If touchdowns represented treats on Halloween weekend at Scott Stadium, both teams walked away empty handed. That meant the low-scoring duel came down to field goals and conversion plays and Miami ultimately prevailed with a pylon-touching two-point dive in the fourth overtime that delivered a 14-12 win over Virginia.
While the Hurricanes eked out the victory to lift their own spirits after three losses in their previous four games, the defeat left the Hoos disappointed and dejected after another home opportunity slipped away. UVA has lost two straight and four of its last six at Scott Stadium after a prolonged stretch of home success previously.
The latest setback left the Wahoos visibly frustrated as their record fell to 3-5 with four games remaining.
“The biggest frustration right now is finding a way to win those games right there,” Virginia safety Antonio Clary said. “Those hurt. It comes down to three or four plays that determine the game, so when you let one slip like that, it hurts bad.”
“We just needed to make one more play than they did. And they made a play there at the end and we didn’t make a play,” UVA coach Tony Elliott said. “But it seems like that’s been the theme with us offensively, is we’re just leaving points on the field. There were several trips to the red zone. … And then now we’re in a four quarter overtime game all the way down to the end. So definitely not the outcome that we wanted and the guys are going to be sick when they watch those four or five, maybe six plays that would have made a big difference in the game that we didn’t make.”
Indeed, thoughts of what might have been may haunt the Hoos for a while.
Virginia, after all, came close to several big scoring plays. Lavel Davis Jr. fell down at the 3-yard line after twisting to make an open catch, Mike Hollins stepped out of bounds at the 3-yard line after breaking free for 64 yards on a pass to the flats, Grant Misch dropped an undefended pass in the end zone, and Brennan Armstrong missed a wide open pass to Dontayvion Wicks downfield on the first play of the game. That’s a list of potential touchdown plays that didn’t happen.
The Misch drop captured the picture of some missed opportunities near the goal line during the game. The Cavaliers ran 12 plays from the Miami 12-yard line or closer, including 6 plays from 3 yards or closer, and failed to score a touchdown. Those 12 plays totaled 0 yards with gains of 1, 1, and 8 negated by losses of 7, 2, and 1. Virginia had 5 incompletions among those snaps too. On 6 plays from 3 yards or closer, the Hoos lost 7 yards, had a potential touchdown gadget play tipped to stop a touchdown, and dropped the aforementioned pass. There was also a critical false start penalty during the third overtime period when center Ty Furnish didn’t snap the ball on time from the 3.
With a wall of Oompa Loompas on the hill at Scott Stadium, you half expected them to break into some sort of song mocking the offense’s continued struggles. “Oompa Loompa, do-ba-dee-doo, I’ve got a perfect puzzle for you. What do you get when you simply can’t score? Lots of results that you really deplore.” The Cavaliers entered and exited the weekend with 15 touchdowns this season, a number in the bottom 10 nationally.
Individually, Armstrong completed 15 of 25 passes for 208 yards and rushed 20 times for 67 yards with 5 sacks eating in the total there. Keytaon Thompson had 5 catches for 41 yards, while Billy Kemp IV added 5 for 28 yards. Hollins and Davis had their only catches on the big plays of 64 and 47 yards, while Wicks had 1 catch for 14 yards.
Virginia offensive coordinator Des Kitchings described Saturday’s missed opportunities as a mixture of things.
“It was ourselves. A combination of things and missed opportunities,” Kitchings said. “It’s unfortunate. We popped a big pass to Lavel [Davis Jr.] and fell down on the three, and then we missed a deal with [Keytaon Thompson passing on third down and then] on the pass that we dropped on fourth down. Another drive on the third down, Mike Hollins gets down there, I thought he scored, it gets out of bounds and we stall out there. Then, there was a bad third down call going into our locker room area during the fourth quarter at third down and three. We should have had a better call there. So, it was a combination of things. We talked about competitive stamina and the guys showed that. They battled for four quarters. They’ve been working hard. I would’ve loved for them to reap the benefits of hard work out there today, they deserved to win, and unfortunately we didn’t get it for them.”
Even with the litany of lost points, the Cavaliers still had a chance to win thanks to a sterling effort from the defense.
Virginia bottled up Miami for most of the day. The Hurricanes managed just 272 yards of offense and 3.9 yards per play. That included only 125 passing yards with back-up quarterback Jake Garcia at the helm as he completed 15 of 32 passes. Running back Henry Parrish Jr. accounted for 113 rushing yards and the bulk of the visitor’s offense. Statistically, linebacker Nick Jackson led the way for UVA with 14 tackles. Safety Coen King added 13 tackles too while Jonas Sanker, James Jackson, and Clary chipped in 6 stops each.
Still, Garcia and the Canes came up with just enough offense in the final 5:29 of regulation and overtime to steal the win. Miami produced only its second scoring drive of the game on the final possession of the fourth quarter as it moved 53 yards on 13 plays to set up a 20-yard field goal that tied the score at 6-6. Parrish gained 30 yards rushing on that drive alone as the Virginia defense couldn’t quite get off the field. The Hoos did keep the Hurricanes out of the end zone on 5 plays inside the 15 in order to get to overtime, though.
The teams then exchanged unproductive possessions and field goals in the first two overtimes, setting up the college football version of a shootout with dueling 2-point conversion tries from the 3-yard line. That’s when Garcia got the last laugh in the fourth overtime, scampering outside on a quarterback keeper and diving to the pylon for the winning score.
It was a frustrating end to what was otherwise a good performance for the defense.
“It’s something we do on Wednesday, every week. Every week, we go through those two points,” Virginia defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said. “You have a few calls on that menu that you go through. We had a chance to really, if we would have done our jobs there on that, we had guys in position to make plays. Again, compliments to Miami for making the final play.”
UVA comes up with new, fresh ways to lose. It is becoming tiresome. The program is not getting better.
A pitiful offensive performance. It all comes back to a weak offensive line and the cautious play calls that result. Yes, the defense has kept us in games, but let’s not forget that the D has been facing backup QBs with little or no game experience.
Correct. Not looking forward to the UNC game.