Virginia 16, Richmond 0

Stories

• UVa defense stout before ex-aide
• Lalich questions persist

Press Box blog

• Cavs beat Richmond, 16-0
• UVa holds on
• UVa scores
• Third-quarter stats
• Halftime update
• UVa-Richmond pregame

Photo by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor (5) runs down the field and away from Furman's Brandon Williams during the first half Saturday. Taylor was in on the majority of offensive plays for the Hokies.

Virginia Tech 24, Furman 7

Stories

• Game highlights
• Hokies labor for win
• Ground assault revived
• Aaron McFarling: Decision sound; Taylor needed

Photo gallery

• See more images from the Tech-Furman game

Multimedia

• Prep for the game with Hokies fans at the Let's Go Hokies pep rally in Roanoke

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- One year ago, Mike London would have been delighted with Virginia's defensive performance against Richmond.

On Saturday, he could only admire it.

London, the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator for the past two seasons, was on the losing end as UVa blanked his first Spiders' team 16-0 at Scott Stadium.

"I think he was proud of what he left behind," UVa linebacker Clint Sintim said, "but I know he was wishing for a different outcome."

Virginia struggled offensively for most of the afternoon and nursed a 3-0 lead until late in the fourth quarter, when Mikell Simpson finally gave the Cavaliers some breathing room on a 1-yard touchdown run with 7:25 remaining.

Richmond (1-1) subsequently drove to Virginia's 5-yard line, but an end zone interception by redshirt freshman Chase Minniefield ended the threat.

Vic Hall ended the scoring with a 60-yard interception return with 2:08 left.

"We saw this as a significant challenge," said UVa coach Al Groh, whose troops were coming off a 52-7 home loss to Southern California in their season opener.

"There were quite a few people in the county who saw us as the underdog."

Groh did not produce a list of names, but the Spiders are ranked third in Division I-AA and returned 16 starters from a team that won 11 games in 2007.

UVa outgained Richmond 295-194, but the Spiders did not lack for chances.

Richmond had eight possessions on which it got to UVa's 40 or deeper, including two that resulted in 29-yard field-goal tries, but the Cavaliers would not break.

Virginia blocked one of Andrew Howard's field-goal attempts and deflected the other, but there was no cause for rejoicing until Minniefield's interception with 4:10 left.

The Cavaliers led 10-0 at the time, but Richmond had responded with its best drive of the day, marching from its 26 to the Virginia 5, where it had second-and-goal.

Richmond quarterback Eric Ward appeared headed for the end zone until he was met at the 2 by UVa linebacker Jon Copper, whose hit caused Ward to fumble.

The ball rolled into the end zone, where it was recovered by the Spiders' Jordan Mitchell for what would have been a touchdown if not for a flag behind the play.

An illegal procedure penalty nullified the Spiders' apparent score, but UVa wasn't home safely. Richmond was sent back to the 10 for a repeat of second down, but the Cavaliers caught a break.

Ward was shaken up on Copper's hit and required medical attention, which meant he had to leave the game. He was replaced for one play by back-up Will Healey, whose second-and-goal pass hit the upright.

When Ward returned for third down, he was flushed out of the pocket and was victimized by Minniefield, whose interception took a field goal out of the equation.

"Two things you have to be able to do are run the ball in the fourth quarter and rush the passer," Groh said.

The Cavaliers had six sacks, including 1 ¹₂ by redshirt freshman Matt Conrath, and 10 tackles for loss. How well they were able to run the ball in the fourth quarter is open to debate.

The touchdown that made it 10-0 followed a 21-yard Richmond punt that gave Virginia possession at its 46.

Cedric Peerman opened the drive with a 9-yard run and Simpson added a 9-yard run to the Richmond 7, but it took five more rushing attempts before UVa could reach the end zone.

Virginia has based its 2008 promotional efforts on the slogan, "Power of Orange," but it was more like an orange power outage on a day that UVa recognized its 1989 team, one of the school's all-time offensive juggernauts.

Peerman ran for 17 yards on UVa's first offensive play and added a second 17-yard run later in the drive. He injured a hip with 11 minutes remaining in the first quarter and played sparingly the rest of the day. He finished with 10 carries for 60 yards.

"Every time he takes the field, you get that type of tough performance," Groh said. "He took a very substantial hit early in the game, but he will never lay the flag down easily."

The first drive summed up Virginia's day. A pass to Kevin Ogletree gave the Cavaliers a first-and-goal at the Richmond 1, but Simpson lost yardage on back-to-back running plays before Peter Lalich threw an incompletion.

Simpson, who had four carries for minus yardage on the first drive alone, finished with 23 carries for 36 yards. Lalich was 21-of-39 for 204 yards but was intercepted twice.

On the first, Jordan Shoop picked off a fourth-and-2 pass at the Spiders' 13 and returned it 63 yards before he was tackled by UVa wide receiver Cary Koch. A touchdown there would have given Richmond tremendous momentum going into halftime.

"If you're competitive and you want to win games, then somewhere along the line, you have to make your chances come to fruition," London said. "If the spider has eight legs, I think we shot ourselves all eight times."