Hoos End Season With Another Loss

With chants of “10 more years” ringing out from a Hokie-filled Scott Stadium, Virginia’s disastrous 2013 football season finally fizzled out. UVa fell 16-6 against Virginia Tech on Saturday. The Hoos lost 9 straight games to end the season and the defeat in the finale marked the 10th straight loss to the Hokies.

The Cavaliers head to the offseason in search of answers.

“It was tough. We went 2-10 and lost however many in a row. It was just tough. I don’t really have a lot of answers for it. We will have to dig deep and look into things to see what we need to do to change it. 2-10 is not going to cut it,” UVa tight end Jake McGee said. “We are all going to work at our craft and try to become the best we can be. I don’t really know the answers to what will get this thing going. Now we have winter and spring ball, but something is going to have to change for this not to roll into next year.”

“It hurts. I’m not used to losing. Not a lot of guys are. It is just something you have to deal with. It’s life. You have to be resilient,” Cav defensive end Eli Harold said. “I will now attack everything like it’s the last day of my life. When it’s over, I just thank God for letting me come out of this season healthy and injury-free. I have to try to lead the best I can and get everyone in the same mindset so we can turn this around and reach our goal of an ACC Championship.”

The latest loss in a forgettable season hinged on many of the same issues that plagued the Hoos all season long. First and foremost, the offense continued its season-long struggle. For the sixth game of the season, Virginia scored less than 20 points – in fact, only a 3-point day at Pitt was worse on the scoreboard than the 6 points scored against Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers averaged just 17.1 points per game against Football Bowl Subdivision teams in 2013.

Against the Hokies, the passing game failed to get going as UVa completed 17 of 40 passes for 176 yards. Starting quarterback David Watford hit 13 of 23 attempts for 122 yards, while reserve Greyson Lambert connected on 4 of 16 passes for 54 yards with 1 interception. McGee led the receiving category with 4 catches for 65 yards. Lambert did not enter the game until less than 1 minute remained in the third quarter and VT feasted on the obvious passing downs with the Cavs down by two scores.

“Perhaps Greyson could have gone in the game a little earlier in the third quarter. He had his opportunity and did a nice job in some spurts. But toward the end, Virginia Tech did a great job on the pass-rush situation. Eric Smith had his hands full,” Virginia coach Mike London said. “Tech made plays when we couldn’t. Greyson will have plenty of opportunities moving forward. It is important that the team improves.”

The biggest positive of the day for the offense proved to be running back Kevin Parks. He carried the ball 17 times for 105 yards. That included a 48-yard burst in the fourth quarter that pushed him past 1,000 yards for the season. Parks finished with 1,031 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns this season. He’s the first Wahoo to pass 1,000 yards since Alvin Pearman had 1,037 in 2004. Parks capped the season with three straight 100-yard days running the ball, the first Cav to do that since Cedric Peerman in 2007.

“That’s about as big as it gets for an offensive lineman, and that’s all we can really hang our hats on,” UVa senior center Luke Bowanko said. “We were sort of counting it down on the sideline, and hopefully that becomes somewhat of a tradition here where a guy rushes for 1,000 yards. I’m proud of him. He earned every single yard and gets a lot of yards after contact.”

“I know it means a lot to those guys [the offensive linemen]. For me, I’d rather have a win any day, but that’s the way things go sometimes,” Parks said.

The offense’s continued issues with scoring, however, squandered a fairly solid effort from the defense. The Hoos forced two turnovers – a fumble and an interception from Logan Thomas – and piled up 5 sacks in the game. Daquan Romero led the team with 9 tackles, while Harold added 7 stops that included 3 sacks, a new career-high. In fact, Harold is the first Virginia player to have 3 sacks in a game since Clint Sintim did it in 2008. Corner DreQuan Hoskey logged his first career INT.

UVa held the Hokies to just 364 yards of offense with 238 passing and 126 rushing. Trey Edmunds had 93 yards rushing to lead the ground attack, while Thomas completed 13 of 29 passes with 1 touchdown and 1 interception for the air attack. His top target was Demitri Knowles, who hauled in 4 catches for 101 yards.

Unfortunately, one big play ended up being a huge difference in the outcome. After the Cavaliers went for it on 4th-and-11 at the VT 35-yard line, the Hokies put together a 7-play, 65-yard drive in just 43 seconds (only 1:04 remained in the half when the possession started). The back-breaker came when Thomas hit Edmunds over the middle with Romero in coverage. Edmunds shook off the tackle and then ran past another defender in pursuit for the 26-yard touchdown. The Cavaliers allowed 19 scoring plays of 25 yards or more this season.

In other words, poor offense combined with allowing big-play scores on the other side is not a formula for success. The Wahoos have plenty to work on in the offseason in that regard.

“We have to address the things that cause us to lose games,” London said. “Players need to understand their position isn’t guaranteed next year. Coaches need to look at systems and schemes. We need to hold our head up and look straight ahead and forward. We need to make those corrections. These guys will have to go on and finish up exams. There are so many things to understand, and they start with eliminating those mistakes that cause us to lose. Like converting those turnovers into points. We have to get it right. We have to get it fixed.”

Final Stats