THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511040505
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
Virginia defensive coordinator Rick Lantz said the Cavaliers ``got a little lucky'' when Florida State decided to win or lose Thursday's night game on a tailback draw play.
It just so happened that last week Virginia actually had practiced for that play, which the Seminoles ran with four seconds remaining from Virginia's 6-yard line.
Tailback Warrick Dunn took a direct snap out of the shotgun formation and darted into the line, where he was stopped inches short of the end zone by defensive backs Adrian Burnim and Anthony Poindexter, both red-shirt freshmen.
By stopping Dunn, Virginia held on for a 33-28 victory, giving Florida State its first ACC loss since joining the league in 1992.
``Burnim recognized the play in practice when it was run, and he read it correctly again,'' Lantz said.
Burnim wasn't the only one who picked up the play. So did linebacker Skeet Jones, a senior from Virginia Beach, who immediately began shouting to alert his teammates. Jones said after the game he had read the play in Dunn's eyes.
Lantz explained that normally Dunn is looking at linebackers while trying to gauge the defense. On the draw, his eyes were staring directly at the ball as he awaited the snap.
``We were prepared, but there was some luck to it, too,'' Lantz said.
Burnim, who made the hit that prevented Dunn from getting into the end zone, normally would not have been in the game.
``Paul London had bruised his hip a couple of plays earlier or he would have been in there,'' coach George Welsh said. ``In fact, we were trying to get him back in before they ran the play.''
Welsh thought the Seminoles were going to throw the ball on the final play.
``I would not have run the ball,'' Welsh said, ``but he had a crack to get to the end zone. That's why I thought at first he had scored. I thought, `Oh, my God, we have lost another one on the last play.' ''
Safety Percy Ellsworth, who had two interceptions, said he was expecting a lob pass to Andre Cooper.
``Cooper was in the game, but I didn't know that he had hurt his arm,'' Ellsworth said.
While luck may have played a small role on the final play, Welsh credited Lantz with coming up with the scheme that limited Florida State to only one touchdown in the second half.
Virginia has not had much of a pass rush this season, and no one has had much success in getting to Seminole quarterback Danny Kanell, either.
Lantz suggested using a three-man rush and using the fourth defender to clog the passing lanes. That helped to take away Florida State's bread-and-butter passes to Dunn out of the backfield.
Virginia used the scheme almost entirely in the second half, when Kanell got only 134 of his 454 passing yards.
``What we didn't know was if we could limit their running game with the three-man front,'' Lantz said. ``It turned out that that our tackles and ends did a great job.''
The Seminoles rushed for only 59 yards. Dunn, who led the ACC coming in with a 123 yards per game average, got only 54.
``The defense won the game for us,'' Welsh said. ``I know they got a lot of yards (546), but the bottom line is they got only 28 points.''
The Seminoles were averaging 56.1 points per game and had scored over 70 points in three of their previous ACC games.
Virginia's offense rolled up 498 yards as tailback Tiki Barber rushed for a career-high 193 yards, including a 64-yard sprint for Virginia's opening score.
He also took over the ACC rushing lead from Dunn, with a per-game average of 122.3 to Dunn's 114.1.
``We should have had at least two more field goals,'' Welsh said.
That certainly would have eased the tension in Scott Stadium on that last play, when the Virginia defenders saved the Cavaliers from a third helping of heartbreak and made it a joyful night instead.
LOUD CROWD: Coaches and players gave a very noisy and unusually rowdy Virginia crowd credit for its role in the victory.
``That was the best fan support we have ever had here,'' Welsh said.
Lantz said the ``big-time crowd'' often took Florida State out of its offensive rhythm by making it difficult for Kanell, who audibles plays at the line of scrimmage.
``The crowd has got to go another step now and understand they don't have to tear down the place when we do have a big win,'' Lantz said.
Fans almost cost Virginia in the final seconds when they ran onto the field while Florida State was preparing to run the final play.
Virginia players came off the bench to chase them off the field.
Welsh said officials could have called a penalty on the crowd, giving the Seminoles the ball at the 3-yard line instead of the 6 for the final play.
BIG KICKS: Field goal kicker Rafael Garcia's four field goals were crucial in the victory, but so were the cloud-bursting punts of Will Brice, who averaged 47.1 yards on eight punts.
``Those punts were huge,'' Welsh said, ``especially in the third period when they (the Seminoles) were backed up most of the time and couldn't use their full offense.''
NEARS RECORD: Tailback Tiki Barber's career-high 193 yards rushing left him only one yard shy of the school record for most yards in a season, 1,224, set by Barry Word in 1985.
Welsh admitted Barber may have tired in the fourth period and he could have used Kevin Brooks more. In addition to his 31 carries, Barber returned six punts for 73 yards and caught three passes for 45 yards.
FOR PETE'S SAKE: Senior receiver Pete Allen of Norfolk had his third straight game in which he caught passes for more than 100 yards. Allen, with a couple of spectacular grabs, had 109 yards, including a 72-yarder for a touchdown. by CNB