A cheap-shot helmet-to-helmet hit that sent Perris Jones to the hospital was not penalized, but that no-call, one of many on Thursday night on national TV, is how things go when you’re 2-7 on the road at #11, and the league needs to make sure that #11 doesn’t step on its own dick on its way to a prime-time game in December for a possible CFP berth.
The scoreboard read Louisville 31, Virginia 24, when it hit triple zeroes.
The ACC has its Florida State-Louisville title game in Charlotte next month.
Congrats.
Hope they both lose.
Chris Graham on UVA-Louisville
Virginia (2-8, 1-5 ACC) played the role of 20-point underdog to perfection for the first two and a half quarters, giving Louisville (9-1, 6-1 ACC) a punt-block TD, a fumble in plus territory and missing a field goal from the edge of the red zone on the way to being down 14-0 at the half.
And then, out of nowhere, the ‘Hoos came alive, finally getting on the board with 4:15 to go in the third on a 1-yard TD run by Jack Griese on a fourth-and-goal, then scoring on the next play from scrimmage on a Kam Robinson 28-yard picksix.
The play that sent Jones to the hospital three game minutes and change later brought most of us to near-tears, or more.
On a second-and-27 play from the Louisville 49, Anthony Colandrea connected with Jones in the flat for a seven-yard gain.
Jones was hit helmet-to-helmet by Louisville DB Cam’Ron Kelly, who spent a semester at Virginia, this past spring, after transferring from North Carolina.
Kelly transferred out after the spring semester, ended up at Louisville, then cheap-shotted Jones here.
The fumble was scooped up by Malik Washington, who took the ball in for a touchdown that gave Virginia the lead, but the attention was on Jones, who was on the field for several minutes, not moving.
Virginia Athletics would later say that there would be no update on Jones’ condition tonight.
Here’s where we have to note, we’re four days away from the first anniversary of the worst day in the history of Virginia Athletics, the mass shooting that left three UVA football players – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry – dead, and a fourth, Mike Hollins, Jones’ roommate, with life-threatening injuries that he miraculously recovered from.
The guys on that sideline, including Hollins, have been through way, way, way too much already, to have to then see a teammate laid out on the field, not moving, and have to go back out and play like nothing happened.
And officially, nothing did – Kelly wasn’t flagged for the cheap shot.
To the kids’ credit, they put up a fight in the fourth quarter, in spite of what was an obvious finger on the scales from the ACC.
A chintzy pass-interference call on Dre Walker extended one Louisville fourth-quarter scoring drive, leading to a short Brock Travelstead field goal that made it 21-17 Virginia.
Then the officials started picking up flags – deciding that an unsportmanlike conduct after a short red-zone rush by Kobe Pace actually wasn’t, taking away what would have been a first-and-goal.
That Virginia drive stalled, and ended with three points, on a Will Bettridge field goal with 7:56 to go that made it 24-17.
Another flag thrown on the ensuing kickoff for an illegal block was picked up, because of course it was, preserving field position for Louisville, which scored on that drive on a 52-yard TD pass from Jack Plummer to a wide-open Ahmari Huggins-Bruce that tied the game at 24-24 with 6:20 to go.
Virginia, as it did most of the night, moved the ball downfield on its next possession, getting the ball to midfield on what should have been a nine-yard pass from Colandrea to Washington that would have picked up a first down.
But inexplicably, Washington was flagged for a facemask penalty on his stiff-arm of the Louisville tackler, Storm Duck.
The penalty, which should get this crew a week off for malpractice, set Virginia back to a second-and-16, and the Cavaliers eventually had to punt.
On the next play, Louisville tailback Isaac Guerendo ran practically untouched through the line for a 73-yard TD that put the Cardinals on top with 3:25 left.
It should have been over here, but Virginia, having had to fight back the emotion of seeing a teammate carted off to the hospital, and having the extra hill to climb with the game being called the way it was, put itself into position to do something interesting one more time, advancing to the Louisville 45 with 1:19 to go.
On a fourth-down pass from that spot, Colandrea attempted to connect with Malachi Fields, whose facemask was grabbed by Duck as he started into his break, and was then mauled as the pass skipped away, incomplete, no call, of course.
Ballgame.
Bullshit, but ballgame.
It was the fifth one-score loss for this Virginia team, which outgained Louisville 434-423, with a monster game from Colandrea, the true freshman QB, who was 20-of-31 passing for 314 yards, and gained a net 89 yards on the ground – 109 yards after adjusting for sacks.
Washington put up his eighth 100-yard game of the season, hauling in nine passes on 11 targets for 155 yards.
The 42-yard scoop-and-score for Washington was officially a fumble recovery that didn’t count in the offensive stats.
Now our attention turns to Perris Jones.
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Chris Graham
