The last time Georgia Tech played Virginia at Scott Stadium, quarterback Vad Lee nearly was engulfed by the Virginia student body.
Back on Oct. 15, 2011, the Cavaliers had just upset Georgia Tech, then ranked No. 12 and 6-0.
“I kind of stayed out there, actually,” said Lee, who was a freshman. “I don’t know, you just always kind of see people staying on the bench and stuff (when fans rush the field). I was shocked, and I was kind of just like, wow, this is college football.”
The Yellow Jackets return to Charlottesville, Va., in circumstances not entirely different. Tech is favored and trying to increase momentum. Virginia is in a position to be easily overlooked. This arrangement has not always been kind to the Jackets.
Tech’s mission last weekend was to stop its three-game losing streak and play with focus for four quarters. The result was a 56-0 win over Syracuse. The objective against Virginia is likewise clear — to build on the win over the Orange with even better play — but that has sometimes been an elusive target.
In 2011, the Jackets traveled to Virginia “feeling really, really good about ourselves, and they hit us right in the mouth,” coach Paul Johnson said this week. After Tech’s 3-0 start this season, Lee said that the team became complacent, leading to the Jackets’ 17-10 loss to Virginia Tech. The defeat led to Tech’s three-game losing streak that ended with the win over Syracuse. And so it begins again.
On Wednesday, Johnson described Tech’s first two practices of this week as “not great.”
There is more evidence that Tech has not always managed success so adroitly. The 56-0 skunking of Syracuse was the largest margin of victory in an ACC game in school history. Of the next five on the list, the Jackets lost their next game all five times.
Tech should enjoy a wider margin for error against Virginia, which has lost four in a row, than it did against Virginia Tech, Miami or BYU. However, the team’s history at Scott Stadium should provide all the necessary caution. Since stunning then-No. 1 Virginia in 1990 on Scott Sisson’s last-second field goal en route to a share of the national title, Tech has been the favorite five times against Virginia in Charlottesville, and won once, in 2009.
Tech will be a 10-point favorite Saturday.
“I just feel we have to keep the same hunger that we had playing Syracuse,” defensive tackle Euclid Cummings said, “because Virginia, they’re going to come out with their ‘A’ game. … We know we’re going to get a fistfight. We’ve really got to come out there and prepare ourselves.”
Should the Jackets revert to the habits of inattention that ensured their three-game losing streak, Virginia probably has enough material to continue Tech’s Charlottesville misery. Running back Kevin Parks is a wiggly runner who can squirt through tiny gaps for yards. Virginia defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, who directed the Tech defense under Chan Gailey, likely will try to rattle Lee with his trademark pressure.
That said, the Jackets also can make quick work of a team that is reeling. Against Syracuse, Tech demonstrated its capacity to control all three phases of the game and play with nary a mistake. By summoning the same energy and focus, Tech could similarly dominate Virginia, which in its past two home games lost to Ball State by 21 points and then took a 22-0 lead against Duke, only to lose 35-22 on Saturday.
Further, injuries have claimed both starting cornerbacks and defensive tackle Brent Urban, one of the defense’s more disruptive players.
Lee, who is continuing to develop in his lesson-filled first season as a starting quarterback, will have a significant role Saturday in keeping the offense sharp.
“Last year, we kind of came out early and kind of put it away,” said Lee, referring to Tech’s 56-20 defeat of Virginia last fall. “That’s exactly what we’ve got to do this year if we want to win.”
It sounds simple enough.
“(If) we can go up there and limit the penalties and stay away from the turnovers and play hard like we did Saturday, we’ll be OK,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t matter where you play. But if you don’t do those things, it doesn’t matter where you play, either.”
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