Tell me that we scored three touchdowns in four red zone trips, logged a 21-3 advantage in points off of turnovers (and a 3-2 edge in turnovers forced), that we sacked Duke’s quarterbacks five times, that Matt Johns threw for a career-high 359 yards, that Olamide Zaccheaus both caught and threw for a touchdown, and that our opponent played as though they’d rather be anywhere but Scott Stadium and failed to play their better quarterback until the game appeared lost, and I would say that we probably won. Those things happened and we won, but as is typical of UVa football in 2015, it wasn’t really a win to be proud of.
The fourth quarter took the wind out of our collective sails. Steve Fairchild stopped being fun (see below) and instead force-fed us a bland gruel of short passes and runs that produced a mere two first downs in four possessions. The defense, meanwhile, surrendered big chunks of yardage to Duke’s Parker Boehne, who entered the game fearless and throws a really pretty deep ball. A lot of Duke’s early problems on offense stemmed from Thomas Sirk simply having a hard time hitting his receivers. An earlier turn to Boehne might have won them this game. I only say might have because Duke also would have needed to have shown some interest in participating in the game when our offense was on the field.
Speaking of Duke’s defense, the first half was tremendous fun. We produced 344 of our 502 yards of offense for the game in the first two periods, and from what CML said postgame (“I told Steve [Fairchild] just to call it and let’s go. There’s no holds barred on this. We’ve had those plays in the arsenal for a while, and sometimes you just have to call them”), it sounds as though they emptied the vault. I don’t know why they decided to wait for the penultimate game of their regime to have fun and break out the good stuff, but I guess that’s a moot point now and we should be glad that they broke it out at all. Scores came from weird places (T.J. Thorpe ran for a 26-yard TD, Olamide Zaccheaus threw a 15-yarder to Evan Butts and caught a 50-yard deep ball) and normal ones (Matt Johns threw for 344 yards and two TDs, Smoke both caught and rushed for one), and we were a productive three of four in red zone opportunities.
Johns’s game showed both his strengths (the ability to read defenses when given time and spread the ball around) and weaknesses (his wonky back foot footwork and limp arm that cause his longer passes to float — Zaccheaus practically had to stop and wait to bring in the deep one in the third), but overall again showed that he’s a serviceable college quarterback when he’s given time. It was nothing new, but a reminder that he’s not as good as the people who get caught up on the “gamer/grit” label think and not as bad as some others do. “OK” exists.
Zaccheaus, though, is a joy. At this point, I’m willing to watch him try anything that he would want to do on the field. I both enjoy watching him and get that buzz of anticipation when the ball heads his way. As joyless as these marches through football season have become, that’s saying something.
On D, highlights were Andrew Brown’s first sack, Micah Kiser coming up with 17 tackles, Darius Lattimore making another pick and being mostly pesky from the cornerback spot, and Wil Wahee (I think?) laying the wood on the fourth down pass breakup that clinched the win. I’m stoked for Brown, who has seen some sort of light come on (even if it’s dim) in recent weeks after finally being allowed to see the field.
Nic Conte averaged 52 yards per punt and damn near won this game for us by keeping Duke’s offense far away from the end zone. The rest of Larry Lewis’s charges weren’t quite as good. Duke’s DeVon Edwards ran a kick back for a touchdown, his third of the season, which makes you wonder why teams even give him a chance.
It was apparent tonight just how dated, corny, and boring the game presentation is at Scott these days. The pregame CavMan hype video is several seasons past its last spark of inspiration, the music played during timeouts is questionable for building a mood or excitement (or just doesn’t play at all), and the timeout presentations are mundane and uninteresting. When the stadium is full and loud, that stuff fades into the background, but on a night like this with thirtysomething thousand people on hand, it’s readily apparent.
Tech’s up next, pitting their bowl streak against our desire to be .500 in the ACC for the first time in four years. Riveting stuff.
