The old mantra saying “a win is a win” was quite accurate this weekend in our win over Virginia.  The game itself was pretty monotonous and slow, and neither team looked like they wanted to win.  But the 14-10 victory, while an ugly one, kept slim hope alive for a berth in the ACC title game and secured us our first road win of the year.  Quarterback Dave Shinskie again appeared shaky and indecisive on the road.  In a performance reminiscent of his previous road performances, Shinskie rushed his progressions and the result was some pretty poor passes.  He finished the day going 12 of 26 for 147 yards with a touchdown and two INTs.  With ten games in the books, I have pretty much formed my opinion of Shinskie’s season.  I think ”Uncle Dave” has been more than adequate in his first season here at the Heights.  Anytime you’re out of football for over 7 years, and can return to guide a team to the brink of a conference title game, it is impressive.  With that said, I’m not sure whether Shinskie will prove to be the long-term answer at the position.  He displays potential, but at times this season it has looked like he’s regressed rather than moved forward.  He continues to make poor decisions, specifically on the road, and it leads to costly interceptions and stalled drives.  I don’t mean to knock Shinskie because I appreciate the job he’s done on such short notice, but as far as long term forecasting is concerned, I don’t see Shinskie as our starter the next three years.

Anyway, back to the game.  Montel Harris turned in another likely performance, taking the ball 38 times for 151 yards.  Coach Spaziani had clearly paid attention to the absurd rushing numbers that UVa had allowed this season, and he used Harris to exploit it.  While Harris didn’t score, he left his mark on the game with a grind-it-out effort that must have frustrated the Cavs defense.  It was a frustrating day for our receivers, though.  Jarvis had a touchdown, and I really liked seeing TE Chris Pantale get involved more, but there were some key drops in this game.  Larmond dropped a touchdown, and Gunnell slipped up on a few.  Luckily these mistakes didn’t come back to haunt us, but our guys need to improve their play so that Shinskie remains confident throwing it to them.

Credit needs to be given to the offensive line for the job they did on Saturday.  While Shinskie’s stats don’t tell the story, he was given good time and had the opportunity to hit his receivers.  And Harris had plenty of room to make some plays.  It will be unfortunate to lose C Matt Tennant after this year, but returning the other 4 is comforting as we look ahead to next season.

As mentioned before, this game lacked any significant excitment until Virginia’s final drive was stalled.  But boring or not, the defensive effort kept the Cavaliers’ from handing us a disappointing loss.  While not spectacular, our patchwork defensive line put together a solid game.  Injuries have been a major issue all season for the D-Line, but they played well enough.  Damik Scafe looked good, and Austin Giles and Nick Rossi were fine.  While Virginia isn’t known for a scary offense, they do have talent at running back and it was nice to limit them in that department.

Defensively, there were a few standouts.  Youngster Luke Kuechly again had himself a game, flying all over the field as he always does.  Morrissey also impressed with a good game, and a huge stop at the end.  In the secondary, Wes Davis and Roderick Rollins stuck out.  Normally Marty Bowman dominates back there, so it was nice to see the other guys feed off of him. 

While we lacked any serious pass rush, our Achilles’ Heel all year long, we did enough to contain the Cavs’ offense.  Our defense has been very bend-but-don’t break this year, and while that may bother some fans, you can’t ignore the fact that they keep us in games (minus Virginia Tech).  Defensive Coordinator Bill McGovern deserves praise for the job he’s done with a group that has dealt with injuries all year, not to mention the absence of Herzlich.  The grooming of Shinskie has been much easier because of the D’s ability to keep the opponent’s scoring down.

All in all, we got the win, and that’s all that matters.  Sure, it wasn’t pretty, but it’s a testament to our coaches and staff that they stuck to the game plan and got a hard-fought victory.  Unfortunately, circumstances not under our control haven’t gone the way we hoped.  Clemson continues to roll, as they slaughtered NC State this past weekend, and now only have to beat Virginia to lock up the Atlantic title.  We can’t worry about that, though.  Our focus now shifts to North Carolina and beating the Heels to go perfect at home for the year.  Whatever happens with Clemson will sort itself out, but none of it matters unless we win out anyway.  Stay tuned…