The early afternoon sun was not the only thing that was red-hot in Charlottesville Saturday, especially once the Virginia football team scorched Virginia Military Institute 48-7 in its final tune-up game before conference play.
For the second time in this young season, the Cavalier offense amassed more than 400 yards of total offense. The defense, meanwhile, stifled the Keydets' offensive, allowing a mere 179 total yards. The Virginia defense especially managed to contain VMI's ground game, allowing only 46 yards on 33 carries.
"There's something different about this team, something different about the way these guys like to play, about how they feel about themselves," coach Mike London said. "It's a new atmosphere that these guys have, and a new belief in themselves. If you have that, you have opportunities for guys to believe in themselves, believe in their teammates, things happen on the field for you."
The Cavaliers' first opportunity to demonstrate their new self-confidence came during the first two drives of the game. After quickly forcing a four and out on defense, senior quarterback Marc Verica led the Cavaliers out on the field to expose an overmatched VMI secondary. Verica connected with senior wide receiver Dontrelle Inman for a 14-yard gain before hitting him again three plays later for a touchdown. Inman used his speed and shifty footwork to find the end zone for the first time during his career and put his team up early in the first quarter.
VMI's offense found little success on its subsequent drive, but the Keydets caught a break when junior cornerback Chase Minnifield muffed a punt return. The fumble gave the Keydets excellent field position, but they were unable to capitalize on the opportunity. Sophomore place kicker Jeff Sexton's 30-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right, and the Cavaliers remained ahead by a touchdown.
VMI was able to find the endzone, however, on its next offensive possession. Redshirt junior quarterback Cameron Jones completed two long passes to get the ball to the Virginia two-yard line. From there, Jones rolled to his left on third down and connected with his wide-open tight end, redshirt sophomore Robbie White, for the equalizing score.
It did not take long for the Cavaliers to regain the lead, however, as senior tailback Raynard Horne returned the ensuing kick-off 87 yards for a touchdown. Horne's return marked the first time that a Cavalier had scored off a kick-off return since the 2004 season.
"We have been practicing to hit the hole and everyone hold their blocks and that's what took place," Horne said. "It was a total team effort. It looked wide-open and that's because of my teammates and how good of a job they did."
The Cavaliers continued their strong team effort as they put together three scoring drives in the second quarter alone. Verica effectively spread the ball around downfield and managed to hook up with his receivers two more times in the end zone. Junior wide receiver Kris Burd nabbed one of Verica's passes, ran upfield and dove into across the goal line for the Cavaliers' third touchdown. Inman, meanwhile, scored his second touchdown at the 9:07 mark. With the catch, Inman becamethe first Cavalier to have two touchdown receptions in a single game since 2007.
Junior place kicker Robert Randolph kicked a 33-yard field goal in the final minute of the half to increase the Virginia lead to 24. Once play resumed, Randolph added three more points for the Cavaliers by driving the ball through the uprights on a 44-yard attempt.
Following that scoring drive, redshirt freshman Ross Metheny and freshman Michael Rocco replaced Verica under center. London wanted to get some real game experience for both quarterbacks and hoped to see which of the two men would be the go-to backup for Verica for the remainder of the season.
Rocco finished the game 4-for-6 with one touchdown and one interception. He seemed poised in the pocket and demonstrated a relatively strong arm, especially on his 17-yard touchdown toss during the fourth quarter. Rocco located sophomore tight end Colter Phillips, who was wide-open in the right corner of the end zone with 4:37 remaining in the game.
Metheny, meanwhile, went 4-for-5 for 53 yards and one touchdown. His touchdown pass came in the waning seconds of the third quarter when he found junior wide receiver Jared Green cutting across the middle of the field.
Green admirably stepped up and filled the void left by injured sophomore Tim Smith, who might have to remain sidelined for the remainder of the season because of an ankle injury. Green recorded four passes for 63 yards on the day - two career highs for the junior.
"Basically, it's the next-man-up mentality," Green said. "Whenever someone goes down or even if someone's not going down, you just get your name called and you just got to do what you got to do."
Minnifield also seemed to have bought into this next-man-up mentality. Minnifield, who had to be a leader in the absence of teammate Ras-I Dowling in the first two games, recorded two interceptions in Saturday's victory. The first interception ended a potentially dangerous VMI drive, and the second came on the Keydets' subsequent series. Minnifield made an extremely athletic play by tipping the ball to himself and managing to nab the ball before going out of bounds.
Despite the success on both sides of the ball, the Cavaliers did make mistakes, putting the ball on the ground four times and committing five penalties for 45 yards.
But until the team returns to the practice field in preparation for next week's matchup against Florida State, London said the Cavaliers would enjoy the feeling of success.
"I'm very happy for the team to get a victory, put some points on the board and get some turnovers," London said. "We will celebrate this for a little, but it is always short-lived because the next opponent is a very good team. We are looking forward to the challenge"
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