Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 2, 1994 TAG: 9401020165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Medium
Make that seven.
At half-filled Joe Robbie Stadium Saturday, there still was no answer to what happened to the Virginia team that started the season 6-1 with the only loss at Florida State.
Boston College, the only team that beat Notre Dame this season ripped UVa 31-13, leaving the Cavaliers impressed and depressed and likely obsessed.
"We weren't able to do everything we wanted to do," said BC coach Tom Coughlin.
The Big East team didn't need to do everything it wanted to do.
And the new year didn't bring anything the Cavaliers hadn't previously experienced in holiday visits to Florida.
The school that has won three straight and four of the past five NCAA soccer championships couldn't kick a field goal. However, even as a six-point underdog, the difference was much more than Kyle Kirkeide's two missed field-goal tries and a PAT attempt he clanged off an upright.
"I think we played pretty well for a half," said UVa coach George Welsh, whose fourth straight bowl defeat was too remindful of the late-season slide that had the Cavaliers needing an LSU loss to Arkansas just to make the Carquest.
Playing well for a half speaks of a lack of consistency. In losing four of its last five games in a 7-5 season - and the win was a lackluster survival of Wake Forest - Virginia's offense was predictable and often sluggish.
Against BC, Virginia's pitiful second-half offense produced 60 yards.
Considering the sophistication and protection of BC's pass offense and the talent of Carquest MVP Glenn Foley in the Eagles' pocket, UVa's defense played respectably for a half, too.
But because the Cavaliers couldn't convert when they had the ball - Virginia sustained only one long drive for a touchdown - the defense was left under too much pressure from Foley in an air attack that produced 391 yards.
The Eagles, finishing a 9-3 season with only a loss to West Virginia in the last 10 games, were expected to pass UVa silly. What bothered Welsh was the Cavaliers' inability to stop BC's running game. When the Eagles needed tough yards, they got them.
BC's 557 yards were only 3 shy of the ACC champion Seminoles' season-high for a UVa opponent. It was a different offense but almost as impressive.
The Cavaliers open next season at FSU. Their recent visits to the Sunshine State have been all wet, like part of Saturday's game.
The destination hasn't mattered. Trips to Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Miami haven't produced anything for the Cavaliers to write home about.
In three bowl thumpings since 1989 - the Citrus, Gator and Carquest - and this season's 40-14 loss at FSU - Virginia has allowed 2,232 yards and 150 points.
Is it little wonder Welsh vacations on Nantucket?
Is it little wonder no more than 4,000 Wahoos bought Carquest tickets?
"We're sick of ending our season like this," said Virginia defensive end Mike Frederick. "We are a better team than we were last year."
The record doesn't show it. UVa was 7-4 and didn't reach a bowl a year ago. This time, it backed into the Carquest and backed out, too, after a seventh straight season of at least seven victories.
Welsh and his staff will go recruiting this winter and tell prospects the Cavaliers have played in four bowls in the past five years.
What impatient Wahoos want to know, though, is when they're going to win one.
by CNB