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Virginia’s Michael Rocco threw for 311 yards and 1 TD, while Perry Jones posted 76 total yards and 1 TD. |
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Virginia opened the 2012 season in convincing fashion on Saturday, posting a lopsided 43-19 victory against Richmond. The Cavaliers proved superior in every category beyond the score too, dominating the rushing, passing, time of possession columns.
Still in the moments following the game at Scott Stadium, the Hoos made it clear that there’s a lot of work to be done in the weeks ahead.
“We threw the ball around a little bit, made some good catches, some big catches down the field, but I’m more concerned with making sure we establish the type of running game that we need, particularly these short yardage situations,” UVa coach Mike London said. “I don’t think we actually kind of woke up until the second half. … Now we just have to make sure we take care of the things that kind of hampered us a little bit and get ready for our next opponent.”
“We have to be able to block what we see and block who’s in front of us,” London added later. “I just thought there were lulls a little bit back and forth, but for the most part, I think over five hundred and something total yards is an accomplishment, but as I said we have a long ways to go. ”
Indeed, the team’s day running the football provides the perfect example of the happy, but not satisfied vibe in the media room for the Cavaliers. Virginia posted 184 rushing yards on 42 carries, an average of 4.4 yards per attempt. The Hoos lost just 3 yards on the ground all day and scored 4 touchdowns on the ground. All in all, that’s not a bad day against a defense that frequently stacked the box on running downs and appeared to mix in some run-blitz looks to complicate things.
Perry Jones and Khalek Shepherd led the effort with 52 rushing yards and 1 touchdown each, while Kevin Parks added 49 yards and 2 touchdowns to the total. Senior fullback LoVante Battle added a 22-yard carry late as well. Parks said the running back group wants to do better.
“We’ll watch film tomorrow, be our harshest critic, and learn from it, learn from our mistakes,” Parks said. “I believe as a whole, as a running back group, we all were happy with what we did, but like I said we’re still not satisfied. We’re still iffy about it. As a running back group, we’re not satisfied yet.”
Starting quarterback Michael Rocco provided the passing balance for much of the day against the Spiders’ defense, which seemed to be focused on stopping the run or allowing mostly underneath throws. Rocco took advantage of that with the exception of a handful of throws. He completed 25 of 37 passes for 311 yards and 1 touchdown; that effort fell one yard short of his career-best outing of 312 yards in last season’s Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Even with that solid production, back-up quarterback Phillip Sims made the postgame conversation for fans interesting. Sims led a touchdown drive on his first action as a Cavalier in the fourth quarter; he completed 5 of 6 passes for 50 yards.
Rocco and Sims hit 11 different receivers for completions. Tim Smith hauled in 6 balls for 96 yards, while Darius Jennings added 5 receptions for 84 yards. Jennings’ day included a 51-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Jake McGee ‘s first career catch drew the biggest reaction of the day simply for its style points. He made a leaping one-handed reception on the visiting sidelines that drew applause from all around the stadium.
“I think we played well enough to win. A couple of throws he probably like to get back, but for the most part I thought Michael threw the ball pretty good,” London said. “Phillip had a chance to come in and I thought he threw the ball pretty good as well. I don’t know what [the final line] was, but he made some of the throws he’s been making in camp. Some of the plays that he felt comfortable with, we called some of those plays so the learning curve will continue.”
“I really need to watch the film and see, but from just coming out of the game, my decision making was pretty good for the most part. I still have areas to work on, I’ll see the film and see what I can improve on,” Rocco said. “Our guys make plays whenever I get the ball in their hands, so just completing passes is my main goal. You saw what Darius Jennings and Tim Smith can do when they get the ball in their hands.”
“Every time I step on the field I want to play to the highest of my abilities no matter the situation.” Sims said. “If this is my chance to show people what I can do, then so be it. I just want to go out there and do what I’m capable of.”
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Linebackers Henry Coley and Daquan Romero combined for 10 tackles. |
Defensively, the Hoos had a good day as well. They held Richmond to just 28 yards rushing and 266 yards of total offense. The Spiders’ used a controlled, quick-pass attack to complete 24 of 43 attempts for 238 yards through the air. That produced a pair of passing touchdowns, including one improbable scoring completion from former UVa quarterback Michael Strauss to Kendall Gaskins. On that play in the first half, Strauss appeared to be sacked but fluttered the ball out to where it looked like it would be knocked away only to end up in Gaskins’ hands. Beyond that unlikely touchdown connection, the majority of UR’s success on the day came on underneath passing routes that attacked UVa’s linebackers in coverage.
Overall for the D, a lot of young talent started to find its way to the field and produce. Sophomore Henry Coley , for example, started for the first time at outside linebacker and had a good outing with 6 tackles, which tied for the team’s top total. Daquan Romero , another sophomore, split time with Coley there and added 4 tackles in action on both defense and special teams.
Additionally, UVa worked several fresh faces in on the defensive line throughout the game. True freshman Eli Harold picked up snaps at defensive end, while junior Justin Renfrow , sophomore Chris Brathwaite , and redshirt freshman David Dean all played at tackle. Of course, the secondary is full of youngsters where sophomores Drequan Hoskey, Anthony Harris , and Brandon Phelps all started and true freshman Maurice Canady played several snaps as well. Harris and Hoskey matched Coley with 6 tackles each. Demetrious Nicholson , still just a sophomore himself, added 5 tackles and 1 pass break-up.
Sabre TV |
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Miranda Mason reports on the Cavaliers’ 43-19 win against Richmond on Saturday at Scott Stadium. |
“I felt okay about them. Sometimes when you’re out there and the stage lights are on, you’ve got to be able to make the calls, your hand signals. You’ve got to be able to be demonstrative with your voice and with your gestures, because that’s part of the communication. Sometimes you’re out there and you’re playing and you lose a little bit of that because of the game itself,” London said of his young defense. “So they’re going to have to play their way into being experienced players. It is what it is right now. I think we’ll get better there. I thought we should have had our hands on a couple balls, but that’s one of the things when you have young players: they just have to play. There’s no magic potion for it. I think as the season goes on, their learning curve increases, and they’ll become better players.”
With all of that said, the road gets tougher in the coming weeks. Penn State will be looking to bounce back from its loss to Ohio. The conference opener at Georgia Tech could be a slugfest. TCU has been nothing but successful in recent seasons, posting a 47-5 record in the past four years. Louisiana Tech is going to be a sneaky good test too.
In other words, this year’s team got its feet wet with a good win. It didn’t sink in the opener. The question, of course, is can the Hoos keep their heads above water and post back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2004 and 2005?
“It looked like we were doing a pretty good job moving the ball then got caught in a couple of lulls there,” London said. “We’ll address that by watching tape and film and coaching it up. We play really good teams. I’m not taking anything away from Richmond, but we’ve got to be able to execute. We have to be able to block who we’re supposed to. We can’t leave guys running open on a couple of blitzes. That’s why we practice and why we get to film. You make the corrections and you hope the following week you’ve done a better job.”
