This weekend, the Virginia football team will face its first challenge from a ranked team since upsetting South Carolina in September. No. 19 Penn State will welcome the Cavaliers to Beaver Stadium at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. Both teams are hoping to become bowl eligible with another win.
Last year the Cavaliers defeated a Nittany Lion team that had stumbled out of bowl contention. This season, however, Penn State is riding on the powerful legs of senior halfback Larry Johnson, and the strong arm of sophomore quarterback Zack Mills. The Lions have played at a high level against top-tier opponents, racking up a 6-3 record, including two wins against ranked opponents.
"I think they've found their stride," Virginia coach Al Groh said of Penn State. "They're playing offense and defense the way they want to play them."
Virginia is coming fresh off a bye week during which Groh gave his team a full seven days without practice. He hoped to let his team recuperate from a long, hard season and help the team catch up on academics during the mid-term period.
After winning six games in a row, including five victories in which Virginia was either tied or behind at halftime, the Cavaliers began receiving votes in the national polls and earned a reputation as a second-half comeback wonder team.
The last time Virginia took the field, however, it was brought back down to earth, giving up 23 first-half points. The Cavaliers, in their usual first-half mode, were unable to score in the first 30 minutes as Kurt Smith missed a 23-yard field goal on their closest scoring opportunity.
The Cavaliers believe they have learned their lesson from Georgia Tech and will show more respect to Penn State and more resolve to play an entire game of football.
"They're a big-time team," Billy McMullen, senior wide receiver and team captain, said. "We've got to start off playing better in the first half."
This will be the second time this season that Virginia travels to an elite football school to take on a nationally ranked team -- in late August, the Cavaliers traveled to Tallahassee, Fla., where they suffered a lopsided defeat to ACC rival Florida State. Unfortunately for Virginia, the Penn State team resembles the Seminoles more than any other squad Virginia has faced.
"It's the biggest offensive line we've seen since Florida State," Groh said, referring to the game in which Virginia gave up 397 yards on the ground to the Seminoles.
Penn State's "ability to run the ball with their dynamic runner can impact the whole flow of the game," he said.
Johnson already has run for 1,221 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, while averaging over seven yards per carry.
Defensively, Virginia will have to try to shut down Johnson and Mills when Penn State runs the option play that has worked so well for them this season.
Offensively, the Cavaliers will have to put up points in the midst of not only the Penn State defense, but also a crowd of over 100,000 fans in the nation's second-largest stadium. But Groh is more concerned with how his team plays rather than their surroundings.
"That other business is just conversation," Groh said. "What happens between the white lines is all that matters."
The Cavaliers will need to take care of business between the white lines tomorrow if they want to make it to a bowl game, or hope to move into the nation's top 25.
Both of those tasks seem imposing, as Virginia's final four opponents are all ranked, but a win in State College tomorrow would be an excellent way to kick off the tough end to their season's schedule.
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