ATLANTA - As toy cows fell from the sky and "Eat More Tigurz" posters abounded, the Virginia football team entered its first bowl game in four years searching for a Chick-fil-A-sponsored fairy tale. A combination of special teams snafus and a heavy dose of Southeastern Conference speed, however, ended the Cavaliers' dream-like season with a nightmarish 43-24 loss to Auburn.
"Tough thing for our senior guys to go out on, [but] I'm very proud of the team and the players," coach Mike London said. "Right now this one stings a little bit because obviously you get in a game [like this and] you want to win a game like this. They played better than we did, [and] they made more plays than we did, so my hat goes off to them."
Virginia (8-5, 5-3 ACC) struck first when sophomore quarterback Michael Rocco fired a 27-yard touchdown to senior wideout Kris Burd, but the Cavaliers' next drive foreshadowed the miscues which would haunt them throughout the game.\nAuburn (8-5, 4-4 SEC) blocked senior Jimmy Howell's punt on the Cavaliers' own 15 and immediately capitalized on the field position with a touchdown.
Rocco reconnected with Burd again to reassume a seven-point lead, but Auburn answered quickly and never trailed again. The Tigers suspended their primary tailback Michael Dyer prior to the game, but junior running back Onterio McCalebb hardly looked like a backup when he carved through the Virginia defense, sprinted down the left sideline for 60 yards and then glided into the end zone untouched five plays later.
Auburn then successfully caught Virginia off-guard with an onside kick, and a weary Cavalier defense immediately let down for a big play from another backup player. Already missing Dyer from the backfield, Auburn lost starting sophomore quarterback Clint Moseley in the game's first quarter, but much like McCalleb, junior Barrett Trotter looked nothing like a second-string quarterback when he found junior wide receiver Emory Blake for 50 yards and set up another Tiger touchdown.
The Cavaliers tried and failed to create their own special teams edge when Auburn sniffed out a fake field goal attempt, and on the Tigers' ensuing possession, Trotter hit McCallebb for a 25-yard touchdown. The play capped a 10-minute stretch in which two ostensibly substitute players led the Tigers to three touchdowns and a 28-17 halftime lead. Despite outside speculation that Auburn's running game might suffer from Dyer's suspension, McCalebb ultimately finished with 162 all-purpose yards, two touchdowns and offensive player of the game honors.
"Looking at the tape not knowing anything about the guys, I thought McCalebb was the man, and I didn't find out until [later that Dyer] was the 1,200 yard guy - it certainly didn't look like that to us," defensive coordinator Jim Reid said. "We knew McCalebb was fast. What nobody talks about is he's tied with Blake as the leading receiver on their team."
Meanwhile, Virginia was less able to compensate for the absences of its own key playmakers. Senior and first-team All-ACC cornerback Chase Minnfield and junior linebacker Steve Greer, who leads the Cavaliers in tackles, both missed the Chick-fil-a Bowl with knee injuries, hampering a defense which already had its hands full with Auburn's athleticism. Despite the high stakes of a bowl, London decided both players' future careers outweighed any one game.
"I'm not looking for heroes," he said. "If he feels good about it and it's his body, then he'll play, but if he doesn't I don't want to risk further injury that would really cause a young man some harm. It's the game of football and you lose guys. It's tough that you lose those two guys, your leaders."
Auburn picked up where it left off to start the second half, finishing an 80-yard drive with a 22-yard rushing touchdown from freshman tailback Tre Mason. Virginia pulled to within two scores after redshirt freshman running back Kevin Parks pounded in a 1-yard run, but a final special teams breakdown squeezed any lingering life from Virginia. Punting from his own end zone, Howell tried to adjust to a rugby style punt, but the result was the same as in the first quarter - a blocked punt. The only difference this time was that freshman defensive lineman Angelo Blackson smacked the ball out of the end zone for a safety.
"Unfortunately we didn't execute like we needed to, particularly against this team - very fast and very athletic," London said. "As I said before, their five losses are to very, very good teams, and we couldn't afford to give the field position and issues like that up that we did to hang in there with them."
After that blunder, Virginia mustered little strength as Auburn tacked on two more field goals to send the Cavaliers' graduating class out with a 43-24 defeat. Burd finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns, but left in the fourth quarter with a collarbone injury and a bittersweet finish to his final season.
Still, Burd understands how much Virginia's presence in a bowl game means for a program which produced 3-9 and 4-8 seasons during his tenure.
"Our senior class definitely turned things around," Burd said. "We've been through the dog years and we kind of took it upon ourselves to turn things around, so hopefully some of the young guys will take that and run with it."
After the game, London entered the press conference hoarse and visibly choked up, but also adamant that despite a Chick-fil-A Bowl disappointment, his younger players would fulfill Burd's parting request.
"This program is up and coming; this program is going to be a very good program," London said. "We're going to attract the type of student-athletes and young men that this university can be proud of"
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