Canes’ Cooper quietly piles up yards

Miami running back Graig Cooper is explosive, fast, and hard-nosed. In other words, he’s a typical Hurricanes tailback, in the mold of Willis McGahee or Edgerrin James.

Cooper piled up a quiet 131 yards on 24 carries, at a clip of 5.5 per carry against Virginia, and was a big reason the Cavaliers couldn’t keep dropping eight players into coverage during the loss to the Hurricanes. The sophomore’s running helped set up the play action pass too, which Miami used to perfection during its 95-yard fourth quarter drive that eventually tied the contest.

“The spacing wasn’t there for us to throw the football but the play action pass game was because we were running the football because once you get the linebackers sucked up now you can pick on the secondary a little bit,” said Miami coach Randy Shannon.

Though listed at just 202 pounds, the former Mr. Football in the state of Tennessee runs much bigger, breaking a number of tackles against a talented front seven for the Cavaliers. And Cooper suggested he might have been closer to breaking a big one if he hadn’t been trying to protect the ball after a pair of fumbles on consecutive Miami drives during the third quarter. Virginia recovered just one of those two.

“I was playing a little tense because of the fumbles so I couldn’t make moves like I wanted,” Cooper said. “I just decided, let’s get these first downs and run hard, that’s it.”

If Cooper, who earned honorable mention freshman All-American honors last season, can keep things going, the bowl-eligible Hurricanes may find themselves on top of a wide open Coastal Division and in the ACC title game.

Simpson leaves with shoulder injury

Mikell Simpson left the game after a failed stretch play with an apparent shoulder injury, and after being examined on the bench for a short time, headed to the locker room with his left arm in a sling. The crowd in the corner of the end zone gave Simpson a round of applause as he went down the tunnel.

Simpson returned to the field without his jersey on with eight minutes left in the game, still in a sling.

Simpson rushed for negative five yards on just four carries before the injury as Cedric Peerman continues to carry the load in the Virginia rushing game. Simpson had gained 267 and was averaging just 3.2 yards per carry coming into the Miami game.

Cavs’ back on the right side of the turnover battle…for a little while

Coming into the Miami game, Virginia had given up two more turnovers than they’d forced, and after an interception and two fumbles by the Hurricanes, it appeared Virginia was bound to move onto the positive side of the turnover battle. A pair of fumbles late in the contest by Marc Verica and Peerman left Virginia wanting, though, and back to surrendering more turnovers than creating them.

Penalties plague Canes

The officials assessed more penalty yards against Miami in the first half (56) than the Hurricanes averaged per contest on the season (50.8) coming into the game. It was a nice change for the Cavaliers, who ranked second-to-last in the ACC in opponents’ penalty yards per game.

For the game the Hurricanes were penalized 12 times for 81 yards, including seven penalties for offsides.

“I think we didn’t play like we should have because of the penalties,” Shannon. “We had too many penalties today. In the second half I stopped counting to be honest with you, it was keeping our momentum from going.”

Ogletree’s big day

Kevin Ogletree’s 16-yard touchdown on a reverse against Miami was the first carry of the season for the senior wideout, and the first rushing touchdown of his career.

He got stuffed on the play when Virginia went back to it during the third quarter. Ogletree got dropped for a seven-yard loss, but it didn’t help that Virginia ran the reverse to the short side of the field. Ogletree’s second catch of the game was the 100th of his career at Virginia.

Howell’s blast

UVa freshman punter Jimmy Howell’s 58-yard punt in the first half was a career best. His previous long was a 54-yarder against Duke. It should also help Howell’s average, currently 7th-best in the ACC.

Jackson gets start

Rashawn Jackson, who was recently arrested and charged with breaking and entering and grand larceny, got the start for Virginia. The move came as little surprise, as head coach Al Groh has indicated that he believes in the “justice system” earlier this week.

Extra points…

Several former and current Cavaliers were honored during the proceedings, including towing gold medalist Lindsay Shoop, the ACC women’s and men’s swimming championship squad and John Papit and Tom Scott, whose jerseys were retired. Papit, a fullback who still holds the Cavalers’ single game rushing record with his 224-yard outing against Washington and Lee back in the late 1940s, recently moved back to Virginia, to Forest, after living in Florida. Papit played for the Redskins and Packers wore No. 87. Tom Scott starred for the Cavaliers in football and lacrosse, and was Virginia’s first two-sport All American. As an end, Scott went on to play 12 seasons for Eagles and Giants. He was a first team All American in 1952 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979. Both will have plaques on Virginia’s Legends Walk at Scott Stadium. … The Virginia marching band’s halftime show included special guest trumpet player Al Cheznovitz from the CBS Orchestra on Late Show with David Letterman. … Ryan Zimmerman was in attendance to raise the Power of Orange flag during Virginia’s pregame ceremony. … Former Virginia offensive lineman Ian Yates-Cunningham, who is interning for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, attended the game. The former Cavalier offensive lineman is working in the Ravens’ player personnel division.