No. 10 Virginia Stuns San Jose St.
Run left. Run right. Run all day.
It was the simplest of game plans for No. 10 Virginia on Saturday, and it worked to near-perfection as the Cavaliers' offense rolled up 446 yards on the ground and 556 in all in a 52-14 victory against San Jose State.
"The More college football coverage:
past couple of week we've been hearing that we weren't able to put points on the board, that we were struggling," tailback Thomas Jones said. "But we know what we can do. We know if we come out and everybody does what they have to that we can score points and we wanted to prove that today." Related Links
No one can prove it more than Jones, who carried 23 times for 203 yards and two touchdowns, including an 80-yard burst that tied the third-longest in school history. Antwoine Womack added 142 yards on 17 carries.
"It felt like it clicked today," Jones said.
"The offensive line was just jamming it down folks' throats," said Womack, who scored another of Virginia's six rushing TDs on a 13-yard run. "As long as they do it like they did it today, the sky's the limit."
Aaron Brooks also ran for two touchdowns and threw for another for Virginia, and Tyree Foreman scored on a 3-yard run for the Cavaliers (5-0), who trailed 7-3 after one quarter and scored the next 42 points.
"It felt great standing over there on the sidelines for so many plays," Virginia safety Anthony Poindexter said. "It felt good to watch the offense be able to drive the ball down the field and give us a breather."
San Jose State (2-3), playing its first game ever east of Minneapolis, was limited to 239 yards -- 87 on the ground -- in its second blowout loss to a ranked team. The Spartans lost 58-3 to No. 17 Oregon on Sept. 19.
"We knew they were ready to bust out offensively," said econd-year Spartans coach Dave Baldwin. "We were not capable of stopping them."
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| San Jose State didn't help itself with special teams blunders like a fumbled snap from punter Tim Morgan (49). (AP) |
"When you're able to stay at a job and do what he's done and see the players keep coming in, he's built a program here," Baldwin said of Welsh, 117-72-3 at Virginia. "It's fun to watch, but not fun to play against."
Trailing 7-3 after the first quarter, Virginia scored three more times before halftime as Brooks ran for two scores and Jones added his first. The Cavaliers had 193 rushing yards in the half, with Jones accounting for 108.
"They looked like the team they're supposed to be," said Marcus Arroyo, the Spartans' first- and third-quarter quarterback. He was 8-for-11 for 92 yards, while Chris Kasteler was 4-for-10 for 60 yards with a touchdown.
Jones added his long jaunt on Virginia's second play of the second half and went to the sidelines for good before the third quarter was over.
Jones' total marked the 10th time in Virginia history that a player rushed for 200 or more yards, and the first since Terry Kirby gained 207 against Duke in 1992. It also was the first time since 1995 that two Virginia players had at least 100 yards. They did it that time against Maryland.
The Spartans trailed 45-7 after Womack's scoring run and Brooks' 19-yard touchdown pass to Southern eight seconds into the final quarter.
Brooks finished 8-for-15 for 80 yards with one interception. He was lifted with 12 minutes left as Virginia began substituting freely.
San Jose State took a 7-3 lead on James Hodgins' 2-yard run with 3:11 left in the first quarter, but didn't score again until Kasteler's 14-yard pass to Oliver Newell with 12:10 left in the game.
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