UVa offense makes an appearance

CLEMSON, S.C.

For a half, Virginia’s offense looked like what everyone expected 12 weeks ago.

It was wide-open football with a running back and wide receiver lining up in the “Hoocat” formation, reverse passes, throwbacks to the quarterback and assorted trickeration that left highly-favored Clemson sweating.

Wasn’t that what the combination of new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon, a spread offense and Vic Hall was supposed to do from the season-opening kickoff?

Whatever the case, Virginia threw caution to the wind on Saturday to give the Tigers a scare — for a half.

Vanished into thin air

Clemson, a three-touchdown favorite, led 24-21 at halftime before Virginia’s offense vanished as quickly and mysteriously as it had appeared. The faster, more talented Tigers stonewalled the Cavaliers in the second half and prevailed 34-21.

The win propelled Clemson (8-3) to its first Atlantic Division title and a spot in the ACC championship game against Coastal Division winner Georgia Tech on Dec. 5 in Tampa, Fla. The game is a chance for the Tigers to win their first conference crown since 1991.

UVa coach Al Groh said his team had a lot to feel good and positive about at halftime.

The Cavaliers had accumulated 119 yards on the ground, their highest rushing total since the Indiana rout in week 5, and 114 yards through the air. That meant UVa’s 233 yards of total offense in the first half was more than its entire yardage for the games against Maryland, Georgia Tech, Duke or Miami.

However, it wasn’t just the fact that Virginia was piling up yards, a rarity for an offense that entered the game ranked No. 118 out of 120 major college football teams. It was how the Cavaliers were acquiring the yardage that at least gave them and those who festoon themselves in orange and blue some encouragement.

The bag of tricks

For instance, on the third possession of the first half, senior tailback Mikell Simpson lined up in UVa’s version of the wildcat offense.

Simpson, who didn’t play in last week’s down-to-the-wire loss against Boston College because of a poor week of practice, picked it up in preparation this week and made a difference. From the Hoocat, he rushed five straight plays and made Clemson play.

He moved the ball 43 yards into Tiger territory before quarterback Jameel Sewell lined up at his natural spot and play-faked to Simpson, and the Tigers bit. While they were in pursuit of Simpson, Sewell trotted six yards untouched into the end zone to tie the game at 7-all.

On UVa’s next possession, Sewell passed the ball to his left to Hall, who passed it back to Sewell for a 30-yard gain down to the Clemson 5.

Next play, Hall got the ball on a reverse and threw to tight end Joe Torchia for a touchdown, knotting it at 14-all.

On the Cavaliers’ final possession of the first half, there really wasn’t any trickery. Simpson noticed that Clemson was putting a linebacker on him in man-to-man coverage every play, so he wisely informed Sewell to throw the ball up and he would go and get it.

“I knew I could outrun a linebacker,” Simpson smiled.

That he did, capping a nine-play, 80-yard drive with a 23-yard scoring reception to cut Clemson’s lead to 24-21 as the first half ended.

The Tigers had to be sweating.

Where in the world had this offense been all along? Would the Cavaliers be reeling with a disappointing 3-8 record with such a wide-open offensive philosophy from the get-go?

“To be able to move the ball, everybody’s clicking, it was great that first half .... Amazing,” said Sewell, whose 160 passing yards moved him into third all-time on UVa’s career list, ahead of Aaron Brooks and Scott Gardner. “We felt that’s what it would take to put some points up against these guys.”

However, when Simpson hauled in that Sewell pass in the end zone to end the half, his day ended. Simpson said he felt his right hamstring pop, and even though he tried to get loose on the sidelines when he emerged from the locker room, he couldn’t accelerate.

His day was done, and seemingly, so was Virginia’s.

The offense never clicked the second half. In fact, Clemson shut down pretty much everything UVa tried, including the Hoocat, with its originator, Hall, at the controls.

Sewell was highly ineffective in the second half, too, getting sacked seven times (that’s 39 times UVa’s QBs have been sacked this season, compared to an ACC-leading 16 a year ago). The Cavaliers didn’t smell the goal line the second half and ended up with a mere 40 yards of total offense during the final two quarters, with 38 of that coming on a pass to freshman Perry Jones.

Sack yardage certainly played a role in that — minus-43 yards, to be exact, which also lowered UVa’s rushing totals to less than 100 yards for the sixth straight game.

During a brief halftime, the Cavaliers’ offense went from bold, exciting, unexpected, and effective to its former self, yeah, the one that hadn’t scored an offensive TD in its previous seven quarters coming into Saturday.

Several UVa’s players said the trick plays had been in the works for a long time, they were just waiting for the right time to run them.

Hello! How about from Week One? How about against William & Mary or in close games against Southern Miss, Duke and Boston College?

Why wait until it’s too late?

Well, at least they didn’t save all the surprises for this weekend’s finale against Virginia Tech.

The question is, will the pull out all the stops to beat the Hokies?