Being a sports fan is never easy. As a Virginia Cavaliers football fan and Dallas Cowboys fan, the performance of these two teams was scarier than anything else I witnessed this Halloween weekend.
Virginia had a chance to strengthen its hold on the Coastal Division and definitely let a win slip through its grasp Saturday. To rehash the missed opportunities we have all heard about is painful and yet somewhat cathartic at the same time. In summary, the offense sputtered in the second half, and the defense couldn’t hold down the Miami offense forever. The result was all the more striking because Virginia had scored 17 points in the first half. The notion the Cavaliers wouldn’t even muster a single point for the rest of the game was laughable at halftime.
Plus, given Virginia’s penchant for pulling out the tight games, you felt like the Cavs would find a way to win. You wouldn’t have thought the defense — that defense that never cracks, that bends but doesn’t break — would allow the Miami Hurricanes to grind out a 95-yard game-tying drive. You wouldn’t have thought that Marc Verica would have gained another first down in Miami territory with less than a minute left in regulation to only fumble away a chance to win the game in the closing seconds. You wouldn’t have thought our most dependable player, Cedric Peerman, would put the nail in the coffin with his overtime fumble, a fumble that was the first ever of his career as a Cavalier. Ever. A black cat must have surely crossed the Cavaliers’ paths as they headed to the field for the second half.
And so the nightmare was complete and Virginia lost for the first time since late September. Things didn’t exactly improve for me Sunday. I wasn’t expecting Dallas to upset New York, but I also wasn’t expecting the Giants to annihilate the Cowboys, either. The Dallas offense was unwatchable and I did just that — I didn’t really watch much of the second half. I think at this point I would take Thaddeus Lewis and the Duke offense over Dallas’s offense with either Brad Johnson or Brooks Bollinger at the helm.
I hoped Johnson would keep the Cowboys afloat while Tony Romo healed. He has won a Super Bowl and is known for playing mistake-free football. Unfortunately, he hasn’t really done anything right for the Cowboys, showing his age and rust while becoming known more for not throwing a ball more than 20 yards downfield. I think if anything, Dallas’s last three games have shown how valuable of a player Romo is to his detractors. Though the Cowboys were struggling before his injury, since then Dallas has scored 14, 13 and 7 offensive points in each game, respectively.
So this is where I find myself. I have just experienced tough losses by both of my favorite football teams for one of the first times all year. At the beginning of the season, Dallas was winning and Virginia was horrible. Recently, Virginia was hot and Dallas was stinking. But now both of my teams are down. What’s in store for both of my teams for the rest of their 2008 seasons?
Well, for the Cavaliers, I stand by my earlier prediction I made in a column before the Georgia Tech game. I still feel like this team is capable of doing something special as the season nears its end. I’m not exactly sure what that something special is, but I think we are all happily surprised that Virginia is 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the ACC after how bad things looked after the Duke game. Seeing and hearing about how the players rallied around Peerman following his fumble is encouraging and shows the character I think this team possesses.
The Cavs next face Wake Forest on the road, and the Demon Deacons look like they might have turned their offense around — though it is hard to tell because they scored 33 points against Duke Saturday, and I’m not sure what to think of Duke anymore. Peerman will surely be looking to redeem himself after Saturday, and I expect Virginia to come out with fire in its eyes. Clemson comes to Charlottesville Nov. 22. The Tigers just picked up their first win under interim head coach Dabo Swinney in an important game against Boston College Saturday. The jury is still out on how Clemson looks to finish up its season, but Virginia is sure to be fired up for the last home game for the likes of Cavalier seniors Peerman and Clint Sintim. Of course, Virginia finishes up Thanksgiving weekend in Blacksburg, Va. against Virginia Tech in what could be the de facto Coastal Division championship for the teams for the second year in a row, depending on how both play leading up to that matchup.
Following a bye this week, Dallas is supposed to get Romo back for a huge game Nov. 16 at Washington. Going into FedEx Field is not the way you want to come back from an injury, but I expect Dallas to at least be bearable to watch once he returns. Dallas faces a brutal schedule from here out, with games against Pittsburgh, the Giants, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Home games against weaker opponents San Francisco and Seattle following the game against the Redskins are must-wins.
At this point, I like Virginia’s chances of winning one more game and becoming bowl-eligible better than the chances of Dallas making the playoffs. Though Virginia’s task has become suddenly more difficult after failing to reach the six-win, bowl-eligible position against Miami, Dallas will face lots of competition for the two playoff wild card spots and probably can’t afford to lose many more games. It is certainly possible a 10-6 record won’t be enough to get the job done.
I guess it is all the more fitting that my worst sports weekend this fall occurred Halloween weekend. I just hope Thanksgiving and Christmas will be happier occasions as the football season rolls on.
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