Pressure Not Too Heavy for Virginia : ACC: No. 1 Cavaliers fall behind Wake Forest, 14-9, before Shawn Moore unleashes passing attack en route to 49-14 victory.

Is there pressure being the nation’s top-ranked college football team?

“We’re only human, we can’t be the 49ers every week,” Virginia Coach George Welsh said Saturday after the Cavaliers struggled early before beating Wake Forest, 49-14, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game.

“All this media attention is very new to us,” said Welsh, whose Cavaliers were voted the nation’s top team for the first time in school history last week. “I don’t know if we were focused or not today, but we got 49 points, so I guess we were.”

Virginia was trying to avoid becoming the fourth No. 1 team to lose this season. Miami, Notre Dame and Michigan had been rated No. 1.

“The pressure, yeah, there was a lot, especially in the first quarter,” wide receiver Herman Moore said. “A lot of people were a little skeptical about us being No. 1. But we weren’t in a state of panic or anything like that when we fell behind (14-9).”

“I was not going to scream today,” Welsh said of his halftime speech to his players. “I’m getting too old for that.”

Virginia’s Jake McInerney kicked four field goals before quarterback Shawn Moore got the Cavaliers’ offense in gear to extend the nation’s longest regular-season winning streak to 13.

McInerney scored on kicks of 45, 28 and 26 yards to give Virginia, 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the ACC, a 9-0 lead with 12:14 to play in the half. Moore then passed for two touchdowns late in the half to give Virginia a 28-14 lead.

The Demon Deacons (2-5, 0-4), four-touchdown underdogs, scored two touchdowns in 46 seconds midway through the second quarter to take a 14-9 lead.

Darrell France scored on a 60-yard pass play from Phil Barnhill for the first touchdown. Moore’s pitch was fumbled by Terry Kirby on the next play from scrimmage and recovered by Aubrey Hollifield at the Virginia 13. Tony Rogers ran seven yards around left end two plays later for the second touchdown.

“We were moving the ball there for a while, we got our feet under us,” Wake Forest Coach Bill Dooley said. “But then it seemed like their defense set their ears back and came after us.”

McInerney’s fourth field goal cut the lead to 14-12. The Cavaliers closed the quarter by scoring on their next two possessions.

Shawn Moore connected with his favorite target, Herman Moore, on a 49-yard scoring pass play with 2:27 left before halftime, giving the Cavaliers the lead for good.

After Virginia’s nationally fifth-ranked defense held Wake Forest deep in its own territory, Moore led another scoring drive to close the half. Two 20-yard pass plays over the middle to Kirby capped the drive, the second going for a touchdown with 30 seconds left.