Charlotte, N.C. — The Virginia Cavaliers must enjoy travelling to Charlotte, North Carolina. For the second consecutive season, Virginia is the king of Charlotte’s own Continental Tire Bowl, as they beat Pittsburgh 23-16 to pickup up their second bowl victory in as many years.
In a game that was supposed to showcase Pittsburgh All-American and Heisman finalist Larry Fitzgerald and Virginia senior quarterback Matt Schaub, the Cavalier signal caller came out on top, as he was named the game’s MVP for his impressive play Saturday afternoon. While Schaub didn’t put up career numbers, his 244 yards and one touchdown were enough to lead his team to victory.
“He’s a great quarterback and we are going to miss him,” Elton Brown, who said he was coming back to play for his senior season, said after the game. “He played a great game for us, and he has played that way for the most of his career. He’s a great guy and a great quarterback.”
Fitzgerald, who finished second in Heisman voting, was kept in check by the Virginia secondary, as he did not catch a touchdown pass for the first time in 19 games. His streak of 18 consecutive games with a touchdown reception, broken today against Virginia, is an NCAA record. Virginia head coach Al Groh said that his defense was instrumental in coming up with a victory.
“He’s [Fitzgerald] a remarkable player,” Groh said after the game. “I think he’s one of the most dominant offense players in college football. We put a big emphasis on the game plan and scheme on Larry. Players were very alert to how to play that, and they applied themselves to learning it. In the future, we’ll be a defensive team.”
The game was still in doubt with a little over five minutes to play, as a Connor Hughes 39-yard field goal gave Virginia a 23-16 lead. A 45-yard return on the following kickoff by William Ferguson set Pitt up in terrific position, but that didn’t last very long. On the next play from scrimmage, Brennan Schmidt forced a fumble when he sacked Pitt QB Rod Rutherford. The fumbled was recovered by freshman linebacker Kai Parham, all but sealing the win for the Cavaliers. Schmidt spent some time at nose tackle in the second half, as regular nose tackle Andrew Hoffman was injured and unable to play in the second stanza.
With just over two minutes left in the game, Wali Lundy took the ball and gained two first downs to put the game away and give the Cavaliers a win to end the 2003 season.
The two squads combined to score only nine points in the second half, all in the second half. Coming out of halftime with a four point lead, Virginia looked as though they might blow the game open in the beginning of the second half, when a Robbie Catterton interception set up the Cavaliers at the Pitt 18-yard line. Virginia was unable to punch the ball into the end zone, however, and settled for a Hughes field goal.
A series later, Pitt leaned on tailback Brandon Miree, who ran for 110 yards on 22 carries, to get into field goal position. J.B. Gibbony was able to knock home a 28-yarder that cut Virginia’s lead back to four. The biggest blow on that drive, however, came when safety Jermaine Hardy hurt his ACL, which he tore seven games into the season. The blow forced him to sit out the rest of the game, and he is planning to have surgery on January 6.
“The pain was extremely bad,” Hardy said after the game. “I knew that I was going to have to come out and let the other guys take my place for the rest of the game.”
For the rest of the game, the Cavaliers relied on freshmen Robbie Catterton and Lance Evans, and both players stepped up, helping their teammates to shut down the Pitt passing game in the second half. The strong defense was evident at the end of the third quarter, when Virginia forced the Panthers to go three and out on two consecutive offensive possessions to end the quarter.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Virginia once again appeared poised to put the game out of reach, when they marched down to the Pitt four yard line. Junior Alvin Pearman, who led the Cavaliers with six receptions and 104 rushing yards in front of his hometown crowd, had a big 21-yard run that brought the ball into Panthers territory. The drive ended in an interception, however, as Schaub underthrew Heath Miller in the corner of the end zone, and the ball was picked off.
“It was big that Alvin was able to step in and give us some big plays today,” Brown said after the game. “We wanted to open some holes for him in second half, and he was able to pick up some big yards for us today.”
