UVA Casts Shade Of Gray Over Auburn
Beating No. 25 Auburn was a lot easier than Aaron Brooks thought it would be.
Brooks
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"I thought they would bring all 11 guys on the line to confuse me, but they didn't," Brooks said. "I expected them to do something out of the ordinary. We expected the blitzes they brought, but expected a little more."
Virginia dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage. Brooks took care of the offense and the defense made it a miserable debut for Auburn quarterback Ben Leard.
Auburn Coach Terry Bowden had promised the Tigers would depend more on the running game this year, especially with the inexperienced Leard at quarterback. So Virginia was ready.
"We are a pretty good run-stopping team," Virginia coach George Welsh said. "Through the years, it's been pretty tough to run our defense. They didn't run on us last year, but they threw for a ton of yards. This year they
didn't." 
Auburn had no answer for the tough Virginia defense. (AP)
Virginia held Auburn to only 18 yards rushing and 179 yards total offense.
"The plan didn't work," Bowden said. "The plan was to establish the running game and not rely on the quarterback. It failed. We need to find a running game."
Virginia cornerback Anthony Poindexter said the Tigers had a miserable time running the ball because the Cavaliers were ready for it.
"We knew coming in they were going to be committed to running the ball, so we knew we had to shut down the run," Poindexter said. "We knew we had to make them pass and I think we were effective doing that."
Brooks, 16-for-28 for 220 yards, gave the Cavaliers the only points they needewhen he checked off his primary receiver and found Coffey between two defensive backs in the right flat. Coffey scored untouched and Virginia led 6-0 with 5:27 left in the half.
Brooks' 22-yard completion to Casey Crawford set up Todd Braveman's 24-yard field goal in the third quarter and his 10-yard pass to Terrence Wilkins got Braveman within range for a 32-yarder with 12:57 to play.
That made it 12-0 and Virginia was home free against an Auburn team that couldn't manage anything offensively. With an ineffective run, Leard was unable to move the Tigers through the air, hitting only 11-of-25 for 146 yards with one interception. Leard also lost two fumbles after being chased out of the pocket.
It was a rematch of last year's season opener and Brooks made sure his Cavaliers would avenge last year's 28-17 loss at Charlottesville. The fifth-year senior capitalized on the big play, hitting on 10 passes of 10 or more yards and spreading the ball among eight receivers.
"This helps us with out confidence, beating a great team like Auburn," Brooks said. "It should make a difference throughout the season."
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