Led by its defense, opportunistic play from the offense, and a new kicker, a resolute University of Virginia football team secured a 16-13 victory over No. 16 Miami in Scott Stadium Saturday evening.
The win was neither easy nor pretty, but the Cavaliers found a way to defeat a ranked opponent for the first time since the 2014 season. With the win, UVA improves to 2-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play and 4-2 overall. Miami, which had won five straight before heading to Charlottesville, drops to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the ACC.
“One of my favorite things is just to see our players happy and our coaches happy,” Virginia head football coach Bronco Mendenhall said in his postgame comments. “They work really hard, we ask a lot of them and have now for two-and-a-half years. They’re becoming resilient and they are becoming confident and they acknowledge and see that happening. For me and my staff, it’s just fun to watch them transforming, not transformed, transforming and to see them feel that and sense it. It was really gratifying to see the energy of the crowd. I think it was the best crowd since I’ve been a coach here. I’m not talking about the numbers, I’m just talking about how engaged they were. And that atmosphere made a difference; it makes a difference. And I sensed maybe a beginning of what this really can be and more and more folks catching on and maybe believing this is for real and that this is going to happen. And so I just was proud of my team. And again, when you’re in ACC football you have to make enough plays to win and the games will be close, they will be competitive and that’s what we did. Really proud of our defensive staff again. The young guns on that side of the ball, I’m just as happy for them as I am for our players. Three of them were my former players, and to see them now passing that culture on is super gratifying. And to see [Bryce Perkins] just battle back and forth and find a way to help us with [Brian Delaney] emerging and kicking field goals to help us beat Miami at home, which was a pretty phenomenal thing and a turn of events I don’t think any of us could have predicted. So, overall, just a great night for Virginia football – for the players, the fans, and for the coaches.”
Miami entered Charlottesville boasting one of the top defenses in the country. The Hurricanes had also been highly opportunistic, forcing 14 turnovers in its previous six games and capitalizing on those turnovers to the tune of 69 points. The Hurricane D lived up to its billing, limiting the Cavalier offense to just 231 total yards while tallying four sacks and three turnovers. What Miami didn’t do, thanks in large part to a major effort from the Virginia defensive unit, was turn those turnovers into points.
Surely to the dismay of Mendenhall, Miami’s “turnover chain” – a shiny, giant gold necklace given out whenever the team gets a turnover – was showcased early and often. By the 10:07 mark of the second quarter, Virginia junior quarterback Bryce Perkins had thrown three interceptions, which could have easily doomed the Cavaliers. However, the defense was up to the challenge and limited the Hurricanes to just three points – a Bubba Baxa 47-yard field goal – off those turnovers.
It was the Virginia offense that proved to be the opportunistic bunch, scoring 10 points off two second quarter interceptions by Miami redshirt freshman quarterback N’Kosi Perry. With the game scoreless and Perkins having just thrown his second pick of the game, Perry threw his first interception of the game when UVA sophomore safety Joey Blount stepped in front of a deep middle throw. Blount’s 31-yard return set up the home team with good field position around midfield.
Eight plays and 43 yards later, Brian Delaney, making his debut as Virginia’s placekicker, booted through a 26-yard field goal to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 advantage. Delaney, a sophomore who has handled UVA’s kickoff duties each of the past two seasons, beat out true freshman Hunter Pearson in practice for the starting placekicker job.
On Miami’s ensuing possession, Perry was intercepted by Cavalier senior safety Juan Thornhill, whose highlight-reel-worthy return of 62 yards gave the Virginia offense the ball at the Miami 7. On 2nd-and-goal, senior running back Jordan Ellis took the handoff and bulldozed straight up the middle for a 7-yard touchdown run. Delaney’s extra-point gave the Hoos a 10-0 lead.
Juan Thornhill with the INT for UVA 🔒 pic.twitter.com/DPFkIvku0A
— NCAAF Nation (@NCAAFNation247) October 14, 2018
Perry’s second interception prompted head coach Mark Richt to make a change, subbing senior Malik Rosier in for the talented redshirt freshman. Rosier, a senior, began the year as Miami’s starter before losing the job to Perry after three games.
“[Perry] hasn’t seen a defense like ours, so he’s been going against a bunch of man-free so he can just see the quick throws and throw them,” Thornhill said, adding “our defense you actually have to read it and know what’s going on. We saw frustration in his face and he looked like he was just ready to throw us a bunch of balls.”
With Rosier at quarterback, Miami responded to Virginia’s 10-point burst with two second quarter scoring drives. Though the Hurricanes entered the red zone on both drives, they could come away only with field goals. Virginia cornerback Bryce Hall made one of the plays of the game on the second drive, catching running back Travis Homer from behind to prevent a long touchdown run. Homer settled for a 70-yard run down to the Cavalier 15 instead of an 85-yard touchdown, and three plays later the Hurricanes settled for another Baxa field goal to trim the lead to four.
Virginia ended the half with a 9-play, 46-yard drive capped off by a field goal. Delaney’s 46-yarder was Virginia’s first field goal make of 40 yards or more in the two-plus seasons of the Mendenhall era. More importantly, the score gave the Cavaliers a 13-6 halftime lead.
UVA extended its lead to 16-6 in the fourth quarter thanks to a 16-play, 73-yard drive that resulted in a Delaney 32-yard field goal. Almost as important as the points was the 8 minutes, 35 seconds the home team milked off the clock during this drive, which began at the 4:24 mark of the third quarter and ended at the 10:49 mark of the fourth.
Down by 10, Miami quickly drove to the Virginia 29 thanks to consecutive completions of over 20 yards from Rosier to Homer. But on 2nd-and-11 from the Cavalier 30, Rosier threw an errant pass and Thornhill came up with his second interception of the day.
The Hurricane defense held Virginia to a three-and-out before Rosier led his team on an 11-play, 93-yard drive, which he capped off with an 11-yard touchdown run. The score was now 16-13, but only 3:04 remained in the game. A 15-yard roughing the kicker penalty on Virginia’s Hall was enforced on the kickoff, and because of the added yardage – the kickoff was now from the 50 – Richt, who had three timeouts at his disposal, opted to go for an onside kick.
“Once we got the penalty, the ball got moved up 15 yards,” Richt said. “If you go onside and you get it, it’s a bonus. If you go onside and you don’t get it, normally the guy gets tackled. You may lose 10 to maybe 15 yards of field position if you don’t get it and still have time, have three timeouts to get a stop. You can debate that both ways. If there wasn’t the penalty, there never would have been a thought, we would have kicked it deep.”
Things didn’t play out as Richt had hoped. Virginia senior tight end Evan Butts scooped up the kick, which wasn’t going the needed 10 yards for Miami to try and recover, and ran 30 yards to the Hurricane 27. Thanks to some help from Miami, Virginia was able to run out the clock from there.
On 3rd-and-3 from the Miami 20, Perkins rushed for one yard, which would have likely forced Mendenhall to kick a field goal with roughly 2:40 left in the game. After the play, though, Miami redshirt senior defensive lineman Tito Odenigbo pushed Virginia offensive lineman Jake Fieler to the ground, drawing a crucial personal foul that gave the Cavaliers a first down at the Miami 9.
Miami still had some life when it forced a Delaney field goal attempt with 34 seconds remaining. The field goal was good, but sophomore defensive back Trajan Bandy was flagged for roughing the kicker, giving the Cavaliers an automatic first down. Now it was time to celebrate in Charlottesville, and students and fans did just that, rushing the field after time expired.
A gritty effort from the Hoos, whose stingy defense limited Miami to 339 total yards and allowed only one touchdown despite Bryce Perkins’ three picks and the fact that Miami had four red zone opportunities. Stopping the run was a big key coming in, and for the most part Virginia did well. Aside from Homer’s 70-yard run, Miami gained just 79 yards on the ground on 28 attempts. Senior outside linebacker Chris Peace (7 tackles including 4 solo efforts and 1 sack) and Thornhill (6 tackles including 3 solo and 2 interceptions) were among the top performers on defense.
“Talk about a performance by the defense,” Perkins said. “We knew coming into the game that the emphasis was on turnovers. I threw three stupid ones and the defense did a great job. Miami is known for capitalizing off of turnovers. [Our defense] came to me after every pick and said ‘We got you’ and I said ‘Alright, I appreciate it.’ They were doing their job, so we came back at halftime and said we have to do our job to secure the ball.”
Virginia’s offense didn’t look pretty on the stat sheet, but the offensive line performed admirably against the toughest defensive front it may face all year and created room for Ellis and company to run. The Cavaliers’ 139 yards rushing was 39 yards more than Miami allowed per game in its previous six games. Ellis had 18 carries for 86 yards (4.8 YPC) and the touchdown, while Perkins, who threw for only 92 yards, added 61 yards on the ground.
“They did a great job,” Perkins said of his offensive line. “I told them every drive they were blocking their tail off tonight, especially run blocking. They came out with a different type of aggressive attitude that I haven’t seen before. It just shows how much dog they have in them.”
From from beginning to end, Virginia fought toe-to-toe a Top 20 opponent. Didn’t give in to the pressure. Didn’t relent. The effort resulted in a potential landmark win in the Mendenhall era.
“It just woke everybody up and it shows that we have a shot to win this – to win the ACC,” Thornhill said of the win.
Noting what the win could mean for the future, Mendenhall said: “Well, the shear number and quality of recruits that came to this game exceeded that of any game we’ve had in my time here. And when you play well and you show and they can see what it is, yeah, I think you gain significant momentum. We don’t have to send them an edit, we don’t have to write them a note, they can see and experience and feel what Virginia football is in an authentic view. It absolutely helps, especially when it’s earned and it’s not an accident and it’s not a fluke. We won the game and that has to be acknowledged.”
– Highlights, Courtesy of VirginiaSports.com …
Great Win.The effort was excellent on both sides of the ball.Go Hoos