Cavs Can’t Quite Catch ‘Canes

Deyon Williams caught six passes for 152 yards, including a 90-yard TD.

Virginia played with pride and regained some respect but couldn’t quite pull out another signature victory to close a somewhat disappointing regular season. The Cavaliers battled #10 Miami from start to finish at the Orange Bowl, losing 25-17 despite tricking the Hurricanes early and outgaining them on the day.

“We played well but we didn’t play well enough to win,” said UVa coach Al Groh. “If we hadn’t made a few errors along the way, we would have been good enough.”

At 6-5 overall and 3-5 in the ACC, the Wahoos completed their worst regular season since 2001, Groh’s first as Virginia’s coach. They are eligible for a bowl but are not certain to receive a bid. Miami finished 9-2 overall and 6-2 in the ACC.

Coming on the heels of an embarrassing 52-14 home loss to Virginia Tech, the Cavs, even without star linebacker Ahmad Brooks (back spasms), came through with a respectable performance in the state of Florida, where they are now 0-14.

They took a 7-3 lead on a 90-yard pass from Emmanuel Byers to Deyon Williams on a flanker reverse – the longest pass ever yielded by the Hurricanes. A 24-yard field goal by Connor Hughes made it 10-3 early in the second quarter.

Virginia ended up with 407 yards, the most allowed all season by the top-rated Miami defense. Williams caught six passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns, while Wali Lundy, Jason Snelling and Marques Hagans were effective at times on the ground.

The Hurricanes were more efficient than explosive. Kyle Wright completed 23 of 30 passes for 248 yards and a touchdown. Charlie Jones ran for two TDs. Miami scored twice in the second quarter but Jon Peattie missed both extra points, so the score was 15-10 at the half.

Peattie’s 30-yard field goal made it 18-10 in the third quarter and the Cavs, with the wind at their backs in the final period, mounted one promising drive, marching inside the Miami 30 before turning the ball over on downs with four minutes left.

A 31-yard run by Peattie on third-and-two set up Jones’ second touchdown run. Virginia answered with a spectacular TD grab by Williams with 27 seconds left, landing with his elbow in bounds in the back of the end zone (the replay official overruled the call on the field), but the ‘Canes recovered the ensuining onside kick and ran out the clock.

“We don’t care who or where. We just want to play,” Groh said when asked about bowl possibilities. “If we can have the same effort we did tonight, it doesn’t matter what their name is, what color their jersey is, what bowl it is. If we play the same way we did tonight, we’ll be all right.”