Virginia Suffers Road Loss After Late Syracuse Field Goal

At this point, the Virginia football team may want to skip road trips to fellow orange and blue opponents.

The Cavaliers have made two road trips this year. The first produced a lopsided 24-3 loss at Illinois. On Friday night, the Hoos cooked up a better performance but the result proved just as bitter. Syracuse overcame a late rally from UVA to win 22-20 with a fiel goal in the final 90 seconds. Virginia had erased a 16-point deficit to take its first lead just minutes earlier, but couldn’t complete the comeback with a victory.

“I saw what I believe is a program moment because the guys learned that this is what we’re going to be about, we’re never going to quit. It doesn’t matter what the score is, we’re not going to quit,” Cavalier coach Tony Elliott said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “But ultimately, we didn’t make enough plays. We waited too long. We initially ran into some adversity and a similar thing happened up at Illinois – guys just abandoned their technique. They’ve got to trust their training. They’ve got to trust their preparation. You’ve got to understand you’ve got to make adjustments, [but] don’t the plan, don’t abandon your technique and I’ve got to do a better job as a coach of getting these guys to understand that.”

After another offensive goose egg in the first half led to a 16-0 deficit, the Hoos’ comeback started quickly following intermission.

The Hoos opened the half with a 75-yard scoring drive that featured a blend of runs, short passes, and Syracuse penalties. UVA receiver Keytaon Thompson, running back Perris Jones, and quarterback Brennan Armstrong figured heavily into the possession. Thompson made a 10-yard catch that also picked up a targeting penalty for 15 more yards and another 2-yard reception. Jones had 2 carries for 8 yards, while Armstrong added 2 carries for 10 yards too. Thompson capped off the scoring drive on a quick pitch behind an unbalanced line from the 1-yard line.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jonathan Horton delivered a crushing hit to Trebor Pena as he spun on the return and the ball popped free. The Cavaliers recovered and two plays later, Perris Jones carried to the left side and stretched the ball into the end zone for a second touchdown in less than 30 seconds. For an offense that had scored just one touchdown in the previous 10 quarters, the quick blast of production provided a jolt of momentum.

The Hoos couldn’t build on the sudden surge, but they did have two opportunities in the final 10 minutes. The offense delivered on the first, but couldn’t come up with a game-winning drive for the second time in six days with its final possession.

Trailing 19-13 with 9:48 to go, UVA started on its own 25-yard line and marched down the field for the next four minutes. It was a drive full of inside runs and completions at key moments. Jones paced the rushing attack with 6 carries for 59 yards on the drive, while Thompson made a 12-yard catch. The drive finished with Armstrong firing a fourth down pass to Lavel Davis Jr. over the middle for a 4-yard touchdown. After kicker Will Bettridge converted the extra point – he had one blocked earlier, while starter Brendan Farrell missed a pair of long field goals in the first quarter – the Cavaliers took the lead for the first time at 20-19.

Jones finished with 13 carries for 87 yards and a touchdown, while Armstrong added 29 yards on the ground. Thompson had 2 carries for 10 yards with a TD. In the passing game, Armstrong completed just 19 of 38 passes for 138 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Thompson posted 8 catches for 55 yards, while Dontayvion Wicks added 5 catches for 42 yards. Davis’ lone catch was that TD grab that gave the team the lead.

“In the second half, we did. We were able to find some run game. We were able to find a couple plays,” Elliott said on the radio network. “Brennan on that last touchdown throw had pressure off the edge – he stood in there, set his feet, and delivered a strike. Those are the type of plays we need him to make and we need the receivers to make those plays. We had a couple of balls where we turn our head a little bit too late. Again, constantly getting these guys to understand that this is different than what you’re used to, just trust what we’re teaching you. Everything is on timing.”

The defense kept the game within striking distance by holding Syracuse to just field goals outside of the game’s first possession. That opening touchdown came after a 63-yard kickoff return. Orange quarterback Garrett Shrader finished it off with a 17-yard scramble on a repeat third down; the Hoos had stopped a 3rd-and-5 play a yard short but accepted a holding penalty that replayed the down.

