Cavaliers turn it on late, rally for 24-14 win against Boston College

By Scott Ratcliffe

On an unseasonably warm October afternoon at Scott Stadium, Virginia struggled early but found its groove when it mattered most, outscoring Boston College 18-0 in the fourth quarter en route to a momentum-building, 24-14 victory on Homecomings weekend.

With the hard-fought, come-from-behind ACC victory, the Cavaliers move to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play heading into another important home clash next weekend against Louisville.

It’s the first time the Wahoos have won four of their first five contests since Bryce Perkins & Co. did the same to start the 2019 Orange Bowl season, which was also the last season with a 2-0 ACC start.

It was a total team effort Saturday, with the Virginia defense producing three takeaways that led to 15 points, which turned out to be all it needed.

UVA fell behind by a 14-0 margin early in the second quarter (BC quarterback Thomas Castellanos returned from injury and threw a pair of essentially uncontested touchdown passes), as the offense sputtered its way to an eight-point halftime deficit (14-6) with a pair of second quarter Will Bettridge field goals.

The Hoos were knocking on the door right before the break, advancing down to BC’s 16-yard line in the waning seconds, but had to settle for three as time expired.

A James Jackson third-down sack on the Eagles’ opening drive of the second half led to a punt, with Virginia marching down to the 2-yard line, but Anthony Colandrea’s pass attempt on fourth-and-goal fell incomplete, and BC took over deep in its own territory with 3:40 left in the third quarter.

The UVA defense held strong and forced another punt, and the offense continued to pick up steam, starting its next drive from its own 40-yard line. A wideout pass from Malachi Fields to running back Kobe Pace on the ensuing snap from scrimmage — followed by a 17-yard connection to Tyler Neville into the red zone on the last play of the period — gave the Hoos a boost of confidence heading into the final 15 minutes.

Although the Cavaliers once again couldn’t find a way to get into the end zone on this trip, Bettridge added his third field goal of the day to trim Boston College’s lead to 14-9 with 13:29 remaining.

Less than two minutes later, Chico Bennett’s first career interception gave UVA the ball back at midfield. Pace offered up his “dirtiest” run of the day, breaking would-be tackles on the way to a 20-yard gain that got the crowd on its feet.

Colandrea wasted no time putting the Hoos ahead to stay, lofting a perfectly placed ball into the hands of Fields for a 30-yard touchdown with 10:39 to go. His two-point pass to UNC transfer Andre Greene Jr. made it a 17-14 ballgame, and the defense sealed the deal moments later.

On a critical third-and-9 from the Virginia 46, BC’s Castellanos was chased down and eventually coughed up the ball along the home sideline, into the hands of Jonas Sanker, who scooped it up and hustled 40 yards for the decisive score to make it a 10-point advantage with 6:02 on the clock.

The play was reviewed and upheld, to the delight of the remaining 38,285 fans in attendance, and UVA went into victory formation shortly after getting the ball back one last time prior to the two-minute timeout, after Penn transfer DB Kendren Smith came away with an easy pick — the third of his career and first as a Cavalier — to put an exclamation point on the win.

Colandrea admittedly didn’t have his best performance, but executed the timely big plays in crunch time and completed 15 of his 26 attempts for 179 yards and the TD toss, without throwing any interceptions. He also rushed eight times for a net of 23 yards.

Pace racked up a game-high 112 all-purpose yards (he led all rushers with 83 yards on 19 bruising carries and added 29 more on a pair of receptions).

Fields posted a team-best 63 receiving yards on four grabs, and scored his third touchdown in the past two contests to lead the air attack. Greene had his most productive day as a Wahoo, adding 25 yards on four catches, while J.R. Wilson made his season debut, hauling in four catches for 44 yards.

The Hoos were happy to have left tackle McKale Boley back in action, as he helped protect Colandrea and create holes for Pace and Xavier Brown (38 all-purpose yards on six touches).

Second-year linebacker Kam Robinson led the team in tackles with 8 (6 solo), including one of the Hoos’ three sacks on the afternoon.

UVA Offensive Stats

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia is 4-1 for the first time since 2019 and the sixth time since 1999 – 2019 (4-1), 2017 (4-1), 2007 (4-1), 2004 (5-0), 2003 (4-1).  

• UVA is 2-0 to start ACC play for the first time since 2019. 

• Virginia has back-to-back ACC games for the first time since 2021 (vs. Duke 48-0 & vs. Georgia Tech 48-40). 

• Virginia improved to 2-7 in the all-time series against BC and is now 2-2 against the Eagles at Scott Stadium. 

• The Cavaliers erased a 14-point deficit, the second time this season (at Wake Forest) UVA has overcome a 14-point lead to win. It marked the first 14+ point comeback at Scott Stadium since 2019 when they trailed 17-0 against ODU after two quarters. 

• UVA is now 2-0 this season when trailing after the first quarter and 2-0 when trailing at the half. 

• UVA held BC scoreless over the last 43:07 of the game and scored 24 unanswered points. 

• Virginia scored 18 points in the fourth quarter, the most since Louisville in 2021. Coming into the game, Boston College had not allowed a fourth quarter offensive touchdown. 

• The Cavaliers scored 18 points in the fourth quarter, the most in the final stanza since 2021 at Louisville. 

• UVA has not turned the ball over in back-to-back games for the first time since 2019. 

• Virginia recognized members of its 1989 co-ACC championship team in between the first and second quarters. The ‘89 team finished with an overall record of 10-3 and its 10 wins are still a school single-season record.

Player Notes

• Malachi Fields led the Cavaliers with four receptions for 63 yards and scored his third touchdown of the season. All three scores have come in the last two games. Fields has a reception in 20-straight games. 

• Fields completed a 29-yard pass to Kobe Pace in the third quarter. It was UVA’s first completion for a first down by a non-quarterback since 2021 at Illinois (Dontayvion Wicks to Brennan Armstrong for 18 yards). Fields’ completion was the longest by a non-quarterback since Perry Jones’ 36-yard completion in 2012 to Tim Smith against Louisiana Tech 

• Chico Bennett recorded his first career interception. Today marked his 41st career collegiate football game (25 at UVA, 16 at GT). The pick was the first by a UVA defensive lineman David Dean against Virginia Tech in 2014. 

• Jonas Sanker scored his first career touchdown on a 40-yard fumble return in the fourth quarter. It was UVA’s first fumble recovery for a touchdown since Eli Hanbeck recovered a fumble in the end zone to seal UVA’s victory over Virginia Tech in 2019. 

• In the first quarter, Terrell Jones (0.5) and Anthony Britton (0.5) teamed up to record their first career tackle-for-loss. It was Britton’s first career start. 

• Kendren Smith logged his third career interception and his first as a Cavalier. He added five tackles (2 solo) and one pass break-up. 

• Daniel Sparks’ 62-yard punt in the first quarter is his season long and his eighth career punt of at least 60 yards.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will look for three in a row next Saturday, as Louisville comes to Scott Stadium at 3:30 p.m. on ACC Network.