For an instant, senior wide receiver Kris Burd seemed to secure freshman quarterback David Watford's fourth-and-four pass. Virginia trailed Southern Mississippi 30-24 with less than a minute left but stood just 50 yards from a game-winning touchdown.
A second later, however, the ball slipped to the ground and shattered Virginia's comeback hopes with an anticlimactic thud. For a second straight week, the Cavaliers lost a game they felt could have been theirs.
"We just talked about last week [against North Carolina]: close but not close enough," coach Mike London said. "This week, close but not close enough. In order to change the perception of this program and this team ... we need to come out and win games like that."
During the first quarter the idea of Watford leading a last-second desperation drive seemed far-fetched, as sophomore quarterback Michael Rocco directed a dominating Virginia offense with precision and poise.
The Cavaliers surrendered an opening 71-yard drive to Southern Mississippi's fast-paced spread offense, but quickly responded with their own 71-yard march, capped by Rocco scrambling for a six-yard score. A failed two-point conversion attempt appeared irrelevant as Virginia's defense forced a quick three-and-out and the Cavaliers charged downfield again.
Rocco moved the offense with a series of short, sharp passes; junior tailback Perry Jones burst for a 20-yard run up the sidelines; and freshman tailback Kevin Parks dragged defenders into the end zone as Virginia assumed a 13-7 lead. When senior linebacker Aaron Taliaferro pancaked Southern Mississippi's senior quarterback Austin Davis at his own eight-yard line, the Cavaliers felt firmly in control of the game.
But then Southern Mississippi caught the Cavaliers sleeping by running a fake punt on fourth-and-15 for a 31-yard gain at the start of the second quarter. Suddenly, the Golden Eagles switched from punting out of their own end zone to scoring in the Cavaliers' as Davis tossed a 20-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Ryan Balentine.
It was a "big momentum play," special teams coordinator Anthony Poindexter said of the fake punt. "It's a little bit of a gamble. To their credit, they had the courage to run it and they executed. It was the momentum change in the game."
Two possessions later, the Golden Eagles downed a punt at Virginia's one-yard line and capitalized on their subsequent good field possession by moving 35 yards for another score and a 21-13 lead.
Now under the gun, Rocco rushed his final two drives of the half as both ended in interceptions. The quarterback endured a hit to the ribs during the end of the second quarter, but returned to start the next half and guided the team to a 21-yard field goal. During the next possession, however, Rocco's third wobbly interception of the day convinced his coach he was not healthy enough to continue.
London handed Watford the offensive reins with Virginia trailing 27-16 and fewer than nine minutes to play. Before entering against Southern Mississippi, Watford had thrown for just 64 yards in sporadic playing time. During Saturday's telltale series, however, Watford demonstrated why London has continued to trust the true freshman.
Watford twice sustained Virginia drives with critical third-down completions before perfectly executing a play-action pass to sophomore wide receiver Jeremiah Mathis for a touchdown. During the ensuing two-point conversion, Watford flashed his dual-threat talent by rolling out to right, outrunning Southern Mississippi defenders and then throwing across his body to find Burd standing at the goal line.
"It was a play designed to go to the right, and I didn't see what I wanted, so I tried to buy time," Watford said. "Eventually Burd popped open and I tried to put the ball on him and he just made a good catch."
Down just three points, a reinvigorated defense smothered Southern Mississippi, and Scott Stadium erupted as the Golden Eagles faced third-and-23 from their own 40. Then Davis dumped off to junior wideout Tracy Lampley on a fake double screen. Lampley eluded junior linebacker LaRoy Reynolds and other diving Virginia defenders for a 41-yard run, setting up another Golden Eagle field goal and silencing a stunned crowd.
Although Reynolds led Virginia with 12 tackles, after the game, he only remembered the one he missed.
"Playing good the entire game, it really doesn't matter - you gave up the one that counts the most," Reynolds said. "That's what's going to stick with me, and that's the one that hurts."
After Watford's fourth-and-four pass on Virginia's final drive bounced out of Burd's hands, a sobered team left the field as 30-24 losers. Minutes earlier, the wide receiver had saved Watford with a two-point conversion catch, but later harped on his pivotal drop.
"What it boils down to is that I'm a fifth-year senior and a leader on this team and I've just got to make that play," Burd said. "I should've made that play. It's a play the team expects me to make, and I just should've made it."
Watford's final minutes were arguably the finest of his fledgling career, but like Reynolds and Burd, the loss soured him on his performance.
"I felt like I could have played better," Watford said. "Everybody was telling me I did a good job but I could have played better [and] made more plays so we could have won at the end."\nReynolds, Watford and Burd each stood out during the game but ultimately pinned the loss on themselves because, if not for a few critical plays, all three would be reflecting on a game - and a season - through a very different lens.
"I feel like throughout the game, we made a lot of mistakes that we just really need to key in on," Reynolds said. "We just allow it to hurt us, but I feel like we could be a 4-0 team right now. We should be a 4-0 team right now. But at the end of the day, we're not"
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