Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9510020130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL CROAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
After beating last Navy last week, many Wake Forest players and coaches may have felt like they were battling another military school Saturday.
It wasn't the Air Force that did Wake in, however. It was the air attack of 11th-ranked Virginia.
Throughout the Cavaliers' 35-17 victory, quarterback Mike Groh launched missiles that consistently found their targets.
Completing 21 of 34 passes in a game that offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien said was a quarterback's dream, Groh threw for a personal-best 335 yards - nine yards shy of the school record for most passing yardage in a game.
``They played us to stop the run,'' Virginia head coach George Welsh said. ``Mike had a great first half.''
Groh was 14-of-20 for 247 yards at the half and set the tone on Virginia's first drive, hooking up with receiver Derick Byrd for a 65-yard touchdown pass.
Byrd, who had not caught a pass in the last three games, finished with five catches for 121 yards despite an injured back.
``Byrd missed practice Thursday and he was hurting,'' Welsh said. ``I wasn't going to use him until Sherm [receivers coach Tom Sherman] told me in warmups that he felt fine.''
Byrd said the injury didn't affect his play.
``It only affects me when I do everyday stuff,'' he said. ``I was planning on having a good game. I wasn't making the big plays like I should have been.''
Byrd's teammate, second-year receiver Germane Crowell, had an 18-yard touchdown reception and several other acrobatic grabs. Crowell had one reception to show for his previous two games.
``I only had nine completions last week,'' said Groh, referring to UVa's 22-3 victory over Clemson. ``There were only so many passes to go around. But you can't just depend on two guys. You've got to have four or five guys to throw to.''
Although Byrd and Crowell could be considered Virginia's receiving future, O'Brien said ``They have to help us win this year.''
Welsh and O'Brien seemed pleased with Virginia's passing game, but they also expressed discontent at a number of dropped balls, including an almost-certain touchdown bomb to senior Patrick Jeffers.
``We're dropping four, five, six a game and you cannot win at this level dropping six balls a game,'' O'Brien said.
``They're going to drop some, and they're going to make some good catches, so it all evens out,'' Groh said.
Virginia was well-prepared for Wake Forest's run-focused defense.
``They got a lot of guys around the ball,'' said Welsh, whose team rushed for 107 yards, down from 256 last season in a 42-6 victory over the Deacons. ``They blitzed us [and] they plugged us. That's why we were throwing the ball more.
``It's pretty tough. Sometimes there are so many guys there [that] you just can't block 'em. They brought the safety down sometimes to make it an eight-man front, so it's hard to run the ball.''
Clearly, the Deacons were daring UVa to throw the ball. Groh, whose father was head coach at Wake Forest from 1981-86, gladly accepted the challenge.
``Whenever a team decides they don't want to get beat by us throwing the ball, I think we showed everybody that we're good enough throwing the ball to win,'' he said.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB