Virginia vs. William & Mary Score, Recap & Analysis

It took just 2:03 for William & Mary to jump out to a 7-0 lead.

UVA was down 17-7 in the 2nd quarter. The Tribe was 2 for 4 on fourth down.

At 1-2, with that highly skilled Boise State team coming in next week, it is indeed going to be critical for London and the UVA program to figure out, somehow, some way, to pull what would now come across as a most improbable upset. But the Cavaliers were simply relieved to finally add the first tally to this season’s win column.

“If you’re a competitor than you want to do your very best”, Laycock said. “We hadn’t had that in a while. You can walk around all sullen and downtrodden, but that’s a good football team we played, and we got a victory out of that”. The defense is talented, so there’s promise on that side of the ball. They got a break when Canady was called for holding on a fourth-and-10 pass that fell incomplete, extending the drive, but lost eight yards on a fumble on the next play and faced a fourth-and-7 from Virginia’s 30 when Steve Cluley’s 36th pass of the game sailed high and into a empty end zone.

“We just came out flat”, junior quarterback Matt Johns said.

Still, Johns and the Virginia offense were impressive.

UVA answered with a 16-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matt Johns to fullback Connor Wingo-Reeves.

“We hadn’t had that in a while”, London said. On the ensuing drive, Johns went deep for 43-yards to freshman wide receiver David Eldridge. At the start of the second quarter, they struck again.

Micah Kiser led Virginia with 15 tackles and two sacks.

Virginia, meanwhile, was putting up explosive plays.

The 74-yard punt return helped give Virginia a 35-20 lead, and it looks like the Hoos are finally looking to blow open the score against this FCS school, notwithstanding some early-game scares, as the Tribe led the Hoos for the bulk of the first half, and opened the second half with a successful onside kick.

“Honestly man, it’s a win”, Cavalier offensive lineman Ross Burbank said. “You put one more on the board and that’s when you really start taking time off the clock and looking to end the game”.

Two weeks in a row, Scott Stadium has witnessed some unexpected drama in the final minutes. William & Mary fans would have serious bragging rights over Virginia fans.

Trailing 35-20, the Tribe (1-1) scored on a fourth-down play with 5:18 left, forced the Cavaliers into a three-and-out and took over near midfield. Cluley completed 23-of-36 passes for 226 yards with three touchdowns, while Dedmon totaled seven catches for 80 yards with two scores.

On the I-AA level, William and Mary is a good football team, probably a playoff team, if the Tribe can stay healthy. I’m proud of our players for the way they performed and allowing us to be in position to win a game today.