Duke 31, Virginia 3
By Steve Yanda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 28, 2008
DURHAM, N.C., Sept. 27 -- Having already displayed nearly every sign of a dysfunctional football team, Virginia began repeating maladies during the third quarter of its most recent discouraging performance. Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis looked to his left and noticed -- for the second time in as many drives -- no Cavaliers marked up on wide receiver Eron Riley.
A quick snap, a flick of Lewis's wrist and a 30-yard Riley jaunt later, the Blue Devils owned a two-possession lead Virginia proved incapable of erasing.
Duke proceeded to win its first game against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in 26 tries Saturday, 31-3 over an out-willed, if not out-matched, Cavaliers squad in front of 25,527 spectators at Wallace Wade Stadium.
All afternoon, the Cavaliers alternated between wasting opportunities and having them taken away by a Duke team revitalized under first-year coach David Cutcliffe. With the back of his palms stabilizing his hips, Al Groh, Virginia's increasingly beleaguered coach, paused 10 seconds outside the Cavaliers' locker room after listening to the first postgame question.
It had something to do with the differences Groh noticed between the first half and the second, but the coach was uninterested. He stared off, as if assessing the trying first four weeks of his eighth season at the helm in Charlottesville.
There was the 45-point drubbing Southern California gave his team at home in the season opener. There was the dismissal of starting quarterback Peter Lalich, who was charged for an alcohol-related offense this summer and then violated the terms of his probation just before the start of the season. There was the 35-point loss at Connecticut two weeks ago.
And then there was this, a 28-point loss to a Duke squad that had not held a division I-A opponent without a touchdown since Nov. 18, 1989, when the Blue Devils beat North Carolina, 41-0. The Cavaliers failed to capitalize on early scoring opportunities, committed an array of untimely penalties, surrendered six turnovers and had a lack of focus that fittingly tied everything together.
On its first three offensive drives, Virginia began in Duke territory, yet scored just three points. The third drive ended when tailback Mikell Simpson was stopped an inch short of the first down marker on fourth and one from the Duke 20-yard line.
On the ensuing Duke drive, Lewis threw his second interception of the game to Virginia cornerback Ras-I Dowling. Lewis had not thrown an interception in 206 pass attempts entering Saturday's game. Virginia responded with a three and out.
"We definitely left a couple plays out there," Virginia wide receiver Kevin Ogletree said.
Though its offense went 0 for 7 on third-down conversions in the first half, Virginia's defense held Duke to 98 total yards. The score was 3-3 at halftime.
But after Dowling and linebacker Clint Sintim left the game because of cramps in the second half, Virginia's defense wavered and its offense continued on a downward spiral.
After the Cavaliers (1-3) failed to convert on their eighth and ninth third-down attempts, Duke (3-1) marched 55 yards in 10 plays and scored the first touchdown of the game on a 10-yard swing pass from Lewis to tailback Jay Hollingsworth.
Marc Verica threw an interception on the ensuing Virginia drive, the first of four he threw in the game.
"I think everyone seems to kind of have those days where things aren't going their way," Verica said. "We just have to go back, watch the film and take the positives from it."
The most startling image Verica and his teammates will find in the film room this week is that of Riley, standing unmarked at the line of scrimmage with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter. At that point, the Cavaliers trailed by only a touchdown. The game remained within reach.
But no Virginia defender could recover quickly enough to catch Riley before he darted 30 yards into the end zone.
"It was an unfortunate play," Groh said. "Certainly, it is very frustrating. The two players on that side of the field simply failed to see him."
When asked how that could possibly happen in the midst of a tight game, Groh responded without hesitation: "You tell me."
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