Hoos Find Resolve, Show They're F.I.T. To Win Against Eagles

Three weeks passed between home games for the Virginia football team, but the Hoos steeled their resolve in that time.

After all, back on Sept. 14 Maryland trailed early but slowly squeezed the fight out of the Hoos in a 27-13 loss at Scott Stadium. That left questions about the long season ahead and lingering worries about a slide similar to the start of the Tony Elliott era. Virginia just couldn't seem to find the button needed to rally in that game.

Since, however, there's been a growing sense of determination. It started with Coach Elliott challenging his team to respond to the loss. It continued with a 43-24 win at Coastal Carolina where the Cavaliers not only won, but piled up 384 rushing yards in the sort of assert your will performance that had been scarce for the program. Then came Saturday's return to Scott Stadium and ACC play where 4-1 Boston College arrived to provide a test. The Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead, while the UVA offense struggled to even get a first down and the defense let some giant openings emerge in its pass coverage, including a wide open target on the second touchdown.

Under a hot fall sun with a somewhat unsettled crowd of 38,285 now muted by a quick two-score deficit, the recipe for a bitter Homecomings game suddenly had all the contributing ingredients. Given that Maryland had leaned on Virginia those three short weeks ago and that Boston College relied on a physical, grinding style, it could have gone awry.

But it didn't.

The Hoos dug in and found a way to a 24-14 victory with 24 unanswered points.

"They found a way to persevere through it," Elliott said. "They didn't get down and they didn't start pointing fingers. They all looked at themselves in the mirror and said hey we're going to figure out what it takes. I'm just super proud."

Elliott also said the style of victory - needing to rally, needing to hang in there through some sluggish production, needing to stay the course - served as a culture win. By that, he likely meant a win that wasn't solely based on a clear advantage over the opponent, schemes, or play calls but one based on practice habits, offseason work, and belief in each other. That type of win can build trust from teammate to teammate and from person to person within the program. It can reaffirm belief in the process.

Or to put it into terms shared by Elliott recently, it can turn words into verbs.

In Saturday's case, the team captured a word from one its main slogans with the win. F.I.T. Fast. Intelligent. Tough. To rally from a 14-0 deficit, to overcome some defensive holes early, to hang in there while the offense finally found a way to get some points on the board, to match a physical team on both lines, to create some big turnovers defensively to help throw the knockout punch ... all those display some toughness.

The team had that type of message going on the sidelines throughout.

"Just keep going, man," Bennett said. "Don't stop because as soon as you let go of the rope, you're going to find yourself being behind the stick even more so that was just the biggest thing. Just keep going. Find our own energy. Create our own energy. ... That was the biggest thing of all was staying true to what we know and just keep going."

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