For the fifth time in the last 18 games, the Virginia football team watched a loss slip away by less than a touchdown. On Saturday, the heart-wrenching loss came courtesy of a missed field goal in the final 10 seconds as Maryland squeaked out a 27-26 win in College Park.
The Cavaliers are 2-4 this season and 0-2 in ACC play.
“I’m very proud of the team. I’m very proud of the effort. Obviously, we weren’t good enough to win the game but there were a lot of things that went on that we can improve upon. That’s the aim, that’s the goal. Obviously, we’ve got to do better to give us the opportunity to win the game at the end,” UVa coach Mike London said. “The kids were resilient. I’m really proud of their effort. We’ve got to do better so we have the opportunity to win games like that.”
Two critical moments in the fourth quarter decided the outcome between the long-time border rivals.
Moments after Virginia converted a punt return fumble by Maryland into 3 points and a 26-20 lead, the Terrapins faced a 3rd-and-22 play from its 40-yard line. Back-up quarterback Caleb Rowe, who started in place of an injured C.J. Brown, tossed a jumpball pass up the right sidelines where Deon Long snared it for a 47-yard gain. That throw somehow beat a bracket double team by UVa defenders DreQuan Hoskey and Anthony Harris.
Two plays later, Rowe connected with Dave Stinebaugh for a 12-yard touchdown that gave Maryland the lead and the eventual winning margin.
“You’ve got to go up and make that play and it’s a whole different story. We talk about the missed field goal at the end, but 3rd-and-22 like that – you get off the field. It’s a critical difference. It gets down to those four or five plays again that [you need to be] on the positive side of,” London said.
The Cavaliers did not fold and made one last attempt to steal the win in the final 2:34. Taking over at their own 17-yard line, the Hoos charged into Terp territory as David Watford found Dominique Terrell, Kevin Parks, Darius Jennings, Zach Swanson, and Khalek Shepherd for completions; a pass interference call on a pass intended for Swanson added 11 yards to the cause too. Those passing plays pushed UVa to the Maryland 27-yard line with just more than 1:00 to play. The Wahoos gained 2 more yards on three running plays to set up Alec Vozenilek, handling the place-kicking duties for the second straight week in place of an injured Ian Frye, for a 42-yard field goal attempt.
The kick drifted outside the right upright and the Terps escaped with the win in the final ACC meeting between the two schools.
“You dream about stuff like that as a kid. It was a great opportunity. The team believed in me and I believed in myself, I just pushed it right,” Vozenilek said.
“Alec should not shoulder the blame or anything like that. That’s his first miss since he’s been kicking. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way the game goes sometimes,” London said. “I wouldn’t characterize [the final drive] as being conservative. The biggest thing is to put yourself into a position where the playmakers can help extend the drives or get those first downs or get those points. You’ve got to give Maryland credit, they did a good job defensively on some things we tried to do. It came down to one last opportunity and I guess it was wide right.”
The loss proved especially disappointing because the Hoos took big strides from a week earlier when turnovers (4) and penalties (13) characterized a 48-27 loss to Ball State. Against Maryland, Virginia had 0 turnovers and just 5 penalties.
Thanks to three fumbles by the Terps, that gave UVa a decided advantage in the turnover margin category. Still, thanks in large part to another bugaboo – red zone touchdown percentage – that wasn’t enough.
As a result, the Cavaliers couldn’t capitalize on 505 yards of offense. Watford completed 27 of 44 passes for 263 yards and 1 touchdown, much of it to tight end Jake McGee, who had 8 catches and piled up 114 receiving yards and 1 touchdown. Parks added 112 rushing yards and 1 touchdown plus 50 yards receiving. Shepherd joined in with 81 yards rushing and 16 yards receiving.
Defensively, Henry Coley led the way with 9 tackles, while Harris added 8 stops. Hoskey and David Dean added 7 tackles each, while Jake Snyder had 3 tackles and 3 pass break-ups.
“That’s about as bad as a loss gets right there. It’s Maryland, a rival, away, last [ACC] game [against them]. You have a chance to win the game, and it’s one thing after another and you lose my a couple points,” McGee said.
