Opportunities Missed: Virginia Offense Squanders Chances in Loss to Miami
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In a game in which it seemed that both teams' offenses were determined to avoid scoring touchdowns, the Cavaliers proved to be unwavering in their resistance to the end zone to the bitter end. Finally, Miami quarterback Jake Garcia dove across the goal line to give the Hurricanes a 14-12 victory over Virginia, at long last bringing a horrendous football game to an end after four overtimes.
It's not the loss itself that will hurt the Cavaliers looking back on this game - they've lost five games this season - but rather the manner in which they lost that will haunt the Hoos for a long time. Thanks to a marvelous performance from the UVA defense, the helpless Virginia offense had opportunity after opportunity to win the game.
And time and time again, those opportunities were missed as the Cavaliers suffered one of their more frustrating losses in recent memory.
It started from Virginia's first offensive play from scrimmage. UVA had forced Miami to punt on its first drive, beginning a series of wins for the Cavalier defensive unit which fielded perhaps its strongest performance of the season. Dontayvion Wicks worked himself wide open down the field on a post route. With no defender within five yards of Wicks, Brennan Armstrong unleashed his throw and the ball hit the ground 10 yards in front of his intended target. What should have been an easy completion that would have undoubtedly gone for a touchdown instead was the first missed opportunity of the game.
Virginia went on to punt on each of its five drives in the first half, three of which were three-and-outs. Of course, the UVA defense did its job, holding the Canes and backup quarterback Jake Garcia, in for injured starter Tyler Van Dyke, at bay. Miami managed to get in field goal range just before halftime and Andres Borregales knocked through a 38-yard field goal as time expired to give the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead.
UVA's first drive of the second half looked similar to each of the team's drives in the first, with the Cavaliers going backwards on first and second down to make it 3rd and 15 from their own 20-yard line. Two plays later, the Hoos somehow found themselves with a first and goal at the Miami 3-yard line after a couple of plays that showed that the explosive UVA offense that broke records in 2021 is still in there somewhere, just itching to get out. Armstrong targeted Keytaon Thompson over the middle of the field and Thompson made a leaping catch for 30 yards to move the chains.
On the next play, UVA went deep again and this time it was Lavel Davis Jr. who had freed himself behind the Miami secondary and was streaking towards the left corner of the end zone. In the postgame press conference, Brennan Armstrong told reporters that he knew Davis was going to be open on the play based on what the Miami defense was showing him. Remembering his overthrow on the missed touchdown pass to Wicks on the first play, Armstrong just wanted to make sure he threw a catchable ball to Davis. His pass was slightly underthrown, forcing Davis to slow up and turn his body around to make the catch inside the 10-yard line. Still, Davis could and should have been able to keep his feet and get across the goal line. Instead, the Miami safeties caught up to Davis and brought him down at the 3-yard line.
Frustrations that Davis did not get into the end zone on that play could have been quickly abated had the Cavaliers been able to punch in the touchdown from the 3. Instead, those explosive plays were followed by three puzzling play calls as Virginia once again showed pure ineptitude when it comes to executing in the red zone. Armstrong pitched the ball ahead to Keytaon Thompson, but Miami blew the play up immediately and Thompson backtracked to try to get away from the tacklers and ended up losing seven yards. That play was followed by two Armstrong scrambles as the UVA offensive line gave him no time to survey the field before dodging multiple Miami pass rushers. The first scramble picked up just one yard and the second went for no gain and Armstrong hurt his ankle on the play as well. He would end up returning to the game, but the Cavaliers had to settle for chip shot field goal from Will Bettridge to tie the game.
On UVA's next possession, Armstrong threw a short pass to Mike Hollins in the flat on 3rd and 9. Hollins made a man miss and then picked up couple of nice blocks from Keytaon Thompson and Grant Misch. Hollins was free down the left sideline with a pair of Miami defenders closing, but not near enough to catch him. As he neared the end zone, Hollins took a strong step with his left foot to dive towards the pylon. The Miami defenders did not force him out of bounds as he leapt into the end zone, but that left foot stepped on the boundary at the 3-yard line. Instead of a 67-yard touchdown catch and run, Mike Hollins had to settle for a 64-yard catch-and-run. And again, similar to the Davis catch, that play would bear no disappointment if it had only led to a Cavalier touchdown.
