ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609300142
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
VIRGINIA'S DEFENSE buries the Longhorns deep in their own territory in the first quarter to spark a 37-13 Cavaliers victory at Scott Stadium.
The north side of Scott Stadium's wet and worn football field looked as if it had been trodden upon by a team of draft horses dragging giant plows.
Actually, it was a team of Longhorns that had been planted into the bog on a rainy Saturday night.
That side of the field is where most of the Virginia-Texas game's first quarter took place. It was Longhorns territory, and the Cavaliers' defense made sure they stayed there. Texas appeared rooted in quicksand as it spun desperately to free itself. It couldn't have gotten out of that muddy end had it been pulled by a tractor.
The defense extracted three turnovers in the pivotal opening period, and the offense turned them into 21 points on the way to a 37-13 victory.
``I really think their goal was to shut us out,'' said John Mackovic, Texas' coach. ``I figured we'd score sooner or later. It turned out to be later than I thought.''
The Longhorns' first points didn't come until Phil Dawson kicked a second-quarter field goal after the Cavaliers had scored the game's first 24 points.
It was a night when the Virginia defense stopped the Longhorns' star tailback short of 100 yards for the first time this season, continued to stay among the national leaders in scoring defense and proceeded to start a Texas-sized quarterback controversy by forcing Mackovic to pull sore-armed record-setter James Brown in favor of Richard Walton. (The Longhorns' back-up threw for 180 yards in a failed comeback attempt.)
``Everybody said Texas would be our first test,'' said Virginia safety Anthony Poindexter, who had seven tackles and two of the Cavaliers' four interceptions. ``I think we were up to the challenge.''
On a night when the wet pigskin was as hard to hold as well, a wet pig, the Cavaliers forced five turnovers that led to 21 points. In four games, Virginia has extracted 14 turnovers and turned them into 76 points.
Four of those giveaways came from Brown, who in the game's first 17 minutes was intercepted three times and fumbled once when hit by James Farrior, who had a team-high 11 tackles.
``They took full advantage of every mistake we made,'' Mackovic said.
Even though Tiki Barber gained the most notoriety for his 121-yard, three-touchdown night, twin brother Ronde showed there's more than one Barber of C-ville by registering six tackles - two for losses - and picking off a pass.
``We knew they wanted to make the big plays early,'' said Ronde Barber. ``We said we were the show-stoppers.''
It was a devastating first half.
``But not flawless,'' said Virginia defensive tackle Todd White. ``We did a lot of good things, but in the third quarter we slacked off. When we've got a team on the ropes, we need to go for the jugular, for the kill.''
Mackovic thought that's what the Cavaliers did, judging by the number of injured Longhorns. Included among those was running back Ricky Williams, who was seeking his fourth consecutive 100-yard game but wound up with 44.
White said some Cavaliers were angered when they read Williams said he remembered nothing from last year's Virginia-Texas game, save for the large holes through which he ran.
``Now the only hole is his mouth,'' White said. ``He'll have a lot to remember from tonight.''
Then, remembering Williams left the game dazed by a tackle, White added: ``Maybe he'll remember by the time he's on the airplane.''
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. Virginia's Joe Rowe (farby CNBleft) and Stephen Phelan break up a pass thrown to Texas' Mike
Adams. The ball ended up in the hands of Ronde Barber (19) for an
interception.