As the field cleared and the stands emptied late afternoon Saturday at Scott Stadium, the Virginia marching band played the Jackson 5 hit “I Want You Back.” The song choice was sadly appropriate in light of the Cavaliers’ just-completed 28-27 defeat against the explosive yet vulnerable North Carolina Tar Heels, who further complicated the picture in the ACC’s Coastal Division with their second-straight conference win.
Virginia (4-4, 2-2 ACC) was the front-runner from the opening minutes of the first quarter in this year’s Homecomings game. But of the season-high 45,200 fans in attendance, many departed with a bitter taste in their mouths after watching the Cavaliers squander a golden chance to post their fifth win of the year.
“[It’s a] disappointing loss,” coach Mike London said. “We coached poorly at the end. We played poorly, didn’t recognize things that we should’ve, and it’s disappointing to have an opportunity to win a game down the stretch and have the miscues that we had.”
The Cavaliers were motoring along with a 27-21 lead in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter when sophomore quarterback Greyson Lambert attempted to connect with senior running back Kevin Parks on one of many screen passes called by offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild. Lambert didn’t seem to see six-foot-five, 280-pound defensive tackle Nazir Jones, who positioned himself in front of Parks for the interception before rumbling 20 yards downfield with the ball.
To that point, North Carolina (4-4, 2-2 ACC) had already started four drives inside Virginia’s half of the field. But this time, the Tar Heels dealt the Cavaliers a truly damaging blow, as junior quarterback Marquise Williams led his team to the Virginia six-yard line within four plays of gaining the ball.
On second and goal following Williams’ five-yard run, junior defensive end Eli Harold came up with a potentially game-saving defensive play, a sack that pushed North Carolina back to the Virginia 16-yard line. Harold delivered such a pulverizing blow that Williams’ helmet came off his head.
College football stipulates that a player who takes such a hit must sit out the next play, so Williams parked himself on the sidelines. His backup, redshirt freshman Mitch Trubisky, calmly threaded a 16-yard spiral to junior receiver T.J. Thorpe for a game-tying touchdown. After sophomore place kicker Nick Weiler converted the extra point, North Carolina led by a point with 4:05 to go.
“[Thorpe’s pattern] wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen — we just didn’t have guys in position to make the play,” London said. “That’s what’s disappointing, is you practice those things, you put yourselves in position to make plays — to be there, to do the things necessary to win a football game — and in that crucial moment it didn’t happen.”
Still, the Cavaliers had time to answer with a clutch drive of their own — until Weiler put just enough force behind his onside kick, catching Virginia off guard. Sophomore receiver Mack Hollins recovered the ball, and Virginia’s prospects for victory took a major hit.
North Carolina attempted to run out the clock, and Virginia endeavored to leave enough time on the scoreboard for a final drive. The Cavaliers received the slimmest of chances to orchestrate such a comeback with 1:17 remaining in the game, when the Tar Heels — stuck at fourth and two on the Virginia 21 — elected to take a field goal.
Weiler had already misfired from 39 and 43 yards, but he marched onto the field with the chance to extend North Carolina’s lead to four and force Virginia to respond with a touchdown instead of a field goal.
Virginia never got to find out if he would miss again. The Cavaliers — who had 12 men on the field as Weiler lined up to kick — were whistled for a substitution infraction, a five-yard penalty that refreshed North Carolina’s set of downs and sealed the Tar Heel victory.
“North Carolina did what they needed to do to win the game, so congratulations to them, but, you know, we beat ourselves today, and played poorly in the last few minutes of a football game,” London said.
North Carolina had already connected on scoring plays of 52, 57 and 63 yards in the first half. The first came when Williams faked a handoff before taking off with the field gapingly open. The Tar Heels’ second and third 50-plus yard strikes came courtesy of bombs unfurled by Williams and brought in by Hollins, who finished with just those two catches for 120 receiving yards.
Adding to the disappointment for both London and his players, senior receiver Miles Gooch left the game in the second quarter when he came down awkwardly on an incomplete pass fired by Lambert.
Gooch returned to the Virginia sidelines on crutches and wearing sweats, a loss that hurt from both a practical and an emotional standpoint. Gooch had already improved to 2-2 passing the football in 2014 after taking a shovel pass from senior running back Khalek Shepherd and throwing to Lambert for a 23-yard gain along the right sideline. He had also hauled in a 22-yard reception.
Still, senior receiver Darius Jennings refused to put too much weight on losing Gooch, a player he respects.
“Gooch is a hell of a player,” Jennings said. “He’s one of our leaders … but we just had that mindset as our receiving corps — it’s just the next man up. We play for each other, we play as a group, we play as a team. So, Gooch went down, but we got more than enough guys who are capable of going out there and making plays.”
The Cavaliers scored the first 14 points of the game as temperatures hovered in the upper 60s and the sun bathed the field in light. Lambert’s 31-yard pass to junior receiver Canaan Severin — followed by junior place kicker Ian Frye’s extra point — constituted the game’s first seven points. Virginia scored again when Parks punched the ball in from the North Carolina two-yard line.
Parks put up 111 rushing yards on 25 carries for his second 100-yard game of the year. He gave Virginia a 21-14 edge with 6:02 left in the second quarter when he received a screen pass from Lambert in the backfield and, with seemingly nowhere to run, threw a deft spin move at the Tar Heel defense before cutting once and breaking the goal line.
Virginia plays Georgia Tech next week in Atlanta. The game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
“I think this team has been different from the previous [Virginia] teams that I’ve been on,” Jennings said. “We have a good group. Our mindset is ready. We’re going to dwell on it today [and] we’re going to correct it tomorrow and just get back at it.”
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