For Virginia, the Georgia Tech defensive game plan had the same standard tenets — stop the run, get off the field on third downs.
The Yellow Jackets accomplished the first. The second didn’t quite happen, lost in a flurry of David Watford completions.
Tech allowed a season-high 376 passing yards as Watford, the Virginia quarterback, threw an astounding 61 passes, completing 43.
“He made some good throws, but they had some guys wide open, too, so it was kind of a combination,” coach Paul Johnson said.
Watford took advantage of considerable cushions given by the Tech secondary, enabling him to deliver 13 completions to wide receiver Darius Jennings and 10 to receiver Tim Smith. It was the first time Virginia had two players with double-digit receptions in a game in team history. It was particularly noteworthy considering Jennings had 15 catches entering the game and Smith had 13.
“We definitely saw that on film, and we wanted to work on it … especially to the wide side of the field,” Watford said. “(Tech’s defense) bailed out.”
Tech played a mixture of man and zone defenses. Cornerback Louis Young had a particularly difficult game, as Smith worked his way open against him multiple times.
“I think he was in zone coverage and, a lot of them, we weren’t getting anybody underneath him, and he was probably playing with a cushion,” Johnson said.
On defense, it was a peculiar game for Tech. The Jackets allowed 20 plays of 10 yards or more — they had been averaging 12.7 such plays, although Virginia’s 93 plays gave the Cavaliers more opportunities and wore Tech down. However, the Jackets didn’t allow Virginia to score any points off of Tech’s five turnovers.
Tech forced five punts, stopped Virginia on a fourth-and-1 at the Jackets’ 10-yard line in the first quarter and made one of the more critical plays of the game.
With 16 seconds left in the first half, Tech’s defense faced a first-and-goal from the 2-yard line. A touchdown likely would have given the Cavaliers a 17-14 halftime lead. Safety Demond Smith and defensive end Emmanuel Dieke brought down running back Kevin Parks for a 1-yard gain, forcing a timeout. On the next play, the last of the half, Parks was swamped by a surge from the right side of the Tech line, leaving Virginia with nothing.
“We needed big stops, so as a defense, we had to bow up and make a play,” said Dieke, who had a career-high seven tackles with one sack.
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