While most of the student body was enjoying a crazy game of poker at the O.A.R. concert Saturday, I headed down to Winston-Salem with some friends to watch what turned out to be a crazy game of football. A number of things about the Virginia-Wake Forest game stuck out in my mind, but still, I came home with one striking conclusion:
Matt Schaub is pretty darn good.
To be honest, I never was a Schaub fan. During last year's quarterback controversy, I often bemoaned Coach Al Groh's decisions to play the pocket-passer instead of the flashier and more dramatic Bryson Spinner. Similarly, I let out a sigh this year when Groh put Schaub in during the fourth quarter of the Colorado State game. But looking back on it now, I cannot be happier that Schaub got a second chance the following week.
For the last seven halves of football, Schaub has torched opposing defenses, throwing 14 touchdowns during that period and only two interceptions. He has looked confident in the pocket and on the run. He is unquestionably the team's offensive leader, and should get more opportunities to throw the ball.
Against Wake Forest, conservative play calling in the first half hamstrung Schaub's ability to keep Virginia in the game. While the Demon Deacons racked up yards and touchdowns, the Cavaliers were quietly running and screen passing into Wake Forest tackles. Although it's surely important to have a balanced offensive attack, Virginia just was not getting it done on the ground.
The coaches seemed to realize the worsening situation late in the first half. At that point, they gave their quarterback the green light to throw the ball, and throw the ball he did. After completing a bullet pass to Heath Miller late in the second quarter, Schaub aired it out, throwing a bomb to his roommate, Ryan Saywer, who caught it for a touchdown.
In the second half, Schaub made the Wake defensive backs look like they never played football before. He hit almost every pass he threw, whether from the pocket or on the run. At times he scrambled like John Elway and found the open man like Dan Marino. And leading the team to victory late in the game showed a knack to pull off the comeback that could help him excel at any level, just ask Joe Montana. Frankly speaking, Matt Schaub is a different quarterback now than he was last year. And quite honestly, he's as good as Virginia has seen since Aaron Brooks.
After Virginia pulled within 10 late in the third quarter, the Cavalier defense came up with their first convincing stop of the game. Virginia received good field position but squandered it away with a screen pass and a halfback pass that led to negative yardage. After the defense stonewalled the Demon Deacons a second time, one of my friends shouted, "Now put Schaub in the game and let him throw the [expletive] ball."
I turned to him and asked if he ever thought he would hear those words coming out of his mouth. He said he didn't, and I agreed I never thought I would actually utter those words either.
Throughout the fourth quarter, I waited for No. 7 to throw the crucial interception he threw against Colorado State in August and against North Carolina last season. But he didn't. Instead, he coolly marched his squad down the field and took the wind out of the Wake Forest team and the 2,000 Wake fans that actually showed up. He brought Virginia back from 17 points down -- he stood up to the test.
In the future, Virginia will undoubtedly have more close games that they win in the fourth quarter, and I hope the coaching staff does the right thing and listens to my traveling companion: "Put Schaub in the game and let him throw the [expletive] ball."
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