Virginia dominated the stats, never trailed, but it still took a missed very makeable field goal on the final play to allow the ‘Hoos to escape Miami with a 30-28 win Thursday night in South Florida.
The UVA D forced three-and-outs on six of the Canes’ 14 drives, held them to 94 yards in the first half, but never could pull away, even when the ball landed in the hands of Dontayvion Wicks for an improbable 36-yard TD that made it 27-14 Virginia with 5:50 left in the third.
It was at this point that the defense, which had played well above its station, from the past two weeks, anyway, began to experience the breakdowns that had sent the Cavaliers to back-to-back ugly defeats to open ACC play.
The first came on a Cam’Ron Harris 57-yard TD run, on which the defensive alignment was … confused, with four members of the secondary lining up to counter a trips receivers set to the right of the Miami formation, leaving the middle of the field uncovered past the box.
Harris only had to evade a tackle at the line of scrimmage before streaking toward the end zone for the TD that made it a one-score game.
Virginia had a chance to go back up 13 or 14 on its next possession, but let the opportunity slip through its hands. Brennan Armstrong put the ball on the hands of Keytaon Thompson on a first-down pass in the red zone, but Thompson just dropped it, no way to say it other than that.
The series ended with a Brendan Farrell field goal that made it 30-21 with 12:52 left.
Miami got it closer. After converting on a series that started with first-and-25, QB Tyler Van Dyke scrambled 24 yards for a TD, taking advantage of a pass rush that allowed him to escape the pocket with man-to-man coverage behind.
This was the second big defensive breakdown. Gotta stay disciplined in the rush lanes, or that kind of thing can happen.
The refs missed an obvious targeting penalty on Miami on a third-down incomplete pass to Wicks that would have allowed UVA to run clock, setting up the Canes with the ball and 5:36 of game clock to try to get the go-ahead score.
They should have gotten it, honestly. Van Dyke converted a third-and-14 to get the ball to midfield, then Harris converted a third-and-six from the UVA 36 with a 22-yard run that got the ball into the red zone with 1:37 to go.
Third breakdown. Everybody in the stadium – there weren’t many – knew that Miami was going to run on third down, because they were in four-down territory.
It’s unconscionable that he wasn’t even touched until he was in the red zone.
This could have and should have been ballgame, because Virginia had used a timeout on an early third quarter play on which Miami had lined up to go for a fourth-and-short, and coach Bronco Mendenhall only had two timeouts to play with.
Miami ran the ball into the line three times to set up a potential game-winning 33-yard field-goal try from kicker Andres Borregales with three seconds left.
The kick hit the left upright solid and bounded back into the field of play.
Those things happen sometimes.
There’s plenty to take away from this as good. OK, the defense broke down late – Miami put up 165 yards of offense in the fourth quarter, but that was after gaining a cumulative 207 yards through three.
The UVA ground game, which had been averaging 115.5 yards per game coming in, rolled up 181 yards in the win, and actual running backs had their names called.
Wayne Taulapapa had 62 yards and a TD on 11 totes; Mike Hollins had 38 yards and a TD on his 10 carries.
Thompson, who I was too hard on for the end zone drop, had 55 yards on four catches (10 targets) and 47 yards on three rushing attempts.
His backup at the football player position, freshman QB Jacob Rodriguez, had two catches (four targets) for 24 yards and gained five yards on his only rushing attempt of the night.
Billy Kemp IV had nine catches (11 targets) for 81 yards, and probably should have had more.
Armstrong had pedestrian numbers, for BA – 25-of-44, 268 yards, one TD, one INT.
It was obvious that the offense missed tight end Jelani Woods, who was a scratch with an injury suffered late in last week’s loss to Wake Forest.
The passing game was a lot more dink-and-dunk without Woods drawing extra attention in the middle of the field.
The defense registered four sacks, two by Mandy Alonso, who was much more, ahem, physical tonight.
You forget this, but the difference in the game was two points, and two points is also what you get for a safety, which Alonso had a hand in, literally.
A Jacob Finn punt pinned the ‘Canes at their own 1 with 1:14 left in the first. On first down, Van Dyke handed the ball off to Harris, who was hit by a diving Alonso a couple of yards deep in the end zone, and Alonso was able to get his hands on Harris to stand him up for safety Joey Blount, who finished off the tackle for the safety.
Big night for Finn, since we mentioned his name – seven punts, 50.3 yard average, five punts downed inside the 20, four punts of 50+.
Big night also for Farrell, the backup kicker coming in, but maybe not PK1, after connecting on both of his field-goal tries, from 43 and 30.
Virginia on the night outgained Miami, 449-372, had a 23-18 edge in first downs, was 9-of-18 on third downs (Miami was 5-of-15).
Big win for the ‘Hoos, who improve to 3-2 and 1-2 in the ACC.
The seat gets hot for Manny Diaz at Miami, whose ‘Canes, preseason #13 in the national polls, are now 2-3 and 0-1 in the ACC.
Story by Chris Graham
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