The first half against Kent State was mostly forgettable for Virginia. Halftime, on the other hand, most certainly was not.
Leading just 14-10 at intermission Saturday, some of the Cavalier seniors took control. A combination of eery silence and sharply placed words sparked a much better second half and UVa rolled to a 45-13 victory. In the middle of the locker room discussion was senior linebacker Henry Coley, who has been an outspoken leader for this year’s team.
“Bleep, bleep, bleep,” said defensive back Maurice Canady when asked what Coley said. “He’s very vocal. You’re coming in and you know we had a bad first half so you already know you’re about to hear somebody. If it’s not Henry Coley, it’s going to be Ant Harris.”
“It was quiet, but it was kind of a wake-up call,” Virginia quarterback Matt Johns said. ”You could see it in guys’ eyes.”
Regardless of the exact words or the volume level, whatever happened at halftime apparently helped. The Cavaliers rolled to a 31-3 second-half advantage that could have been even more if not for a Doni Dowling fumble at the KSU 30-yard line and a late kill-the-clock drive. Kevin Parks scored two touchdowns in the second half, while Taquan Mizzell and Johns each added one as well.
In the end, UVa posted its second straight game with at least 500 yards of offense. The Hoos put up 520 yards and 6.8 yards per play against the Flashes. That marked the first time since 2004 that Virginia had registered 500+ yards in back-to-back games (504 vs. Temple, 549 vs. North Carolina, 522 vs. Akron). Parks and Mizzell each tallied 61 yards rushing, while Johns added 65 as well to motor the Hoos to 254 rushing yards. Parks surpassed legendary Frank Quayle (2,695 yards) for seventh place on the all-time rushing list and now has 2,732 rushing yards. He also passed Bill Dudley on the all-time all-purpose yards list.
Johns, who started for the first time in his career in place of an injured Greyson Lambert, added 227 yards on 17-of-28 passing. He had two touchdown passes as well. Severin led the way with five catches for 60 yards, while Parks chipped in 43 yards on four receptions. In total, eight different players caught at least one pass as part of 266 passing yards.
Starting had a different feel for Johns, who knew late in the week that he would open the game for the Hoos.
”Coming in off the bench, you’re not really as nervous because the game is already rolling. You kind of get thrown in the game and you have to react,” Johns said. ”When you’re starting the game, it’s a week-long process of getting your mind right. I’m not really a nervous person, but I definitely was a little nervous today. Once I got the jitters out, we had things rolling.”
Johns had a hand in the sloppy first half when he threw two interceptions. The first occurred when he didn’t see defensive tackle Jontey Byrd dropped into coverage. The second came when he missed intended target Zach Swanson on a crossing pattern and hit Kent State’s Malcolm Pannell in the end zone instead.
Throw in a 45-yard touchdown pass from Kent State’s Colin Reardon to a wide open James Brooks and the first-half picture probably becomes a little more clear. In fact, if not for an interception in the end zone with 22 seconds to go in the half, the Golden Flashes may have held the halftime lead. Fortunately for the Hoos, Demetrious Nicholson, making his return after nearly a one-year absence following a turf toe injury, wrestled the ball away from Chris Humphrey to prevent the score.
That was one of many big plays from the Virginia defense that helped slow Kent State early and shut down the Flashes in the second half. Canady intercepted a pass on an out pattern in the first quarter and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown. In the second half, when KSU had just 20 yards of offense, the defense set up two more scores. Kwontie Moore’s strip sack in the third quarter was recovered by Daquan Romero; that play led to a four-yard touchdown run for Parks. In the fourth quarter, Romero played the other role with a strip sack that was recovered by Drequan Hoskey; that set up Mizzell’s two-yard touchdown run.
For the day, Virginia had three interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Quin Blanding’s 13 tackles led the team, while Eli Harold and Romero each were credited with 1.5 sacks.
“When I saw him step outside, I knew he was going to go out. I broke on it just in time and as soon as I looked, the ball was there,” Canady said. “As soon as I started running down the sideline, it felt like three monkeys jumped on my back, and then I had to cut back. I was running off of instinct.”
While Canady shed those imaginary monkeys in time to score the defensive touchdown, the Hoos knocked another proverbial monkey off their backs too. After finishing 2-10 last season, Virginia picked up its third win Saturday and is 3-2 exiting September.
