Virginia dominated the line of scrimmage, but a Tony Muskett third quarter picksix would prove crucial, and Miami, despite being outplayed by the 19-point road ‘dogs, rallied to win in OT, 29-26, on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of, ahem, 58,503 in Hard Rock Stadium.
The Cavaliers (2-6, 1-3 ACC) led most of the way, and a look at the postgame stats will get you to scratch your head wondering how this one turned out the way it did.
Chris Graham on UVA OT loss
UVA outgained Miami 377-276, had a nine-minute advantage in time of possession, ran 83 plays to UM’s 56, even won the turnover battle, 2-1.
But Miami (6-2, 2-2 ACC) scored twice in a seven-second span of the third quarter, on a highlight-reel 26-yard TD run by Ajay Allen, on which Allen leapfrogged would-be tackler Jonas Sanker at the UVA 15, and on the next play from scrimmage, the 29-yard picksix by ‘Canes DB Kamren Kitchens.
The flurry turned what had been a 10-3 Virginia lead into a 17-10 Miami lead, but credit to the ‘Hoos, they responded.
A 15-play, 69-yard drive culminated in a 23-yard Will Bettridge field goal that made it 17-13 with 3:58 to go in the third, and after the UVA D got the ball back on an INT by freshman linebacker Kam Robinson, Virginia went 49 yards on six plays, getting into the end zone on a 10-yard TD run by Mike Hollins, his second of the game, and fifth in the past two weeks, to go up 20-17 at the end of three.
Andres Borregales, a weapon on special teams if there ever was one, connected on two long field goals in the fourth quarter, from 50 and 48 yards, sandwiched around another short Bettridge field goal.
The Bettridge kick had put Virginia up 23-20 with 4:20 to go.
The 48-yarder from Borregales tied the game with 1:23 to play.
Virginia got the ball to midfield before having to punt, and Miami downed the ball on its last play of regulation, sending the game to OT.
Here, UVA’s issues in the red zone – on five trips inside the Miami 20, the Cavaliers scored one TD, and otherwise had to settle for four field goals – came back to bite them.
The offense failed to pick up a first down on the first possession of the OT, and Bettridge was good from 25 yards to put Virginia back on top, 26-23, but Miami would get the ball last with a chance to win with a TD.
The ‘Canes would score on three plays, all runs by Mark Fletcher, the first for nine yards, the second for five, and the final run going for 11 and the game-winning score.
Game Notes
Virginia has now lost four games by three or fewer points on the season.
Muskett, aside from the picksix, had nice counting numbers – 24-of-38 through the air for 239 yards and a 110.7 passer rating.
Muskett was sacked six times, but don’t necessarily blame all of them on the O line. We’ll know more tomorrow when we get a look at the Pro Football Focus numbers, but from just watching it live, Muskett seemed to have issues on some of his dropbacks holding on to the ball a tick or two longer than the play design would call for.
Malik Washington, again, is a beast. The Northwestern grad transfer had 12 catches on 15 targets for 152 yards, and gained 97 yards after the catch. This was his sixth game with 100-plus yards receiving, and keep in mind that he has another game with 97 receiving yards.
Malachi Fields had seven catches on seven targets for 67 yards.
Virginia gained a net 138 yards on the ground, and after accounting for sack yardage, it was more like 168 yards, on 39 attempts, 4.3 yards per.
Not bad, there, against the Miami D, which came into the game ranked first in the ACC and seventh nationally, giving up just 79.6 yards per game.
Robinson had nine tackles and had the INT that led to points. His play is starting to remind me of Noah Taylor, another tallish outside ‘backer with the ability to rush the passer, make tackles in space and drop back in coverage.
Sanker had nine tackles, with the one missed tackle that led to a Miami score, and also recorded two pass breakups.
The secondary was solid again: Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke was 20-of-30 for 163 yards and two INTs, and a 99.0 passer rating.
Key Sequence
Virginia head coach Tony Elliott may, in particular, be lamenting his conservative approach to the possession at the end of the first half, when Virginia, up 10-3 at that point, converted a third down at midfield with 1:01 to go, then essentially ran out the clock.
A field goal would put Virginia up two scores at the half, with UVA set to have the first possession of the second half.
There was a chance there to seize the day.
Instead, Elliott and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings began that series with a run to the right by Mike Hollins that lost three yards, after Elliott let 20 seconds run off the clock before the snap, then let another seven seconds run off before using a timeout, signaling that the coaches were more focused on not making a mistake than in trying to exploit the field position for a possible long field-goal try.
A sack on second down was followed by another uncomfortable amount of time running off the clock before Virginia snapped the ball with seven seconds left on third down. Muskett tried to buy time to get off a Hail Mary attempt, but was sacked as time ran out on the half.
Bottom Line
This game came down to two things: the four field goals on red-zone trips, and the picksix.
The game played like a double-digit UVA win, so, that it turned into another close loss, is a sign that there’s still something wrong in terms of the attention to detail.
Not only was this one the fourth loss by three or fewer points, it was also the fourth loss in a game that Virginia had a double-digit lead.
What those two trends, together, seem to suggest is, there’s enough there, in terms of talent, to win games, but there’s something missing, either in the preparation during the week, gameday management, maybe a combination there, that snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.
Basically, they’re close, but still have work to do.
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