The personnel on the field were right. The play call was right. Everything was right, except for the execution.
The Cavaliers were trailing by three points with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter, but forced the No. 12 Hurricanes (7-2, 4-2 ACC) into a third down situation with four and a half yards to go on the Miami 35 yard line. A stop would have given Virginia a good chance to strike back and score, but botched Virginia pass coverage left fullback Talib Humphrey wide open in the right flat. Quarterback Brock Berlin easily found Humphrey for the first down and Miami went on to score on the drive to cement its 31-21 victory, knocking the No. 18 Cavaliers (7-2, 4-2) out of first place in the ACC.
"The big deal was that third-and-five, we still had timeouts left," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "It's third-and-five, and the ball gets completed in the worst possible way -- a mental error. We had combination coverage there and half of the combo didn't come on the scene."
Troubles in the secondary plagued the Cavaliers all day Saturday, as Hurricane receivers had little trouble getting open. Berlin connected on 18 of his 33 passes for 177 yards, but could have had even more completions if it weren't for several dropped passes by his receivers. Miami running back Frank Gore ran over the Cavaliers for an additional 195 yards and a Virginia defense that shut out Maryland last week allowed 20 Miami first downs and 380 total yards.
"There are certain things that are going to make you win or cause you to lose," Groh said. "There were too many things in the 'cause you to lose' column that negated the efforts that could've influenced us winning the game."
Despite failing to hold the lead at any time during the contest, the Cavaliers were able to keep the score close for most of the game. After trailing 14-7 at the half, Virginia came back to tie the game on a 34-yard Alvin Pearman run in the third quarter. Pearman finished the game with 109 yards on the ground, crossing the century mark on the ground for the third straight contest.
The Hurricanes struck back, however, as kicker Jon Peattie converted on a 43-yard field goal at the end of the third quarter to put Miami back on top. The two squads exchanged punts for the next three possessions, but the Hurricanes were able to capitalize, as Roscoe Parrishtook a low, line-drive Sean Johnson punt back 62 yards into the end zone to put Miami up by 10 points with 7:03 left on the clock.
"They returned the punt and they won the ball game," Pearman said. "Those two things normally go hand in hand, when you can have a lot of success returning the ball."
The Hurricanes clearly had the advantage over the Cavaliers in the punting game, averaging 33.5 yards per punt return to Virginia's measly 3.0. Miami averaged 31.9 net yards per punt to Virginia's 16.9.
"We've kind of been dancing around those problems for two years," Groh said of the punting situation. "The circumstances in this game probably stressed us out in that area as much as any, and like a lot of other areas we were a little bit below what we'd like to have in a game of this nature."
On the next play from scrimmage, Miami safety Brandon Meriweather cut in front of Heath Miller and picked off a low pass intended for the Virginia tight end, to give the Hurricanes possession of the ball with a 10-point lead and less than seven minutes remaining in the game.
Although the record Scott Stadium crowd of 63,701 began to disperse after the interception, the Cavaliers kept themselves in the game by forcing the Hurricanes to go three-and-out and then executing a drive of 79 yards in only 59 seconds -- highlighted by a 47-yard scramble by Hagans and culminating in a three-yard Wali Lundy touchdown run -- to cut the Miami advantage to three points.
Virginia then put itself in a position to get the ball back once again, but the Humphrey completion went for 34 yards and allowed Miami to run the clock down to under a minute. Facing a fourth-and-five on Virginia's 25-yard line, Berlin found an open Parrish in the end zone for another touchdown and a 31-21 lead.
"I felt like they couldn't cover Roscoe Parrish," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "It wasn't really a pretty play. It was just a great play on his part. I knew he'd be single covered. I just didn't want to give the ball back to Virginia."
Virginia, which played most of the game without senior nose tackle Andrew Hoffman, who suffered a concussion on the game's first series, gave up a season-high 203 rushing yards to the Hurricanes.
Hagans finished 10-25 for 94 yards with a touchdown pass and two interceptions, but ran for an additional 85 yards on the ground to help the Cavaliers gain over 200 rushing yards for eighth time in nine games this season.
The Cavaliers can still tie for the ACC title if they win their last two games, though they have to play on the road against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. Virginia has lost four of its last five games against the Hokies and has not won at Georgia Tech since a 24-7 triumph in 1994.
Read More
Late hitting and pitching dominance lead Virginia to 12-2 Commonwealth Clash victory
By Ryan Weiner | 26 minutes agoVirginia takes the first game of its final regular season series.
In second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid, Virginia slated for Columbia Regional
By Ben McNiff | 2 hours agoVirginia begins Regional play Friday at 3 p.m. versus North Florida, with coverage available on ESPN+.
Live tracker: the men’s basketball offseason
By Michael Liebermann , Emory Huffman and Xander Tilock | 2 hours agoA frenetic offseason likely awaits.
