SMU left its starting quarterback in to throw a TD pass with 1:42 to go up 33-7, which should p— you off, if you’re a UVA Football fan, because SMU doesn’t need the style points, since the win here on Saturday puts the Mustangs into the ACC title game, and in control of its own CFP destiny.
I’m writing that one off, though, because that’s just Rhett Lashlee, who this week signed a lengthy and lucrative contract extension, running up the score because he can.
How bad things have gotten with the UVA Football program is the photo here accompanying the story.
Those two young ladies you see there are part of the cleanup crew.
Scott German, my seatmate in the press box, snapped this one with 2:33 left in the game.
Notice the trash bags?
The cleaning crews were already at work with the game still being played behind them.
The announced attendance was 36,305. The count from the ushers at the end of the first half was in the range of 23,000.
There were maybe a couple thousand left as these young ladies were getting a head start on picking up trash, and Lashlee was leaving Kevin Jennings in to throw another TD pass for style points that they didn’t need.
For reference, the capacity at Scott Stadium is 61,500, and the stadium once had 64,907 for a game, the 2008 season opener with a Top 10 Southern Cal team.
Here’s the thing: I can’t say I blame anybody who decided that trekking out for Senior Day wasn’t worth it.
The Virginia team was never in this one. SMU (10-1, 7-0 ACC) got on the board first, after a big gainer on a wide receiver screen got the ball into the red zone, ahead of a Brashard Smith 4-yard TD run through the A gap.
UVA (5-6, 3-4 ACC) had a chance to make it briefly interesting early in the second quarter, getting the ball into the red zone, before facing a fourth-and-1 at the SMU 19.
Kobe Pace, after a timeout, gained five yards on a run for an apparent first down, but the Cavaliers were penalized for having too many men in the huddle.
After a timeout.
How do you have too many guys in the huddle coming out of a timeout?
That’s unconscionable.
The penalty pushed the ball back to the SMU 24, and Will Bettridge was wide left on the 41-yard field goal try.
SMU drove 76 yards on nine plays to make it a two-score game, as you would expect – a similar thing happened last week in the loss to Notre Dame, after Pace fumbled in the red zone, down 7-0, and the Irish drove 88 yards on nine plays to make that one a two-score game, setting things rolling to the easy 35-14 win.
The UVA defense kept the team in the game as long as it could, but when your offense is only generating 173 yards, when your gun-shy quarterback, Anthony Colandrea, is getting sacked nine times, and when he was able to get rid of the ball, he was 18-of-27 through the air, but for just 108 yards – that’s 6.0 yards per completion, and 4.0 yards per attempt – there’s only so much that can be done.
I mentioned that it was Senior Day. The line of players and their family members in the end zone looked like Penn Station.
The roster has 20 seniors and 23 grad students, which, quick math, means 43 kids who won’t be back next year.
The fans won’t be back, either.
That means fewer opportunities for students to make money picking up trash after games, you know.
It’s what they call in economics trickle down.
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Chris Graham
