Colandrea was near perfect in Virginia’s dominating win

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Anthony Colandrea, surrounded by media in Virginia’s interview room following the Cavaliers’ dominant win over Richmond, was poised and confident, a little more subdued than he was a year ago as a bright-eyed freshman.

UVA’s quarterback picked up where he left off last season, nearly posting a 300-yard passing game (297), two touchdowns, 17 of 23 passing, generally better decision-making. He also rushed for a net 49 yards (he had minus-30 on two sacks), including his first rushing TD of his career.

One big difference: no interceptions. For the most part, a more mature Colandrea either threw the ball away or scrambled for yardage, choosing twice to slide on the rain-soaked Scott Stadium turf or to run out of bounds rather than taking on defenders as he did a year ago.

Yeah, he had a few plays he would like to have back, including holding onto the ball too long on one occasion, resulting in a 20-yard sack. A couple of times though, he extended plays with his mobility and at the last second, spotted an open receiver downfield.

“I felt like I played OK, played solid,” the blonde-headed QB said. “I missed some plays that I want to get back, but we’ve got next week. We have 12 games.”

Next week is a big one as Virginia goes on the road to face ACC foe Wake Forest, in what observers believe is a huge game if the Cavaliers want to live up to their own expectations this season. Getting off to a good start, a fast start, is what Tony Elliott wanted to see from his quarterback, and Colandrea delivered.

Virginia scored on its opening drive, a 35-yard TD pass from Colandrea to transfer wide receiver Trell Harris.The Cavaliers added a field goal on their next possession, converting a Richmond fumble into a 10-0 lead, which quickly expanded to 17-0 on a 57-yard catch-and-run by running back Jack Griese, as UVA dominated the first quarter.

What was impressive, other than the start, was the way Virginia responded after a two-hour storm delay. Xavier Brown took the kickoff back 37 yards, running back Kobe Pace added a 33-yard run and two plays later was in the end zone from 3 yards out for a 27-7 lead.

Now that was a huge contrast from last season’s opening game, when UVA was running visiting JMU off the field until a storm stopped the game. JMU roared back after the delay, while Virginia laid an egg and lost a one-point game. Elliott, admittedly with lessons learned from that setback, wasn’t going to allow a repeat and wisely handled things much differently and successfully.

Because of the delay, which came with 4:48 to go in the first half, the halftime was essentially reduced to a TV commercial, three-minute timeout. Still, Elliott was happy how Virginia won the “middle eight” — the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half — as UVA took a 27-7 halftime lead, then opened up the second half with a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ate up six-and-a-half minutes en route to a 34-7 lead.

Game, set, match.

Colandrea threw only two passes on that march, ran it four times and handed off to Pace and Brown for the rest of the yardage, eventually coming out of the game with about 12 minutes to play, turning things over to veteran Tony Muskett.

For the most part, Colandrea gave Wahoo fans what they came for — explosive plays, excitement, touchdowns and a win. Colandrea adds to the entertainment aspect and gives fans hope.

Explosive plays? There were many, seven of them in fact, and some were spectacular, such as the 47-yard, diving catch by Malachi Fields, who had his first career 100-yard game of his career.

There was also a 57-yard scoring pass on a screen play to Pace and a 43-yard run by Pace, part of UVA’s 200-yard ground game.

“We’ve got a lot of guys from the transfer portal and it shows on the field,” Colandrea said. “We’ve got running backs, we have receivers, we’ve got a lot of dudes. I can go make plays on the field, so it’s a huge part of our offense.”

Of all the eye-popping plays, none could top Colandrea’s pass to Fields, whose outstretched dive hauled in the pass in a SportsCenter play of the day-worthy catch.

Colandrea couldn’t really see it from half the football field away.

“I saw it later on a replay on the big screen (UVA’s new massive video board on The Hill) and that was one of the craziest catches I’ve ever seen,” Colandrea said. “He’s an absolute stud.

“A thousand percent (he thought Fields would haul in that ball), because he’s one of the best receivers I’ve ever been around because of the way he prepares and how he studies the game.”

All things considered, it was a great start to the season for Virginia and for Colandrea, leaving lots to build on as Elliott attempts to turn the Good Ship Wahoo into favorable winds.