Once again the Cavaliers allowed Pittsburgh to move the ball downfield, as All-America tight end Kris Wilson caught a 21-yard pass to give the Panthers a first and 10 from the Cavalier 23. The Virginia defense then rose to the challenge, hitting Miree behind the line for a four yard loss on second down, and batting away a Rutherford pass on third down. A Gibbony field goal attempt then missed wide to the right, keeping Virginia’s lead at four.
Because Pearman had injured his ankle on the previous drive, coach Groh relied on last year’s Continental Tire Bowl star Wali Lundy to carry his team down the field. Lundy racked up 27 yards on the drive, setting up Hughes’ 39-yard field goal, which was followed by Ferguson’s return and Schmidt’s forced fumble.
“We had some big stops in the second half and that was key to the game,” senior Almondo Curry said. “It was a big win for us seniors, especially because of who we were able to stop. When people look back at [Fitzgerald’s touchdown streak], we want people to look at Virginia stopping it.”
Virginia got off to an impressive start in the first quarter, when they were able to shut down Pittsburgh on four consecutive plays from inside the two yard line. Facing fourth and goal from the half yard line, Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham combined to stop Brandon Miree from reaching the end zone.
“It was a big stop to begin the game,” Brooks said following the win. “It gave us a lot of momentum, and it allowed the offense to go down and score a touchdown and give us a victory. That’s why it was so important.”
Four plays and 45 yards later, Schaub hooked up with junior Heath Miller for an early 7-0 lead. Miller was able to get wide open across the middle of the field and waltz into the end zone for a 52-yard score. The touchdown pass was the 56th of Schaub’s career, which set a new Virginia record for career touchdown passes.
On the next drive, Pitt was able to move their way down the field and eventually score on a 13 yard pass from Rod Rutherford to Princell Brockenbrough that tied the score at seven.
In the second quarter the two teams exchanged touchdown drives, when Wali Lundy found the end zone from one yard out and Brandon Miree scored on a 17-yard screen. Pit would have tied the game, but kicker David Abdul missed the extra point to leave the Panthers down a point. A 44-yard Connor Hughes field goal with time running out gave Virginia a four point lead heading into halftime, 17-13.
“It was important to go into halftime with a lead, especially with some of the mistakes we made on defense,” Curry said. “We were able to make some adjustments on defense with the lead, and come out and play much better in the second half.”
Pittsburgh received a couple of breaks from the officials in the first half, when an inadvertent whistle cost the Cavaliers a chance to take the ball deep in Panther territory. When the Pitt punt returner muffed the football, one of the officials inexplicably blew the whistle right before a Virginia player jumped on the ball. Instead of giving the Cavaliers the ball, the referee told the crowd an inadvertent whistle meant that the ball was dead, and the teams would have to replay the down.
This mistake should seem familiar for Virginia fans, as a similar play occurred when the Cavaliers lost to Clemson earlier in the year. In that game, the official blew the whistle too early when Virginia recovered a fumble, and the down was replayed. The television replay showed that the Cavaliers should have scored a touchdown.
When Virginia had originally lined up to punt the ball, the officials threw a flag for too many players on the field, but ended up picking up the flag when they realized that they had miscounted. It appeared as though the Cavaliers were preparing to fake on the play.
The Cavaliers hurt themselves with penalties throughout the game, as they were flagged for two personal fouls and one unsportsmanlike penalty. All three of those major penalties came when Virginia was on defense, and they extended drives for Rutherford and the Panthers.
Through it all, the Cavaliers were able to come together at the end of the season once again, as they finished the year with three straight impressive wins. According to both Groh and the players, the win was not only important for the season, but also for the future of the Cavalier program.
“We came down here with the theme that for our team this was a very, very, very, very important game,” Groh said following the game. “We had to bring everything that we had. We had to show up today. We thought the players were wonderful and showed up and performed.”
Stay tuned for two player features and a full analysis in continuing coverage of the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl.
