UVA mismanaged the endgame on the way to a shanked 20-yard field-goal attempt as time expired in 1 13-10 loss at UConn on Saturday.
Alex Furbank, in his first football game, high school or college, was rushed onto the field after a sequence that had begun with a first-and-goal at the UConn 9 with 47 seconds left.
With no timeouts, Cavs offensive coordinator Robert Anae opted to run Albert Reid on the first-down play, and Reid ran for four yards.
Inexplicably, quarterback Kurt Benkert was directed to spike the ball to stop the clock, setting up a third-and-goal at the Huskies 5.
Benkert was then run up the middle on a quarterback draw for a gain of two, bringing up fourth down and a scramble drill to get Furbank onto the field.
The newcomer to the sport was still lining up his spot when the ball was snapped as the clock ran out, and his kick sailed well wide left.
UConn (2-1) took its first lead of the game with 1:33 to go on a Bobby Puyol 43-yard field goal.
The Cavs (0-3) had led all the way to that point, getting on the board with a 23-yard field goal by Alex Furbank in the first quarter, then upping their lead to 10-0 two minutes into the second quarter on a nine-yard scoring run by Albert Reid.
UConn chipped away at it from there, getting on the board on a 21-yard Puyol field goal to go into the half down 10-3.
The Huskies tied the game with 7:55 to go on a 1-yard Bryan Shirreffs TD run that came after a Kurt Benkert pass was intercepted deep in UVA territory.
Reid was stuffed on a fourth-and-short run just outside the UConn red zone. The Huskies then took the ball down the field to set up the game-winning Puyol kick with 1:33 to go.
Benkert was 23-for-42 passing for 241 yards. Reid ran for 73 yards on 15 carries, and Taquan Mizzell gained 66 yards on 11 rushes.
UVA outgained UConn 381-277.
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