Make no mistake, apathy is at an all-time high in the Mike London era. The 32,308 in attendance on Halloween drew jokes of fans dressing up as bleachers in the 61,500-seat stadium.
However on Saturday, Virginia blocked out the noise. One week after being outscored 13-0 in the second half, Virginia scored 17 unanswered in the third and fourth quarters to win 27-21 against Coastal Division rival Georgia Tech.
The famed goose guy could sing again, those dancing Santas didn’t need to leave for the North Pole at halftime, and even the kids who skipped trick-or-treating witnessed a good show. Chants of “U-V-A” replaced the “boo” birds that had become all too comfortable perched in the Scott Stadium bleachers.
Virginia even won the turnover battle, scoring a season-high 10 points off of its takeaways. Who knows, maybe the man in the papal garments actually did bless the team during a media timeout.
“We did some good things out there today, but we also did some things that didn't work to our best advantage,” London said. “Again, we found a way to win a tight game.”
Ironically enough, against a triple-option offense that averaged 284 rushing yards per contest, Virginia beat the Yellow Jackets at their own game. The Cavaliers finished with 233 yards on the ground to Georgia Tech’s 144. Perhaps, more impressive, was the time of possession advantage in favor of the Cavaliers — 36:43-23:17. After junior running back Albert Reid’s 24-yard touchdown, Virginia had a 31:45-15:00 edge in possession.
“I thought that was key,” London said.
For the third straight week, Virginia established a new team high for rushing yards. After picking up 159 yards against Syracuse and 205 against North Carolina, the Cavaliers rolled for 233 of its 408 total yards on the ground.
And like the Yellow Jacket offense, not one rusher stole the show. A four-headed Virginia attack easily sliced and diced through the Georgia Tech defense, finding cut back lanes at will.
Junior running back Taquan Mizzell, fresh off a career high 117 rushing yards against the Tar Heels, added 75 yards on 14 carries. Freshman Olamide Zaccheaus darted for 68 yards on just four rushes, including a long of 34-yards. Sophomore Daniel Hamm — in his first career start — and Reid combined for 74 yards and a touchdown a piece.
“The blocking was great — the vision was great,” Hamm said. “At times their defense would over play [and] really be stretching it — that creates great cutback lanes.”
Virginia’s defense shut down a Georgia Tech triple-option attack that averaged 35.1 points per game before its defeat in Charlottesville.
The Yellow Jackets’ 144 rushing yards were their second lowest output of the season. Georgia Tech, now losers of six of its last seven contests, was out of sync through much of the game.
Coach Paul Johnson’s offense fumbled the ball three times, losing two of them to Virginia. Freshman b-back Marcus Marshall, who averaged 8.9 yards per carry entering Saturday, was held to 22 yards on seven carries.
Virginia, who surrendered 268 yards to the Yellow Jackets a season ago, ditched its typical 4-3 alignment for a more-hybrid look. Junior safety Kelvin Rainey played outside linebacker, while junior Zack Bradshaw and sophomore Micah Kiser switched their respective linebacker positions to contain the edges.
The result was arguably Virginia’s stoutest performance of the season. In fact, Georgia Tech junior quarterback Justin Thomas, who attempted 31 passes, actually threw for more yards, 251, than the team rushed for — a rarity in the run-oriented, cut-blocking offense. It was the first time in the Johnson era the Yellow Jackets were forced to throw more than 30 times in a game.
“We just had to make sure that no one did more than they had to do,” senior defensive end Mike Moore said. “If you’ve got the quarterback, get the quarterback. If you’ve pitch man, get the pitch man. We just made sure everybody was supposed to do what they were supposed to do.”
After committing three penalties on their first possession, the Cavaliers were offensively efficient and disciplined, despite scoring one touchdown in three red zone attempts. And with the game on the line, the defense stopped Georgia Tech on all three fourth down attempts.
Sounds a lot like the old Yellow Jackets, doesn’t it?
All Virginia needed was those white and gold uniforms to complete the Georgia Tech costume. The Cavaliers might want to play on Halloween more often.
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