ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611120012
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
THE TIGERS CAPITALIZE on turnovers and a stout running game.
Although its 29-game winning streak against Virginia ended with the turn of the decade, Clemson showed Saturday that it can still make the Cavaliers' life miserable.
Three UVa turnovers staked Clemson to an early lead, but the Tigers did something no team has done against the Cavaliers - run the football - to preserve a 24-16 victory at Scott Stadium.
``My initial reaction is, I can't remember getting beat like this in 1994 or '95 or in the other eight games this year,'' UVa coach George Welsh said. ``We got whipped, up front, on both sides of the ball.''
Never mind that the Cavaliers outgained Clemson 460-306 or that UVa quarterback Tim Sherman tied a school record by passing for 346 yards. When it came time to stop the Tigers, Virginia couldn't.
Clemson rushed for 155 yards in the fourth quarter, including a 54-yard touchdown run by Kelton Dunnican that put the Tigers ahead 24-9 with 6:47 remaining. Clemson had 263 rushing yards in the game.
``That's how much it was?'' Virginia defensive tackle Todd White said. ``I didn't think any team could do that against us. They were the good and we were the bad and the ugly.''
Only Florida State had rushed for 200 yards against the Cavaliers, who were ranked ninth in Division I-A in rushing defense before Saturday. Five UVa opponents had failed to rush for 100 yards and Clemson wasn't overpowering early.
Nevertheless, the Tigers led 17-6 at the half after scoring drives of 27, 1 and 0 yards. And, on the 27-yard touchdown drive, Clemson had only 12 yards of actual offense because Virginia was penalized for a personal foul.
One of two first-half touchdowns and a 35-yard Mike Padgett field goal resulted from Sherman fumbles. The other touchdown followed a fumble by UVa's Tiki Barber, who misjudged a punt that hit him in the facemask.
``If we'd played better, we could have overcome the turnovers,'' Welsh said. ``We had a chance, but we've got to stop them in the fourth quarter. We never stopped 'em, so how can we win?''
UVa, plagued by poor field position throughout the game, drove 88 yards before settling for Rafael Garcia's third field goal, a 30-yarder, with 8:08 remaining. That made it 17-9 and the Cavaliers had reason to be thinking positively.
That was before Dunnican, a fifth-year senior, burst through the left side of Virginia's defense for the first touchdown of his Clemson career. Dunnican was playing only because of an injury to regular Clemson fullback Emory Smith.
There was reason to believe Virginia was finished at that point but, on the Cavaliers' sixth penetration inside the Clemson 25-yard line, they finally scored a touchdown when Sherman scrambled 4 yards on fourth-and-goal with 3:00 left.
Welsh sent Garcia out for the extra-point kick and elected not to try for an onside kickoff, figuring that Virginia, with two timeouts at its disposal, would have enough time to mount one last drive if it could hold the Tigers.
As it turned out, the Cavaliers never got the ball again. Raymond Priester had a 23-yard run for a first down; then, Dunnican had back-to-back carries of 7 and 4 yards for a second first down that put the Tigers in position to kill the clock.
Dunnican, who entered Saturday's game with 160 yards for the season, finished with 123 yards on 13 carries. Priester added 122 yards on 20 carries and overshadowed Virginia's Barber, who failed to gain 100 yards for the first time this season.
``It always seemed like there was a free man waiting for me as soon as I got close to the secondary,'' said Barber, who had 82 yards on 25 attempts. ``They dared us to pass and we were pretty successful. We just couldn't get the ball into the end zone.''
Sherman was sacked eight times, including four times during a stretch of eight plays late in the first half. Also, once Virginia got inside the Clemson 25, Sherman and backup Aaron Brooks were 0-for-6 until the final drive.
``Yards don't count,'' said Welsh, whose Cavaliers had more yards Saturday than they did in a 62-14 victory over North Carolina State. ``It's touchdowns that count and field goals, but you can't keep kicking field goals and win, either.''
Virginia, hoping to reach the seven-win level for the 10th straight year, dropped to 6-3 overall and 4-3 in the ACC. Clemson (6-3, 5-2) won its fourth game in a row despite entering the game as a 17-point underdog.
The last time Virginia had been favored by more than 17 points and lost was in 1990, when 22-point underdog Maryland defeated the Cavaliers 35-30. Clemson never had been a 17-point underdog in a series that now stands 32-3-1 in favor of the Tigers.
``I don't think there's any doubt that we're not as good a football team as we were three or four weeks ago,'' Welsh said. ``You either get better or you get worse at this time of year, and something's happened.
``Maybe we're just playing better football teams. As you [in the media] know, the other teams that we've beat don't have winning records. Sometimes, you can get a false sense of your worth.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN\Staff. 1. Virginia receiver Bryan Owenby CNB(left) catches a pass despite defensive pressure from Peter Ford of
Clemson. color. 2. Virginia quarterback Tim Sherman (7) is brought
down by Clemson defenders Antwan Edwards (left) and Trevor Price.