ATLANTA — The Cavaliers are one resilient team. Coming into the game as 14-point underdogs, Virginia upset No. 21 Georgia Tech 24-17 Saturday, giving Virginia its first victory against a ranked opponent on the road since traveling to Clemson in 2001. In addition, thanks to Virginia Tech losing to Florida State, the Cavaliers are in sole possession of first place in the ACC Coastal Division.
“Anything less from [the staff, offense, defense and special teams] would have made it hard [to win],” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “It was a real battle with that team.”
Things did not look good for the Cavaliers early. After Virginia scored a field goal on its first drive, Georgia Tech ran its patent option offense to perfection on its first drive. Georgia Tech freshman A-Back Roddy Jones ran five times for 47 yards on that first drive, sophomore B-Back Jonathan Dwyer ran four times for 22 yards and sophomore quarterback Josh Nesbitt capped off an 11-play, 73-yard all-rushing drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Yellow Jackets up 7-3 in the first quarter.
“We scrambled around a lot [on defense],” Groh said. “One of the things about [Georgia Tech’s] offense is that it’s not just necessarily the plays themselves. It’s the multitude of blocking schemes with which each one of those plays can be put together.”
It only got worse for Virginia in the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Marc Verica threw an errant pass that Georgia Tech sophomore safety Morgan Burnett intercepted. During the Yellow Jackets’ next play, Nesbitt, taking advantage of all of the runs in the first drive, threw a play-action 42-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, and then Dwyer ran for 3 yards up the middle to the end zone to give Georgia Tech a 14-3 lead.
To Virginia’s credit, however, it responded in typical Cavalier fashion, as it converted on four third downs on the next drive, including a 14-yard touchdown pass from Verica to junior wide receiver Kevin Ogletree to pull the Cavaliers to within 4 at 14-10.
The touchdown play “was a great call at the time, obviously gutty, great throw and great execution,” Groh said. “Marc put it right out there.”
At halftime, Georgia Tech went into to locker room with the lead, but Virginia had the momentum.
Verica threw two interceptions in the first half, but in the second half, it was Georgia Tech’s turn to turn the ball over — and it did so at the most inopportune times. On the Yellow Jackets’ first drive of the second half, right as Georgia Tech got into Virginia territory, Nesbitt fumbled the center-quarterback exchange, and junior nose tackle Nate Collins pounced on the ball. Virginia then turned a turnover into a touchdown. After completing a third-down pass to senior wide receiver Cary Koch, Verica threw a 34-yard pass to senior wide receiver Maurice Covington, who held on to the pass and raced to the end zone to give the Cavaliers a 17-14 lead.
“Kevin and Mo [Covington] both really showed their great value to us and how we can do some things in the passing game when they are both on their game,” Groh said.
Later in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets squandered what seemed to be yet another potential touchdown-scoring drive when Nesbitt, at the Virginia 7 yard-line, had trouble with an option exchange with Dwyer and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Virginia junior linebacker Denzel Burrell.
“I tried to give it to [Dwyer] and it just popped out,” Nesbitt said. “It was a bad connection.”
After Georgia Tech converted a field goal to tie the game, senior running back Cedric Peerman — who had another strong game with 25 carries for 118 yards and one touchdown — played a critical part in Virginia’s go-ahead drive. Peerman had a big 31-yard run to get the Cavaliers to the Georgia Tech 14-yard line, and then on third-and-8 Peerman took a draw handoff and ran 8 yards and barely got the first down. The play was reviewed and upheld by the official, and on the next play, Peerman ran it in from 3 yards out to put the Cavaliers up 24-17.
“I felt like I had stayed in bounds,” Peerman said, recalling his touchdown run. “I knew I stretched the ball and hit the pylon, so I was hoping that it wasn’t a fumble.”
Georgia Tech’s last drive was not without drama, however. After a third-and-11 pass for Georgia Tech fell incomplete, Groh was called for sideline interference and Virginia was assessed a 5-yard penalty, which enabled the Yellow Jackets to convert a fourth-down pass from the subsequent play.
“I guess the official thought it was an important thing to do at that time of the game, to make his presence known,” Groh said about the penalty.
During the very next play, however, Virginia junior cornerback Vic Hall read Nesbitt’s pass perfectly and intercepted the ball to seal the deal and record the Cavaliers’ first road win of the year. Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson summed up what Virginia has been able to do in its last four victories accurately.
“You have to give [Virginia] credit,” Johnson said. “They came in here and did what they had to do to win the game.”
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