The second half movie montage that played on HooVision probably needed one more film in the line-up: Waiting to Exhale.
That’s how Virginia fans spent many anxious moments in the second half Saturday after all. Eventually, however, the Cavaliers capitalized on a big halftime lead and finished off Pittsburgh at Scott Stadium, 24-19. After going winless in ACC play last season, the Hoos are 4-2 overall and 2-0 in league play headed into a bye week.
“We’ve got to play one more game before we’re at halfway for the season. We’re expecting to play 14 games this year. That’s still the expectations for the season and our goals and whatnot,” Virginia senior Henry Coley said. “It’s a breath of fresh air type of thing to be 4-2, especially heading into a bye week. … It feels good.”
“We just have a winning mentality and I think that’s the difference between this year and last year. It’s not ‘oh if we win,’ it’s a ‘let’s go out and win this thing,’” said UVa quarterback Matt Johns, who started for the second straight game in the place of an injured Greyson Lambert.
An explosive second quarter set the table for this week’s win. The Cavaliers broke a 3-3 tie with 21 points in that frame to take a 24-3 lead.
Senior running back Kevin Parks started the surge with a 48-yard romp to the end zone. He took the handoff on a play that started to the right, but he quickly cut back to his left and found a giant alley waiting. From there, he outran the Pitt defense for the long scoring sprint and a 10-3 Cavalier lead.
“The offensive line came off the ball and the defense flew over. … As a running back, you’ve got to see the holes. I saw that one and took it as far as my little legs would take me,” Parks said.
That touchdown run ended up being part of a big night overall for Parks. He piled up 169 yards on 24 carries, an average of 5.8 yards per carry. That established new career highs in both yards and carries and it was the 10th 100-yard rushing day of his career. He’s the first Cavalier to surpass 150 yards in a game since Cedric Peerman went for 173 vs. East Carolina in 2008. The long touchdown run moved into a tie for fifth place on the all-time rushing touchdowns list at UVa.
In a game that featured 78 carries on 125 total offensive plays, Parks felt right at home in a grind-it-out type of affair.
“It was a very physical game, and that’s what I’m about,” Parks said. “These tough games, grind it out games. I feel like that’s my game and that’s my style.”
“You could tell early on that Kevin was doing a lot of his yardage after he was initially stopped. He was running through arm tackles, and he pushed the pile,” Virginia coach Mike London said. “We all know what he can do because he is the ACC returning leading rusher, but this game was one of those games that he was making himself known. He was a dominant force out there today and I’m happy for him to have a career day.”
Fellow running back Khalek Shepherd added a three-yard receiving touchdown to push Virginia’s lead to 17-3 with 3:58 to go in the half. That was one of just 17 passes thrown on the day by the Hoos. Johns finished 9-16 for 93 yards and that one touchdown; he also had one interception.
The other pass came from senior receiver Miles Gooch, who executed a double pass on a trick play. He hit Zach Swanson for 28 yards to set up Shepherd’s touchdown. Gooch, a converted high school quarterback, led the way in the receiving category with three catches for 42 yards.
“The last time I threw a pass in a football game was my senior year of high school. It felt good today to throw the ball. I was so happy that it was a completion,” Gooch said. “As soon as I let it go, I was thinking ‘Oh please, get there, please.’”
The Virginia defense followed Gooch’s pass and Shepherd’s touchdown with a big play of its own. On second-and-eight, Mike Moore pressured Pitt quarterback Chad Voytik into a hurried throw and linebacker Max Valles cut into the passing lane to make the interception. Valles sprinted 35 yards untouched for the touchdown and a 24-3 advantage that the Hoos took to the locker room.
Valles is the eighth different player to intercept a pass this season, which leads the nation. He’s also the third different Wahoo to score a defensive touchdown this season. Eli Harold returned a fumble 22 yards against Richmond for a touchdown, while Maurice Canady took an interception return 69 yards to score against Kent State. The Cavaliers have scored 72 points off of turnovers this season.
“It was a big moment for me,” Valles said. “I saw the running back creeping out to the flat and I had flat responsibility so I was just waiting for him to throw it because I saw Mike had pressure so I figured it was going to be a bad throw.”
The intended target on that pass was James Conner, Pittsburgh’s standout running back. The Cavaliers held Conner to 83 yards on 21 carries. Conner had 54 yards on nine carries in the first quarter, but the Hoos slowed him down after that strong start. He entered the game as the ACC’s leading rusher (second nationally) with 791 yards and nine touchdowns in the first five games of the season.
“I think in the beginning, we were just trying to get our feet set. Then in the second half, we made some small adjustments and we came out there and executed,” UVa defensive tackle David Dean said. “He’s a very tough runner. You’ve really got to focus on him and really have got to put him in your game plan and key in on him or he can destroy your defense.”
While the defense had Conner bottled up and helped the Cavaliers build that 24-3 lead at halftime thanks to Valles’ interception return, the Panthers quickly made things interesting in the second half. They blocked a punt on the first possession of the third quarter and that set up a 17-yard touchdown catch for Manasseh Garner. On the ensuing possession, Johns threw his lone interception of the day and Pitt drove all the way to the one-yard line before a snap infraction penalty on the center short-circuited the drive. Still, the field goal there cut the Hoos’ lead to 24-13.
UVa held Pittsburgh at that deficit until Tyler Boyd returned a punt 45 yards with 2:04 left in the game. The Panthers drove 26 yards for the touchdown, a J.P. Holtz catch from six yards out. The two-point conversion try failed when Brandon Phelps broke up a pass intended for Boyd and the onsides kick attempt bounced out of bounds to preserve the 24-19 victory for the Hoos.
