Unfortunately, Virginia had seen this ending before.
For the fourth time in the last eight games, Virginia watched an opponent snatch away a victory in the final eight minutes. Saturday’s loss to Notre Dame also marked the second time in the program’s last three games that the Hoos took a lead in the final three minutes only to see it vanish. This time, Will Fuller played the role of heartbreaker when he hauled in a go-ahead touchdown with 12 seconds to go and the Fighting Irish prevailed 34-27.
“It’s definitely disappointing,” UVa defensive back Demetrious Nicholson said. “You’ve got a No. 9 ranked team coming in here, we played our hearts out, and we had them on the ropes. We were up. It’s definitely disappointing.”
“It definitely stings,” Cavalier defensive end Mike Moore said. “Losing is not the happiest feeling to have. You want to win every game you play. We’ve got to come together and go out there and get another W.”
Finishing games became a theme in the offseason after Virginia lost five games by eight points or less in 2014. That included three games that came down to the wire and ended in a loss. Duke got a touchdown with 7:23 remaining to win 20-13. North Carolina found the end zone with 4:05 to play and won 28-27. The most painful of all came at Virginia Tech scored a touchdown with 1:48 remaining to win 24-20 and knock the Hoos out of bowl contention.
That loss in the finale resembled Saturday’s game the most. In that one, UVa marched 89 yards on 10 plays to take the lead with 2:55 to go. Moments later, the Hokies tallied a 50-yard passing play to set up the eventual winning score. On Saturday against Notre Dame, the Hoos moved 80 yards on 13 plays to take the lead with 1:54 to go. Moments later, the Irish connected on the game-winning pass when Fuller hauled in the deep throw from backup quarterback Deshone Kizer. Fuller finished with five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns, while Kizer went 8-of-12 passing for 92 yards and two touchdowns in relief of Malik Zaire, who is out for the season after fracturing his ankle during the game.
At 0-2 on the season, Virginia must regroup before William & Mary visits next Saturday.
“What a tough way to lose a football game,” Cavalier coach Mike London said. “I’m proud of this team and the effort that was displayed. That’s a gutsy group of guys in there that went toe-to-toe for a while and had a chance to win one of the biggest games in a long time. It got away from us. We’ve played two really good football teams. The goal was to get better going from the first game to the second game and I believe we did that. We’ve got a long way to go to continue to get better overall. We’ll take care of ourselves and move on to the next opponent.”
After losing to UCLA 34-16 in the season opener, the Hoos put themselves in position for a major upset in their home opener – they hadn’t beaten a top 10 team since a win over No. 4 Florida State in 2005 but had the No. 9 Irish reeling. The Hoos rallied from an early 12-0 deficit to lead 14-12 at the half and then dug out of a 26-14 hole to lead in the final two minutes.
Quarterback Matt Johns and receiver Canaan Severin led the spirited attack with repeated connections all over the field. Johns, who had just one incompletion in the first half, finished 26-of-38 passing for 289 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for a score. Severin grabbed 11 of those 26 completions and recorded 153 yards on the night. Beyond that, Johns spread the ball around with completions to seven other players, including a 42-yard touchdown pass to Keeon Johnson on a trick play.
Johns saved his best for last. He engineered a go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that sent Scott Stadium into a frenzy. He completed 8 of 11 passes on that drive, including seven straight at one point. Two of the biggest moments came on a clutch fourth down completion to Severin and a 34-yard pattern to Ryan Santoro that set up Albert Reid’s touchdown run that lifted Virginia to a 27-26 lead.
“That last drive our offense put together was pretty special,” Johns said.
Unfortunately that special moment withered away in the final 1:20. Notre Dame converted on fourth-and-2 to extend the final drive and then completed four straight passes to end the game with the winning touchdown.
When the shock settled, it left the team and its fans with mixed emotions. UVa showed its resilience by erasing double-digit deficits twice and its guts with a clutch fourth quarter drive. Virginia also flashed its struggles with nine penalties and its back-breaking tendency with big plays allowed at critical moments. There’s hope in there. And frustration.
The Hoos can’t settle for being close – “Close gets you beat,” Severin said – and what almost was a huge upset. They want more than that.
“That really falls on the leadership of this team,” Virginia senior Ross Burbank said. “The older players and the veterans need to just get into everyone’s heads and make sure everyone understands that that game is done, it is behind us, there is no moral victory, there is no pat on the back for playing well. We just have to go to the next game. I hate the phrase ‘moral victory’ at this point. There is nothing for us there, it’s not what we want, it’s not what we play for. We play to win a championship. It’s why we play the game and it’s why we practice. It is very frustrating but we just need to get back to it and push a little harder.”
