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By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE –– In the home locker room at Scott Stadium, Bronco Mendenhall spent more time talking to his team Saturday afternoon than he typically would after a game.
There was a lot to discuss. In one of their more uneven performances in Mendenhall’s four-plus seasons as their head coach, the Cavaliers lost 38-21 to NC State. The Wolfpack (3-1 overall, 3-1 ACC) built a 24-0 lead before Virginia, which had won nine straight games at Scott Stadium, came to life and staged a rally.
It didn’t help the Wahoos (1-2, 1-2) that they lost their starting quarterback Brennan Armstrong to an apparent head injury late in the second quarter. At that point, though, Virginia was struggling in almost every phase of the game.
“I didn’t think that we approached the game as we normally do in our own stadium, and we’ve been so successful here over the past couple of years,” Mendenhall said. “I’m not going to say or not going to jump to the conclusion [the players] took it for granted. We just didn’t prepare or compete or execute at a level well enough to maintain the outcome that we wanted.
“I do think the second half our team played more competitively, with a better mindset and more urgency. But a half isn’t enough, or parts of a half isn’t enough. And so we’re certainly learning to sustain––start to end––clean football, competitive football, and effective football to have the outcome that we want.”
Armstrong, a redshirt sophomore, was out of bounds at the end of a run when he took a blow to the helmet on NC State safety Tanner Ingle’s late tackle. Ingle was penalized for targeting and ejected from the game, but Armstrong could not continue, and Lindell Stone took over at quarterback.
A redshirt junior who starred at nearby Woodberry Forest, Stone came in with less-than-impressive career statistics: 4 for 12 passing for 31 yards and no touchdowns, with three interceptions. But in little more than two quarters Saturday, Stone completed 30 of 54 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns, all career highs.
He threw one interception, on a pass that 320-pound nose tackle Alim McNeill deflected, caught and returned 18 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown, but overall Stone did everything the Cavaliers could have hoped.
“I thought Lindell did a really nice job of leading our team and giving us a chance to fight back and possibly change the outcome and come from behind,” Mendenhall said.
“Lindell did well,” junior center Olusegun Oluwatimi said. “He stepped in. A lot was asked of him, because we were down, so we were playing catch-up the whole game. We had to throw the ball a lot, and he did a pretty good job doing that. He had great command of the offense, as he always does. He’s probably the smartest dude in the room.”
UVA wide receiver Terrell Jana played with Stone at Woodberry Forest, too.
“Lindell’s always ready to go. I think it’s a testament to his preparation,” Jana said. “He’s a baller. Ever since high school, he’s always been someone who likes to compete.”
Stone’s second TD pass, a 1-yarder to tight end Tony Poljan, cut the Wolfpack’s lead to 24-14 late in the third quarter. Stone’s final TD pass, on a fade route to wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr., made it 31-21 with 6:08 remaining.
The score hadn’t changed when UVA got the ball back on its 10-yard line with 4:59 left. But the Cavaliers turned the ball over on downs at their 23, and State needed only five plays to score the touchdown that sealed its victory.
Mendenhall said his “job is to predict it and try to anticipate where we are and how we’ll play, and I didn’t see it coming. Not the first half. I have to do a better job of anticipating and seeing it. I really thought our preparation was strong and I thought we were in a different place after the first two games, so I was surprised. I think the team was surprised.”