The Cavalier daily :: Wednesday, November 12, 1969 :: University of Virginia Library

Plagued by bad breaks all
season, the Virginia football team
fell victim this past weekend to a
quirk of fate that has followed
them around for four winless
weeks, hounding them from
Richmond to Annapolis to
Charlottesville - the bad center
snap. Ironically enough, it was the
coaches' son, John Blackburn, who
centered the ball on the ill-fated
punt that gave the game to Wake.

It was a high snap from center
that gave VMI the pigskin on the
Virginia twenty in the Tobacco
Bowl five weeks ago. Two plays
later the Keydets drove the ball in
for their first score of the season.
Against North Carolina State high
snaps again proved fatal as
Trentham could get few decent
punts away that afternoon. In
Annapolis a bad snap from center
led to a Navy score.

In the words of offensive
coordinator Ken Campbell, "I have
run out of adjectives to describe
our Saturday afternoons. If I were a
superstitious man, I would say
someone has put a hex on us. This
has been the most ridiculous season
I've ever spent with a team, both as
a player and a coach." The team
has played well this season; for
seven weeks Virginia has led the
ACC in total offense and defense
This past Saturday the line did an
exceptional job, "but we always
find a way to blow it."

The Cavaliers were sharp
offensively this weekend for the
first two quarters. They had
fourteen points on the scoreboard
with the game only six and a half
minutes old. But it takes two halves
to make a ball game, and the
Wahoos couldn't seem to put them
both together.

Obviously the Virginia attack
wants consistency. During the
second half they could penetrate
only as far as the Deacon
thirty-five. The Hoos gained one
hundred and ninety-six yards
rushing in the first thirty minutes
and only one during the second.
I or the first half the attack seemed
awesome, but then the rains came,
washing away what sparkle they
had and leaving both the offense
and their jerseys a dull, boring
brown.