2 Minute Drill

These are my quick hit thoughts of the week.

I’ve been back to both UVA home football games so far this fall, and it has reaffirmed my belief that nothing is better than Game Day. A beautiful fall Saturday afternoon chock full of tailgating, live college football, friends, sundresses, college football on television and alcohol simply cannot be beat. It’s at the end of one of these perfect days that you realize, “There is nothing I would have rather done today”. And this is true if you are 12, 20, 45 or 80 years old. Even at a school like Virginia where we will never contend for a national title, the pure happiness and optimism that emerges on Game Days has no rival. The six days of the year that host home football games cannot be ruined by anything. Everyone is on cloud 9, with a drink in hand and friends by their side.

I don’t know what’s more unbelievable, the fact that UVA starts a white, walk on freshman wide receiver or that he scored a touchdown against Georgia Tech. This is astonishing. A BCS conference school should never start a walk on freshman wide receiver. The fact that Staton Jobe is white makes it even more ridiculous. Maybe Al Groh is trying to send the opposing cornerbacks into convulsive laughter right before the snap by continuing to send out Jobe with the starting 11. Buy hey, maybe the dude can play. He did haul in the game winning touchdown against the Jackets while breaking the tackle of a black and probably scholarship receiving Georgia Tech defensive back. It would be interesting to know if a BCS conference school has ever started a white, freshman, walk on, wide receiver for the first game of the season. That’s right folks, Jobe has been the starter since the opening game at Wyoming. Truly remarkable. I bet Dave Chappelle could do a hilarious sketch about this.

UVA has shown some very unexpected yet promising qualities here in the first quarter of the season. In-game resilience is the term that keeps coming to mind, something I had never seen out of the Cavs in a long time. I am treating the Wyoming game as a fluke, as it looks more and more like that game was an anomaly than a sign of what’s to come. In the Duke game, the Blue Devils pulled within 17-13 after multiple horrendous UVA turnovers deep in their own territory. The Wahoos responded with a 6-minute, 15 play, 82 yard touchdown drive that sealed the game. The offense showed remarkable composure and maturity (two words never associated with UVA football) after playing down to the level of their inferior opponent for most of the game. Against Carolina, the defense was able to stop the bleeding at exactly the right time. They must have been incredibly frustrated with the offense’s inability to hit paydirt (1 TD, 5 FG’s), but held firm on the two point conversion to save the game. And in the most recent game against the Ramblin’ Wreck, UVA actually responded to the adversity of giving up a big lead in ways they had choked before (see Maryland, 2006). This comeback was the most impressive and all three area of the game were hugely important. Special teams took advantage of a muffed punt, the offense capitalized on the next play for 7 and the defense again held strong and didn’t allow another point. I still don’t think we are a great team, maybe not even a good team, but these are the kind of characteristics that win close games at the end of the year. Throw in money kicker Chris Gould (7-8 on field goals) and surprising punter Ryan Weigand (averaging a ridiculous 48.6 yards per kick, good for 3rd in the nation) and UVA has the potential to surprise a lot of teams this year.

Lastly, Christian’s pizza on the corner is absolutely going to clean house. I mean, a total and absolute slutting awaits them every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. A genius move getting the primo real estate they deserve. It has been slammed every time I have walked by. Charlottesville now has the holy triumvirate of late night eating all within 100 yards of each other. Sandwiches, Burgers and Pizza from Little John’s, White Spot and Christian’s is too good to be true. Throw in the option of dialing up College Inn anytime before 3am makes Charlottesville a veritable late night king. And so the Oceanliner ends this week with the timeless words of Schnooby:

Late night…late night…I like late night.

Over and out.