Remember how in the movie “Men in Black” Tommy Lee Jones used a little machine to erase people’s memories of certain events? Well it is almost as if he decided to wipe the entire month of October off Virginia football players’ minds Saturday, because they decided to play the same inexcusable and pathetic brand of football that they played throughout the month of September.
Don’t be fooled by the 28-17 final score, because if you, like a number of other people on Grounds, weren’t able to watch a Virginia game for the sixth time this year because it was on ESPNU, you missed one the most atrocious first halves of football Virginia has ever played.
“We created a script for ourselves here tonight that, as it played out, was going to make it very difficult for us to win the game,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “Between the penalties and the turnovers, we fed the supply line of Wake Forest points.”
Boy did Virginia ever do so in the first half. After Virginia’s first drive — which naturally resulted in a three and out for the Cavaliers — Virginia running back Keith Payne committed a personal foul on the Wake Forest punt return that set the Demon Deacons up right near midfield. On the ensuing third-and-8, however, Kevin Crawford was called for offsides, which gave Wake Forest an easier opportunity convert the third down, which they did. Wake Forest junior quarterback Riley Skinner hooked up with junior tight end Ben Wooster on a 2-yard pass on third-and-goal that not only put Virginia in a 7-0 hole but also marked the fifth straight game that the opponent scored on its first offensive drive.
The next two Virginia drives perfectly illustrated the penalties and turnovers Groh mentioned. On the first drive, not only did Virginia offensive lineman Eugene Monroe commit a false start, the once dependable senior running back Cedric Peerman coughed the ball up and Wake Forest recovered the fumble. In the subsequent Virginia drive, Monroe — you guessed it — committed another false start penalty. Additionally, even though the Cavaliers received an early Christmas present when the punt bounced off of Wake Forest’s Kevin Harris and Virginia’s Chase Minnifield, Marc Verica proceeded to throw an interception when he was hit by Wake Forest senior linebacker Aaron Curry right as he was about to throw it, and junior defensive tackle Boo Robinson came down with it.
“Mentally, we were a little off,” junior offensive lineman Will Barker said. “Especially in the beginning [of the game].”
The supply line of points continued as Skinner on a third-and-15 threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Devon Brown. What made the play even more frustrating was that Virginia safety Byron Glaspy completely misjudged the pass and fell down, a play that symbolized the efforts of the Cavaliers.
“It seems like the ball just carried further than I anticipated,” Glaspy said about the play.
The second quarter saw much of the same from the Cavaliers. Even though Robert Randolph hit a field goal to make the score 14-3, Wake Forest proceeded on a 15-play, 71-yard touchdown drive aided by — and this is a recurring theme — a pass interference penalty by safety Corey Mosley on a third-and-goal. On Virginia’s next offensive drive, adding to the supply line of Wake Forest points, Verica threw a pass on third down that went off the hands of Kevin Ogletree and into Demon Deacon cornerback Kevin Patterson’s, who returned it 53 yards for a touchdown to put Wake Forest up 28-3.
“Clearly, what has to stop is the interceptions,” Groh said. “We’ve come down to North Carolina twice and probably turned the ball over 10 times in two games. That’s why we’re going home unhappy.”
Of course, to top it off, in the third quarter when Virginia had a first-and-goal at the Wake Forest 1, the following sequence happens: Peerman is stuffed for a loss of 1 yard, Peerman is stuffed for no gain, Verica fakes handoff runs to the right for a loss of 4 yards and then, instead of throwing the ball in the end zone on fourth down, Verica throws left to Peerman at least 5 yards outside the end zone and loses 3 yards. I’m sorry, but that sequence was absolutely pathetic to watch. If you can’t punch the ball in from a first-and-goal at the 1, you don’t deserve to play big boy football. Virginia did score two touchdowns late, but all I needed to see of the Cavaliers occurred in the first three quarters. I wish I had done like one of the other journalists at the game and fallen asleep midway through the second quarter in the pressbox, because it was that bad.
Now Virginia is back to square one. The Cavaliers have two games left. They could win both — yes, I believe they can beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg — but they could easily lose both — and lose them badly. Virginia needs to decide which team to show up as. If the Cavaliers decide to show up like the team from October, they will run around on defense, make clutch plays on offense and find a way to steal these two games. If they decide to play like the team from October, however, not only will they embarrassingly find themselves out of a bowl game, but the question has to be raised: Does Al Groh deserve to remain as Virginia’s coach? We’ll see.
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