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Virginia’s Kevin McCabe completed 8 of 13 passes in the fourth quarter and overtime. He had 1 TD toss. |
When thinking of old Hollywood Westerns, it’s easy to envision bucking broncos, gunfights, and exciting horse chases. Unlike the showdown on the Lawn in “The Adventures of CavMan”, however, Virginia’s home opener resembled a slug-it-out saloon fight a whole lot more than a shootout from the Wild, Wild, West.
The game did have one Hollywood twist, though – a gunslinger that rode into town and saved the day.
Junior quarterback Kevin McCabe strolled into the foothills of Charlottesville from Pine-Richland High School in Pennsylvania. He had never really settled in – this, after all, was bit of a one-horse town of late with a man named Hagans wearing the sheriff’s badge. But when McCabe finally walked into an Old West brawl Saturday, he was ready to call the shots and go toe to toe in a late afternoon duel.
And with some help from the defensive cavalry, McCabe led the Hoos to victory over the gritty ‘boys who rode in from a rough-and-tumble town many miles away.
The deciding points came in true gunslinger’s fashion as McCabe fired a bullet over the Wyoming defense to receiver Kevin Ogletree on the first play of overtime. The 25-yard touchdown pass was the only end zone visit of the game for the Hoos, but it was enough to give the Cavs a 13-12 win as the Cowboys’ final shot misfired wide right.
“It was a good route. I just kind of threw it on rhythm, threw it on timing and he made a great play too,” McCabe said. “That’s what we’re supposed to do. Coach called the play and it’s not like I did anything out of the ordinary; it’s not like I scrambled 20 yards and threw the ball across the field. I just took my five steps and just threw one to KO.”
“They called a play where the coverage allowed me to be the first option, and I just ran the route we had been practicing all week and there it was,” Ogletree said.
“That throw was everything it had to be. It was right on the spot against that coverage with that route. Kevin did a real good job. Both Kevins,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “Kevin Ogletree was in the spot the quarterback expected him to be. Kevin McCabe threw the ball to the spot.”
Interestingly, that overtime scoring pass was the first touchdown toss of McCabe’s career and the first touchdown reception of Ogletree’s career. McCabe said he also thinks it was also his first game-winning touchdown pass at any level.
It came just in the nick of time.
“It’s every kid’s dream to go out there and throw the game-winning touchdown. It’s an awesome, awesome feeling,” McCabe said. “But you’ve got to move on from it. I’m just looking to do whatever I can to get this team win No. 2.”
On Saturday, the junior QB did whatever he could to help the team get win No. 1. He checked into the game with 12:49 remaining and finished 8-of-13 passing for 85 yards. The one touchdown covered 25 yards, which was the Cavaliers’ longest offensive play of the day.
And while it wasn’t a spotless performance – he openly admitted that he botched the call on the fourth-and-one play – McCabe did enough to get his team to the winner’s circle.
“He had good ball movement out there. He had his rough moments out there. He miscalled a couple formations, but any guy would,” Groh said. “One of the characteristics of a team that is going to do anything is resilience and your quarterback has to be the most resilient. Probably the best characteristic that he showed wasn’t the ball in the air, but the resilience he showed in coming back from some other circumstances that he found himself in.”
While McCabe played the heroic role in this one, starting quarterback Christian Olsen takes the brunt of the criticism. He struggled throughout and completed just 12 of 21 passes for 89 yards and one interception.
~ Virginia coach Al Groh |
That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a quarterback controversy, though. Groh would not address questions about next week’s starter in the postgame meeting with the media and said that sort of thing would be determined in practice this week.
“That is something that we will not address [right now]. We are not going down that road,” Groh said. “When we decide each week who our quarterback will be, the quarterbacks will know first, the team will know second, and everyone else will know third.”
Before McCabe entered the game, neither team’s offense provided much scoring punch as a pair of 3-4 defense traded blows for most of the day.
Four field goals were the only points produced in the early going as the two teams battled through four quarters in a 6-6 tie. Wyoming’s Aric Goodman hit 3-pointers from 23 and 39 yards, while Virginia’s Chris Gould converted from 29 and 34 yards.
Most of those points were set up by special teams, defense, or trick plays. For the Cowboys, their first field goal was set up by a fake punt when John Wendling rushed for 29 yards on a direct snap. In the third quarter, defense gave Wyoming a shot at three more points when Dorsey Golston intercepted a deflected pass.
For Virginia, a solid punt return by Andrew Pearman gave the team good field position at the WU 48-yard line; Pearman then made a first down catch for a four-yard gain to start the drive. That completion started a nice blend of plays with Cedric Peerman featured heavily. In fact, Peerman’s 12-yard reception on a screen pass put the Cavaliers at the Wyoming 10-yard line and they eventually scored on a 29-yard Chris Gould field goal. The score stood 3-3 at that point.
UVa’s second made field goal (Gould missed wide right from 43 yards to end the half) came courtesy of the special teams as well. With 1:23 remaining in the third quarter, Josh Zidenberg exploded through the line and blocked Billy Vinnedge’s punt with a thud. That set up Virginia at the Pokes’ 14-yard line, but the hosts could only manage a 34-yard kick from Gould that tied the score.
Gould, as you can imagine, was more focused on the kicks he missed.
“I thought I did two of the three aspects of the game well today. I kicked off pretty well. I felt as though I punted pretty well, but with field goals I didn’t do so well today,” Gould said. “I lifted my head a little early on the first field goal I missed and that forced it to go right. On the second one, I hit it well and it went right down the middle before it drifted left midway through the kick. But you know, I’ll straighten those things out and try to bring all three of them around for next week.”
“You can’t really do anything. It was almost laughable. I mean you hit the ball so pure and it hits three fourths of the way up the upright on a 49-yard field goal,” Gould added. “I thought it was good the whole way except for the last 10 yards of the kick, but it didn’t go in. I’ll just have to try to put it in the next time I have that opportunity.”
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Marcus Hamilton made this interception and recovered a fumble in the win. |
But it wasn’t that missed kick that made the difference. After McCabe and Ogletree connected to give the Cavaliers the overtime lead, Wyoming had a chance to answer. The Cowboys came through with a fourth-down touchdown play when Jacob Doss hit Chris Sundberg for a 3-yard scoring strike.
The game seemed destined for a second overtime, but then the improbable happened – Wyoming’s Goodman missed the extra point.
“Well, he’ll win a lot of games for us before it’s all said and done. He out-kicked their guy all day long; he was 2 for 2 and their guy was 2 for 4 and had a chance to win it and couldn’t. It’s just a shame we missed a three-inch putt at the [end],” Cowboys coach Joe Glenn said. “You know, I’m his coach, so I have to take a little blame, I guess. He left it right, didn’t square his hips up. He gets a little lazy once in a while squaring his hips up, getting through the ball. He left his right hip open.”
Virginia’s Marcus Hamilton, who had a key interception and key fumble recovery, dove to try to block the kick. He wasn’t sure where the ball went as he crashed to the turf after lunging for it.
“I didn’t see it. I was diving to try to block it. I didn’t see whether he made it or missed it until I heard the cheering,” Hamilton said. “I thought I was close. I always want to try to go for the block. I couldn’t really tell how much I missed it by, but maybe it deterred him enough to miss the kick. I don’t know.”