A Miami penalty moved the Cavaliers half the distance to the goal, but that didn't do them any favors. Armstrong handed off to Xavier Brown, who was tackled immediately for a loss of one yard. On second down, Armstrong pitched a shovel pass to Thompson, who got that one yard back but no more. On 3rd and goal from the 1, UVA tried to get tricky as Armstrong pitched the ball to Keytaon Thompson and the former Mississippi State quarterback attempted to find Grant Misch in the back of the end zone. It was a well-designed play and Misch was open, but Thompson's lofted pass had too much hangtime and Miami was able to deflect it to force the incompletion. The 4th down play was the most excruciating play of the game. The offensive line gave Armstrong time to throw and he found a wide open Grant Misch at the front of the end zone. The pass hit Misch in the hands and he dropped it. Say what you will about Tony Elliott, Des Kitchings, and their new offensive system, but they can't catch the ball for the players. If Misch hauls that one in, Virginia wins the game and the sky isn't falling on the UVA football program.
Twice Virginia had first and goal inside the 5-yard line and the Cavaliers got just three points out of it. For all of the struggles of the UVA offense, had either of those opportunities resulted in a touchdown, we simply aren't having this conversation right now.
On Virginia's next drive, there was another promising scoring chance as an 18-yard scramble from Armstrong, a juggling catch from Billy Kemp IV, and a 13-yard run from Perris Jones moved the Cavaliers into the red zone once again. Armstrong targeted Davis on a slant, but Miami broke the pass up. On the next play, Armstrong kept the ball on a designed run and darted forward for 8 yards to the Miami 4-yard line. Perris Jones got the carry on 3rd and 2, but was brought down for a loss of two yards. Virginia settled for another Will Bettridge field goal and he knocked it through to give UVA a 6-3 lead.
Miami tied the game on a Borregales field goal as time expired, which meant the UVA offense would have even more chances to redeem itself. On four of the six plays Virginia ran in the first two overtime periods, Armstrong kept the ball on scrambles, designed QB runs, or sacks. Whatever the case - the plays were largely ineffective and Virginia got a pair of 41-yard field goals from Bettridge, who was the offensive MVP, going 4/4 on his field goals after a disappointing performance at Georgia Tech last week.
Thanks to the UVA defense, which also held Miami to two field goals, the game went to a third overtime, at which point the teams alternate two-point attempts per a rule change in 2021. Antonio Clary intercepted Garcia in the end zone in Miami's half of the third overtime, giving Virginia one play to win the game. A false start backed the Cavaliers up five yards and then Armstrong threw a fade to Wicks, who got his hands on the ball but couldn't possess it to the ground. That's a play that Wicks and Armstrong connected on several times last season, but can't seem to get working in 2022.
Virginia also failed in the top half of the 4th overtime, as Armstrong was forced out of the pocket and lofted a pass to Lavel Davis Jr., who made the catch, but was out of bounds out of the back of the end zone. Finally, the Virginia defense faltered and Garcia was able to scramble on a bootleg before diving for the pylon to win the game.
The entire game was a missed opportunity, as Virginia failed to pick up a very achievable win against a dramatically underperforming Miami team that couldn't do anything offensively against UVA's smothering defensive effort. Virginia gave up just 272 total yards to the Canes and did not surrender a touchdown for the second week in a row. UVA forced eight Miami punts and yielded just two field goals in regulation. It simply never should have come down to overtime with how dominant the Virginia defensive unit was in this game.
The UVA defense will be tested by a high-powered North Carolina offense next week, but no matter how well John Rudzinski's group plays, the Cavaliers have no chance to win next Saturday or on any Saturday for the rest of the season if they can't find the end zone on offense.
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