Behind four Marques Hagans touchdown passes, three of which came in the third quarter, Virginia soundly defeated Duke, 38-7, Saturday to win its inaugural ACC Coastal Division game. With the victory, the No. 19 Cavaliers improve to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in ACC play. Duke drops to 1-3 (0-2 ACC).
After a slow start, the Virginia offense exploded over a 15-and-a-half minute period to start the second half, accumulating 28 points. Virginia only scored 10 points in the first half against a Duke defense that played tough early. Oftentimes though, the Cavaliers were more hurt by themselves than by the Blue Devils' defensive effort.
The inability of Virginia's wide receivers to hold onto the ball early was only one example. On Virginia's first two possessions of the game, three different receivers dropped passes, effectively killing both drives. But the lack of focus extended beyond the receiving corps.
On Virginia's first drive after taking a 3-0 lead on a 32-yard Connor Hughes field goal with 4:26 remaining in the first quarter, fullback Jason Snelling coughed up a fumble at the Duke 28 yard line after catching a 14-yard pass from Hagans.
Later in the second quarter, junior cornerback Marcus Hamilton intercepted Duke quarterback Mike Schneider's pass at the Duke 38 yard line. It appeared that Hamilton returned the pick for a touchdown, but officials ruled he had stepped out of bounds at the 34. In addition, the Cavaliers picked up a 10-yard block in the back penalty on the return, moving the ball back to the 44 yard line. Four plays and nine yards later, Virginia was forced to attempt a 52 yard field goal, which Hughes missed wide left.
"Things weren't going the way we wanted to the first half," junior wideout Deyon Williams said. "Our biggest thing is to never flinch. Forget about the dropped passes, forget about the bad plays and just prove ourselves on the next play. We talked about everything at halftime and came out in the second half and made plays -- we didn't flinch."
Fortunately, the Virginia defense again was steady all day long, limiting Duke to only 215 total yards and forcing three interceptions. Junior linebacker Kai Parham, who recorded seven tackles, two for loss, was impressive in a third straight win for the Cavaliers. Parham also forced one fumble and pressured Duke quarterback Zach Asack, who took over for Schneider in the second quarter, into throwing his second interception of the game, again to Hamilton.
But the story of the day was Hagans and his magical right arm. Overall, he was only 13 of 21 for 174 yards, but the 28 points he registered on the scoreboard hold much more weight. Two of his four touchdown passes went to Williams, who is quickly becoming Hagans' primary target. Williams had four catches on the day.
Tight ends Tom Santi and freshman John Phillips were the recipients of the other two touchdowns, with Santi's 46-yard catch coming after three straight false start penalties. For Phillips, who is third on the depth chart, his first collegiate touchdown was even sweeter because of the circumstances. After catching Hagans' pass at the three yard line, Phillips turned the play into a touchdown by bulling his way over two Duke defenders to get into the end zone.
Senior running back Wali Lundy rushed for 30 yards on 10 attempts and caught three passes for 16 yards out of the backfield after returning from an ankle injury that sidelined him for the Syracuse game.
Although Virginia got the victory, it didn't come without a cost. Senior D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the anchor of a young offensive line, exited after twisting his knee with two minutes left in the first quarter. In addition, starting center Brian Barthelmes had ankle problems that relegated him to a stationary bike on the sideline for the majority of the second half.
"Each week is its own entity, and we'll have to deal with the circumstances," Groh said. "I know a lot of people don't buy that, but this team does, and I think that's the way the focus has to be on this year's team."
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