Blue White Illustrated

HOLDING STRONG Rocco and his Cava- liers pulled out the late-game win after the Nittany Lions stumbled in Chartlottesville, Va., Saturday. Cavaliers pressure PSU into kicking woes FEELING THE HEAT Steve Manuel C HARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Cavaliers didn't appear to get a hand on Penn State's final kick of the game, the one that went wide left as time ran out. But they didn't have to. Virginia coach Mike London pointed to a blocked extra point ear- lier in the game and said he thought that maybe that moment was still resonating as Sam Ficken lined up to attempt the decisive kick. "I understand there's a lot of pres- sure on kickers, but I also under- stand the pressure that can be applied on the other side when you can push on the guards and get your hands up like on the [PAT] we blocked," London said. "When you start doing that, the kicker knows you're back there, you're close. Maybe we got in his head. Maybe he just missed them. I don't know. We've won a game before where you try to get after a kicker [at Florida State last season]. Just the pressure alone and the mind-set that you can block one at any time – I think that's part of it." Whatever the reason, Virginia im- proved to 2-0 heading into their At- lantic Coast Conference opener next week at Georgia Tech. MATT HERB | M A T T@B L U E WH I T E O N L I N E . c O M The Cavaliers didn't look pretty doing it, though. They finished with three fumbles, an interception and 10 penalties for 70 yards. They had fewer first downs than Penn State (19 to 14), ran fewer plays (85-61) and had fewer total yards (330 to 295). After the last of their fumbles – a botched snap late in the third quar- ter – the Cavaliers pulled starting quarterback Michael Rocco and went with Phillip Sims. But Rocco later came back into the game and engi- neered the 12-play, 86-yard touch- down drive that won it for Virginia. "It's unfortunate when you're the quarterback and things happen like fumbles and interceptions," London said. "You're the guy who's blamed for that: dropped passes, a tackle lets the rusher go and sack the quarterback. There's a sense of ur- gency to make a change. At that point in time - right after the mucked snap - I just wanted him to get on the sideline and look at the game a little bit. Phillip had two se- ries. He was OK. He did a nice job. Then we put Michael back in, and what a confidence-booster for a guy like that to manage the team and manage a win." S E P T E M B E R 8 , 2 0 1 2 9 Bill [O'Brien] makes some deci- sions that make [it] clear he doesn't yet have a complete un- derstanding of college vs. pro. Can't blame him, but he's got to realize that isn't [Stephen] Gostkowski waiting to kick. And you need to try to get 5-10 more yards and call the [timeout], not center the thing while losing a few yards. wbcincy The last time we had a kicking per- formance similar to today, it was by Robbie Gould! It just so happens that Gould is now one of the best in NFL. [Sam] Ficken has been pushed into this posi- tion due to [Anthony] Feras's transfer. Otherwise, he would be redshirting this year. I still be- lieve he will be an adequate-to- good kicker in the future. Nitknee FROM THE WEB ONLINE REAcTION TO PSU'S LATEST GAME Let's hope [Matt] McGloin contin- ues to learn and improve (even if it is minimal) and hope that [Steve] Bench works hard to get up to speed for next year with the playbook. It may be very dif- ficult for [Christian Hackenberg] to come in and start right away. This is a very complex offense and only McGloin grasps it so far. mkilvanick On the pass interference where Fagnano and [Stephen Obeng- Agyapong] got beat, I saw SOA and one of the coaches tearing into Fagnano. Obviously he made a bad play, but that seemed a little extreme. Anyone notice that? PSUBrett We ruled the stadium. I hope O'Brien was impressed with fan base. We were loud. When UVA was on offense in our end zone, they couldn't hear. It was awe- some. Great job fans. razpsu Take a bow Ted Roof. You de- serve it today. Our loss can be described as a special teams fail- ure. rag195 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M

• Cover