Fueled by its defense, the No. 21 University of Virginia football program overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat in-state Football Bowl Subdivision foe Old Dominion, 28-17, in Scott Stadium Saturday evening. The victory improves the Cavaliers’ 2019 record to 4-0, including a 2-0 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
In his postgame press conference, Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall noted that Old Dominion “came to the University of Virginia to win a football game.”
“Old Dominion showed up ready and hungry and eager to play, and it took us and our program much longer to reach that same state,” Mendenhall said.
Coming off a bye, Old Dominion (1-2) didn’t play like an almost 30-point underdog. Just the opposite in fact, as the Monarchs played a physical, confident brand of football, executing well early offensively and defensively. Virginia, meanwhile, started sluggishly, played sloppy, and found itself trailing, 17-0, with 10:32 remaining in the second quarter.
“We definitely came out electric. That was the whole game plan,” said Old Dominion quarterback Stone Smartt, who completed 9-of-11 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 18 yards and another score on his team’s first three drives of the game. “We put together a great first few drives, and just being able to have that momentum in a hostile environment like this, that was everything.”
After surrendering 17 straight points, Virginia came through with a much needed response by way of an 8-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Bryce Perkins. UVA’s first score of the game was set up by a big kickoff return by senior wide receiver Joe Reed, who sprinted 57 yards before being brought down at the ODU 33. Perkins completed three passes on the drive, which ended with his 8-yard scramble score on 4th-and-2.
UVA was not able to close the gap any further before halftime, although the offense had opportunities. Instead, the Cavaliers failed to convert a first down on either of its final two drives. The good news for Virginia was that its defense was finally starting to wake up. The Hoos defense forced back-to-back three-and-outs following the Perkins touchdown, and then held the Monarchs scoreless on the final first-half drive, which began at the Virginia 46 following a Perkins incompletion on 4th-and-2. ODU had 54 seconds with which to work but couldn’t muster any points against a locked-in Cavalier defense.
The UVA defense reached another level after halftime, holding the Monarchs to 46 yards total and zero points on seven second-half possessions. The Hoos even got a defensive score when linebacker Zane Zandier picked off Smartt’s attempted screen pass and rumbled 22 yards to the end zone. The interception return, which occurred on ODU’s first drive of the second half, drew the Hoos to within three points at 17-14.
Zandier and company made many big plays in the second half. The touchdown and a fourth quarter fourth-down stop at the Old Dominion proved to be the game changers.
Clinging to a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter, Old Dominion, which had blocked Brian Delaney’s game-tying field goal attempt on UVA’s previous drive, had 3rd-and-1 at its own 29. Coach Bobby Wilder’s team had had success converting short yardage earlier in the game with up-the-middle runs, so naturally the Monarchs went to the ground game on third down. Mandy Alonso and Matt Gahm combined to stop running back Kesean Strong on third down. Wilder elected not to punt, opting instead with a Smartt run to try and convert the first. Safety Joey Blount made the important stop for the Hoos, giving the offense possession at the Monarchs 29.
“We told the team coming into this, being four touchdown underdogs, that we were going for it,” Wilder said, discussing his decision to go for it on 4th-and-1 from his team’s 29 in the fourth quarter. “In the first half we go for it 4th-and-1. A great call by our offense. We hit [Matt] Geiger for a 47-yard touchdown to put us up 17-0. If we punt it there it would have put us up 10-0. We were aggressive and then up 17-14 with 10 minutes to go. We had fourth and less than a yard. I talked to Coach Scott about the call. We were going to jet sweep motion, which was causing them to wide the perimeter and run to the quarterback, and their deep tackle made a heck of a play. We came here to win and that is how we tried to play today.”
Given great field position for a second time, UVA’s offense rose to the occasion. Perkins connected with tight end Tanner Cowley over the middle for 22 yards. Running back Wayne Taulapapa took it from there, bulldozing his way up the gut for a 7-yard score. With 10:16 remaining in the game, the home team had its first lead of the game. Perkins connected with Reed for a 25-yard touchdown pass on Virginia’s next drive to secure the final margin, while the defense kept the Monarch offense scoreless.
“I think [the win] shows how tough and resilient this team is,” said Virginia outside linebacker Charles Snowden, who amassed 15 tackles including 3.5 tackles for loss. The 6’7” junior was responsible for two of Virginia’s six sacks, including a fourth-and-13 sack with 4:37 remaining in the game. “To battle back twice now early in the season, when it gets late in the season as we go through ACC play, if we get down early we can look back and say we’ve done it twice already this year no need to worry or stress or panic. We know that if we come back and play Virginia football we can win it.”
Asked if the excitement surrounding the Florida State game perhaps contributed to the team’s lackluster effort, especially the lack of rhythm on offense, Mendenhall said: “It has to be a contributor. I don’t have any other excuse, nor will I make any. It’s hard to be on edge every game for every opponent at the level you need to and certainly that’s not where we were today. I wish I could say that I saw it coming during the week – I didn’t. My job is to try and see it and fix it if we can do it before it happens. But luckily, enough players and enough of the team responded in-game to pull a win out. Coming back from 17 is not easy.”
The first-ever matchup between the two in-state programs was a battle, one that ODU led for the majority. Virginia’s offense was held to 244 total yards, including 175 yards passing and 69 yards rushing, and was 1-of-11 on third down conversions and 1-of-2 on fourth down. Perkins, who missed one play after being shaken up on UVA’s second-to-last drive of the game before returning to close out the win, was limited to 35 yards rushing. He took a beating but managed to come up with three touchdowns, good enough to pull the Cavaliers through.
Reed led Virginia in receiving with 40 yards on four catches and amassed 159 all-purpose yards on the night. He has surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for receiving yards in his career, becoming the 40th Cavalier to do so. Junior running back Lamont Atkins was second on the team in receiving yards with 34, all of which came on one play in the second half. Junior receiver Terrell Jana added three catches for 25 yards, while Tavares Kelly Jr., Hasise Dubois, and Billy Kemp IV chipped in with two catches apiece. Cowley’s lone catch was huge, setting up the go-ahead touchdown run by Taulapapa, who finished with 33 yards rushing on 11 carries.
“We thought that we would be able to move the ball consistently. We thought we would have similar offensive output as what we had in weeks one, two, and three. That’s what we thought would happen – and it didn’t, to Old Dominion’s credit,” said Mendenhall, whose offense played without Olusegun Oluwatimi as its starting center. Oluwatimi, who had started the previous three games at center, suffered an injury to his snapping hand against Florida State. He was replaced for most of the game by Tyler Fannin, who exited the game in the second half, forcing junior Dillon Reinkensmeyer into the role.
Once again it was the defense that took control of this game for the Hoos, who limited the Monarchs to 64 yards rushing on 44 attempts, an average of 1.5 yards per attempt. Strong had 39 yards on 13 carries, including a 14-yard scamper to convert a 3rd-and-11 in the third quarter. Smartt wound up with minus 11 yards rushing on 16 attempts and 206 yards passing.
Snowden led the defensive charge by establishing a game-high in tackles and sacks – his 3.5 tackles for loss were equaled by ODU’s Keion White, who has the makings of an NFL prospect at defensive end – but senior inside linebacker Jordan Mack also was impressive, totaling nine tackles (six solo) and a sack. Junior outside linebacker Matt Gahm added nine tackles, including one tackle for loss, as well.
Up next for Virginia is a matchup with No. 7 Notre Dame, which lost its first game of the season on Saturday, falling 23-17 at No. 3 Georgia. This will be the first time UVA has ever played the Fighting Irish in South Bend. Notre Dame will be the first ranked opponent the Cavaliers have faced this season.
– Box Score
– Highlights
– Bronco Mendenhall Postgame Press Conference
– Postgame Player Reaction
