Finishing out games: UVA focus on little things that lead to big wins

UVA had eight- or nine-win talent in 2014, but finished just 5-7, handing wins to North Carolina and Virginia Tech in the final minutes, and coming up short in winnable games on the road at Duke and Florida State and at home to UCLA.

Each came down to a play or two or three that went the wrong way, from the UVA perspective, anyway.

The ones that stung the most? Wide receiver Canaan Severin and defensive tackle David Dean both agreed at the 2015 ACC Football Kickoff this week that the most painful loss was the Virginia Tech game, which had Virginia up in the final three minutes before the Hokies rallied for a late touchdown and a 24-20 win.

A blown coverage on a long pass ignited the game-winning drive.

“That’s the biggest game of the season. You’re looking at five wins, you’re going up against your rival, who have beat how many ever years, and you win that game, you’re going to a bowl game. And you’re one play away from winning the game and going to a bowl game and making history. It hurts. That’s something that drove us in the offseason,” Dean said.

The book-end game, the home opener with UCLA, was just as painful. Virginia surrendered three second-quarter UCLA defensive touchdowns en route to a 28-20 win.

“UNC, my main man T.J. (Thorpe, who transferred to UVA in the offseason) scored the touchdown against us, and we get him on our team. That’s three right there,” Severin said. “We lose at Duke by seven. Duke is a team that they don’t turn the ball over. In my mind, that’s their thing, and if they do, they’re going to make sure they have less than their opponents. Just finishing out each possession.”

Severin and Dean said the Cavs have been stressing since the beginning of the offseason that they need to take care of the ball, among other things.

“We’re stressing every little thing. Not just preaching the need to finish, but the fact that we should have finished, that was eight months ago. Let’s finish this workout right now. Let’s finish this, let’s finish that. Finish, finish, finish, finish,” Severin said.

“Just group work ethic,” Dean said. “We had a lot of individuals who were putting in the work, but as a group, we weren’t doing all the things to make us great, the necessary time with them, the necessary time with walk-throughs, just the little things you make you that much better.”

The difference between a narrow loss and a narrow win can come down to this kind of attention to detail.

“Those mistakes, those missed opportunities, that would be the game,” Dean said. “Last year, we weren’t taking advantage of each and every play. We didn’t cut the silly mistakes. We didn’t score on fourth-and-one. The defense didn’t make the stop on fourth-and-one. It’s one of those things where it’s so small, but it’s so important at the same time.”

Virginia coach Mike London has been stressing the same to his coaching staff.

“When you do the things that you feel led and called and believe that you are, and operate in those type of things, that was one of the messages, and continued to be the message, as we came out of the season, coming into spring and coming out of spring, was to continue operating in our strengths and not worry about what anybody else says. Just operate on who we are, what we are, and what we can do for this team,” London said.

– Story by Chris Graham