As the coin flipped in the air Saturday afternoon, Virginia quarterback and captain Matt Schaub remembered what his coach had told him before the game -- if the Cavaliers won the toss, they would elect to receive the ball to start the game.
"I wanted us to get the ball first, and have a first crack at it, develop a rhythm and set the tone for the game," Schaub said.
In his first game back since being sidelined with a shoulder injury in the season opener, Schaub led an eager Virginia team onto the field and excited the Cavalier fans in his anxiously-awaited return.
"I wanted to get our offense on the field early, and I wanted to get Matt in the game right away," coach Al Groh said.
In the first half, Schaub performed as if the injury had never occurred. Despite three interceptions in the second half, the reigning ACC Player of the Year finished the game with 326 yards and two touchdowns on 30 completions.
The return from a serious shoulder injury hid the fact that, aside from the first 11 plays of the Duke home opener, Schaub had not played in full-speed action since last December.
"I didn't want to miss too many games," Schaub said. "I probably accelerated my rehab."
In the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Cavalier fans saw the quarterback at his finest when he scrambled head-first to complete a two-point conversion, tying the game 21-21. After the play, amid a roaring crowd, the senior pumped his hands in the air as he pumped life into his team.
"I really didn't think about it," Schaub said. "I just wanted to get across the goal line, and get two points."
With the return of its star this weekend, Virginia accelerates toward the remainder of their schedule. The stretch run of the season rests on the strengthened right shoulder of one of the most successful quarterbacks in Cavalier football history.
Hughes comes through in the clutch
Entering Scott Stadium on Saturday morning for a significant ACC matchup against Wake Forest, Virginia kicker Connor Hughes could never have predicted how the game would end.
With five minutes remaining and the Demon Deacons still holding the lead, 24-21, Wake opened an opportunity for Virginia after an unsuccessful fourth-down conversion. Starting under the shadow of their own goalposts, the Cavaliers never looked back, storming up the field 57 yards to the Wake Forest 35-yard line. In a fourth-down situation with less than two minutes remaining, Virginia looked to its kicker to tie the game.
As more than 60,000 fans held their breath, Hughes kicked the football 53 yards through the yellow uprights to bring the game even, 24-24.
"I had confidence in myself," Hughes said. "And I knew that the coach wouldn't put me in unless he knew that I was going to make it."
After an interception from Virginia cornerback Jamaine Winborne in the closing minute of play, Hughes came out to make the game-winning field goal -- his fourth of the afternoon.
"It just felt like it was supposed to happen," Hughes said.
This season Hughes has made seven field goals in an equal number of chances to lead the ACC in field goal percentage. With Hughes, Virginia has found a successful kicker to rely on in the close games that will surely follow in the remainder of the season.
"It could definitely happen again," Hughes said of his game-winning kick. "I am looking forward to the opportunity. I love it when my team gives me a chance to really help them out."
As the Cavaliers begin the crucial ACC portion of their schedule, these close games and the towering kicks of their sophomore kicker could certainly determine the success of Virginia football in 2003.
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