STATE COLLEGE, Pa.- The visiting locker room told the story after the Virginia football team's loss to Penn State Saturday. The Virginia players sat at their lockers without much movement as the trainers worked to set up their equipment. There was no shouting, no joking, nothing following the Cavaliers' 35-14 loss to the Nittany Lions.
No one who watched the game would have been surprised. Most observers would have been impressed that the Cavaliers were moving at all after a physical beating at the hands of Penn State.
The Cavaliers expected the power football game, Virginia coach Al Groh said. "Look at the size of them. Every one of them is 300 pounds or more except one of them. They've got a big, strong fullback. We knew this was going to be a power game on their part on both lines."
Nittany Lions star running back Larry Johnson ran wild for 188 yards on 31 carries, but that rushing attack was only one way in which the Nittany Lions physically took it to the Cavaliers, but it was perhaps the most important. Penn State's long drives wore away at the Virginia defense while keeping the Penn State defense rested on the sideline. When the Cavalier offense took the field, the Penn State defenders were rested and ready.
Groh and the Virginia coaching staff were prepared for the Penn State power game -- witness the Virginia game plan, which had been significantly altered from recent weeks. The Virginia passing game featured quick screens to the outside intended to get the ball away from the teeth of the Penn State defense. On the other side of the ball, Virginia used a scheme most recently employed by the New England Patriots featuring no down lineman, six linebackers and five defensive backs. The first time the Cavaliers ran that defense, it worked, but the second time Penn State quarterback Zack Mills threw a shovel pass to Johnson for a big gain on a play that was emblematic of the strong Nittany Lion game plan.
"We try to take the power out of it if we can't match power," Groh said. "That was the hand that we were dealt -- the other team had more power than we did. We tried to play in a particular fashion to negate that. But eventually, power is still out there on the field, and it's going to find a way of coming to the front."
Penn State's power came to the front defensively as well against a Virginia line that was missing a bruiser of its own in injured guard Elton Brown, who did not make the trip. Without their most punishing run blocker, the bite was missing from the Virginia offense, which totaled only 65 yards on the ground. Only freshman running back Wali Lundy and junior quarterback Matt Schaub had positive rushing totals on the day for the Cavaliers. The patchwork Virginia line also allowed four sacks, three to mammoth Penn State defensive end Michael Haynes.
"Unfortunately, our biggest pounder wasn't there today," Groh said. "That negated something."
On a day in which Virginia found itself victimized by a fake field goal and several long passes, it was still the powerful running game that did in the Cavaliers. The Lions' game plan was to punish the Cavaliers physically, and they were successful on all counts. The strength and conditioning of the Penn State players, particularly the lineman on both sides of the ball, provides a blueprint for success that Groh and his staff certainly will take a long look at for their own use as they continue to build the Virginia program.
Penn State "was physically more powerful than we were," Groh said. "I always say this is a game of power, and this team had more power."
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