William and Mary (0-1) lost 43-0 against Virginia last Saturday night, Sept. 3, on the road at Scott Stadium.
“The goal is always to win the game, no matter who you’re playing,” Head Coach Mike London said in a press conference. “There’s a lot of good things, but obviously there’s a lot of things we need to work on as well.”
After winning the coin toss, the Tribe opted to start the game by receiving. Virginia forced a quick three before flexing their muscles on special teams. The Wahoos returned senior Will Michael’s punt well into William and Mary territory, setting up an easy field goal to jump ahead with an early 3-0 lead.
After giving up a field goal on Virginia’s opening possession, the Tribe defense took a stand and kept the Wahoos off the board until the middle of the second quarter when quarterback Brennan Armstrong rolled out left and ran into the endzone for a touchdown.
Late in the second quarter, the Tribe recovered a Virginia punt fumble on the Wahoo 13 yardline. However, the Tribe was forced to punt on fourth down. An unsportsmanlike penalty pushed the Tribe back 15 yards and redshirt freshman Ethan Chang missed the field goal from 42 yards out.
Virginia closed out the half with a 75-yard drive, pushing them to 17-0 at the half.
“We’ve got to worry about what we’re doing, not what they’re doing,” London said. “That happened, it pushed us back, and we missed the kick.”
William and Mary’s defense stood strong at the start of the second half, forcing a key three and out from the Hoos. On their ensuing possession, freshman Darius Wilson threw to redshirt freshman Tyler Rose for a 20 yard completion, the longest of the night for the Tribe. Later in the drive, William and Mary faced a fourth down with two to go situation and kept the offense on the field. However, the Tribe were penalized for delay of game, and Virginia blocked Chang’s 36-yard field goal.
Virginia sealed the game with three touchdowns and a field goal on their next four possessions. The Wahoos finished with a total of 545 total yards, compared to just 183 from the Tribe. Armstrong finished with 339 yards, two touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns for Virginia.
“We’ve got a long way to go, and it was a great opportunity to see what you need to get fixed and how you can fix it,” London said of the game. “So make the corrections here and get ready for our next opponent.”
William and Mary will host Lafayette at 6 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 13 at Zable Stadium.