Virginia defense excels in front of former star

By Whitey Reid

Published: October 4, 2008

Forget about the “Power of Orange.” On Saturday night at Scott Stadium, it was the reincarnation of the “Power of Long.”

Former Virginia defensive end Chris Long, whose St. Louis Rams are on an NFL bye week, was on hand — wearing a Clint Sintim jersey — to help raise the “Power of Orange” flag prior to kickoff.

Clearly, the good karma rubbed off on UVa’s defense.

After an embarrassing performance in the second half of last week’s loss to Duke, Virginia’s unit came up huge in the team’s 31-0 lambasting of Maryland.

“It was exceptional,” said Sintim, the Virginia linebacker, when asked to assess the defense’s play. “A lot of guys came out with the right mindset. We came to play and it showed out there on the field. I’m really proud of all the guys on our team.”

Sintim said the defense had a chip on its shoulder after the way it played in consecutive lopsided losses to Connecticut and Duke.

“I don’t think there were too many people in this world who thought we were going to win this game,” Sintim said, “but that was fine with us. We knew as a team that we weren’t nearly as bad as everyone said we were.

“Everyone made it seem like we were the worst team in America, but that’s fine. We just continue to grind and get better. We’re obviously getting better.”

The stats certainly support Sintim’s assertion. Virginia gave up a paltry 79 yards on the ground. The Cavaliers surrendered 223 yards through the air, though much of that came in garbage time after the outcome had already been decided.

Maryland was shut out for just the third time in the Ralph Friedgen era — a span of 93 games dating back to 2001.

Virginia wide receiver Kevin Ogletree said it was great to see both sides of the ball come together at the same time.

“They had a shutout, so what more can you ask for than that?” he said. “[The offense] staying on the field a long time and them playing lock-down defense is a good combination.”

Scott Stadium was at its loudest after Sintim sacked Maryland quarterback Chris Turner toward the end of the third quarter, then paid homage to Long with an “L” salute. Sintim said he had a conversation with his former teammate just before the big play.

“I told him if I had a chance to get a sack, I was going to throw up his ‘L’ for him,” Sintim explained, “because I had heard that he wore my jersey to bring the flag down.”

Virginia coach Al Groh was glad to see Sintim’s salute.

“The ‘L’ was here tonight,” said Groh, smiling. “Whether he’s in uniform or not, there always seems to be a special magic that comes along with Chris Long. We’re glad he was here.”