DURHAM, N.C. - With less than two minutes remaining in the showdown between the Virginia football team and Duke, the Cavaliers appeared to be on the verge of sneaking away from Wallace Wade Stadium with their third consecutive victory.
The Blue Devils, trailing 48-47, faced fourth-and-20 on their own 21-yard line after two consecutive sacks and an incomplete pass by redshirt sophomore quarterback Sean Renfree. The quarterback got his redemption on the next play, however, hitting junior wide receiver Donovan Varner for 32 yards to convert on fourth down and keep Duke's hopes alive. Then, with 40 seconds remaining, sophomore running back Desmond Scott scored the game-winning touchdown on a 35-yard run, putting Duke ahead 55-48 in the second-highest scoring game in ACC history.
"It is disheartening and discouraging that one play gets you off the field and you cannot capitalize on that," Virginia coach Mike London said of Duke's critical fourth-down conversion. "It is one of those things that kind of eats at you."
Both Duke (3-6, 1-4 ACC) and Virginia (4-5, 1-4 ACC) seemed to have little difficulty moving the ball throughout the game. Virginia racked up 643 yards of total offense en route to the 48-point performance - the most points scored by the Cavaliers during a loss in program history. Duke, meanwhile, put up 489 yards against a Virginia defense that went largely without its starting cornerbacks, senior Ras-I Dowling and junior Chase Minnifield, who were both sidelined with injuries. Minnifield saw limited playing time while Dowling missed the game.
Senior quarterback Marc Verica completed 24-of-46 passes for four touchdowns and 417 yards, shattering his previous high of 283 yards against Richmond earlier this season. The 417 yards tallied by Verica marked the most passing yards by a Virginia quarterback in a single game - a record formerly held by current Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub.
"I don't really play for numbers and stats," Verica said. "I play to get my team a victory and feel good after games. I can't really find that much salvation in [the record] right now, but maybe some point down the line, I can take ownership of that."
Verica's go-to receiver Saturday, wide receiver Dontrelle Inman, also had a career performance against the Blue Devils' defense. Inman brought in 10 passes for a total 239 yards - just two yards shy of the all-time team record of 241 yards during a single game by a wide receiver set back in 1974.
"I really don't harp on individual accolades," Inman said. "Most of all, I just wanted to win."
The Virginia coaching staff brought out all they had in the 164-play affair - which knocked the Cavaliers out of contention for an ACC title - including trickery on special teams. Late in the second quarter, junior place kicker Robert Randolph received a toss from junior holder Jacob Hodges on a fake-field goal attempt and ran 20 yards into the end zone.
Despite the impressive numbers put up by the Cavaliers' offense and special teams unit, the offense still turned out four costly turnovers. Verica threw three interceptions that led to 17 of Duke's 55 points.
The Blue Devils' second touchdown was the result of one of these turnovers less than five minutes into the game. Verica was flushed out of the pocket and threw the ball into the open arms of redshirt freshman cornerback Ross Cockrell. Cockrell's interception gave the Duke offense the ball at the Virginia two-yard line, from where back-up freshman quarterback Brandon Connette pounded the ball into the end zone.
Cockrell picked off Verica again during the third quarter by tapping the ball to himself on his way down to the turf. Duke's subsequent possession resulted in a 47-yard field goal to extend the Blue Devils' lead to six, heading into the final quarter of play.
The gap was cut to five with four minutes remaining in the game, as Inman nabbed a 10-yard touchdown between two Duke defenders. Senior running back Keith Payne added six more points two minutes later to put the Cavaliers up 48-47 with 2:26 left in regulation. Payne finished the day with 121 yards on 22 carries for two touchdowns.
But there was too much time remaining on the clock, allowing the Blue Devil offense to put together a 91-yard touchdown drive and surge ahead for good.
"It was a game of we couldn't stop them, they couldn't stop us - who was going to have the most possessions," London said. "They got the possession when it counted, and they scored."
The Duke offensive assault was not the only factor that prevented Virginia from extending its winning streak to three games, however. The Cavaliers committed 11 penalties for a total of 103 yards, including two late hit personal foul calls during the first half and several other mistakes that led to automatic Blue Devil first downs.
"We can't do things that are going to knock you back and take you out of field position or make it second and long because you can dial up things and put pressure back on the offense or the defense for that matter," London said. "We had 11 and they had three - that is not acceptable. Then the turnovers compound that. We have to get it fixed, and I have to do a better job myself."
Virginia's first opportunity to rectify this weekend's miscues comes against Maryland this Saturday at Scott Stadium with kickoff slated for 3:30 p.m. The squad must win for the remainder of the season to remain eligible for a bowl game berth.
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