Jordan Cameron. Barkely, who looked brilliant at times, often showcasing his full array of polished tools finished the game 20/35 for 202 yards, 2 TD’s and no interceptions.
"I’m proud of our guys in the locker room. It’s a great effort," Mike London said. "No one gave us a chance to come in here and compete. It’s a great effort to come into a venue like this, travel, and play, go toe to toe with those guys."
Two of Virginia’s best players, Rodney McCloud, and Ras-I Dowling did not play for the second straight week. Dowling was in uniform, and went through warm-ups, but both could not go for Mike London’s Hoos.
Marc Verica, who did not get rattled on the big stage, threw a costly interception in the Southern Cal end zone in the first quarter. He was 17/36 for 190 yards with one INT and one TD thrown. The two teams combined for zero points in the first and third quarters.
In the second quarter as Virginia was faced with a 4th and 5 from their own 40 yard line, Mike London called up some trickeration and Jimmy Howell threw a beautiful pass on a fake punt to Colter Phillips. Phillips grabbed the pass and barreled down the field to the USC 24, but the officials botched the call as they called a Virginia player for an illegal block below the waist (they apologized to Coach London after the game for making the heinous call).
Virginia tight end Joe Torchia had his best day ever as a Cavalier as he was the leading receiver for Virginia grabbing 5 balls for 73 yards.
The Cavaliers’ tailback tandem of Perry Jones and Keith Payne combined for a total of 134 yards on 26 carries. Southern California racked up 13 penalties for 140 yards, but Virginia made several bonehead plays as well, and the Wahoos were penalized 9 times for 101 yards. Each team had one turnover, but Verica’s interception in the SC end zone was the most critical of the two turnovers.
I’m proud of how Virginia’s coaching staff prepared for this game, and for the fact that UVA never let USC go on a scoring run. The Wahoos made more mental mistakes than they did last week in the win over Richmond, but they were never out of this game till the very last play. Virginia was almost equal to the task of beating a top-20 team on the road in a game that ended at 1:50 in the morning EST.
There are no good losses in college football, and I’m never satisfied with a Virginia loss, but this team is full of surprises and can beat anyone remaining on their schedule. Whether they do so remains to be seen, but I think they can win six games this season, maybe seven.
Oh, and by the way. Nice game the Hokies played yesterday at home losing to James Madison. Congrats to the Dukes, and head coach Mickey Matthews. I’d love to know how well Frank Beamer and good ole boy Bud Foster slept last night. Go Hoos!