Marques Hagans Saves Day for Virginia Cavaliers in 'Cuse Victory

For many of you that regularly read my columns, you're well aware of the fact that I'm probably the biggest Marques Hagans defender out there, so naturally there was nobody happier than me to see Hagans strap the Cavaliers on his back and will them to a heart-stopping 27-24 victory last Saturday (Sept. 17, 2005).
Fans have plenty of reasons to knock Hagans for his passing ability, but the bottom line is without his ability to use his legs to improvise and dance around the Syracuse defense all day long, Virginia comes out of Syracuse with a loss. The Hampton native turned in another stellar performance against the Orange, knifing his way through the Syracuse defense to the tune of 110 rushing yards. "Biscuit" also had an adequate, but certainly not great passing day, completing 16 of his 26 attempts for 145 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions. Many critics will gripe about the three interceptions, but there's no doubt that Hagans did more than make up for the mistakes he made with his arm with his breathtaking running ability. Hagans looked like a modern-day Houdini Saturday at the Carrier Dome, because there was simply no hold he couldn't escape, no defender he couldn't elude, no hole he couldn't find in the Syracuse defense.

The much maligned signal-caller was simply a magician with his feet and was dancing around Syracuse defenders all afternoon long. His most amazing run came early in the third quarter when the Cavaliers faced 3rd down and 4 from the Syracuse 36-yard line. Hagans raced to the left side of the field where he was chased down by Syracuse defensive end Ryan Lacasse. Lacasse tried to pull him down by his jersey, but Hagans planted his right hand on the Carrier Dome turf, spun out of the tackle and glided up the field for a seven yard gain. That play was just a microcosm of the entire afternoon for the slippery signal-caller, because just as it seemed the 'Cuse defense had him cornered, Hagans used his remarkable ability to escape a tackle.