The Virginia football team struggled all day to finish drives, but the offense came through when the Hoos needed it most. After the Cavaliers fell behind for the first time Saturday with 1:01 to go, they covered 56 yards and Brendan Farrell connected on the game-winning field goal as time expired for a 16-14 win against Old Dominion.
That 26-yarder provided a moment of redemption for Farrell, who missed from 36 yards out earlier in the fourth quarter when UVA could have pulled ahead by two scores.
“I have a thing where statistically my percentage is about 50, so I think I’m more likely to make it than miss it after missing,” Farrell said. “That helped me out a little, but it’s all process oriented. You have to go through your process and stay locked in. I was able to do that. I’m kind of relieved.”
Farrell and the Cavaliers came through in the clutch after experiencing a similar situation in Wednesday’s practice. They ended practice with a 2-minute drill that had the offense start at its own 35-yard line with 1:25 to go. They closed with a winning field goal in that scenario.
That turned out to be an important moment of preparation as Saturday’s final drive almost exactly matched that situation. The Hoos began at their own 37-yard line thanks to a good kick return from Demick Starling with 55 seconds remaining. On 2nd-and-10, Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong stepped up in the pocket and then uncorked a deep throw to Lavel Davis Jr. for a 30-yard gain. Armstrong scrambled for 13 yards on the next play and a pass interference flag on an attempt to Dontayvion Wicks in the end zone moved the ball all the way to the ODU 5-yard line.
After one more shot to the end zone, the Cavaliers centered the ball and left the outcome up to Farrell. He delivered the first game-winning field goal as time expired for Virginia since Robert Randolph’s 23-yarder at Indiana in 2011.
“It’s huge. You practice so many drives, but you don’t really get the opportunity to do them in a game,” Armstrong said. “You never really know when they’re going to arise but it’s important to practice in game-like situations. We did a heck of a job managing the time and getting the ball where it needed to go.”
The game-winning drive from Armstrong marked the second time in his career that he helped the Hoos rally for a win in the final minute. He did the same in last season’s 34-33 victory at Louisville. That clutch drive added to what already had become a milestone game for the senior.
Armstrong broke the career passing record at UVA earlier in the fourth quarter when he hit Davis on a 17-yard gain. That throw moved him past Matt Schaub (7,502 yards) and he stood at 7,534 career yards at the end of the day. He finished 20-of-37 passing for 284 yards with 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. That tied him with Schaub with 20 career 200-yard passing games. He also rushed for 76 yards, which made him responsible for 360 yards of total offense; he has surpassed 350 yards of total offense in 14 of 23 career starts.
While Davis’ 2 catches for 47 yards in the fourth quarter came at big moments, the top target on the day was senior Keytaon Thompson. He hauled in 9 catches for 118 yards. That included a 45-yard catch in the third quarter that gave him his 100th career reception. Thompson has a catch in 17 straight games, the longest active streak on the team.
Other offensive statistical highlights came from Wicks (4 catches, 85 yards), Grant Misch (4 catches, 33 yards), and Mike Hollins (UVA’s only touchdown on a 1-yard run in the first quarter). Freshman running back Xavier Brown made the first splash of his career as well with 9 carries for 88 yards.
It all added up to 513 yards of offense at a clip of 6.3 yards per play. Unfortunately, that production didn’t lead to many points as turnovers plagued the Hoos throughout the day. They lost 3 fumbles in the game, pushing the team’s season total up to 8 turnovers. To make matters worse, all the fumbles came in ODU territory.
Hollins lost the ball at the 4-yard line in the second quarter when a touchdown could have made it a 17-0 Virginia lead. The Cavaliers still led 10-0 in the final two minutes of the first half when Armstrong lost the ball on a 6-yard carry to the Monarchs’ 36-yard line. Instead of what looked like a chance to grow the lead again, Old Dominion took over with 51 seconds on the clock and scored a touchdown before halftime that made it 10-7 on the scoreboard. Armstrong fumbled again early in the third quarter after the Hoos marched all the way to the ODU 6-yard line again. That one wasn’t really his fault as a missed blitz pick-up left him exposed to a hit and the ball popped free.
“The turnovers are obviously a concern,” Cavalier offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said. “We’re up to [8] now in three games. That’s not good winning football, especially when you’re trying to go on the road for an ACC opponent. So we’ve got to clean that up, got to clean up the drops. I thought we did a better job with protection stuff today with some max protection and getting some guys down the field. There’s glimpses, but when you have 3 turnovers particularly down in the red area, that’s tough. That’s putting the team in a big bind.”
“I’m going to be conservative and say 20 points, at least 20 points [left out on the field],” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “We were down inside the five, inside the 10, and several times we fumbled on the two going in, and so I’m being conservative, There’s some other situations like the other turnover in midfield. You probably get three, you get 15 more yards, you get a chance to kick a field goal. … I feel, being conservative, that we probably left 20 points at least out there.”
Fortunately for the offense, the Virginia defense took care of business for almost the entire game. Langston Long led the way with 9 tackles, while Nick Jackson and Anthony Johnson added 8 each. Jonas Sanker and Josh Ahern added 7 tackles apiece too. Aaron Faumui (5 tackles), Kam Butler (2 tackles), and Chico Bennett Jr. (4 tackles) each recorded a sack.
The Cavaliers allowed just 89 rushing yards at 2.8 yards per carry and logged 3 sacks with 7 total tackles for loss. They recovered a fumble and added 6 pass breakups too. The biggest issue came in the passing category. ODU quarterback Hayden Wolff completed 23 of 37 passes for 235 yards and 2 touchdowns in the game with receiver Ali Jennings (7 catches, 97 yards, 1 touchdown) and tight end Zack Kuntz (6 catches, 83 yards, 1 touchdown) the main beneficiaries.
A large chunk of Wolff’s stats came on the final drive of each half. He closed the second quarter with a 6-play touchdown drive that saw him complete 5 of 6 passes for 64 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown strike to Jennings. Then he lifted the Monarchs into the lead in the fourth quarter with an 11-play touchdown drive where he connected on 6 of 10 passes for 62 yards, including the go-ahead 18-yard scoring pass to Kuntz. A fourth down pass interference call on Johnson kept that final drive alive.
“Our guys played hard. And shoot kudos to the offense, they bailed us out. I’ll tell you that much. It was a hard fought game,” Virginia defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said. “You would have loved in that two minutes at the end of the game to get off the field and for some of those fourth downs situations. Some great learning moments and it’s always nice to have learning moments when it’s a win.”
A balanced reporting of the game with several references to actions/events generally unknown to the reader.
Phew!