WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- At halftime of Saturday's Virginia-Wake Forest football game, the Cavalier fans that made up a large portion of the Groves Stadium crowd had good reason to be concerned. The Demon Deacons (2-3, 0-2 ACC) ran over, under, around and through the Virginia defense, racking up 251 rushing yards in the first half alone en route to a 27-10 advantage. Virginia's bowl hopes, which had sprouted three weeks before with an upset victory over South Carolina, seemed to be growing slimmer by the minute.
Then Matt Schaub took over.
The junior quarterback, who as recently as a month ago was embroiled in a position battle with redshirt freshman Marques Hagans, threw for 200 yards and two touchdowns in the second half as the Cavaliers (3-2, 1-1) came back to defeat the Deacons, 38-34.
"They've got a lot to be proud of," Virginia Coach Al Groh said of his team's effort. "The offense had to trust the defense to get a stop. The defense had to trust the offense to make a score. I think we've got something going for us now."
As bright as the Virginia outlook is now, things looked much darker with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter Saturday. Deacons running back Ovie Mughelli had just bulldozed his way to a three-yard touchdown run, his second score of the game, to put the Deacons up 34-17.
But the Cavaliers picked that moment to begin their comeback, using some Schaub magic, a little bit of luck and some trickery to move the ball downfield. With the ball near midfield, Schaub threw a pass to freshman running back Jason Snelling, who fumbled the ball after being hit. Fortunately for the Cavaliers, sophomore center Zac Yarbrough recovered the ball at the Deacon 38.
On the next play, freshman running back Wali Lundy took a handoff and heaved the ball to freshman tight end Heath Miller. Miller batted the ball into the hands of junior wide receiver Ryan Sawyer, who raced into the end zone.
Sawyer's score was his second of the game and of his career, the first coming on a 33-yard pass from Schaub in the second quarter.
"I was talking about our receivers with our receiver coach the other day," Groh said. "He really thinks that if Ryan had a full season last year, he'd have been at this stage at the end of last season. He's really worked hard and really come on."
As impressive of a day as Sawyer had, the comeback still remained unfinished. The first Cavalier drive of the fourth quarter ended with a four-yard touchdown strike to Miller, cutting the deficit to three at 34-31.
A Deacons punt later, Virginia saw its chance to take the lead. Schaub drove the Cavaliers to the Wake Forest 13-yard line before giving way to Hagans, who needed only one play to run into the end zone for the final score of the game.
"Once I set my feet and looked downfield, I saw the offensive line and running backs setting their blocks up," Hagans said. "I just followed them to the end zone."
Wake Forest threatened to retake the lead in the waning moments of the game, driving to the Virginia 5-yard line on a fourth-down pass from quarterback James MacPherson to receiver Fabian Davis. But the play was called back after the officials ruled that the Deacons had only six men on the line of scrimmage. On the ensuing fourth-and-13 play, MacPherson was sacked by linebackers Darryl Blackstock and Merrill Robertson, sealing the win for the Cavaliers in a game that was not for the faint of heart.
"I didn't watch," Schaub said of the last play. "I just waited to hear our bench going crazy, and I knew that we'd stopped them"
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