Who called that pass? Three passes in a row? Coaches sneak in a few aerials during Elliott's run parade

By Jerry Ratcliffe

After running the ball 30 times in the first half and attempting only 3 passes en route to a 17-0 lead over visiting NC State, Virginia coach Tony Elliott couldn’t believe what he was hearing on his headset to start the third quarter.

Pass, pass, pass.

What?

Was Elliott’s headgear on the wrong channel? Had he intercepted the signals from another game somewhere? As the legendary Vince Lombardi used to scream from the Green Bay Packers sideline: “What the hell is going on out there?”

“I’ll tell the truth,” Elliott said with a Chesire-cat-mouse-chomping grin. “They kind of snuck that on me.”

Elliott was pacing up and down the sideline, getting his team fired up for the second half and dealing with special teams. His offensive staff had asked him about maybe starting off the second half with a flea flicker, a suggestion met with less than enthusiasm by the head coach.

“I was like, ‘we were running the ball pretty good,’ but I said alright, just make sure it’s safe and make sure we’ve got some outlets,” Elliott said begrudgingly.

“They hit that one (a flea flicker from Beau Pribula to wideout Ty’Lyric Coleman for 20 yards), and then Des (offensive coordinator Des Kitchings) called another one. I was like, all right. And then he called another one and I was like, all right. I was about to say, OK Des, run the ball the next play, but then (Da’Shawn Martin) scores on that third straight pass.”

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The Pribula-to-Martin pass covered 47 yards and perhaps shut up critics who said Pribula couldn’t throw the deep ball, as UVA expanded its lead to 24-0 to open the half and eventually stretched it to a 34-8 final.

Up until that flurry of passing activity, Virginia’s offense looked like something out of Woody Hayes’ old Ohio State playbook: three yards and a cloud of dust. Hayes’ mantra about throwing the ball was, only three things could happen and two of ‘em were bad.

Elliott’s staff went back to the run and bulldozed NC State’s defensive front the rest of the half as the Cavaliers drove railroad stakes down the Wolfpack’s collective throats.

For the record, UVA ran the ball 57 times (258 yards) compared to going airborne only 11 times in a complete domination of State in what was predicted to be a close game.

Virginia did exactly what we expected, it ran the ball all day long, alternating five running backs behind the “AARP Bunch,” the nation’s most experienced offensive line, which features two seventh-year starters, two sixth-year starters and a fifth year. Who let that guy in? Better check his Social Security card.

UVA had its way with State’s defense, controlling the line of scrimmage, controlling the pace and most importantly, controlling the clock. The Cavaliers dominated the time of possession — 38 minutes and 3 seconds to State’s 21:57.

The game plan was brilliant. Didn’t matter that the Wolfpack boasted one of the nation’s most dangerous quarterbacks in CJ Bailey. He can’t hurt you if he stays on the sideline. Bailey finished the day with his lowest production in 23 collegiate starts, held under 100 yards passing (89) for the first time in his career.

Meanwhile, Pribula added significantly to Virginia’s offensive output. Quicker than a hiccup, Pribula rushed 15 times for 110 yards and was an effective passer – 9 of 11 for 155 more and two TDs.

Granted, as much as Elliott wanted to run the ball, he felt 15 times by his QB was a little much.

“Don’t want to make a living like that,” Elliott said.

“I’ll do whatever I’ve got to do,” was Pribula’s comeback.

As dominant as Virginia was with its ground-and-pound strategy, Elliott wasn’t yet convinced that it’s a running game that can domineer the rest of his opponents this season. Back in Charlotte at the ACC Kickoff in July, the coach said he didn’t want to just elevate UVA’s running attack, he wanted it to dominate.

Well, that’s off to a pretty good start, but Elliott wants more.

“Now, it’s just one performance,” Elliott reminded. “I think to be dominant, you kind of have to be consistent week in and week out. It’s a good place to start and obviously the quarterback helped, too. It all starts with the big guys up front, and it was good to see them working together.

“Hopefully it’s the floor. They kind of set the floor, and if that’s the case, then you know we’ll answer that question at the end of the season. It’s one game against a very good opponent, so I like where we started, but I’m not ready to say that’s who we are yet. That’s who we desire to be.”

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