Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Midnight arrives for Cinderella Cavs
Aaron McFarling
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Wearing faded eye black and a pinstriped suit, Chris Long stood in the hallway outside Virginia's locker room, trying to explain what went wrong.
In the end, he settled on acceptance.
"I mean, you can't stay out on that field forever," he said. "I'd stay out there for a couple more hours if I could, but I've got to get on the bus. That's the way life is. You've got to move on."
They all would have preferred to stay. Every last one of them. Seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen. Because if they could just stay out on that field a little longer, they'd find a way to strike back, wouldn't they?
After all, that's what they did all year. A bad loss to Wyoming in the season opener was followed by seven straight wins. Memories of an upset defeat at N.C. State were quickly erased by victories over Wake Forest and Miami.
They had an identity, these guys. They weren't the best team in the world, but they had a trump card they could go to time and again: In the tightest games, they never cracked.
They finally cracked Tuesday. Collectively. And it happened so quickly and so stunningly that it left even coach Al Groh searching for words to describe the disappointment after a two-touchdown lead dissolved in the final minutes, giving Texas Tech a 31-28 victory over the Cavaliers in a dramatic Gator Bowl.
"Frankly," Groh said, "we gave the thing away."
It happened in less than five minutes. It happened via offense, defense and special teams. A bad punt. A key fumble. An inability to slow the high-powered Texas Tech attack, something they'd done so well for the first three-plus quarters.
Yet until the last second was gone, these Cavaliers believed.
Why wouldn't they?
When Texas Tech running back Aaron Crawford barreled into the end zone with 3:10 remaining, tying the game at 28, Virginia center Jordy Lipsey turned to his teammates on the sidelines and declared the situation fitting.
"This is a great way to end it," he remembers telling them. "This is what this team is all about."
Only it wasn't. Not this time. Quarterback Jameel Sewell, who had led so many late-game drives, couldn't get a first down as he battled an injury to his knee. Virginia had to punt. The punt was short, sailing out of bounds. Texas Tech took over near midfield with 2:11 to go.
Still, UVa clung to that identity.
"Every team goes on runs," linebacker Antonio Appleby said. "They went on their run in the fourth quarter. I know we felt as a defense that at some point turn it around and stop them and slow them down."
He shook his head.
"But we didn't do that," he said.
Plenty of credit for that must go to the Red Raiders. After building their entire season on the passing game, and facing a two-minute situation where even the most conservative offenses would go to the air, they switched things up.
Four straight running plays got them to the UVa 33, then a 10-yard pass set them up in field-goal range.
But this 41-yarder would be missed, right? Like in that Wake Forest game, when one of the nation's best kickers misfired as time expired?
Not this time. Alex Trlica's kick went through the uprights with plenty of distance to spare, giving the Cavaliers a rare sensation -- the feeling that they didn't do quite enough.
"It was extremely frustrating," Lipsey said.
"We played the game so great ... but that happens. We've done that to teams, and teams have done that to us. It's part of football."
When it was over, we all kept asking the Cavaliers how they felt. But how would they know? We should have been asking North Carolina, or Middle Tennessee, or Connecticut, or Maryland, or Wake Forest. The victims of Virginia's clutch play throughout the 2007 season have at least had some time to think it over.
No team in college football -- ever -- won more games in a season by two points or fewer than these Cavaliers. They did it five times.
They wanted to do it six. They knew they could do it six.
If only they could stay on the field a little longer.
