CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -The pressure is off for Virginia. Well, at least a little.
The Cavaliers put together a solid defensive effort and got just enough mistake-free offense to beat North Carolina on Saturday – and just like that they went from winless to unbeaten.
In the Atlantic Coast Conference, anyway.
For coach Al Groh, whose team’s 0-3 start raised speculation about his future at his alma mater, one of the positives about the victory over the Tar Heels was the message it sent to his team.
“The players have graphic examples just this season of how the result can be dramatically different as a result of” turnovers for and against, Groh said. “Do a real good job with it and you have a real good chance of a happy result. Don’t do such a good job with it and no matter how well you run your plays or run your coverages, you get the other result.”
Mary, TCU and Southern Mississippi.
everything is about what happens to the ball,” Groh said. “Yet we see on every level that the team that didn’t get any turnovers one week, gets five the next week and they win, or the team that didn’t turn it over turns it over four times the next week and they lose. Maybe they played the same game on offense and defense. It’s such a determinant that it almost trumps everything else that goes on with the game.”
Besides taking care of the ball, the Cavaliers were stingy when the Tar Heels had it. North Carolina, hungry to erase an embarrassing loss to Georgia Tech is its ACC opener the previous week and end a stretch of futility against Virginia, managed just 174 yards on offense.
North Carolina has lost 10 of its last 12 in the rivalry.
Virginia also enjoyed the re-emergence of tailback Mikell Simpson, who ran for 100 yards and the only touchdown of the game on 20 carries. Quarterback Jameel Sewell was 13 of 24 for 136 yards in the spread offense – modified after Virginia started the season so poorly.
Several new blitzing schemes were especially effective, Groh said, but the credit for the impact they had goes to the players that executed, not the coaches that drew them up.
t came time to make plays, they made the thing come alive. They took the plays off the drawing board and made it come alive.”
Before a bye week, Virginia had looked ready to end its season-opening skid at Southern Miss, holding a 17-point lead in the third quarter. But the Golden Eagles changed offensive schemes, went with a wildcat-like attack and rallied to demoralize the Cavaliers, 37-34.
Groh has preached repeatedly to his players about avoiding the air of negativity lingering in Charlottesville, and many spoke with confidence and excitement about getting started on ACC play at Chapel Hill, N.C., and a virtual new season to make some noise.
Now that they have a victory to enjoy, it’s back to the same frame of mind, Groh said.
“The players have come out with a positive energetic attitude to start each work week,” he said. “… I guess it is a ‘business as usual’ attitude, but it’s a business as usual attitude looking forward to what the challenges are and to what we have to do to get ready.”
The Cavaliers finish nonconference play at home against Indiana on Saturday.
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