First of all let's start with how great that game was. In what, let's face it, most of us thought was going to be a throttling by the number 12 team in the country and our arch-nemesis former head coach the Hoos played a darn near perfect game. Yes we had an extra week to prepare, yes Georgia Tech is now 5-9 when the team they are playing had a bye the week before to study their offense, yes Jacob Hodges and Jim Reid know the spread option backwards and forwards and helped studying, and YES it is helpful that most of your coaching staff worked under that three four defense. BUT. NO WAY anyone saw this coming. Not a performance like this. I thought it was going to take an offense explosion for us to win based on the inconsistency and lack of discipline that the defense has been showing this season, but aside from that drive to start the 3rd quarter and the one in the middle of the second where GT decided that they wanted to shove the ball down our throats the defense played a PERFECT game. Holding GT to a scoreless first quarter, first time all season, and holding them to only 296 rushing yards, also a season low, is an incredible performance, one that should not go unnoticed not just by UVA fans, but by the rest of college football. It was a great win. And I hope at least some of you got on the field. I know I sure did.
But let's get into the bigger picture of what this means for the program and what we learned:
It really doesn't matter who the Quarterback is:
This is a bold statement so bear with me. This offense is not and should not be based on Quarterback play. What we learned yesterday is that the offensive line and ground attack is more than capable of taking the football, giving it to any of our three studs in the backfield, and shoving the ball right down your throat. To quote one of my favorite sports talk guys from home and former Redskin great Doc Walker, that game at the end became a "Manhood Issue" which we certainly won. You don't think all those big boys were extra motivated by shoving the ball right down their old coaches throat? I certainly do. Watching those last 6 minutes tick off the clock as they ran a perfect drive was beautiful to watch. We have the line to do this to EVERY team we play the rest of the way. Does there need to be some semblance of a passing game to keep our opponents from putting 11 in the box every play? Of course. But does that mean we need one of these guys to blossom into Joe Montana to win. Absolutely not. Pick one, get them in a rhythm, get them confident, and get them to master the turn-around-and-hand-it-to-stud play and the season and future will be much brighter. I understand that we promised David Watford playing time. But you need to read a the situation. Because after 6 games and a lot of head scratching I am finally on board with Michael Rocco.
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On a side note about the offensive line while I was working the South Lot Shuttle with fellow Wahooze reader Andrew McCampbell there was a little kid asking for autographs. Oday Aboushi not only signed the kids program but talked to him for a while and I'm pretty sure made his day.
Enough sappy stuff let's move on.
This defense, when focused, can be pretty stout:
Who saw this coming? After watching Steve Greer release Tight Ends on seam routes with no safties in sight for the last 3 games did anyone think we had the discipline to shut this offense down? I sure didn't. But man was I wrong. While I don't think this makes us elite, or even great for that matter, I do think this allows us to be confident that our defense can shut people down. I think this game demonstrates the kind of team we should be which is running and defense, as opposed to the team we have been trying to be all season. The defense looked mean and forced turnovers, including another pick from Nicholson. The horses may not all be there quite yet but this should give you confidence in the coaching.
Speaking of the horses.
I cannot explain how big this was for recruiting:
But I'll give it a shot. First off this was the biggest recruiting day of the year. By far. UTS could barely handle them all. All but 8 of the commits from the 2012 class were here. (I counted when they ran by me while they stormed the field, and yes I can recognize our recruits by their faces already, what do you do with your free time?) More importantly Nate Staub (#33 right) and Kyle Fuller, both of whom are 2 of our last remaining targets of 2012, we there and on the field too. Talk about the game to come to! Especially for those two, Staub a fullback and Fuller an offensive lineman. If that doesn't show what this program can become I don't know what will. Kwontie Moore, who is by far my favorite recruit, ran right past me screaming "More to come next year baby!" Oh my god was that great to hear. You think Greyson Lambert, who is from Georgia and might be our savior at QB, isn't excited and now even more firm in his decision? This is so huge for recruiting that it's impossible to ignore.
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It wasn't just the 2012 kids there either. Top 2013 RB target Taquan Mizzell out of Bayside was at the game along with Ocean Lakes QB Corwin Cutler. Not to be outdone 2014 Monster DE Andrew Brown (left) from Indian River, as well as Jamil Kamara were also in attendance. This is the kind of game that with all these players at, and more importantly at TOGETHER, that builds up the program. I'll reference that Miami article I wrote and say that these are the kind of games the build up a tradition. An expectation that we all want to go to UVA to be a part of that. Coach London is building that up and wins like this can only help. Can you imagine if we can win that game on the 26th of November...
On a side note I also spotted the 2014 basketball recruiting class sitting together int he Stith brothers and Devon Hall, who came with his brother, and UVA football commit, Mark to the game.
I'll close with this photo and say that we all need to embrace the magnitude wins like this can have on this program in it's rebuilding effort as well as this season going forward. This game was not only great to watch, but very telling as far as blueprints for success going forward this season. Big win, no HUGE win, for the Hoos all around. Let's keep it up vs. NC State next weekend!
WAHOOWA BABY!
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