By Jerry Ratcliffe
Virginia football regained some of its early-season mojo at Cal on Saturday when the Cavaliers got past the Golden Bears, 31-21.
By the end of the night, Tony Elliott’s team, standing at 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the ACC, was alone at the top of the conference standings, as previously unbeaten Georgia Tech was upset at NC State and Miami fell to SMU.
Sunday afternoon, UVA’s meteoric rise in the national polls continued as the Wahoos climbed from No. 15 to No. 12 in the Associated Press poll and No. 11 in the coaches poll with three regular-season games remaining.
Elliott had to be encouraged that his team showed signs of getting its offensive act together, shaking off the doldrums of its previous three games — all victories — in which the Cavaliers had to sweat out wins in the waning moments: 30-27 in overtime at Louisville; 22-20 on a game-ending safety to beat Washington State; and 17-16 at North Carolina when the “Chapel Bill’s” were stopped inches from the goal line on a potential game-winning, 2-point conversion try.
During that nail-biting, three-game stretch, Virginia’s offense averaged 264.7 yards and veteran quarterback Chandler Morris averaged 176 yards passing per game, completing well below his norm, 59.3 percent of his attempts.
The Cavaliers got well in Berkeley. Des Kitchings’ offense came alive, piling up 456 yards against the Bears. Morris was back to his old self, completing 24 of 36 pass attempts (67 percent) for 262 yards.
Meanwhile, John Rudzinski’s defense continued to improve and continued to make the big plays at critical moments. UVA held Cal to a season-low 263 yards and stonewalled the Bears’ running attack, giving up only a net 8 yards on the ground, which equates to 0.3 yards per rush. Adjusted for sack yardage, Cal still had only 37 rushing yards in the game.
Rud’s defense also had five sacks and two interceptions, the second one being a 35-yard pick-six by linebacker Kam Robinson to seal the deal with 34 seconds to play.
The big difference in UVA’s 8th win of the season and the previous three games was a fast start (scored on its first three possessions for a 17-7 halftime lead), its success on third-down conversions (10 of 19), but most importantly the ability to control the game through its running attack.
Virginia rushed 44 times for 214 yards (194 after sack adjustment) and three touchdowns. The Cavaliers’ domination on the line of scrimmage and ground game played a big role in the third-down conversions, which Cal coach Justin Wilcox pointed out as a major difference in the game, allowing UVA to run 80 plays to the Bears’ 57.
While Virginia only had a 3-point lead, 24-21, the final 12 minutes, until Robinson’s pick six, the game didn’t have quite the late drama that had sent Wahoo Nation’s collective blood pressure off the charts in recent weeks.
Rud’s defense forced Cal to punt its last two possessions prior to the pick-six.
Kitchings’ offense was in control the last five minutes with a methodical drive from UVA’s 19 down to the Cal 14 at the Two-Minute Warning. Facing a third-and-three, J’Mari Taylor was held to a yard and Elliott decided to go for it on fourth-and-two with 48 seconds to play.
Cal was out of timeouts, so even if Virginia was unsuccessful — and it was because the fourth-down pass to tight end Sage Ennis fell incomplete — the Bears would get the ball back, 86 yards away from paydirt and limited options to stop the clock.
Now, on the threshold of the nation’s Top 10, Elliott is faced with a completely different challenge. His team has gone from the hunter to the hunted, a vastly different scenario.
The Cavaliers have a major target on their backs for the remaining games against Wake, Duke and Virginia Tech.
Elliott must lean on his own experience at Clemson and lean on some of his influx of players from championship programs to help this Virginia team handle its success. It was wise that he imported players from Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Clemson and JMU that have been on highly successful teams and dealt with pressure situations, the glitz of the national spotlight.
“Man, we’re in November,” Elliott said after beating Cal. “This is really the championship phase of the season, and every man, every play is going to be critical in every aspect of the game.”
Hall of Famer George Welsh used to say at this time of year: “They remember November.”
It’s the time that good teams can rise to greatness or sink into oblivion.
Elliott knows a little something about handling success from his days in Death Valley when the Tigers ruled the ACC and wore the national crown a couple of times.
“They’ll listen,” Elliott said of his team. “So far, I’ve leaned a lot on just the many things that I observed and watched and listened and heard Coach (Dabo) Swinney say with the teams that I was part of. How do you create that mindset? Because that’s really what it is.
“You know, everyone’s call us the Cardiac Cavs, but really, it’s a mindset. These guys believe. They’re going to find a way to win.”
Elliott said he won’t talk much about the rankings and Charlotte or the College Football Playoffs this week. He won’t have to, because it’s going to be everywhere.
“I’m going to get ahead of it,” he said.
Virginia will be going underground to some extent, blocking out the world.
“Hey, cut your phone off. Quit talking to friends. Hey, cut your family off. That’s the hard part, but you gotta cut everybody off to be honest,” Elliott said. “The moment you start listening, then you’re distracted and you don’t put in the quality work that you need to be successful.”
It’s a completely different world than Virginia is accustomed to experiencing.
Ain’t it fun?
