Pitt Hands Another Loss To Virginia

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Mike London picked up the 42nd loss of his UVa tenure at Pitt. ~ Mike Ingalls

The Virginia football team could modify the hometown company’s slogan “57 varieties” while leaving Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The Hoos, after all, have lost 42 games under coach Mike London following Saturday’s 26-19 loss to Pitt.

The defeat marked the 16th one-score loss in London’s tenure. The Cavaliers also have lost a dozen road games in a row dating back to 2012. The two most recent losses have come in situations where London teams previously found success – in home night games and following bye weeks. Virginia had been 5-2 in both scenarios under London before Boise State romped on a Friday night at Scott Stadium and Pittsburgh prevailed this week.

What that means for London’s future is a hot topic on message boards and social media, but the 1-4 Wahoos now need to win five of their final seven games to reach bowl eligibility.

“We just didn’t come out with the right frame of mind,” receiver T.J. Thorpe told media partner CBS 19 Charlottesville. “We shot ourselves in the foot a lot. Had we played the first half the way we played the second half, we’d put ourselves in a better situation to win.”

Saturday’s loss indeed featured many of the same foot-shooting problems that have plagued UVa in the London era. An inconsistent offense that can’t score touchdowns often enough, a defense that gives up big scoring plays, special teams miscues, and untimely penalties – all of it popped up again at Pittsburgh. The Hoos still had a last-gasp attempt to force overtime, but the drive ended on a closely defended fourth down pass that did not draw a flag.

While that final play led to a lot of frustrated reactions from the Cavaliers, the other issues are why losses continue to mound.

Offensively, Virginia posted 348 yards at a rate of 5.4 yards per play (that matched the season-long average, which ranks 73rd nationally among 128 FBS teams). UVa gained 139 yards rushing, the bulk of it coming on one first-quarter run. Albert Reid broke through for a 71-yard carry that set a new career high and landed 15th in program history. The other 30 carries produced just 2.3 yards per carry.

The passing game proved inconsistent too as Matt Johns struggled for the second straight game. He completed 17 of 33 passes for 209 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Johns completed 29 of 58 passes (50%) with 4 interceptions in the losses to Boise State and Pitt.

The junior QB found Canaan Severin for a 32-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, which set up the final drive that could have tied the game but fell short. Johns has thrown six touchdown passes of at least 25 yards this season to help boost what has otherwise been a low-scoring unit. That Severin touchdown was followed by a blocked extra point, extending the special teams issues into another game.

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Matt Johns struggled to make completions for the second straight game. ~ Mike Ingalls

Two potential touchdown drives ended in field goals. One followed Reid’s big run when back-to-back penalties – untimely as mentioned above because the Hoos finished with just four flags all day – pushed the 3rd-and-Goal play out to the 16-yard line. The second came on a 15-play drive in the third quarter that failed to get to the end zone. The Cavaliers also missed at least three chances to complete a deep pass – all likely touchdowns – to Thorpe, but Johns missed the target twice and Thorpe dropped one too.

“We have to have the ‘no red zone errors,'” Virginia coach Mike London said. “We had the opportunity to score a touchdown, we had two back- to- back penalties that really cost us. We had to settle for a goal instead of a touchdown. Those are opportunities to get points and we have to capitalize on those situations. … Offensively, we picked it up a little bit. As I said coming out of that third quarter, we had the drive going, getting ready to score and then we have a sudden turnover.”

Defensively, the game started on a poor note as the Hoos gave up a 37-yard touchdown pass to tight end Scott Orndoff. The explosive scoring play problem is ongoing. That’s the ninth touchdown of at least 24 yards by opponents this season and he 35th in 29 games under defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta.

The Cavaliers did bounce back in this one, though. The defense cleaned things up after allowing 14 points in the first quarter and clamped down the rest of the way. Pitt finished with 363 yards of offense with an average of 6.2 yards per play; the Panthers had 217 yards in the first quarter but just 146 the rest of the way.

UVa’s defense also created its first turnovers over the season. The first was a strip-sack by Mike Moore and Kwontie Moore returned the fumble 15 yards for a touchdown. The second was a forced fumble by Micah Kiser that Quin Blanding recovered at the goal line to prevent a Panther touchdown. Those two players led the team in tackles too. Kiser had 11, while Blanding added 7.

“The first quarter, we couldn’t stop them defensively, they had almost 200 yards,” London said. “After that point on, they only had 149 yards, less than 50 years per quarter. We did an excellent job of defending them.”

Still, that wasn’t enough to overcome the other problems and another defeat. Now the Cavaliers head back to practice to search for answers ahead of a 3:30 p.m. kickoff with Syracuse next Saturday at Scott Stadium.

“I can’t even explain the feeling,” Reid said. “We’ve just got to – we gotta, we gotta win. That’s all I can say about it. It hurts. We have to move on to the next opponent.”

Final Stats