From there, the visitors prevented any more end zone visits. That included a field goal after Armstrong fumbled late in the first quarter to set Cuse up on the UVA 28. The Virginia defense also came up with 4 take-aways (3 fumble recoveries, 1 interception) against a Syracuse team that had not committed a turnover in its first three games of the season.

In need of one more crucial stop, however, the Virginia defense just missed the chance to potentially put the game away. After the hosts gained 13 yards to their own 38, the Hoos forced an incompletion, tackled Sean Tucker for just a 3-yard gain, and then sacked Shrader for a 6-yard loss on third down. Momentarily. On that play, which may have forced a punt and potentially set up the offense with a chance to ice the game, linebacker Hunter Stewart inadvertently grabbed Shrader’s facemask while fighting through a block that bordered on holding. While his hand just briefly pulled the facemask on the way to a clean tackle, it was enough for a flag.

Stewart had replaced Nick Jackson in the lineup after the senior linebacker was removed due to a targeting call. Jackson had 10 tackles with 1 sack in three quarters. Safety Jonas Sanker matched the 10 tackles and added an interception plus a fumble recovery. Darrius Bratton added 9 stops, while Langston Long had 8. Chico Bennett Jr. recorded 2 sacks, while Aaron Faumui, Paul Akere, and Ben Smiley III each had 1.

Instead of a fourth down call late, the penalty moved the ball across midfield and a 15-yard pass to Tucker got the Orange into field goal range. They eventually moved the ball to the Virginia 13-yard line. Syracuse kicker Andre Szmyt was up to the moment. He connected on the game-winner from 31 yards with just 1:14 remaining. He hit all 5 of his field goal attempts on the night to tie a school record with makes from 26, 32, 28, 40, and 31 yards.

“We would have loved to get it done there in that two-minute drive,” UVA defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said on the Virginia Sports Radio Network. “Had a chance to make it a really difficult field goal and didn’t. But at the same time, the guys fought hard. Shoot, I tell you what, we realize that we’ve got to make one more stop and that’s just the reality of it.”

The Cavaliers had one more chance in a nearly identical situation to the Old Dominion win last Saturday. Against the Monarchs, they had 55 seconds with the ball at their own 37 and got downfield for the winning kick. This time, the Hoos took over with 1:08 to go after Demick Starling returned the kickoff to the 29-yard line. They didn’t get the same result.

Armstrong scrambled twice, gaining 12 yards on the first play of the drive and adding 6 yards on the third play. Unfortunately, he misfired with incompletions on the other three plays. That included a longer sideline throw where Wicks was nowhere near the area, a forced throw toward tight end Grant Misch where another scramble seemed available, and a tight window throw toward Davis when the underneath route to Thompson appeared open at the first down marker.

That brought the curtain down on the comeback attempt after the Hoos nearly stole the game despite falling into a 16-0 hole initially. The frustrating end captured what the offense looked like for much of the night, though, as struggles on that side of the ball continue. The offense has scored 20 or fewer points in three straight games. Virginia has committed 10 turnovers (9 on offense). Armstrong has completed 52.1% of his passes so far this season with 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, while the receivers have one of the worst drop rates in the country.

With the season 33% of the way through the schedule, that’s something that likely will need to improve if the Wahoos want to build on their 2-2 record to date. Duke is up next with a 7:30 p.m. Saturday night road trip to open October.

“The defense continues to play inspired, they continue to play together,” Elliott said on the radio network. “Offensively, man, we’ve got to figure it out. Our leaders gotta lead, they’ve got to step up, they’ve gotta quit resisting the path forward, and the sooner they buy in, the better off we’re going to be. But what I believe you saw is what I’m trying to build going forward in the second half and what our program’s about, but we’ve got a lot of mistakes that we’ve got to clean up. Syracuse is a good football team, but that’s two times on the road that we’ve beat ourselves.”

Virginia Football Final Stats