Virginia Vanquishes Orange, 31-10

Al Groh was right. Phase Two of the season started out much tougher than
Phase One. Not tough enough, however, to trip up Virginia’s perfect season.

Syracuse made UVa fans sweat for the first time in 2004, but the
12th-ranked Cavaliers ultimately proved up to the challenge. Despite a shaky
second half on defense and a depleted receiving corps, UVa made enough big
plays to produce a 31-10 victory at sun-drenched Scott Stadium.

Marques Hagans delivered many of the key plays, running for two touchdowns
and throwing for another as Virginia (4-0) won its fourth straight game by
at least 21 points. The junior finished with a team-high 81 rushing yards and completed 11 of 12 passes for 202 yards.

UVa’s defense gave up several long drives but only one touchdown against the
Orange (2-2), which used a power running game and effective play-action
passes to make things interesting in the second half. But with the score 24-10, the Cavaliers stopped Syracuse on fourth-and-goal, then drove 96 yards for the game-clinching touchdown, a 39-yard pass from Hagans to Michael McGrew.

“As we expected, this was certainly the most physical team and the biggest test that we’ve had so far,” Groh said. “I thought we were tested real good. … I thought we met the test at a lot of points. Twice we stopped them inside the 10 and twice we went the length of the field. Those are hard things to do.”

The win may have been costly as defensive end Chris Canty suffered a left leg injury. Michael Johnson also was hurt on one of the final plays, while receiver Deyon Williams did not play because of an injury.

The good news is Virginia has 12 days to get healthy before facing Clemson (1-3) on Oct. 7.