After a disappointing 56-14 loss to the Boise State Broncos under the bright lights, the bye week could not have come at a better time for the Virginia football team.
“We played poorly,” coach Mike London said. “You can’t have five turnovers. [There are] a lot of things we need to correct.”
However, junior quarterback Matt Johns knows his team will not throw in the towel.
“You can’t let one game define you,” Johns said. “We all believe in each other. This is a team effort.”
Fortunately, the bye week gave the Cavaliers an opportunity to regroup for its first conference matchup of the season, which takes place this weekend on the road against the Pittsburgh Panthers.
“With Saturday being a day off, a lot of our guys stayed back, stayed around and they practiced on their own,” London said. “They got together and they watched the Pitt game in our team meeting room, so no one was looking to get out of here.”
The Cavaliers (1-3) took their last matchup with the Panthers in a 24-19 win last year at Scott Stadium.
The Panthers team has changed since last year. Led by new coach Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh has gotten off to a hot start. This past weekend, the Panthers scored a convincing 17-13 victory over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
While London was busy getting his team ready to rebound, Narduzzi was trying to keep his team grounded. In a press conference earlier this week, Narduzzi spoke about how he kept his team focused on this week’s game.
“Just coaching them hard and, like I said, not looking in the rearview mirror but looking ahead to where we want to go and not what we did,” Narduzzi said. “Everybody up on campus is happy saying, ‘Nice job,’ and all of that bologna. But we can’t let that get to the kids because it can waterfall down the other way.”
Narduzzi has led his team to a 3-1 record despite losing his top two running backs — including star junior James Conner, who amassed 1,765 yards and 26 touchdowns last year — to injury. However, London doesn’t expect the Panther rushing attack to be any less fierce.
“They’re still a very physical team,” London said. “You look at their offensive line. They double team and try to push to the next level. So they’re still basically running their offense, their scheme, or the system of it. It’s a different cast of individuals that are carrying the ball for them.”
One improvement London knows his team has to make on the defense is tackling.
“We actually have to tackle better. That’s one of the things of defensive football,” London said.
The Cavaliers’ offensive line was also problematic against Boise State. At times during the game, the Broncos sent only three defensive linemen after Johns and were still able to apply pressure.
This performance by the offensive line will not hold up against a penetrative Pittsburgh defense. The Panthers are ninth in the nation in sacks, in addition to having the fourth-best rushing defense and fourth overall total defense. London knows the Cavaliers have a tough task ahead of them going up against Narduzzi’s defense.
“We’re going to have to do a good job of protecting, getting the ball out quickly and doing other things that can help you from that mindset,” London said.
In what will be a homecoming game for Pittsburgh, the strong crowd will look to carry the Panthers and make it even tougher for Virginia.
The Panthers will look to improve to 4-1 on the season, while the Cavaliers will try to bounce back from a blowout loss and get off to a good start for the conference season.
The game will kick off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field.
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