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LOOKING AHEAD TO 2012 that could challenge head coach Mike London's crew to match its record this fall. After opening the season against London's former team, the Richmond Spiders, Virginia faces non-conference challenges again Penn State, TCU and Loui- siana Tech. Penn State, of course, will play its first full season in nearly five decades without Joe Paterno as its head coach. Follow- ing that home game against the Nittany Lions, the Cavaliers hit the road to play at TCU. The one-time BCS busters will be members of the Big 12 in 2012, giving the Wahoos a pair of BCS conference powerhouses to contend with in the non- conference schedule. The Cavs also face a tough Louisiana Tech team before Three Virginia interceptions and some Adding to the excitement around Virginia football following a surprisingly successful 2011 season is the number of top performers returning to the Cavaliers for 2012. Three out of five starters from the dominant offensive line — Oday Aboushi, Luke Bowanko and Morgan Moses — are slated to return and block for quarterback Michael Rocco, running backs Perry Jones and Kevin Parks, and wide receiver Tim Smith, who were among many underclassmen making plays for the Cavaliers. But the Cavaliers will face an interesting schedule in 2012 2012 UVA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Home (2011 Record/Bowl) Richmond (3-8) Penn State (9-4/TicketCity) Louisiana Tech (8-5/Poinsettia) Maryland (2-10) Wake Forest (6-7/Music City) North Carolina (7-6/Independence) Miami (6-6) getting into ACC play. The Bulldogs had a 2011 not unlike Virginia, enjoying a breakout season a year earlier than many fans had hoped or expected. Louisiana Tech finished 8-5, win- ning its final seven regular-season games to claim the WAC title. Of Tech's five losses, four were narrow defeats to Southern Miss, Houston, Mississippi State and TCU. The ACC schedule features home games against Maryland, Miami, Wake Forest and North Carolina. Away (2011 Record/Bowl) TCU (11-2/Poinsettia) NC State (8-5/Belk) Georgia Tech (8-5/Sun) Duke (3-9) Virginia Tech (11-3/Sugar) The Cavs hit the road to face Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State and Virginia Tech. Wake Forest rotates back into the Cavaliers' schedule for the first time since 2008, when the Demon Deacons beat Virginia 28-17 in Winston-Salem, N.C. The game against NC State will be Virginia's first trip to Raleigh since 2007, when the Wolfpack handed the Cavaliers one of just four losses that season, and the 2012 Wahoos will try to snap a two-game losing streak to Duke in Durham. And, of course, the regular season ends with a trip to Blacksburg to face the archrival Hokies, with Virginia looking to snap an eight-game losing streak in the series. In all, eight of the 12 games feature opponents that played in bowl games this season. That doesn't count Miami, which won the requisite six games, but declined bowl consideration in the wake of NCAA investigations. — Shane Mettlen timely swing passes for big yardage from Southern Miss helped the Golden Eagles hold off a Virginia comeback. The Cavaliers had their worst offensive output of the sea- son in the letdown against NC State, their only blemish between Oct. 1 and Nov. 19. But, of course, the season went down- hill after the huge one-point victory against Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. Virginia Tech continued its dominance of the Cavs on the gridiron. With a spot in the ACC title game on the line and a national television audience watching, the Hokies rolled to a 38-0 victory — their eighth straight in the series. The loss to the in-state rivals to end the regular season and a four-game winning streak was a disappointment, but that didn't stop the Cavaliers from advancing to the postseason. With the ACC receiving two BCS bowl berths for the first time, Virginia moved up the pecking order and landed in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, formerly known as the Peach Bowl. In that game the Cavaliers faced the pre- vious season's national champions, the Au- burn Tigers. Auburn, which entered with a 7-5 record, had the advantage of playing the bowl game in Atlanta and had qualified for a bowl despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the country. The bowl game started well for the Cava- liers, who built a 14-7 lead in the first half and seemed to know just how to attack the Tigers defense. But as the contest wore on, the Hoos struggled. Special teams, which had been an issue at times during the sea- son, came back to haunt them again. Auburn blocked two punts and recovered an onside kick, and also ran all over a Vir- ginia defense that was playing without in- jured stars Greer and Minnifield. The Tigers racked up 273 yards rushing on the way to a 43-24 victory. Yet the bowl loss didn't necessarily di- minish the excitement the Cavaliers have for the future. Though Burd might have been the Wahoos' player of the game against Auburn, with six catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns to close out his Virginia career, some Cavaliers that will be back also looked good. Rocco had one of his best games, com- pleting 26 of 41 passes for a career-high 312 yards with two scores, and Jones racked up 143 yards of total offense, including 90 receiving yards. "I'm not frustrated," London said. "I'm Third-year tailback Perry Jones led UVa in rushing (184 carries for 915 yards and five touchdowns) and ranked second in receiving (48 catches for 506 yards and three scores). PHOTO BY ANDREW SHURTLEFF not disappointed about who we have. We'll keep recruiting players and developing our players and keep expecting that we'll have opportunities to play in the postseason and play for championships." ◆ FEBRUARY 2012 ◆ 17