Just as they have done all season long, the Cavaliers spent a nippy Saturday after noon in Boston fighting, scrapping, clobbering and pounding. They did things last year's squad barely sniffed at: responding to mistakes, refusing to surrender, contending until the last snap, giving a bowl-bound team a run for its money in a critical late season contest.
The 2010 Virginia football team has consistently come up short, however, in terms of two of the most important words in the maddeningly predictable dialect known as coach-speak: finish games.
For the third consecutive week, the Virginia sideline met its demise in the second half. In Durham two weeks ago, doom was impended by an improbable Duke first down on fourth-and-20 with about a minute left on the clock. Against Maryland last week, it was a late third quarter-pass that slipped through the hands of senior linebacker Darnell Carter. This week, it came in the form of a Dontrelle Inman catch that was seemingly made in the end zone but was ruled out of bounds, leading to a botched 25-yard field goal on the very next play.
Call it whatever you like - a lack of execution, poor coaching or just bad luck. In any case, it's clear that this group simply lacks the swagger to put teams away in tight games.
"It always seems to be something just a little bit different with a different guy that allows us to be inconsistent enough, not to be detailed enough, to win," Virginia defensive coordinator Jim Reid said after the game.
Reid's comments do not simply reflect a struggling team in the throes of a slump, but a young program trying to find its footing in the ceaselessly competitive world of college football. Virginia fans need to keep in mind that their team finished with a 8-16 record the past two seasons; that the administration cleaned house and inserted a brand new coaching staff; that the new staff heaped an entirely different approach to the game upon its players; and that impressionable young men cannot perfect it all overnight. Just as Rome wasn't built in a day, the success of this new-look Virginia football program won't be attained in a season.
No one understands this plain fact better than Mike London. The indefatigable Virginia coach has known from day one that his overhaul of the program would be an arduous undertaking filled with as much pain as triumph.
"I want to do so much," London said in August. "But, as in everything, what type of team we want to have, it's going to take time. It's a process. What type of program we want, it's going to take time. It's a process. We're still a work in progress ... But what I do see is improvement in all the areas that needs to be so that when the program is running and at an elite level again, then everything's going to fit."
It may not have been an easy ride thus far, but the Cavaliers have not lost sight of victory. London continues to preach the sound, holistic approach to football that he has stressed all along, and the benefits of his persistence will come with time. The first step - getting players to embrace his message - has already been achieved.
"The whole mentality is different," sophomore running back Perry Jones said after Saturday's loss. "Last year I almost dreaded the whole season, but there's something about coach London. Even if we lost every single game, I'm quite sure I would still want to go out and give it my all for my teammates."
London's next big step, recruiting good players, is in full swing. He made it clear in August that he would seek a big class in his first recruiting cycle and so far he has followed through on that promise. London has already received commitments from 22 players, three short of the maximum number of scholarships a coach is permitted to hand out in any one year. He has also delivered on his pledge to step up the school's pursuit of players from Virginia, a recruiting hot bed dominated by Virginia Tech in recent years. Thirteen of his 22 recruits hail from the commonwealth, compared to eight of Al Groh's 18 recruits last year. The talented crop includes two four-star recruits, cornerback/wideout Brandon Phelps and running back Clifton Richardson.
Against Boston College this past weekend, London and his team got a close-up look at a well-established football program engineered for success year in and year out. The Eagles will have reached 12 straight bowl games by season's end, their imposing defense ranks among the best in the country every year and their head coach is a steady winner. London - who spent four influential seasons roaming the Boston College sidelines - believes his program is destined to wear a similar reputation, and so do his players.
The Cavaliers' play on the field has been inconsistent all year, but the positive approach advocated outside the lines has remained remarkably consistent. Results on the scoreboard have been undesirable, but fans should admire the way Virginia coaches continue to push their guys to be good football players, good students and good citizens. Victories will come. Once the new coaching staff's practices are mastered, players will delight in their ability to - in coach-speak - finish games.
In the meantime, though, a win against Virginia Tech this weekend might yet make this season one of Virginia's best in years.
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