Anticlimactic is the best single word I can come up with to describe Saturday's game.
Of course there is both good and bad news about this -- namely that since fans didn't need to stay at Scott Stadium for the second half, they got a good two-hour head start on Saturday night's partying -- or homework. The bad news is that Virginia was outplayed statistically in the second half by a lousy Troy State team.
The score was 24-0, a shutout, and, no, Virginia did not give up over 500 yards of offense like it did against last year's uninspiring homecoming opponent, Akron. But Virginia's offense still looked impotent for most of the second half. Zero first downs in the third quarter and no points in the second half did not inspire confidence in the few fans that stayed through to the end of the fourth quarter.
Matt Schaub attributed the problems to poor focus and execution, but at least it's "something we can fix," he said.
The remarkable thing is the contrast between the first half, when it seemed that nothing could stop the Cavaliers, and the second half when the Trojans seemed to be at least on par with Virginia.
Of course some fans left because the game was getting boring, or some because the game was already over in their minds, and the empty seats were perhaps a reflection of Virginia's play on the field. At the onset of the game, while the sea of orange was out in full force, Virginia ran all over Troy State. But when the sea dwindled into a small lake so too did the Cavalier offense sputter.
This is certainly not intended to indict the fans for leaving early (how could anyone who sat through the second half blame them?), but rather just to point out the eerie correlation between fan behavior and Virginia football.
Three applause breaks stood out above the rest Saturday. First was during the thoroughly entertaining "Adventures of Cav Man". The second, a sarcastic round of applause when punter Tom Hagan kicked a 43-yard punt -- his second longest in four weeks. The next thing Cavalier fans were asking when Virginia lined up in punt formation was "who is Noah Greenbaum?" The third applause break came when running back Wali Lundy caught a pass in his first action since his injury two weeks ago against Clemson. Subsequently Lundy went on to lead his team down the field racking up 45 of 52 yards gained by the Cavaliers before Schaub connected with Ryan Sawyer for a touchdown.
Then, beginning at halftime and continuing throughout the second half, went the mass exodus of fans, making visible large silver gaps of bleachers in the student section. Simultaneously, large gaps opened up in the Virginia defense that allowed over 200 of Troy State's 314 yards in the second half.
But let us not dwell on the bad things to come out of this game because there were many positives.
Alvin Pearman had a career high of 138 yards, and became the first 100-yard rusher against Troy State this season. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, Troy State -- big deal, but the Trojans have played Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas State, who are all top tier teams known for running the ball.
Despite the disappointments of the game, such as Connor Hughes missing his first field goal of the season, thus snapping his streak of consecutive field goals one shy of the school record, Virginia took care of business Saturday, shutting out a team they were supposed to shut out, and really how different is Virginia's 24-0 score to No.8 Nebraska's 30-0 beat down of the same team? As coach Al Groh pointed out in the post-game press conference, after the four or so teams far ahead of the rest of college football, there are 35 teams -- including Virginia -- that are just about equal right behind them.
The Cavaliers just need to win out, like they did Saturday, to be one of those 35 who finish 9-3 instead of 6-6.
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