“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
That mantra, coined by legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi, encapsulates the mindset that the Virginia football team will try to embrace after a disappointing loss to Ball State. After losing two straight games, the Cavaliers find themselves in a position similar to the one they were in last year five games into the season.
That team never bounced back from the 56-20 beating at the hands of Georgia Tech and slid to a six-game losing streak. This time around, the team hopes the lessons they learned from that run will help the team from falling into a downward spiral.
“When we went on a losing streak last year, guys were down, we never got back up,” sophomore defensive end Eli Harold said. “We were loafing, we didn’t have any passion, practices were dead, lifting was dead. [Coach Evan Marcus] did a great job, he talked to us on Sunday and kind of got our spirits back up. I think everyone knows what we have to do to prevent that from happening.”
Much of what cost the Cavaliers the game this weekend was preventable, as the team was charged with an uncharacteristic 13 penalties that gifted Ball State 93 total yards. Most troublesome of all was that many of those penalties were on third down, allowing Ball State to sustain scoring drives that would have otherwise forced them to punt. Heading into the game, the Cavaliers led the nation in forcing 3-and-outs with 8.5 per game. The penalties nullified that strength.
“Regardless if it’s believed it should have been called or not, it’s a penalty, and penalties cause you to lose,” coach Mike London said. “So we’ll address that at our practices in manners that I think are befitting for everyone to understand that we can’t have those types of things. And then we move forward and we move on.”
Penalties like the ones the Cavaliers committed Saturday are usually indicative of a team’s inexperience and youth. But credit has to be given to the game planning of Ball State, which took advantage of this youth by employing a fast-paced offense and hard counts meant to challenge the defensive acumen of the young Virginia team.
“Being in a stance for so long, waiting for the quarterback to call his cadence, you get a little tired and you mentally break down,” Harold said. “That’s where it all started. … I know me personally, I was frustrated being in my stance for 15 seconds.”
With only nine seniors on the roster, the Cavaliers are a young team by FBS standards.
Fortunately, the assistant coaching trio of Tom O’Brien, Steve Fairchild and Jon Tenuta have a combined more than 100 years of coaching experience under their belts and London has been vocal in his belief that the adversity the Cavaliers are facing is surmountable. The conviction of the coaching staff has been a foundation for the Virginia team to build upon.
“Coach London is doing a very good job holding himself together,” Harold said. “He believes in the staff, we all believe in the staff. The game plan is there, we just have to execute.”
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