It took a fourth down conversion, a game-tying field goal as regulation expired, a scramble drill touchdown toss, and three total overtimes, but Virginia finally found a way to win again. All of that happened while the Hoos overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to drop Syracuse, 44-38, on Saturday.
After getting their first FBS and ACC win of the year, the Cavaliers (2-4, 1-1 ACC) were able to smile in the interview room after the game.
“Feels good,” Virginia receiver Canaan Severin said. “We have to get back to work tomorrow. This was a hard fought game. It shows that our team is battle tested and we compete to the end. That’s what we showed today. The word for today’s game was ‘win’. We were saying all week. I was asking Coach [Dave] Borbely, a guy that’s been in this game for a long time, what do we have to do? He said ‘you have to catch better, Matt has to throw better, O-Line has to block better and the defense has to make tackles.’ That’s what we did today.”
“We always say that you live by the psychology of results and things like that,” Cavalier coach Mike London said. “Having a chance to win a game like that is something that can catapult you to the next level of believing, doing and achieving. The mindset has always been good, but now it’s about winning games on the football field. Syracuse is a good football team and that quarterback is a very talented young man. We found a way to win and that’s the most important thing we’ll take from this.”
To get the elusive victory, UVa had to make several plays during the second half rally and overtime. First, the Hoos put together a 15-play drive that covered 75 yards for a touchdown. That drive featured a 3rd-and-10 conversion on a pass to T.J. Thorpe and a 3rd-and-Goal conversion on tight end Charlie Hopkins’ first career touchdown catch.
After the defense forced a punt, Virginia strung together another long scoring drive that took up the final 6:52 of regulation. In addition to a third down facemask penalty on Syracuse on the fifth play, the Cavaliers also moved the chains on 3rd-and-7 and 4th-and-3, both on throws to Taquan Mizzell, during the drive. Ian Frye capped off the 19-play drive and forced overtime with a 25-yard field goal that split the uprights. Mizzell led the committee of backs with 13 carries for 58 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 10 catches for 69 yards, pushing him past the 100-catch plateau for his career in the process.
There was more drama to come.
The Orange opened overtime with a touchdown pass from Eric Dungey to Ervin Phillips. On the play, UVa linebacker Zach Bradshaw drew a penalty for targeting and was ejected. To make matters worse, the penalty was enforced on the ensuing possession so the Hoos had to start from the 40-yard line instead of the 25-yard line while needing a touchdown to tie. On 3rd-and-6, Virginia quarterback Matt Johns was flushed from the pocket but he found Severin on an improvised ‘go long’ scramble play. Severin hauled in the jumpball throw for the 36-yard touchdown that forced a second overtime.
Johns finished 24-of-37 passing for 234 yards and 2 touchdowns to go with 1 interception. Severin logged 4 catches for 70 yards and that critical touchdown grab.
“I got flushed,” Johns said. “I went through my progressions and they were sitting in everything. They were sitting in a zone. They stopped T.J. on a drag route. They jumped Smoke in the flat. Canaan had a little over the ball route and I just got flushed out and they were all hanging out in the middle. He kind of went deep and put his hand up. I looked to make sure there wasn’t a corner deep and I knew if I put the ball up, if he doesn’t catch it, it’s going to be incomplete. Luckily he made a play.”
“They came out with a tighter formation, so I ran to the corner,” Cuse corner Julian Whigham said. “He ran across the formation. I was the backside deep safety. The quarterback scrambled out of the pocket, I saw him break his route vertically, and I tried to get over there as best I could and try to go get the ball. He just made a great play.”
In the second overtime, Virginia scored first when Mizzell took the ball 13 yards to the end zone. During the celebration, however, offensive lineman Eric Smith was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. With the ball at the 12-yard line to start the Syracuse drive, Dungey immediately hit Steve Ishmael on the first play as the teams traded touchdowns again.
Finally in the third overtime, a defense stepped up to get a stop. The Cavaliers sacked Dungey for a four-yard loss on second down and then pushed him back six more yards with a second straight sack on the next play. Syracuse kicker Cole Murphy missed a 48-yard field goal attempt. From there, the Hoos turned to the ground game to get the win. They handed the ball off five times in the third overtime, once to Mizzell, once to Daniel Hamm, and three times to Jordan Ellis to cover the 25 yards to the end zone. Ellis’ 3-yard touchdown sealed the victory for UVa.
“Jordan is a big back,” London said. “He had a big run earlier in the season where he broke some tackles. With Albert Reid banged up a bit, the next man up was Jordan. It seems like all the running backs add something to our offense. Jordan is kind of that short-yardage, goal-line package type of guy. We’ve found roles for our guys and they’ve embraced it. Nobody has an ego about who’s getting the carries or the reps. We have guys that don’t care who gets the credit. They just want to win.”
All of the overtime action overshadowed some key plays in regulation. The first quarter finished scoreless thanks to a goal line stand from the Hoos. Syracuse’s Antwan Cordy finally opened the scoring with a 44-yard fumble return for touchdown when Mizzell lost the ball along the visiting sidelines. UVa returned the favor later in the second quarter when Mike Moore dislodged the ball during Dungey’s wind-up and Wilfred Wahee ran it in from 32 yards out. Moore had 5 tackles and the forced fumbled; Wahee added 5 tackles and the scoring return.
The first half ended when Dungey broke out of the pocket, ran up the middle, hurdled Quin Blanding’s tackle attempt, and scored a 26-yard touchdown. Blanding led the defense with 12 tackles. Micah Kiser added 11 stops and David Dean had 9. Dungey rushed for a career-high 85 yards and went 16-of-22 passing for 150 yards.
After the frenetic second quarter with all of that action, the second half was all about ball control. Syracuse extended its 21-14 halftime lead to 10 points with a field goal late in the third quarter. That scoring drive took 13 plays and 6:56 off the clock. Virginia rallied with the aforementioned 15- and 19-play drives that combined to eat up 13:47.
“It was a great effort by our football team,” London said. “I’m proud of those guys. They showed some fight, resiliency and grit. You could use all of those types of words. We found a way to win a football game in the end where players made big plays. It’s just good to see a positive thing happen for these guys. There are still things to correct, but at the same time this is something we haven’t done in a long while. To see that type of effort culminate into a win like this is good for those kids and this program.”
