THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 30, 1995 TAG: 9512300497
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Defensive coordinator Rick Lantz bristles when anyone mentions that all four Virginia losses this season came in the fourth quarter.
``Don't call it a collapse,'' Lantz snapped. ``I hear all this stuff, but I don't buy that there was any sort of collapse. I am just not buying that baloney.''
Baloney or not, if the Cavaliers had been more durable in fourth quarters they would not be playing a 6-5 Georgia team in the Peach Bowl tonight. Instead, they would have spent the past week touring Bourbon Street in New Orleans, or sunning in tropical Miami.
The four losses were by an average of 3.5 points, and the Cavaliers led in the fourth quarter in each of the defeats.
Virginia lost by one point at Texas and Michigan on game-ending plays. The other two losses, to North Carolina and Virginia Tech, went down to the wire.
It has been impossible for the Cavaliers not to think about what might have been.
``We look at Northwestern and say that could have been us,'' quarterback Mike Groh said. ``A couple of seconds here and there and we could have been the surprise of the season in college football.''
Tailback Tiki Barber agrees.
``We accomplished our major goal of winning the ACC title (tying with Florida State), but we had so many opportunities that we let slip by,'' Barber said. ``We had chances to put this program among the top in the country. We should have won against Michigan . . . against Texas . . . against Virginia Tech.''
They didn't, but the 18th-ranked Cavaliers were the first Virginia team to win at Clemson and only the second to win an ACC title.
They can make the season even more extraordinary with a win tonight in the Peach Bowl by becoming the first Virginia team to win two straight bowl games and the second to post a nine-win season.
To do it, though, they might have to overcome the fourth-quarter blues. Even in close wins over Florida State and North Carolina State, they had final-quarter letdowns.
Coach George Welsh says the cure might be as simple as getting one or more first downs or a defensive sack in the final minutes.
``If a pass hadn't been dropped on our final drive in the Texas game and we got that first down, they wouldn't have had time to kick the game-winning field goal at the end,'' Welsh recalled.
``If we had made one more first down against Virginia Tech, maybe we would have been close enough to make our final field-goal attempt instead of missing it.''
Some critics suggest part of Virginia's offensive problems in the final quarter stemmed from being too conservative and playing to protect a lead instead of expanding it.
Offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien says that was not the case.
``We do what we have to do to win, but our strategy doesn't change in the fourth quarter,'' O'Brien said. ``We didn't stop throwing the ball at Texas, but we did make an effort to run the ball against Virginia Tech, to make them use up their timeouts.''
Most of the blame for the fourth-quarter swoons have fallen on the defense. Virginia surrendered 18 fourth-period points to Michigan, 10 to Texas, and 22 to Virginia Tech.
Welsh faults a lack of a solid pass rush and a defensive backfield that may have been too aggressive.
``We were beaten deep too much this season, and one of the things we have to re-examine is whether it is worth making a couple of interceptions along the way (while) giving up a couple of touchdowns by being more aggressive,'' Welsh said.
``I have said to the defensive staff, too, that we need to get a sack somewhere along the way (while trying to protect a lead). We need to get the quarterback on the ground for a loss, and I don't think we ever got that.''
Lantz, who had some big holes to fill in the defense this season, says he can't knock the effort he got from his players.
``Those guys really laid it on the line each week, but we did not have the mature leadership we needed to win all those close games,'' Lantz said. ``We lost five players who had been three- or four-year starters and we couldn't replace that leadership.''
Lantz recalled that he predicted at the beginning of the year that Virginia had enough talent to be in every game.
``I was right about that,'' he said. ``We could have won another four games, or we could have lost another two.
``But, whether we won or lost, every game went down to the end, and only three or four other teams in the country can say that.''
While the players have allowed themselves to think about what might have been as they prepared for Georgia, they contend the heart-breaking losses made them stronger.
``We easily could have stayed down after each of those losses, but we never did that,'' Groh said. ``We proved the tough character of this team by playing well enough each week to be in every game. If we had gotten down after losing to Texas, we never could have come back the next game to beat Florida State.''
While Groh, a senior, is playing his final game for Virginia, Tiki Barber believes next year's team will benefit from this season's close defeats.
``We learned and matured from those defeats,'' Barber said. ``We won't let that happen to us again next year.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
PEACH BOWL: VIRGINIA VS. GEORGIA
by CNB