Gator Bowl Musings

Run the ball!

With 11:26 to go in the 2008 Gator Bowl, Virginia took a 28-14 lead over Texas Tech on an 11 yard touchdown pass from Peter Lalich to Mikell Simpson. Every single offensive play call from this point forward should have been a run. For the game, UVA amassed 249 rushing yards on 47 carries, averaging 5.3 yards per attempt. It’s starting quarterback was out of the game with an injury, and was being backed up by a true freshman.

Run the ball!

The Virginia coaches were actually smart on their next possession, after a stellar defensive stand by a unit that played well all game. They ran three straight times up the gut from their own 1 yard line, and Ryan Weigand let boom a 52 yard punt.

Texas Tech then staged a very impressive 9 play, 51 yard touchdown drive that only took 2:07. There is 3:31 left in the game, what should the Cavs do?

Run the freaking ball!

They didn’t even need play calls for what should have been the next three happenings. Simpson run, Simpson run, Simpson run. Stay in bounds and don’t fumble. Grind the clock out, force the Red Raiders to use their timeouts. Use the clock as your teammate. Hell, you might even get a first down. Instead, the coaches call perhaps the stupidest play I’ve ever seen since starting to follow the program. A screen pass from your own 16 yard line with a freshman quarterback, designed to fake right before spinning and tossing left. Hmmm, yeah, let’s open up our quarterback to be blindsided, when the defensive lineman are supposed to be unblocked!!! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens next. Three Tech defenders jailbreak towards Lalich, Napoleon Dynamite gets absolutely Mack trucked and fumbles the ball. No surprise there. There is no reason on God’s green Earth why that play should have been called. There’s no reason in Hell why any type of passing play should have been called. Especially inside your own red zone. Especially after the Hoos had already gotten their miracle drive from Lalich. Inconceivable.

Run the ball!

So of course Texas Tech scores a touchdown on the next play. That’s what happens when you get field position on the other team’s 4 yard line. So UVA gets the ball back with the score tied and 2:45 left on the clock on their own 24 yard line. Big Mo has shifted so dramatically that there is no chance we are going to drive down the field and win the game in regulation. At this point you have to cut your losses and play for overtime, where you can regroup and make things more even. What should UVA do?

Run the ball!

But of course they don’t. Two passes and a run are called. One pass is incomplete and the other on third down is tucked and inexplicably run out of bounds by Sewell. At this point, they need three more runs up the gut, forcing Texas Tech to use their time outs, instead of giving them both time and timeouts to kick a 41 yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the game to clinch the win…..Run the ball!

This horrendous play calling by Al Groh and his staff spoiled a superb all around effort by the Cavs as a whole. The offense relied on the running game, using it to set up short passes to the running backs and tight ends. I do give the coaches credit for rarely even trying to throw to one of our pathetic wide receivers. Sewell was average, which was all it would have taken us to win the game. His ability to avoid sacks is a huge morale booster for the offense and a killer for the defense. Simpson is a stud with a superb knack to run north-south. Before a mind fart at the end of the game, the offense played well for 55 minutes.

I’m surprised Chris Long hasn’t murdered someone is frustration after the end of the Gator Bowl. That guy is so good and such a freak he might be worthy of the number 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. He has no flaws, an endless motor and can both pressure the quarterback and go sideline to sideline to stuff the run extremely well. And he’s got that scary, semi physcho edge too that really dominating defenders all have. That edge that makes you think they are probably crazy. The tick that Lawrence Taylor, Ray Lewis, Dick Butkiss and Nightrane Lane all had. The tick that leaves them with no fear and the utmost motivation to punish people on the field.

The defense did a great job all game giving the Red Raiders those short routes that took a long time to add up, pressuring the quarterback and stuffing the run. If they hadn’t been betrayed by the coaching staff, they would have come away with a win.

Texas Tech impressed me too. They are by no means a joker team. I don’t know why everyone describes their offense as “gimmicky”. All I saw is that they pass it on almost every play. The Patriots have done this all season as well, is their offense gimmicky too? The Red Raiders don’t line up in any crazy formations like the Wild Hog or Wishbone or Triple Option. They just run short slants and timing patterns very successfully. Maybe “gimmicky” means an effective offense.

Of course, having a freak like Michael Crabtree lining up at wideout will help any offense. I don’t know how he ended up in Lubbock, but that kid is one of those Cyborg receivers on the field a la T.O., Anquan Boldin, Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson. Crabtree looks like a superhero out there. He had a subpar game (by his standards) and still caught 9 balls for 101 yards and a touch. I had never seen Crabtree play before, and that guy is going to play on Sunday.

The Texas Tech punter provided one of the most impressive plays I have ever seen on a football field. On the punt with the high snap, Jonathan LaCour raced back, picked up the ball and got absolutely steamrolled as he tried to kick it. Yet he somehow got a foot on the ball and saved his team 20 yards. He got hit so hard that the opposite force of him going backwards may have propelled his feet forward with enough upmh to get a kick off. What was even more ridiculous is that LaCour is right footed and got this one off with his left. Amazing.

All in all, I can’t complain. We played a very entertaining and exciting bowl game, and lost on the last plat of the game. After setting the NCAA record for most wins by 2 points or less in a season, it seems fitting we lose a heartbreaker like that. It was a thrill getting a New Years Day bowl game with CBS’s lead production team and best announcers (I love you Verne Lundquist) instead of dyke ass Pam Ward and the noon timeslot on ESPN2. I can’t complain about a 9-4 season that ends the way it did, given the parameters around UVA football. See you on August 30^th, 2008 when UVA opens next college football season at home against Southern Cal. I can’t wait. Wahoowa.