Miami, FL. - At halftime of Saturday's game at Miami, Virginia had accumulated only 92 yards of total offense and four first downs. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, had run up 233 yards and converted 13 first downs. An interception and two blocked punts kept the Cavaliers afloat, however, resulting in 17 points and a manageable seven-point deficit.
The second half followed a similar script, but skipped the part in which Virginia forced timely turnovers and kept the game close.
It began to unravel on the first series of the third quarter. After an intentional grounding penalty pushed Miami back to its own 14-yard line, Virginia sophomore linebacker Cam Johnson stormed the backfield in pursuit of sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris. The elusive Harris avoided the sack, scrambled out of the pocket and completed a 29-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver LaRon Byrd to continue the drive. From that point on, carnage consumed lowly Virginia (3-6, 2-3 ACC), which surrendered a touchdown on that drive and three more before the final whistle to fall 52-17 to the Hurricanes (7-2, 4-2 ACC).
"Harris did what he always does - made himself difficult to get him on the ground," coach Al Groh said of Miami's key completion. "That really swung things downhill for us."
With junior quarterback Marc Verica at the helm in place of injured senior Jameel Sewell, the Virginia offense spent only one minute and 35 seconds on the field during its first drive with a quick three-and-out. On the following drive, Harris quickly completed four consecutive passes, each to a different receiver.
On second-and-5 from Virginia's 6-yard line, however, Johnson wrapped up Harris in the backfield for the first sack of his career and a 14-yard loss, forcing Miami to eventually settle for a field goal.\nMuch of the first half followed this pattern of quick Miami scores, followed by defensive stands or turnovers for Virginia.
After another three-and-out for Virginia, junior cornerback Ras-I Dowling picked off Harris's flee-flicker at the Virginia 32 and dashed 49 yards down the sideline. The ensuing field goal tied the game at 3.
After a three-and-out for the Hurricanes, Terence Fells-Danzer blocked the punt and Virginia recovered the ball at the Miami 45-yard line. A few plays later, senior right tackle Will Barker sealed a key block to allow senior fullback Rashawn Jackson to sprint for a 34-yard touchdown, tying Virginia's longest rushing play of the season.
Three minutes and 44 seconds later, however, Miami had responded with 21 unanswered points to take a 24-10 lead.
The onslaught began when sophomore kicker Chris Hinkebein's ineffective squib kick gave Miami the ball at midfield. Two quick Harris strikes downfield erased Virginia's brief lead, tying the game at 10. Thearon Collier added to the Hurricanes' big-play fervor with a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown. The return marked his second of the season - a feat last reached by a Miami player in 2004 when Devin Hester returned three for touchdowns and Roscoe Parrish added two.
"It's a great individual return," Groh said. "No. 28's the guy - he's the most dangerous guy."
The Hurricanes closed the first quarter with a brilliant defensive move. With Virginia pinned at its own 13-yard line and battling the wind, Miami called a timeout with two seconds remaining. Junior Nathan Rathjen's errant punt was swallowed up by the wind and sailed out of bounds for a 12-yard shift in field position. Had coach Randy Shannon allowed the clock to wind down, Virginia would have reversed its field position at the start of the second quarter and could have used the wind to its advantage.
"We selected the play that we did on third down to try to make sure we could keep the clock running and negate the impact of the wind if there was to be an upcoming punt," Groh said. "Obviously they assessed the impact that the wind had also."
One minute and 50 seconds into the second quarter, Harris found Miami tight end Jimmy Graham - a former basketball forward - in the back of the end zone, putting the Hurricanes up 24-10. But just when the game appeared to be out of reach for the Cavaliers, junior cornerback Trey Womack blocked a punt that skidded right into the hands of redshirt freshman Bill Schautz, who ran it in for six points.
"It was a great call by coach - me and my teammate Trey Womack, No. 1, we attacked the left wedge of the shield," Schautz said. "He came right inside, just made a great play on the ball, blocked that. Luckily it kind of bounced right to me - I was running after it, trying to see which way it was gonna bounce, and luckily it went right to my arms and I just took off. It was great."
The play marked the first time since 2002 against Akron that Virginia blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, and the first time since 1996 against N.C. State that the Cavaliers blocked two punts in a single game.
The elation Virginia felt was short-lived, though, as the defense appeared to wear down in the second half, allowing 191 rushing yards in the final 30 minutes of play.
Junior running back Graig Cooper gained 103 of his career-high 152 yards rushing in the second half, including a 70-yard run near the start of the fourth quarter. He combined with sophomore Lee Chambers and junior Damien Berry for 272 yards on the ground. This relentless attack, coupled with a 57 percent conversion rate on third down kept Virginia's defense on the field for long stretches. As a result, the Cavalier defense played more than 80 snaps for the second consecutive week and visibly wore down.
"We're very, very cognizant of it," Groh said. "We really wanted to get the number down to a workable number for the defense, but those two circumstances - pass protection on each side - were a big factor in not being able to get the play count where we wanted it to be"
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