Just when Virginia coach Al Groh began to lament his team's lack of takeaways this season, his Cavaliers responded, forcing three turnovers in Saturday's 24-0 shutout of Troy State.
"That's an area of focus for us and we got three today," Groh said. "I think we still have to do more, but that's progress in that area."
With the win, Virginia snapped its two-game losing streak, and improved its overall record to 5-3. The Cavaliers now stand two wins away from bowl eligibility. They'll need to keep forcing turnovers if they want to play in a bowl game.
"Those teams who take the ball away, those teams who don't give it away, those are critical factors when you go down the stretch run," Groh said.
Raymond Mann forced Virginia's first takeaway, sacking Trojan quarterback Aaron Leak and causing a fumble in the process. Defensive end Chris Canty, who also helped bring Leak down, fell on the ball at the Troy State 22-yard line. From there, the Cavaliers went five plays in a minute and a half and scored on an Alvin Pearman touchdown run.
Virginia converted a second turnover minutes later when Pearman scored on a five-yard run following an interception by cornerback Almondo Curry. Two turnovers, two touchdowns: Not bad for a team that only had seven takeaways before Saturday's game.
"That's a little better than what we've been doing," Groh said.
Curry's interception marked his fourth of the season. He currently leads the ACC in that category. His pick came when Leak, who had been chased out of the pocket, tried to hit a receiver down the sideline deep in Virginia territory.
"When a quarterback runs, we feel like he's running because we've got good coverage on the play," Curry said. "Our defensive line had pressure on the quarterback and he had only a split second to see the receivers."
Virginia added a touchdown and a field goal in the second quarter, but Pearman's first score was all the Cavaliers would have needed for the victory. The Cavaliers defense held Troy State to 314 yards, and played one of its most dominating games this season.
"We're real pleased with the way the defense played," Groh said. "We've been trying to get to this level here for a couple of seasons."
With the game in hand, the Cavaliers repeatedly turned away Troy State after the Trojans crossed into Virginia territory. Safety Jermaine Hardy intercepted a pass late in the fourth quarter to preserve the shutout. After the game, the Cavalier defenders took pride in their performance.
"Getting two [shutouts] in one season, that just shows what type of defense we want to be," Curry said.
Offensively, the game proved to be a tale of two halves. Virginia rode the legs of Pearman in the first half. In the second it looked like it was just trying to ride its lead into the locker room. Virginia went scoreless in the second half and made only one trip into Troy State territory.
"You've got to be able to dominate teams in the fourth quarter and we didn't do that," Pearman said.
Pearman finished with 138 rushing yards, the most for a Virginia player since 2001. Only 41 of those yards, however, came in the second half. Groh pointed to spotty blocking from his offensive linemen as a cause for the drop-off in Pearman's production.
"Those runners all run the same when there's no hole," Groh said. "I was expecting us today to have some better holes than we had."
Quarterback Matt Schaub went 23-for-36 for 241 yards and a touchdown. His 21-yard strike to Ryan Sawyer moved him within eight touchdown passes of Virginia all-time leader Shawn Moore. Schaub also threw an interception while trying to force a first-quarter pass to Heath Miller.
The Cavaliers will face a tougher test this Saturday at NC State. On top of forcing turnovers, they already know they'll have to play better if they want to tame the Wolfpack.
"Everyone has to step up across the board," Pearman said.
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