Hoos Hammer Wolfpack

Penalties, turnovers, inconsistent offensive line play, and dropped passes. All of the issues that have plagued the Virginia football team this season showed up again in Saturday’s game, but this time the majority of the miscues belonged to the opponent as NC State committed 5 turnovers and struggled throughout the day. As a result, the Cavaliers led wire to wire in a 33-6 demolition of the Wolfpack.

The win snapped a six-game losing streak for UVa, which avoided the program’s first seven-game skid in more than 30 years. The blowout also gave Virginia its first win in Raleigh since 1999. The Hoos (3-6, 1-4 ACC) were thrilled to get back in the win column.

“This is a huge win. Things haven’t been going our way the last couple of months, but we picked it up today. We decided that as a team we weren’t going to let this season come to an end like this,” UVa quarterback Phillip Sims said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “Guys came out and fought hard and we executed today and we got a big-time win for our season.”

“It’s great. It’s great because you’re celebrating with guys you love and you believe in,” Cavalier coach Mike London said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “Things were tough there for a while, but I thought the bye week allowed us to look at ourselves and see what we do and who we could use and how we could help ourselves. So it feels good when the hard work works for you, the ball bounces your way, the blocks are made. … It’s good to experience a win with those young men in the locker room.”

Jake Snyder and the UVa defense had a good day at NC State.

Any time a team wins by 27 points, the entire team clearly contributed to the lopsided score. That certainly was true Saturday for the Cavaliers, who got good outings from both the offense and the defense. The D arguably stole the show, though.

The Hoos swarmed the Wolfpack throughout the day and generally made Homecoming miserable for NCSU’s offense, which managed just 216 yards of offense. In the end, the visitors created 6 sacks and 5 turnovers (1 fumble recovery came on special teams) as they pressured Mike Glennon into uncomfortable situations all day long. In addition to the sacks and turnovers, the Cavs also forced intentional grounding flags and a safety against the Pack. UVa shut down the running game too, giving up a paltry 19 yards on the ground.

For the Hoos, who had just 7 sacks and 4 take-aways entering the day, the defense set the tone early. On NC State’s first possession of the game, UVa safety Anthony Harris picked off a ball overthrown by Glennon. Later in the first half, Jake Snyder hit Glennon and the ball popped into the air before landing in the arms of Eli Harold for a second interception. In the second half, Maurice Canady added an INT to the total as well. Glennon finished 23 of 46 for 197 yards with just 1 TD. NC State entered the game second in the ACC by averaging 306 passing yards per game.

Canady led the defense with 7 tackles in his first career start, while Harris added 6 stops as well. DaQuan Romero, who started for the first time in place of suspended Henry Coley , had 6 tackles as did Steve Greer . Chris Brathwaite continued his recent surge as well with 5 tackles, including 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble.

“Oh man, it makes it a lot easier for us. We get more chances to run out and score points. Instead four or five possessions in the first half, you get six or seven and that equates to more points,” Sims said about the defense on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “As long as the defense plays that way and we keep executing and playing hard, I see no reason why we can’t win the next three games this season.”

The quarterbacks split snaps against the Wolfpack and combined to throw for 198 yards and 2 TD passes.

On the other side of the ball, the Cavaliers put together an efficient performance with 446 yards as they posted more than 30 points against a Football Bowl Subdivision team for just the seventh time in Bill Lazor’s tenure. The offense’s better showing started early too. On the first possession of the game, Sims engineered an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive that he capped with a touchdown on a pylon-reaching scramble; he needed to make that play after dropping a wide-open quarterback-throwback pass earlier on the goal line. Sims, who opened the day 5-of-5 passing, finished 8 of 10 for 115 yards and 1 touchdown, a 38-yard bomb to Tim Smith . He added the TD run mentioned above.

Sims shared time with Michael Rocco throughout the afternoon with the players alternating in on different series. The rotation plan was evident early as Rocco checked in for Sims on the third drive of the game despite the fact that Sims had yet to throw an incompletion. Rocco started fast too and completed his first 4 passes as he led the team to a first quarter touchdown drive as well. On the 18-yard TD pass, the NCSU safety and cornerback failed to execute. The corner passed off Darius Jennings to cover a route in the flats, but the safety didn’t rotate over to Jennings, who led the Hoos with 57 receiving yards on 6 catches. The coverage mistake made it an easy pitch-and-catch for the Cavalier duo. For the day, Rocco went 12-of-23 passing for 83 yards and 1 touchdown. He chipped in 36 yards rushing on 5 carries as well.

“We started looking at ourselves and what we do and who does it for us and we have, obviously, two talented quarterbacks that can help this team win. Finding the balance and finding the right plays that they can do, we felt that we had two guys that could run this offense,” London said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network.

The offensive line played one of its best games of the season, providing good running room and pass protection for most of the day. Entering the game, the Cavaliers had allowed 16 sacks, while the Wolfpack had posted 24 sacks. On Saturday, UVa allowed just 1 sack. The line’s play undoubtedly helped both quarterbacks, who had a running game to build off of in this one – Virginia rolled up 248 rushing yards. Kevin Parks led the way with 115 rushing yards, which included an icing on the cake touchdown run of 31 yards late in the game. Perry Jones added 67 rushing yards and 46 receiving yards as well.

“Those guys came out and fought hard all day. Me and Mike, we both had plenty of time in the pocket throughout the entire day,” Sims said about the O-Line on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “My hat’s off to those guys. They came out and they battled up front all day long against a very good defensive front.”

The Cavaliers’ next task is to prove that Saturday’s showing is more than just a post-bye week aberration in what had been shaping up as a lackluster 2012 season. The focus for now shifts to Miami as the Hoos return to Charlottesville for back-to-back home games on the schedule.

“A bye week always helps. Last year, we played Georgia Tech after our bye week and we put a great game plan together and this year we put a great game plan together again and we got a W, a much-needed W,” Rocco said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “We’re excited. We’re going to celebrate this one, but our goal is to win the month of November so that’s what we’re going to do. … We’re going to be the underdogs from here on out so it’s exciting to just play free and without any anxiety. We’re going to go attack every play and whatever happens happens.”

Final Stats