Defense saves UVa from loss

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: September 6, 2008

When Virginia designated Saturday’s football date with Richmond as its “retro game,” the Cavaliers weren’t counting on having to rely on winning in the same fashion as last year.

Just as in 2007, when Virginia set an NCAA record for winning close calls (five wins by two or fewer points), the Cavaliers survived by finding a way to win down the stretch. Locked in a 3-0 struggle heading into the fourth quarter, the Cavs did everything necessary to pull out a dramatic 16-0 win over the upset-minded Spiders.

The defense came up big time and again, blocking a pair of Richmond field goal attempts, stopped one late UR drive with a Chase Minnifield interception in the end zone, then sealed the deal on Vic Hall’s 60-yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:08 remaining.

Along the way, the Cavaliers recorded six sacks, held the Spiders to 19 yards on the ground (the lowest by a UVa opponent since Duke’s minus-21 in ’06), and pitched a shutout, the first since last year’s 48-0 plundering of Miami to close the Orange Bowl.

Down to the wire

The Wahoos needed every bit of that and more to thwart the pesky Spiders, not your ordinary FCS team. UR returned 16 starters from a team that won 11 games and averaged 34.9 points last season before the dream ended in the national semifinals to eventual champion Appalachian State.

This year’s Spiders came to Scott Stadium ranked No. 3 nationally in the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) polls. The thought of upsetting Virginia was particularly appealing to the Spiders, a warm gesture for their new head coach Mike London, who just so happened to be the Cavaliers’ defensive coordinator the previous two years.

Virginia, wearing orange jerseys to honor the 1989 team, had found itself in this gut-wrenching, close-game predicament more than it would have preferred a year ago and learned its lessons well.

“That’s our motto ... never crack,” said Hall, whose interception return was the longest since Antwoine Harris slew No. 6 North Carolina with a 95-yard game-breaker in 1996. “We fought the whole game and took it at the end.

“Obviously last year we won a lot of close games and we’ve played in those type of games so much and that showed out there today ... that experience really helped,” Hall said.

Veteran leadership

The defense’s veterans thrived on that mentality, which rubbed off on several newcomers to the squad such as Zane Parr, Denzel Burrell, Nick Jenkins, J.K. Dolce and others.

Virginia’s offense contributed to some of its defensive woes, putting the Cavalier defense in some sticky situations that it managed to pull itself out of time and again.

Richmond linebacker Jordan Shoop picked off a Pete Lalich pass deep in Spiders’ territory late in the first half and returned it 63 yards to the UVa 23. However, the Cavaliers defense stiffened and blocked a 29-yard field goal attempt to protect the slim 3-0 lead at halftime.

When Groh gambled on a fourth-and-one at his own 29 and failed early in the third quarter, the defense’s collective backs were against the wall once again. They responded, with a 5-yard tackle-for-loss and a sack, forcing UR to punt.

On Richmond’s ensuing possession, Nick Jenkins blocked yet another 29-yard field goal attempt as the Cavaliers continued to dodge bullets.

From that point on, UVa’s defense breathed a little easier as Lalich mounted a 54-yard scoring drive to take a 10-0 lead at the 7:25 mark. Still, they had to fight off two more Richmond drives, both ending with the pickoffs by rookie Minnifield and the veteran Hall, who scored the second touchdown of his college career.

“[The defensive] unit stepped up and did what had to be done today,” Groh said afterward. “They were challenged significantly by field position and by certain schemes, but they were able to feel the game as it went along.

“Our veterans stepped up but we also had some young players play a substantial amount of time and they turned in positive performances,” Groh said. “We’re really pleased with the way they moved forward today.”

Virginia’s ability to pull out the win under adverse circumstances had to remind Groh of last year’s thriller-diller season, but apparently that experience carried over.

“I’m proud of our team for hanging in there time after time,” Groh said of pulling out the close win over Richmond after having been pummeled 52-7 by No. 1 Southern California only a week before in the same stadium. “Hanging in there is what teams have to do in order to put wins together. We were able to do that quite a bit last year, but that type of mentality has to be re-established and solidified with each particular team. It doesn’t just grow back.”