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Mike London led the Cavaliers to a 34-13 victory over his alma mater in his first game as Virginia’s head coach. |
Some of the many highlights from Virginia’s 34-13 win over the University of Richmond came courtesy of Cavalier head coach Mike London. Enthusiasm and energy are two of the first year head coach’s key points of emphasis this season, and he brings both of them to the Virginia sideline. Throughout the game, London could be seen running up and down the sidelines, shouting encouragement at his players, taking up his concerns with the officiating staff, and just generally being a positive presence on the field. One of his more memorable moments came when junior Richmond quarterback Aaron Corp lobbed a throw-away pass toward the UVa sideline. London fielded the pass, and spiked the ball on the ground, bringing the crowd to its feet and getting his players hyped up.
“I told one of the DBs ‘You should have caught the last one!’ I was just catching it and throwing it out of frustration,” London said. “I wanted a turnover, and we hadn’t had one at that point.”
Energy was the name of the game in Scott Stadium on Saturday night, and it spilled over onto the field. The Cavalier defense played fast and physical in the absence of star cornerback Ras-I Dowling and starting safety Rodney McLeod . Dowling was out with a bit of “soreness,” according to London, and McLeod was wearing a brace on his left knee on the sidelines.
“I think we showed up today in the second half and realized that last year in the fourth quarter we gave up 111 points; either we’re going to fold, or we’re going to show up,” junior defensive back Chase Minnifield said. “We just knew that everyone on the depth chart had to be ready to play.”
Sophomore Devin Wallace stepped in to fill the big shoes left by Dowling, who remained dressed on the sidelines, screaming encouragement at his teammates. Wallace got burned immediately on a 34-yard pass during the Wahoo defense’s first play from scrimmage, but he battled back and played a solid game for the rest of the night. He recorded one pass break-up, and maintained a physical presence on every play. Senior Trey Womack started in place of the injured McLeod, and also had a pass break-up in addition to three tackles.
“Like Coach London says, we stress that we have eleven leaders on the defense and tonight I think that showed,” junior defensive tackle Nick Jenkins said. “Devin Wallace and Trey Womack stepped it up and did a great job.”
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Chase Minnifield had a 65-yard interception return, the 7th longest in school history. |
In Dowling’s absence, Minnifield took command of the Cavalier secondary. In addition to serving on the punt return team, Minnifield posted six tackles, including two for a loss, and one key interception that he returned 65 yards. He got separation from his receiver when the Richmond player slowed on his route, causing Corp to overthrow him. Minnifield stretched out for the pass, ran through the end zone, and scampered up the sideline to the Richmond 43-yard line.
“It was a gift from God,” Minnifield said. “It was an awkward play, but at the end of the day it was a big play for the team.” Coach London certainly thought so, too; he sprinted down the sidelines alongside Minnifield, shouting encouragement and providing more positive energy on the Wahoo sideline.
While Virginia proved that it could effectively defend in the new 4-3 defense, even without two of its battle-tested starters, the real surprise of the night came on the offensive side of the ball. For the past few seasons, the Cavalier offense has been lacking a clear identity, and has been unsuccessful with balancing its attack between the running game and the passing game. Against Richmond, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor’s pro-style offense achieved just that, through the standout play of two offensive linchpins.
Quarterback Marc Verica , he of the up and down sophomore season in 2008, began his senior campaign on the right track. He went 24 of 35 for 283 yards, one touchdown (to junior WR Kris Burd ) and no interceptions. After so much preseason speculation as to the quality of his play, Verica was glad to put together a solid game to open the 2010 season.
“I wanted to have a good outing today not just for myself, but for my coaches, my teammates, my family and everyone that has high expectations of me,” he said. “I have high expectations of myself, and you never want to let down those people that are closest to you.”
Verica had two capable receivers in Burd and senior Dontrelle Inman , who each had seven catches. Burd racked up 122 yards through the air, including a crowd-pleasing 51- yard catch to set up a touchdown on the next play. Inman had 88 yards and a stellar over-the-shoulder catch.
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Senior Marc Verica led the Cavaliers’ balanced attack. |
“I thought Marc did a really good job of being able to [distribute the ball]. He was able to throw the ball deep to some of our guys and had two wide receivers who did a pretty good job catching the ball,” London said. “Also he didn’t try to win the game by doing something heroic, you know, just hand the ball off to a guy like Keith Payne and Perry Jones , and just stay within yourself and try to throw high completions. Just move the chains that way. If he can do that, then he can help us. I was pleased to see throughout most of the game he was able to do that.”
In addition to Verica’s solid play under center, the Cavaliers were aided by a breakout performance from senior fullback Keith Payne . That’s right, the “Payne Train” has finally pulled into the station in Charlottesville. Payne was the all-star of the night, rushing for four touchdowns at close range, and punishing the Richmond defense up the middle. He finished with 114 yards, and ignited the Scott Stadium crowd and the Virginia sideline when he dragged the entire Richmond defensive line with him for 41 yards over the course of three straight running plays. “I was so hyped to see that,” Devin Wallace said. “I lost my voice out there yelling ‘Payne Train!”
Payne’s bruising running style complemented the quick, darting abilities of sophomore running back Perry Jones , who had 73 yards on 9 carries. “Keith is a downhill runner, he’s a big guy, and he’s hard to tackle,” London said. “You start running off tackle on those downhill plays and try to use Keith, and a couple times he carried the whole pile. This was a game we could do that and use his skills. It’s been a long time coming for him.”
There may be a lot of the same players on the 2010 Virginia squad, but this is an entirely new team. In addition to posting a solid win to open the season, the team was treated to a packed stadium, featuring plenty of students who stayed well into the fourth quarter. Those who remained were thanked by the players themselves, who jogged over to the student section to exchange high-fives with fans in the front row. The full, vocal student contingent was a pleasant surprise for the Cavaliers after student support waned in the final years of the Al Groh era.
“Oh man, I haven’t seen one of those since probably my redshirt freshman year,” Wallace said of the packed student section. “That was great to see the fans come out. I really appreciate the fans, love the fans. I hope they continue to come out to see us keep winning games.”
Coach London was pleased as well. Recently, he has been making a concentrated effort to reach out to the UVa students to get them more involved with the football program.
“It was awesome, wasn’t it?” London said with a smile when asked about the overwhelming student turnout. “It’s very important to have. Win or lose, we’re going to go over to their section and where they were and just show our appreciation of what they do. We’re going to support some of the things they do, so we’re going to hope they come out to games and keep supporting us.”
