With a light rain falling Friday night, the Virginia football team came close to its first win of the season but lost 24-21 as NC State converted a 33-yard field goal on the final play of the game. The weather didn’t cause a possible victory to slip through the Hoos’ fingers in the last minute, though. That was of their own doing.
After trailing for most of the contest, the Cavaliers found a way to tie it up with 36 seconds remaining thanks to a touchdown drive and an improvised but incredible 2-point conversion. Unfortunately, three penalties complicated and then erased the chance for overtime.
The Wolfpack took full advantage of the late flags and walked off with the 3-point win. Virginia, meanwhile, left its home field with an 0-4 record.
“Took a step tonight. And they had a chance to kind of melt and wither late in the game, and they found a way to keep fighting all the way to the end,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “And now we have to go, as I told them in the locker room, we [went] 59 minutes and 20 something seconds. And that’s how long we went. We gotta go 60. We’ve gotta finish it. We can’t lose our composure. We gotta believe that we’re supposed to be right there. And then, when we get there, we’ve got to act like we’ve been there. … You got to have the mindset that you’re gonna play a four-quarter game every time you line up. Your objective is to get the game to the fourth. And then at that point, I lock in, I have more discipline, I have more focus right then my competitor and I finish the game. … They did with the exception of three plays late in the game with 36 seconds left on the clock. We lost our cool, we got caught up in some personal battles. And unfortunately, as I told them, that earned us the wrong side of the of the game and didn’t give us an opportunity to try and see if we can get it to overtime.”
The lack of composure and undisciplined final moments put the loss more in the mind-numbing vs. heart-breaking category. The Hoos drove 66 yards, including a fourth down conversion to keep hope alive, and scored a touchdown with 36 seconds to go. They also committed two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after the whistle as players seemingly got caught up in the excitement of the moment.
After the clutch drive to make the score 23-21, Ty Furnish got flagged for an unsportsmanlike personal foul when he head-butted an NC State player. Those 15 yards got enforced on the 2-point conversion try, but UVA managed to tie it up at 23-23 only to have quarterback Anthony Colandrea commit an unsportsmanlike penalty for removing his helmet and taunting. Those 15 yards moved the ensuing kickoff backward and the Wolfpack turned that into great field position, which led to a 48-yard field goal attempt with 3 seconds on the clock.
The third and final miscue came on that try. James Jackson blocked the kick, but got hit with a personal foul penalty for leaping over the snapper. That gave the Pack a second field goal opportunity, only from 15 yards closer, and they escaped with the win.
“I was told that one of our guys retaliated and they’re always gonna see the second guy, and then the helmet came off, and to them it looked like the player took the helmet off on the field. And then we hit the snapper. And the rule in college football is you can’t jump over the snapper. You can’t touch the snapper,” Elliott said. “And they got to throw the flag. I don’t fault the officials at all. We got to, as I tell them, we got to win and lose with class. We’re in the final moments of the game, that’s when we got to be at our sharpest. And we just didn’t have the discipline down the stretch to win the football game.”
Those 36 seconds will be part of the lasting impression from this game instead of some resilience and the rally.
Virginia trailed for much of the evening with a Malik Washington touchdown and a pair of Will Bettridge field goals countered by three touchdowns from NC State’s Kevin ‘KC’ Concepcion (12- and 48-yard receptions) and Delbert Mimms III (1-yard run). That left the score at 21-13 in the Wolfpack’s favor entering the fourth quarter, a nearly identical situation to the Maryland game one week earlier.
In that loss to the Terps, UVA started the fourth quarter down 21-14 but driving with a chance to tie. The Hoos, however, saw Colandrea toss an interception in the end zone followed by three more turnovers and the game spiraled to a 42-14 defeat. This Friday night, a similar script presented itself as Colandrea threw two fourth quarter interceptions, including one at the goal line once again. This time, though, the defense hung tough, prevented any follow-up scoring drives from State, and gave the team one final opportunity with 3:29 to go.
“Just bounce back. Just bounce back, like, against Maryland, as soon as I threw a pick I just shut down. I can’t do that this game so, I ended up just putting it under the seat, and then making the drive and go score,” Colandrea said.
Indeed, Colandrea engineered an 11-play scoring drive with that chance. He rushed for 11 yards to start the series and completed 5 of 6 passes as part of the march. That included a 19-yarder to Malachi Fields and a 12-yard pass to Washington on 4th-and-1 that moved the ball inside the 10. Colandrea finished it off with a 3-yard touchdown pass on 3rd-and-Goal, which was Washington’s second touchdown of the night.
After the Furnish penalty pushed the ball back to the 17-yard line, Colandrea struck again. This time, he scrambled to his right to avoid pressure in a collapsing pocket and then hoisted an across-the-field pass back to the left side where Fields came down with it for a the 2-point conversion and 21-21 tie. Elliott said that sequence was improvised due to the pressure and that both Colandrea and Fields just made a big play.
“That was an improvisation … and I think Colandrea bought enough time, and put one up, and Malachi went up and made a play, and that’s really what that was.” Elliott said. “And you know, hopefully our guys will learn from the significance where you get caught up in a personal battle in the moment, and now it puts you in a situation where, let’s be honest, typically you don’t overcome a situation like that. It was just a heck of a play by two guys playing backyard football.”
Washington recorded 10 catches for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Fields added 3 receptions for 60 yards and the 2-point conversion. Sackett Wood Jr. had 2 catches for 34 yards. Colandrea completed 18 of 30 passes for 271 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions; he also led the team in rushing with 43 yards, just ahead of Kobe Pace with 38 yards.
For NCSU, Brennan Armstrong completed 15 of 30 passes for 180 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Concepcion had 6 receptions for 116 yards and 2 touchdowns. Armstrong led his team with 64 rushing yards. Defensively, Virginia freshman Kam Robinson posted 11 tackles, while James Jackson add 7. Micah Gaffney had the INT for the Wahoos.
Still, a lot of the stats and the late-game drama was overshadowed by the penalties in the final minute. Those miscues prevented the chance at OT and hopes of the season’s first win. Virginia now has to try to regroup yet again with a trip to Boston College up next Saturday and discipline will be at the top of the discussion list throughout the week.
“It has to be inside out. From the guys on the team, we have to hold each other accountable making sure we’re doing the right thing,” Washington said. “It starts on Monday, it starts on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It starts at practice, just holding each other accountable and making sure we’re doing the right things because those little things will carry over.”
“We have unbelievable leadership in our locker room,” Washington added. “We have guys that have been here, played, done this before. It’s right there. We’re so close. Those little things that were there this week won’t be there next week. We’re just going to keep playing.”
The score was never 23-21.