Calling London: Time to scrap the 'plan'

CHARLOTTESVILLE

That quizzical "plan" Virginia football coach Mike London has that involves starting sophomore quarterback Michael Rocco while working in true freshman David Watford?

It's got to be scrapped, out the window now, if London - as he did Saturday in a 28-14 loss to North Carolina State - lends no ear to the flow of the game and leaves no room for flexibility or intuition.

A week after the Cavaliers' supposedly "turn the corner" win over ranked Georgia Tech, London's stubbornness cost his team a chance to collect two ACC pelts in a row.

Rocco deftly led the Cavs (4-3 overall, 1-2 ACC) on a 14-play, 72-yard drive to take a 7-zip lead early in the second quarter. It was a 7-1/2-minute march that included Rocco diving for the first-down marker on a third-down scramble, and ended with him coolly buying time under pressure and finding Clifton Richardson for a 6-yard touchdown pass.

Rocco had completed 7 of his first 9 passes to that point. He seemed to be in control and playing confidently.

He had directed similar touchdown drives early in the last three games, against Southern Mississippi, Idaho and Georgia Tech. And in all those games, fueled by his momentum, Rocco immediately followed one scoring drive with another.

But when Virginia got the ball back this time with five minutes left in the second quarter of a 7-7 game, Watford had the keys.

"Just stuck to the plan," said Bill Lazor, U.Va.'s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, when asked if riding Rocco's hot hand was considered. I'll interpret Lazor's body language for you as he said that: Not pleased.

That's because the plan failed miserably, on a couple of levels, and foreshadowed what became a long day for U.Va.

The first was that Watford, on his second play, admittedly misread a coverage and threw out when receiver Darius Jennings went up. North Carolina State intercepted.

And within seconds quarterback Mike Glennon and receiver Bryan Underwood torched U.Va.'s Tra Nicholson, the true freshman cornerback from Virginia Beach, on a 33-yard scoring strike that put the Pack up to stay.

The second was that Rocco was a mess when he returned.

He missed on his next 10 passes - three were officially credited as drops - into the middle of the third quarter, at which point London had little choice but to pull him for good.

"It's not easy to come out and go back in like that, but it's the situation that we've been given to do it," said Rocco, who finished with seven completions in 19 attempts for just 36 yards. "So we've got to do our best in the situation and stay loose on the sideline."

Clearly uncomfortable with the conversation, Rocco paused when he was asked if he expected to stay in after his touchdown drive.

"I mean, it's tough," he said, "but the coaches do what they feel is best. So I can't really say anything about it."

I can. It's stupid.

Watford has a talented right arm, but what's the rush? He launched a 60-yard TD pass to Chesapeake's Tim Smith that inched the Cavs to within 21-14. But overall he completed four of his 16 attempts to teammates and three to Wolfpack defenders, the last of which was returned for a 12-yard touchdown.

Rocco's no Andrew Luck, but he and his team deserved him to play on uninterrupted.

"It's always the plan to try to get David some reps in the first half, as opposed to not getting any reps," London said in defense of his move. "After four series, the chance presented to get him in there.

"It's unfortunate, when he was in there, what happened to him."

The same goes for what the plan just did to U.Va. 

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com

HamptonRoads.com/robinson; Twitter @RobinsonVP