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Jeffrey Fitzgerald and the UVa defense had a good game but it wasn’t enough in the 17-10 loss to Western Michigan. |
The lyrics of “The Scientist” ooze over you like a long summer’s rain, slowly soaking melancholy deep into your bones while Coldplay’s Chris Martin lets the words seep, seep, seep into your soul.
Nobody said it was easy; No one ever said it would be this hard; Oh take me back to the start.
Certainly Cavaliers near and far could feel that same tortuous trickle on Saturday as the reality of a 17-10 Homecoming loss to Western Michigan slowly sank into their hearts. Nobody said it would be easy and some warned it could be this hard. Oh if only, they could go back to the start. But there is no turning back and a rougher road lies ahead for a team that is 1-2 with little reason for optimism after a disheartening defeat in what looks to be the first steps in a sobering season.
“We were well below unacceptable in every phase of the game, from me on down,” Virginia’s Al Groh said. “It’s got to get better than this.”
In this case, “this” was much more than a seven-point loss. It was the continued struggles of the offense, which produced just 258 yards in 58 plays. It was the third missed field goal at home this year. It was the oh-so-close touchbacks on punts inside the five. It was the spectacle that surrounded three rotating quarterbacks, an oft-injured running back, and an offensive line that can’t block efficiently or contain pressure consistently.
“This” could be laughable, if it wasn’t so callously piercing the Hoos’ hearts.
“It’s like being caught in quicksand,” Groh said. “When you can’t score any points, you can’t kick it through, you can’t throw it in, and you can’t run it in, it makes it pretty hard to win. Teams that we’re playing are recognizing that, playing a certain kind of game. They know that they don’t have to score a lot of points to win.”
Running in circles, chasing tails; coming back as we are.
Saturday’s fiasco can probably be summed up in the three-quarterback circus that saw Kevin McCabe start, Christian Olsen appear briefly, and redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell become the ringmaster for the entire second half. Was it an act of desperation for an offense that set up more points for Western Michigan than itself?
A sideshow?
A program running in circles?
Groh said playing three quarterbacks wasn’t a pre-meditated plan, but merely an attempt to win.
“We were planning on doing whatever the situation during the course of the game indicated was necessary,” he said. “What I saw out of the three quarterbacks was what I see everyday – not enough production.”
Not enough production in a game where the defense again shined – that unit allowed just three points that didn’t come off turnovers and a grand total of 179 yards. That’s the fewest yards allowed by the Cavaliers in a loss since Navy gained 167 yards in 1969 in a 10-0 win in Annapolis.
But that performance wasn’t enough thanks to the offensive problems and guessing game at quarterback.
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Virginia’s Kevin McCabe had two interceptions that led to 14 Western Michigan points. |
McCabe started and the Hoos looked to have a bounce in their steps. It was a short-lived feeling, however, thanks to a pair of critical mistakes. The junior threw two interceptions from which the Cavaliers never really recovered as Western Michigan took a 14-10 lead at intermission and shut out UVa in the second half.
In the first quarter, McCabe threw high on pass intended for Fontel Mines . The senior receiver was wide open in the middle, but despite a good effort he couldn’t rise high enough to make a play. WMU’s Louis Delmas took advantage by picking off the pass and returning it to the UVa 21-yard line. After converting one fourth-down-and-short play behind a quick snap, the Broncos went for it again on fourth down from inside the one-yard line. They converted when Mark Bonds dove in for the touchdown at 9:34 and WMU led 7-0.
After McCabe led Virginia to a tying touchdown (a drive that Jason Snelling capped with a 5-yard run), disaster struck again early in the second quarter. This time, McCabe tried to force a pass deep inside his own territory. The attempt went toward Mike Robertson, who was blanketed on the play.
WMU broke on the ball that was thrown behind the receiver and it was deflected into the air where Desman Stephen intercepted it and ran 34 yards for a touchdown. That gave the Broncos a 14-7 lead at the 7:42 mark of the quarter. It was the second straight week that Western returned an interception for touchdown; it was also the second straight year WMU pulled off that feat in Scott Stadium.
“If it wasn’t for those two interceptions, they only scored three other points in other ways. That hurts,” McCabe said. “I got into a little rhythm there and we were moving the ball a little bit, but when you have turnovers it just kills you. You try to avoid those at all costs and I threw two costly picks today.”
McCabe would have liked another shot. It never came.
“You want to do all you can. The coaches made a decision to pull me and I can’t really dispute that,” he said. “But when you keep watching your team just not putting points on the board, you just want to be there and pull them out of it because you go them into it. It’s your job to get them out of it. It was just hard to watch.”
I was just guessing at numbers and figures; Pulling the puzzles apart.
That’s when the flip-a-coin approach began at quarterback. Following the second interception, Virginia went to Christian Olsen but he produced just 27 passing yards and a field goal despite good field position on one drive (Western’s 43). After that, Sewell played the entire second half but he couldn’t get the Hoos on the scoreboard.
By the end of the third quarter, many fans seemed to be waiting for McCabe’s return but it never came. The offense moved the most with him at the helm. The O had 124 yards at the end of the first quarter and by the end of the third, UVa had produced just 74 more yards (only 106 total after McCabe exited). The Hoos did manage 60 fourth quarter yards, but no points and Western Michigan exited Scott Stadium among a chorus of boos directed at the home team.
“Western Michigan knew exactly what kind of game they had to play, which was play a good, sound, solid game [and] see if Virginia would do enough to help them win,” Groh said. “Obviously we did everything necessary to help them win.”
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Jason Snelling scored the Hoos’ only touchdown for the second time in three games. |
UVa had one last chance to overcome another agonizing home performance when WMU’s Jim Laney misfired on a punt in the fourth quarter. That 20-yard kick set Virginia up at the Broncos’ 36-yard line.
Snelling quickly ran left for 15 yards as he returned after missing a large chunk of the game (“I was just told that he was woozy and feeling ill and unable to play at that particular time,” Groh said.) The remaining glimmer of hope quickly faded as the drive got stuffed with a third-down sack of Sewell (on third-and-three) and a missed Chris Gould field goal from 41 yards.
With that and a last-ditch effort late in the final quarter, the Hoos’ Homecoming hopes ended with a thud. Now, it’s back to proverbial square one. The Cavaliers have a short week ahead of them with a trip to Georgia Tech scheduled for Thursday in the team’s ACC opener.
“We’ve got to come out tomorrow ready to go and we’ve got to start clicking, start making plays, start moving the ball. We’ve got to have confidence. This is a critical part of the season where guys can get separated,” McCabe said. “We lost to Western Michigan. We’ve got to play an ACC game and we’ve still got a clean slate in that.”
Nobody said it was easy. No one ever said it would be so hard. I’m going back to the start.
(For complete coverage of Virginia’s game with Western Michigan, please sign up for the Sabre Edge. Edge subscribers will get analysis, postgame audio from Coach Al Groh, Kevin McCabe , Jameel Sewell , and more. A photo gallery of the game will be posted for Edge subscribers as well.)
