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CHARLOTTESVILLE – Although they had won three straight games and five of their last six games, the idea that Virginia would finish the season without another defeat was far-fetched.
Even though quarterback Bryce Perkins can produce incredible games to the limit, the time would come when a team would discover how to prevent it from doing something magical.
Even if the Cavaliers' defense had been solid, the game would be played when a quarterback separated them or a back crossed them and then headed for the end zone.
"You never want to lose at home," said linebacker Charles Snowden. "You never want to lose to an opponent in the division. Doing what we did, the way they ran the ball, it hurts a lot. "
Pittsburgh defeated Virginia 23-13 Friday night at Scott Stadium. The Cavaliers greatly contributed to their loss through penalties and bad decisions. But the credit is due – Pittsburgh was better. The Panthers dominated the lines in attack and defense. The running back at Darrin Hall scored 229 yards in 19 carries and three touchdowns. One came on a 42-yard run, another on a grueling 75-yard run.
And the Panthers were ready for Perkins.
Pittsburgh is as good as anyone in the Coastal Division of ACC, which has no dominant team.
Virginia wanted to be this dominant team. The Cavaliers want to win the division championship and play for the ACC championship.
"We are always looking for all our goals," said running back Jordan Ellis. "We just have to keep working and improving.
"I am very confident that the guys will bounce back. We had two defeats at the beginning of the year and the guys bounced back with a lot of determination. We will fix the problem and be ready for Liberty next week. "
In general, coaches do not want to play non-conference games later in the season. But the home game against the Flames comes at a convenient time.
Virginia needs to put some order in her business before finishing the regular season in road games against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
Last summer, Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall said, during a presentation to the Virginia Board of Visitors, that he wanted to face the worst opponents of the division of the football cup. And he wanted to play against teams as close as possible to Charlottesville.
Liberty, moving from the football league division to FBS, checks most of these boxes.
But the timing of the Liberty game is only perfect if the Cavaliers consider the Flames a legitimate threat to win.
For a team aiming to become a competitor in its conference, with enough players to make this possible, the only positive point of a defeat is the way it focuses its attention.
"We felt like we were slow and lethargic, bouncing more methodically," Perkins said. "We need to be more passionate and proud to score and touch our pillars, which we have not done."
The Cavaliers did not think they were invulnerable, but they had the idea to be able to overcome almost all the obstacles of a match.
The loss of Pitt reminded them that there was still work to be done, improvements to make.
"We can never relax," Snowden said. "We can never give up, we have to consider every game as an ACC championship game, everything has to be perfect, everything is fine, let's move on to responsibility, it's all a long season and we have to be perfect in everything we do. "
Well, perfection is hard to reach. But the Cavaliers would like to win some more games. And they would be ahead of the rebuilding of their program if they won the Coastal Division this season.
"We have a lot more control over the outcome than we may claim," said Mendenhall. "It's not only coaches to players, it's the entire organization. You must be able to execute your main patterns, whatever the circumstances, and they must be effective enough from start to finish.
"If you want to be a candidate for a conference championship, it must happen. For me, this is one of the most essential lessons we have to learn and learn. This exposed our weaknesses. When you play outside the system at critical moments, the collective suffers. We did not play clean enough or perform well enough or in a complementary way to really take control of the game. "
Perkins showed that he could take charge of a match. But as the season progresses, there is a video that each team can study. Pittsburgh conducted a very thorough study of Perkins, as did Liberty, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
Pittsburgh had the opportunity to close Perkins' pocket and prevent him from charging for the distance. The Panthers were also kind enough to put pressure on Perkins and stay with him when he rushed, dodged and shot in order to do anything with nothing.
Perkins did not make the best decisions on Friday and it cost the Cavaliers dearly. He must learn from that.
There was a bigger lesson to consider on Friday night.
On October 27, a man entered Tree of Life Synagogue in Pitirburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. He allegedly shot and killed 11 people and wounded six others while shouting anti-Semitic insults.
The Panthers wore a sticker on the back of their helmets Friday that said "Pittsburgh Strong" with the emblem of the Star of David between the words.
The Virginia Alumni Association usually distributes buttons before matches. On Friday night, the alumni association distributed small stickers that could be affixed to shirts, jackets and raincoats. The words "We Stand with Pittsburgh" and the heart symbol after "Pittsburgh" appeared on the stickers.
Before the national anthem was played, there was a minute of silence in memory of those who died that day at Tree of Life. It was so quiet that it was as if the stadium was empty. It was so quiet that it was possible to hear the rain falling on the aluminum stands of the stands and on the soggy ground.
Some things transcend football.
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