Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509180137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The fans and media had been wondering about it for weeks, even years. When Virginia gets a big lead, how come it can't hold onto it?
The Cavalier defense tried to ignore the public criticism, which wasn't hard.
But when the defenders heard it from their own coaches this week, it was a different matter. Constant nagging and criticism from their coaches, plus an early wake-up call in the form of a Georgia Tech touchdown, spurred the Virginia defense to its best performance of the season by far.
"Over the first three games we haven't had a good second half," said cornerback Ronde Barber, a Roanoke native. "The coaches emphasized that all week in practice and all during the pregame and all during the meal this morning."
The words did not go unnoticed. Up 21-7 at halftime, the Cavaliers held the Yellow Jackets to just two first downs on five third-quarter possessions. At the same time, Virginia ran off 21 straight points.
"This game, whenever we knocked them down, we knocked them down some more," defensive tackle Todd White said.
The final blow came from a guy that knows very little about second-half collapses. Anthony Poindexter, starting his first game in place of injured star linebacker Jamie Sharper, popped Tech's C.J. Williams and forced him to fumble.
The weary Jackets defense had just forced the Cavaliers to punt, but when Virginia linebacker James Farrior recovered, they had to come back out on the field.
Poindexter, originally recruited as a safety, said he hasn't forgotten about his old position. "I was a true linebacker today," he said, "but I'm really a free safety.''
Poindexter and true freshman Wali Rainer did their best to make sure there was no drop-off during Sharper's absence. The pair combined for 23 tackles, two for losses. Rainer also had an interception in the fourth quarter.
In addition, junior Greg Terry added seven stops in more action than he had seen in his career to date.
"They weren't chopped liver out there," said Virginia coach George Welsh.
They were replacing the team's top tackler, however, and they did arguably just as good a job. "When we lost Jamie, we were losing a big piece of the machine," White said. "A lot of the young guys filled in real well."
The defense lost two tackles, an All-ACC end and a linebacker, from last year's group that led the nation in run defense. It also lost line coach Larry New, who was standing on the opposite sideline with the Jackets Saturday.
Virginia held Williams to 56 yards rushing, almost 100 less than his ACC-leading average of 152.5. Georgia Tech's quarterbacks combined to complete just 13 of 31 passes.
Nevertheless, not everybody is ready to believe in the Cavaliers' defenders just yet. Yellow Jacket coach George O'Leary, himself a former defensive coordinator on the college and professional level, did not credit Virginia for causing his team's problems.
"I thought our running backs did poorly," O'Leary said. "We need to run harder, block harder and hit the hole and we didn't."
Williams ran for 151 yards in the Yellow Jackets' opener against Furman and 154 yards last week against Arizona's ``Desert Swarm'' defense. In doing so, he was the first runner to top 100 yards against Arizona in the last 36 games.
Apparently, the Cavaliers were not impressed.
"They hadn't played anybody," Barber said of the Yellow Jackets. "They hadn't played anybody with a run defense like ours.
"It's nice to get a lot of yards against teams like Furman and Arizona, but when they come and play a real team, we stop them."
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB