The Florida State offense “drove” 71 yards before Virginia defensive backs De’Vante Cross and Bryce Hall combined to stop running back Cam Akers four yards short of scoring the potential game-tying touchdown as time expired. Incredibly, the Cavalier defense surrendered just 12 yards on the 11-play, 71-yard drive to secure the win.
The final drive of Virginia’s 31-24 victory over Florida State last Saturday was a dramatic roller coaster ride for the Cavalier defense, filled with ups and downs as the Hoos tried to put away the visitors from Tallahassee. UVA was flagged four times for 59 yards. Two of those penalties resulted in Florida State converting fourth downs into first downs. Two days later, Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall still disagreed with a pass interference on Nick Grant on 4th-and-15 and a roughing the passer on Jordan Mack on 4th-and-5.
“Yeah, the best thing I can say is I thought there were mistakes and the game could have been won and was won at least two other times besides the last play is what I think,” Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall said during his September 16 press conference.
The possession began on the Florida State 25 with 2:34 remaining in the game. Seminoles quarterback James Blackman was stopped for no gain on a scramble to start the drive. On second down he threw an incomplete pass, and on third down he was sacked by redshirt freshman Noah Taylor, who has shown a knack early this season for making important plays.
Virginia was on the verge of ending this drive and the game four plays in, as Florida State faced a 4th-and-15 from its 20. When Grant, a junior making the third start of his collegiate career, darted in front of Ontaria Wilson to swat away Blackman’s pass, the game appeared to be over. Not so said the officials, who flagged for Grant for pass interference on what looked like a clean play.
“I didn’t hook him with my left hand,” Grant said, describing the play to reporters postgame. “I had my left hand behind my back. I was so ready for the play I had my left hand behind my back and my fist balled up like this. I was wound up. I was like, ‘Oh yeah I’m about to volleyball spike this. Get off the field. We’re done.’ I was ready for it. I guess he thought I was early.”
Neither the Scott Stadium crowd nor Mendenhall agreed with the call. It was Mendenhall, though, who was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“I loved it,” junior safety Joey Blount said of Mendenhall’s passionate disagreement with the penalty. “I had no problem with it. He showed his emotion and his love for the team. It’s not just players … he views us as his family. He’ll fight for his family.”
“We got a penalty. He got a penalty. It makes no difference,” Grant said. “We’re all in it together.”
Two penalties, 30 yards, and the Seminoles had new life, with a 1st-and-10 at midfield. Florida State mustered very little on its next set of downs, gaining only five yards on three plays before facing a 4th-and-5. Blackman’s pass fell incomplete, but once again Virginia was flagged. This time, Mack, who had 13 tackles in the game, was called for roughing the passer. He leapt high – really high – into the air to try and deflect Blackman’s pass, but his momentum carried him into FSU’s sophomore signal caller. Mack came down on Blackman and tried and avoid significant contact, but he was flagged anyway.
Two plays later Hall was called for pass interference – the senior clearly grabbed Seminoles All-ACC receiver Tamorrion Terry – to give Florida State a 1st-and-10 at the Virginia 16. Tension was coursing through Scott Stadium; UVA, however, seemed poised. For the Cavaliers players, facing daunting situations such as this was something they had focused on in fall camp, so they didn’t flinch when the same situation arose against Florida State.
Nick Grant – “It honestly felt like fall camp because, when the refs are at practice, Coach Mendenhall slants the practice towards the offense. We’ll be backed up. If it’s a 50/50 ball, he’s going to call a PI. So we were really ready for those calls to go against us. Every time we came together, we were like, ‘Yo. It’s just us. It’s just us.’ We placed a big emphasis on sticking together and holding.”
Bryce Hall – “Coach Mendenhall always tries to put us in stressful situations to test our training. We did that a lot and worked on that, just cause like with last year we had so many tight endings. I definitely felt like we were prepared and we were ready for the moment and the situation. With those penalties and things like that, I think it just kind of showed our toughness to just keep going on to the next play.”
Joey Blount – “[Mendenhall] wants the defense to be at a disadvantage, so when we’re at a disadvantage it’s normal to us. In fall camp we had a lot of situations where the offense is on our 30 yard line and we had to stop them from getting into the red zone. I think it’s important that we’re put in situations like that, so these types of situations that we’re in seem normal to us. I think Coach Mendenhall and his staff really It’s important to really be prepared for times when it’s the last drive and there’s 40 seconds left. We’ve done that. We’ve done where offenses are driving and we have to stop them to win the game, so again I think preparation is really key.”
Coach Mendenhall – Offseason emphasis on late-game situations “is paying off. The final yield is too early to tally, but the situations that we’re in for our team – maybe not the head coach – seem to be pretty poised and confident and react appropriately. The head coach seems to be struggling on occasion now with that concept. (Smiling.) I think they’re more confident and seasoned and more experienced, and the level of preparation is able to be more detailed; I think that’s showing up.”
First-and-10 quickly became 3rd-and-14 from the Virginia 20 with 13 seconds left after a Blackman sack (Zane Zandier) and incomplete pass. However, Blackman connected with wide receiver Keyshawn Helton on a 16-yard reception down to the Virginia 4. With zero timeouts remaining, Florida State decided against spiking the ball to stop the clock. Instead, Akers took a direct snap and sprinted right. He found no room to run, though, before Cross and Hall combined to take him down. Blount was there as well.
“I really just felt my heart beat out of my chest,” Blount said. “The ball snapped to Akers and all of us just stood him up on the edge.”
Virginia won, moving to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. As Mendenhall said, it’s early, but the early signs are good. This Virginia team has shown maturity and poise in overcoming adversity and closing out games so far in 2019.
“We’re a team that believes in total effort and outlasting our opponents, so the situation wasn’t too big for anybody,” Grant said. “We were just in position and just ready to play whatever they had. We were in man the entire last drive we just had to lock in on what we had to do and the task at hand.”
