ATLANTA, Ga.—
The final college football game of the 2011 season featured a rebuilt Virginia team ready to prove itself as a legitimate program.On the opposite sideline, last year's national champs, an Auburn team that exposed UVa's lack of experience on a big stage.
"Their five losses are to very, very good teams. We just couldn't afford to give the field position and issues like that," Virginia coach Mike London said.
After a promising start, featuring two touchdowns to senior Kris Burd, those field position issues came in droves. Virginia had two punts blocked, lost an onside kick and gave up a big return. Not to mention two turnovers of the more traditional variety.
"They were putting points up on the board off those turnovers and blocked kicks. We got ourselves in a little bit of a hole and we couldn't dig back out of it," said UVA QB Michael Rocco.
Rocco completed 26 of his 41 passes for 312 yards. He also threw two touchdowns and an interception.
Wahoos running back Perry Jones had 122 total yards.
"We didn't win the special teams battle and we didn't win any of the battles," Jones said.
The Cavalier defense began the game in a hole. All-ACC cornerback Chase Minnifield and linebacker Steve Greer both missed the game due to injury. The patchwork unit gave up more yards than in any other game this year, as the Tigers racked up 454 total yards of offense.
"I'm not going to use who didn't play, injuries, as an excuse. It's part of the game of football," London said.
Auburn is tied for the nation's longest active bowl win streak, now up to five in a row.
"We just regroup, get ready, remember this experience because this is something that we want to do. Play in the postseason, have the chance to play good teams like that," London said.
Jones said: "Coming into the season nobody gave us a chance to do anything. We proved a lot of people wrong. We just got to keep pressing forward."
Virginia is now 1-4 against SEC teams in bowl games. But despite the sloppy end to 2011, this was still a banner year for the program. And one the players hope will only be the beginning of good things to come.
