UVa. announces football signing class
The Virginia football program signed 25 student-athletes to a National Letters of Intent for the 2012-13 academic school year head coach Mike London announced. One additional recruit enrolled at UVa in January, topping the class off at 26. Highlighting the nationally ranked class are 13 signees from the state of Virginia, including 10 signees from the Tidewater region. Read more
Scott German: Special teams lay an egg in Chick-fil-A Bowl
Turnovers and string of special-teams miscues put Virginia in the HOV lane to disaster in the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl against an Auburn University team that knew exactly how to convert those mistakes into quick points. The end result was a 43-24 drubbing at the hands of the defending national champions Saturday night in the Atlanta Georgia Dome.
Virginia was able to leave Atlanta with some confidence as the Cavaliers put up impressive numbers on offense, including 435 yards against an Auburn defense that at times this season had been thin. Sophomore quarterback Michael Rocco finished off a successful year with 312 yards passing and two touchdowns . Virginia’s running game, which had been virtually shutdown in its previous two games (Florida State University, Virginia Tech), ground out 125 yards against the Tigers. Read more
Chris Graham: ‘Special’ teams, yeah, sure
No, since you ask, Virginia’s special teams weren’t exactly all that special Saturday night.
Consider: Auburn recovered an onside kick that led to a touchdown that fueled a game-changing 14-point second-quarter swing. The Tigers also blocked two Virginia punts, setting up a touchdown and a third-quarter safety that snuffed out a brief UVa. rally. The second of the blocked punts, the one that iced it, came after a UVa. punt returner lost an Auburn kick in the Georgia Dome ceiling, allowing the Tigers to pin Virginia at its own 6.
Virginia also gave up field position on a 62-yard return on the ensuing free kick that led to an Auburn field goal and at least three points on a botched fake-field-goal attempt that the Tigers followed up with a quick-strike TD drive.
That is by conservative estimates a 22-point swing all told. The final margin in the Chick-fil-A Bowl – 19 points. Read more
Auburn smacks down UVa. in Chick-fil-A
Auburn rode a 21-point second quarter to a 28-17 halftime lead, and the Tigers dominated on special teams en route to a 43-24 win over Virginia in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Virginia (8-5) scored first on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Michael Rocco to Kris Burd at the 8:05 mark of the first quarter to give the Cavs a 7-0 lead. Auburn (8-5) tied the game at 7 on a three-yard run by Kiehl Frazier following the first of two blocked punts.
A second Rocco-to-Burd touchdown, this time from six yards out, made it 14-7 UVa. at the 12:59 mark in the second. Auburn answered quickly, marching 85 yards on six plays capped by a three-yard Onterio McCalebb touchdown run to tie the game at 14.
Auburn then executed a successful onside kick and got a one-yard TD run by Frazier five plays later to go up 21-14 with 10;33 to go before the half. Read more
London gets two-year contract extension
The University of Virginia announced a contract extension for second-year head football coach Mike London today. The two-year addition will extend London’s contract through 2016. London’s annual compensation increases to $2.1 million. The extension includes a longevity bonus that London can earn effective Jan. 15, 2015.
The extension also includes additional compensation for the assistant football coaches on the Cavalier staff.
“Mike London and his staff are a great fit for the University of Virginia,” said Virginia athletics director Craig Littlepage. “Commitment and continuity on the staff are major components of building a program. We want to keep the program’s momentum moving and this extension will help achieve that.” Read more
Chick-fil-A Bowl sells out
For the 15th consecutive year, a capacity crowd will be on hand to watch the nation’s oldest ACC vs. SEC rivalry bowl game. Chick-fil-A Bowl officials today announced the game between No. 25 Auburn and Virginia is sold out.
The Chick-fil-A Bowl’s string of sellouts is the second-longest among all bowls in the country, behind only the Rose Bowl.
“This is really a testament to the extremely high level of support that we’ve received by local fans, and ACC and SEC team fans who continue to embrace our game,” said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO. “Atlanta is passionate about college football and is a hotbed for both conferences, making our annual match-up a perfect fit.” Read more
Press Conference: Mike London
MATT GARVEY: We are joined by University of Virginia head coach Mike London, wide receiver Kris Burd, and Steve Greer.
Coach, if you could make an opening statement and talk about your bowl experience thus far.
