Cavs Hope Things Learned From Last Year’s Loss Will Help Saturday

Miami’s defense can keep its Turnover Chain, a gawdy piece of neck jewelry that is an instant award for any Hurricane defender who comes up with a fumble or interception.

Virginia isn’t into the gimmicks, said sophomore linebacker Charles Snowden.

“Each team has its own identity – [the chain] is theirs,” Snowden said. “It’s nice, it looks fun and flashy, but I don’t necessarily envy it because I know we have our identity and I’m more than happy with the way we look.”

What is Virginia’s identity?

“I think we’re just hard-nosed, disciplined football players who play as hard as they can. We try to show that as much as we can,” Snowden said. “We don’t always do that. Like we say, less drama, more work. Every man does their job. It’s not flashy, it’s just getting the job done.”

Certainly the Hurricanes thrive on creating turnovers, which in turn puts added pressure on opposing defenses to prevent Miami from capitalizing on the miscue via a touchdown or field goal. Those can be demoralizing.

It’s something Virginia’s coaching staff terms as “sudden change,” a dramatic turn of events that finds the defense having to quickly return to the field and perform.

That’s something the Cavaliers learned the hard way last season when they were up on the Hurricanes, 28-14 in the third quarter before turnovers and other mistakes allowed Miami back into the game, a game that Mark Richt’s squad eventually won by a 44-28 score.

UVa co-defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga said that the Cavaliers learned some things from that loss, things that perhaps can help them this Saturday night when 16th-ranked Miami comes to Scott Stadium.

“You go back and watch that game, we did some really good things early,” Poppinga said. “For probably three quarters we played some of our best football as a team.

“The thing that really killed us in that game was field position,” Poppinga added. “Go back and look at the turnovers and where we had them, a muffed punt where we had it, an onside kick that we should’ve had but didn’t get because we touched it a yard too soon. It was the fourth quarter where [Miami] really got some momentum.”

In fact, Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall said this week that watching Miami’s late surge to come back from a 27-7 deficit to rival Florida State last Saturday was reminiscent of his Cavaliers’ collapse at Miami Garden last November.

Poppinga concurred. He pointed out that Miami’s final two touchdowns of the game were also a field position issue.

“Our offense went for it on fourth down and [Miami] had the ball at the 50 one time and its last possession started on our 30,” Poppinga said. “It was a game that we really screwed up in a lot of ways with turnovers, mismanagement on special teams.

“It was field position … that’s what we learned from that game, we have to win the field position battle,” Poppinga explained. “We have to win the turnover battle, we have to be great in sudden change, and defensively we have to go out there and we have to hold them and keep points off the board as much as we can.”

Poppinga hinted that Virginia might throw a few curves at the Hurricanes’ offense, evaluating what the Cavaliers do best and sticking with that, along with doing some things that UVa has observed on film study that other teams have used against the ‘Canes.

He is somewhat satisfied that his defensive schemes have put some pressure on opposing quarterbacks with perhaps the exception of N.C. State’s Ryan Finley.

“It’s one game when we didn’t, N.C. State,” Poppinga admitted. “State blocked us up, so give them credit. But we got to the quarterback in the Louisville game, the Ohio game, and Richmond. In the Indiana game it really didn’t happen because that was a totally different game with the rain.”

Indiana also didn’t have to rely on its passing game much in that contest because the Hoosiers were running all over the Cavaliers with a strong ground attack.

The key in pressure is winning one-on-one battles, particularly on the edge.

UVa’s defense is expecting the return of linebacker Malcolm Cook and safety Brenton Nelson. In addition, former wide receiver and quarterback candidate De’Vante Cross has moved permanently to the free safety spot behind Joey Blount.

“That has gone really well,” Poppinga reported. “De’Vante stepped in and was making plays immediately. Obviously he’s going to have to get into the film room with (defensive coordinator) Nick Howell and the other DBs.

“For [Cross] it’s like week one of fall camp right now,” Poppinga said. “That’s where he’s at mentally. He’s super intelligent though and picking up on things really quick and he’s going to be able to step up and help us at some points this season in a major role.”

Cross played some at defensive back last season, along with a couple of other positions, but he’s ready now.

“He’s such a dynamic athlete,” Poppinga said. “He can do a lot of different things. If you turn on his high school film, you can see that. He was playing quarterback. We have a home for him now at DB. He’s there for good.I know Coach Howell is really excited about it, De’Vante is excited about it, and our defense is going to need him.”

Poppinga also hinted there might be some other position changes this weekend on the defensive side of the ball, and said there are some players ready to step up into stronger rolls.

“I think Nick Grant is ready to step up, we’ve got to get more out of Germaine Crowell,” the coach said.

Virginia’s defense will be challenged by relatively new starting quarterback N’Kosi Perry, who took over a couple of weeks ago for Malik Rosier, who wasn’t getting the job done as a passer.

Perry, a redshirt freshman, was just shy of brilliant in Miami’s comeback against FSU. He was more patient in the pocket and made some great throws in pressure situations.

The Hurricanes, who appear loaded at the skill positions, got some good news this week in that sophomore receiver/return specialist Jeff Thomas has been practicing this week after receiving a knee injury against the Seminoles.

Several Cavaliers said Monday that they view Saturday’s homecoming game in prime time as a huge opportunity against the Hurricanes.

Miami, a 7.5-point favorite, has struggled in Charlottesville since joining the ACC, particularly when that game has been played in November’s chilly temps. Saturday’s high is predicted in the low 60s, and Richt has been having his team practice indoors, away from the heat, in hopes of getting the ‘Canes somewhat acclimated to cooler weather.

While Virginia lost last year’s game, the returning players and the coaching staff gained confidence even in defeat.

“My biggest takeaway was that Miami won our division last year, and that we can play with anybody in this conference,” Snowden said. “Miami was a top 5 team at that time last year and so that really kind of opened our eyes that if we come in and play like we can play, we can play with anybody.”

The Hurricanes were actually ranked No. 2 nationally when Virginia played them on the road, so that had to give the Cavaliers a boost in confidence.

With a large crowd expected for Saturday night’s game, perhaps some of those intangibles might tip the scale in favor of the Wahoos to pull off an upset much like Pitt did last season when the Hurricanes came stumbling and bumbling into the Iron City.