Story Links
Oct. 23, 2004
By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) – Alvin Pearman hit every hole and bounced off defendersfor big gains, coming just short of running into the Virginia record book.
The senior ran for a career-high 223 yards and a touchdown, leading apowerful ground attack that lifted the 14th-ranked Cavaliers past Duke 37-16 onSaturday.
Pearman, who also had three catches for 44 yards, nearly matched his seasonrushing total and finished 1 yard shy of tying John Papit’s single-game schoolrecord set against Washington & Lee in 1948.
“He was hot,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “He had a lot of heart today…. He put his pads down and knocked down quite a few guys.”
Wali Lundy added 82 yards and two scores for the Cavaliers (6-1, 3-1Atlantic Coast Conference), who rebounded from a lopsided loss at Florida Statelast week by piling up 511 yards – 348 on the ground.
Pearman was the workhorse with 38 carries, one short of a school record.
Midway through the first quarter, he carried the ball 10 straight times for69 yards on a drive that ended with Lundy’s 1-yard touchdown. Early in thethird quarter, he carried the ball seven straight times for 42 yards.
That took the pressure off quarterback Marques Hagans, who suffered a hipinjury in the 36-3 loss to the Seminoles. Hagans didn’t practice for much ofthe week, and Groh said the team had to change its focus after seeing thatHagans wasn’t himself just a few plays into the game.
Pearman was up to that challenge.
“We’re a team. We’ve got each other back,” he said. “Whatever anybody’slacking, somebody else is going to pick up the slack.”
Pearman came in with 256 yards rushing this season. His previous single-gamehigh was 138 against Troy State last October. But at one point late in thethird quarter Saturday, Pearman had more total yards (203) than Duke (188).
By the end of the game, his offensive linemen were hollering from thesideline for the defense to get one more stop so that Pearman would have achance to break the record.
“I really think the line wanted that record more than I did,” Pearmansaid.
This was hardly an opportune time for the Blue Devils (1-6, 0-4) to end afour-game losing streak to Virginia. The Cavaliers beat its first fiveopponents by a combined score of 212-58, but rushed for just 20 yards in lastweek’s humbling loss to the Seminoles.
Pearman and Lundy had little trouble erasing that performance. Virginia’soffensive line opened spacious running lanes, and the running backs patientlypicked their way through them and over Duke tacklers.
“We had the loss in the back of our minds all week,” center Zac Yarbroughsaid. “We wanted to come back and run the ball and be as physical as we can.”
Yet Virginia had trouble putting away the pesky Blue Devils. The offensethat looked so explosive in the early weeks of the season struggled much of theway until putting together consecutive fourth-quarter touchdown drives to sealit.
The Cavaliers had to settle for field goals on three first-half drivesinside the 20, and Hagans – the ACC’s leader in passing efficiency and totaloffense – threw for just 63 yards in the first 45 minutes.
Still, Pearman – as he had all day – kept the Cavaliers a step ahead.
After Duke closed to 23-16 early in the fourth quarter, Pearman led aVirginia scoring drive that prevented the Blue Devils from building momentum.He carried for 8 yards on the first play, then closed with three straightcarries, the last a 3-yard touchdown for a 30-16 lead with 11:49 left.
He broke the 200-yard mark midway through the fourth quarter with a run thatsummed up his afternoon. He took the handoff from Hagans, bounced left to avoida tackler then sprinted by three Duke defenders to the sideline for an 8-yardgain.
“I didn’t think they’d run him that much, but he’s a big strong back,”Duke linebacker Brendan Dewan said. “They have a really athletic O-line, andwe knew coming into the game it was probably the best in the nation.”
Mike Schneider threw two touchdown passes to lead the Blue Devils, andCedric Dargan ran for 108 yards.