I’m trying to find the value in 59-3 blowouts of FCS teams that won one game last season, to justify leaving the house last night to half-watch a UVA Football game that not even the TV people wanted any part of.
Virginia coach Tony Elliott didn’t even pretend, going with the twos to start the second half, and eventually making his way so far into the roster that a guy not listed on the flip card, Cazeem Moore, #95 on the roster, potential legal liability in the offing, got into the game for four snaps in the closing minutes.
Seriously, let’s hope that this one doesn’t turn into an L when an appellate court overrules the rent-a-judge in Kentucky who has become the go-to guy for dubious eligibility.
ICYMI
I actually did a count of how many guys in the orange and blue got snaps last night.
Want to venture a guess?
The answer: 98; 44 on offense, 47 on defense, plus the punter, placekicker (and his backup), the holder (and his backup), the kickoff specialist, and linebacker Derek Uran, who got seven special-teams coverage snaps.
There are 105 guys on the roster any given week.
“It’s all about growing your team, and I’ve been a part of games like this where, you know, we were hopeful to be able to grow your team, and it didn’t work out that way,” Elliott said, talking around what he was really saying – I’ve been part of games where we were supposed to get to garbage time early, and we just couldn’t.
I like that Elliott was able to 17 snaps behind center for backup QB Eli Holstein, who threw two TD passes in the third quarter, then 14 snaps for third-stringer Cole Geer, who completed two passes – a 28-yard deep ball to Willem Thurber, and a 12-yard TD pass to Hayden Rollison.
The fourth-string QB, Boone Lourd, was in on four snaps, though he didn’t get to attempt a pass.
“Really, really proud of the preparation from everybody involved, and that’s what I told them postgame, that, man, this is a team effort, it takes everybody, and everybody’s role is critical,” Elliott said.
Thurber got 11 snaps at tight end last night, after getting three all of last season; Rollison got 13 snaps at tight end – he’d had 27 over the past two seasons.
Another tight end, Te’Kai Kirby, the son of UVA Football legend Terry Kirby, got seven snaps, and recorded a 16-yard catch, on his first career college target.
Augusta County-area fans will remember the name Cayden Cook-Cash, a two-time Class 1 state player of the year at tailback at Riverheads; he switched to linebacker after walking on at UVA, and got the first live defensive snaps of his career last night, seven of them, along with 10 snaps on special teams.
“It’s huge for us to be able to play a ton of guys and then be able to illustrate that the standard, you know, didn’t change,” Elliott said.
OK, so, there’s the value to the 59-3 blowout.
Share
Chris Graham
