Last year's game against the Duke football team ended in a shocking 24-17 loss for Virginia. The Blue Devils scored on a trick play to tie the game with six seconds left and went on to beat the Cavaliers in overtime. Tomorrow, the Cavs will head to Duke knowing they have to avenge that loss.
This will be one of the days the returning Cavaliers have been waiting for since their freak defeat last year. The Cavs (1-1) hope to take both that frustration and the lessons they learned last season and apply them to tomorrow's game, converting anger to a win.
Quarterback Dan Ellis threw a costly interception on Virginia's lone overtime possession in last year's loss, so he is especially anxious to get even.
"Last year I wasn't the guy that was supposed to lose the game for us," Ellis said. "I pretty much did. I didn't play well. Looking back, that was probably one of the turning points of the season."
Jerton Evans agreed with Ellis: "I want to win really bad this week. For one, it's a road game. And two, Duke beat us on a fluke play last year. We're ready to redeem ourselves big time."
Retribution seems to be a common theme for the football team this year. Even coach George Welsh's attitude seems to reflect that. The Blue Devils (0-2) lost 38-0 to visiting East Carolina in their season opener and fell 38-5 at Northwestern last week, but Welsh professed concern nonetheless.
"They play harder against us," Welsh said. "They don't play like that against some other teams. When they play us they're focused and they do a great job."
The Cavs also will have to contend with Duke's passing game. The sputtering Devils have thrown for just 226 yards in their first two games, but they are not likely to abandon their four-wideout attack just yet. And that may be trouble for the Cavaliers, since they gave up 447 passing yards against Brigham Young in their season opener.
Evans said that aspect of the Blue Devil offense should not be a problem for the Virginia secondary.
"We can stop a passing team," Evans said. "It's just a matter of us really playing four quarters."
Welsh also sees a potential flaw in Duke's passing game that the Cavaliers hope to exploit.
"They're trying to throw the ball, but then their pass protection hasn't been as good," Welsh said. "Their timing hasn't been good."
But Ellis pointed out that Duke's many struggles thus far might not preclude them from stealing a win tomorrow.
"It was a similar situation last year," Ellis said. "They weren't playing well. They hadn't won a game yet. Then they came up here and played a great game against us. Just because they haven't been playing well yet doesn't mean they won't play outstanding against us"
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