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Michael Rocco threw for more than 200 yards for the fifth straight game. |
The Virginia defense had a good day. Virginia’s offense had a bad day. Penn State kicker Sam Ficken had the worst day of all. Those three factors came together to tell the tale as the UVa football team escaped with a nerve-rattling finish with a 17-16 victory on Saturday. It marked the second straight season that the Cavaliers defeated a Big Ten team on the last play of the game.
Last year, the Hoos kicked a field goal on the final play to win 34-31 at Indiana. This time around, the Cavaliers were the ones anxiously awaiting a field goal try on the final play, but Ficken missed and Virginia started 2-0 for the second straight season. Ficken made just 1 of 5 kicks on the day with misses from 40, 38, 20, and 42 yards; the final 42-yard attempt came in a driving rain and set off a raucous celebration in Scott Stadium. He also had an extra point attempt blocked by Henry Coley that provide UVa’s one-point margin of victory.
“I understand there’s a lot of pressure on kickers. But I also understand the pressure that can be applied on the other side when you can push on the guards and get your hands up like the one we blocked. When you start doing that, you kind of create that thing where the kicker knows you’re back there – you’re close. Maybe we got in his head. Maybe he just missed them. I don’t know,” Virginia coach Mike London said. “We’ve won a game before where you try to get after a kicker [at Florida State last season]. Just the pressure alone and the mindset that you can block one at any time, I think that’s part of it.”
PSU (0-2) gave back three yards on the play before the field goal attempt to center the ball.
“Percentages say you have a better chance making a kick from the middle of the field than you do from the hash. Just center the ball, something we work on all the time. We did a really good job on that drive so we just need to finish that drive,” Penn State coach Bill O’Brien said. “We work on two-minute offense all the time. I am really proud of these kids and how hard they fought. I think if there were five or 10 more seconds I would have tried to get it closer but it is what it was.”
The Nittany Lions needed that final harrowing drive thanks to some late-game magic from UVa’s offense, which had struggled mightily all afternoon. Just how bad was it? The Cavaliers gained just 295 yards in the game and won for the first time in the London era with less than 300 yards of offense. They produced a meager 32 rushing yards and committed 4 turnovers (3 fumbles, 1 interception).
Interestingly enough, the Cavs also had four turnovers in last season’s Big Ten win against Indiana and just like that game, when the Hoos needed to come through on Saturday, they did. Virginia took the ball trailing 16-10 with 8:04 remaining in the contest. The offense faced 86 yards of Scott Stadium grass to reach the end zone for the go-ahead score. From there, UVa put together a 12-play scoring drive in 6:36 to get the win.
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Miranda Mason reports on the Cavaliers’ 17-16 win against Penn State on Saturday at Scott Stadium. |
The touchdown march featured four successful third down plays. First, Michael Rocco found Perry Jones with a swing pass for 9 yards on 3rd-and-5. The biggest conversion of the drive came on the next third down as Rocco found Jake McGee on 3rd-and-16 from the UVa 22-yard line. On the play, Rocco scrambled from a hurried pocket to his left, planted his feat, heaved a jump-ball throw down the near seam toward McGee, who somehow held off two defenders despite a pass interference flag to make the catch. McGee’s reception covered a career-long 44 yards and put the Hoos in Penn State territory.
“I try to do that when we’re playing video games together. I try to do that same thing in video games. No, I’m kidding,” Rocco said with a smile. “Jake does a great job of making plays. I knew he was going to make the play. I just had something down in my gut to throw the ball to him and he was going to make a play.”
“The way he scrambled they paused for just a second and I was able to get behind them,” McGee said. “He put it up in the air, they were running the other way [toward me and away from the ball] so they couldn’t see it, and I was able to have my eyes on the ball the whole time.”
The Cavaliers’ third straight third down conversion came on 3rd-and-7 at PSU’s 31-yard line when Rocco fired a pass to Darius Jennings on a tunnel screen call. Jennings slipped through the blocking and then surged inside the 10-yard line with a 24-yard gain. After two plays gained 1 yard, Virginia faced its fourth third down of the drive. After Penn State called a timeout to conserve some time in case the Cavaliers scored, Rocco found McGee open just across the goal line to tie the game. Drew Jarrett provided the winning point moments later with is kick.
Rocco, who finished 21-of-33 passing for 258 yards, showed his resiliency on the march to win the game. After all, he went 6 for 6 on that final drive after being pulled for two series earlier in the half while Phillip Sims played quarterback; London said with the offense struggling, he wanted Rocco to get a chance to observe the game from the sidelines. Sims had a lost fumble and near interception during his time on the field.
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Jake McGee celebrates his game-winning touchdown. |
McGee, meanwhile, finished with 4 catches for 99 yards and that touchdown grab with 1:28 to go in the game.
“McGee has come a long way. I remember when he came to UVa as a quarterback and it was probably two practices into his first experience here as a freshman when he came and told us he would rather be the next Heath Miller,” Cav offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said. “So he made the decision to move to tight end. He’s worked very hard at it. He’s very talented guy. He makes those catches all the time in practice. We know now we can count on him.”
On the critical third down touchdown play, Rocco said that McGee’s pattern called for him to keep running but the tight end saw an opening and sat down in that area. When both players made that same read, it led to the score. Rocco also hit tight end Jeremiah Mathis with a touchdown pass earlier in the game; Mathis now has 4 TDs on 10 career catches.
The touchdown catch was the much easier of the two receptions on the final drive, right?
“It’s considered the easier one. The one before that’s just completely on the fly, instinct takes over. It happened to be easier than the one where I’m sitting there – it felt like forever,” Mc Gee said. “But I held on to it and we got the win.”
Of course, the Hoos wouldn’t have been in position for the offense to redeem itself from a four-turnover, penalty-filled day if the defense didn’t step up in a major way. Penn State started in Virginia territory five times Saturday, including all four possessions after the Cavalier turnovers. After the four miscues, the defense gave up just 3 points and actually forced PSU to lose 14 total yards on those possessions. As a result, Penn State converted just 2 of 5 red zone chances on the day.
Linebacker Steve Greer , who recorded an impressive line of 15 tackles with 2 sacks, said the coaching staff stresses the importance of sudden-change defensive possessions all the time.
“That’s what Coach Reid emphasizes every day, that when you are put in a tough spot, that’s where defenses show up,” Greer said. “We really wanted to execute and create an identity for ourselves.”
In the past two seasons, that’s something the entire program has been trying to do too of course. The Cavaliers are trying to re-establish themselves as consistent winners after an 8-5 record in 2011. Along the way, the Hoos are also trying to prove that they are a tough-minded group that will compete and persevere down to the last play.
On Saturday, for the fifth time in the past two seasons, Virginia won by 3 points or less. It also survived on the last play of the game again just like those victories against Indiana, Idaho, Miami, and FSU in 2011.
“I think we’re resilient. We did some of that last season and I think every part of our program is geared towards that,” Greer said. “No matter what, we’re no easy out. If we stay focused and give 110% every play, good things will happen.”
