In yesterday's weekly press conference, Virginia coach Al Groh shed some additional light on his actions and decision-making during the Cavaliers' final drive of the first half against Florida State.
Trailing 19-3, Virginia's offense orchestrated a 13-play, 74-yard drive to march down to the Seminole five before kicking a field goal. On that drive, Groh was seen conferring with the nearest side judge after Deyon Williams hauled in an eight-yard pass on the near sideline. As Groh explained, he sought to double check whether the official had ruled Williams in or out of bounds.
"I wanted to confirm with the official that he in fact didn't call the receiver out of bounds," Groh said. "The play ended with the receiver out of bounds. He called the receiver in bounds."
Because the play resulted in a first down, the call only cost Virginia the two or three seconds it took for Marques Hagans to snap the ball after the chains were reset.
But those few precious ticks of the clock may have hurt Virginia's chance to punch in a score. A few plays later, Hagans completed a pass to Alvin Pearman who was tackled at the FSU five for another Virginia first down, this time with 13 seconds remaining before halftime. Instead of using one of their two remaining timeouts, the Cavaliers sprinted to the line and ran a play -- a fade thrown incomplete to Williams near the left sideline -- and eight more seconds ticked off the clock.
"For the type of throw that it was, it seemed like a lot of time went off," Groh said. "I was hoping that we were going to get two off."
Groh said that he was holding onto his final timeout to send out the field goal unit in case the pass to Williams was somehow caught in play and short of the goal line. Virginia did, however, have two timeouts remaining, and it is unclear whether the Cavaliers were aware of that.
With just five seconds left, Groh chose to take the safe three points and sent out his field goal unit. Had there been just a few more seconds, Virginia could have taken another shot at the end zone.
The players deny that they are thinking too much about the particulars of the loss to FSU.
"The game took place Saturday," senior guard Elton Brown said. "It's Monday. We're looking forward to Duke."
News and Notes
Brown and Hagans both left Saturday night's game with injuries, but both are expected to start against Duke. ... Groh said that he was pleased with tight end Tom Santi's performance as a blocking back at FSU. With Snelling still out, Santi lined up in the backfield for a few plays to serve as a lead blocker. This modified fullback position is not new to Virginia and was played last year by Kase Luzar. ... Having recovered from a broken foot in training camp, tight end Jonathan Stupar played in his first collegiate game against Florida State. He caught one pass for 13 yards. ... Despite gaining just 20 yards on the ground against the Seminoles, Virginia remains the ACC leader in rushing offense with an average of 232.5 yards per game. ... In the Cavaliers' last 14 games against Duke, they have outscored the Blue Devils by a combined total of 444-168. Virginia has won 12 of those games. ... Saturday's game with Duke is set for a 1 p.m. kickoff and will not be televised. This is the third time this season Virginia will play a non-televised game.
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