COACH MIKE LONDON: First of all, obviously we see why the Chick-fil-A Bowl has been one of those bowls that has been very coveted and gracious in what they do for the players and the coaches, the community. We’ve experienced that the last couple days we’ve been here.
You can ask these guys. They’ve had fun. They’ve enjoyed the events. There’s still more to do. It’s been a neat experience. Read more
Quayle announces retirement as UVa. football radio analyst
Longtime radio color analyst Frank Quayle announced today the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl between Virginia and Auburn will be his final game in the radio broadcast booth calling Cavalier football. Quayle is currently in his 29th year as a broadcaster for the Virginia Sports Network.
Quayle’s first season came in 1983, the second year the Cavaliers were under the direction of coach George Welsh. He missed just two games over a span that covered 348 contests.
“I have had a front row seat that has enabled me to enjoy some wonderful eras of Virginia football,” Quayle said. “It has been a great run for me, and I feel so fortunate to have been around this year to see the renaissance of Virginia football under Coach London. A highlight has been sharing my passion for college football, the University of Virginia, and UVa football with Virginia’s wonderful fans across the Commonwealth on Saturdays.” Read more
London donates $225K to indoor practice facility
Virginia head football coach Mike London has made a $225,000 pledge to support construction of the University of Virginia’s new indoor practice facility. London’s pledge brings the total amount committed to the project to almost $9.5 million. The total cost of the project is $13 million.
“The construction of the indoor practice facility is an important part of the effort to make our football program consistently successful,” London said. “That’s why I want to show my personal support for the fundraising effort by making this pledge.
“The indoor facility will be a tremendous benefit for our team’s in-season preparation and out-of-season conditioning. It will allow us the opportunity to attract the types of student-athletes to Virginia who will play an important role in the building of the program. I can’t think of a better way to express my commitment to the University and to the football program than to personally make a gift to this important project.” Read more
UVa. athletics, London donating $100K to AccessUVa.
The University of Virginia’s Department of Athletics is donating $50,000 from its share of the Chick-fil-A Bowl football game proceeds to the University’s AccessUVa financial aid program. The department also announced head football coach Mike London will personally match the gift, bringing the total donation to AccessUVa to $100,000.
“I appreciate the University of Virginia’s commitment to provide an outstanding undergraduate education regardless of a student’s financial situation,” London said. “The football program is here to foster the University’s educational mission. I often talk about the importance of ‘student’ first in ‘student-athlete’ and AccessUVa does a lot to assist a large number of our undergraduate students. I am proud to be able to assist such an important program.” Read more
Pasztor named to AP All-America team
Virginia senior offensive guard Austin Pasztor was named to the Associated Press’ All-America team on Wednesday. The worldwide news agency named the Langton, Ontario, native to its second team. The All-America nod is the first of the UVa starting left guard’s career.
Pasztor allowed zero sacks on the season and in 846 offensive plays yielded only two quarterback hurries. He posted an average grade of 92 percent and seven knockdown blocks per game. Pasztor was an All-ACC first-team honoree and was named the ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week on Nov. 7 after grading out at 93 percent when UVa rolled up 527 yards of total offense at Maryland.
Pasztor teamed up with Oday Aboushi (LT), Anthony Mihota (C), Luke Bowanko (RG) and Morgan Moses (RT) to start all 12 regular-season games in 2011, becoming the first UVa offensive line unit to start an entire season together since 2004. The results havebeen evident as the rushing attack has flourished for 1,984 yards, the most coincidently by the UVa team since that same 2004 season.
Pasztor becomes the first UVa player to be named to the Associated Press’ All-America team since Eugene Monroe was also a second-team honoree in 2008.
UVa. has sold 13K tickets to Chick-fil-A Bowl
Tickets remain from Virginia’s allotment for the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl. Seating for all remaining tickets will be assigned at the time of purchase in sections 301-317. Tickets are priced at $80 each.
As of Saturday morning, 13,213 tickets have been sold for the Dec. 31 contest in Atlanta against defending national champion Auburn. Virginia’s allotment for the game is 18,000 tickets.
“The response from our fans to travel to Atlanta and support the team in the Chick-fil-A Bowl has been outstanding thus far,” said Virginia head football coach Mike London. “We need everyone’s help to sell out our allotment and paint the Georgia Dome orange on New Year’s Eve.” Read more
