FINAL: Miami 17, No. 20 Virginia 9

No. 20 Virginia dropped its second straight contest, falling 17-9 at Miami Friday night. The Cavaliers (4-2, 2-1 ACC) controlled the possession and outgained the Hurricanes on the night, but only came away with three field goals despite six trips inside the Miami 30-yard line.

The Hurricanes (3-3, 1-2) came in desperate for a conference win, and got off to a solid start before seeing their offense sputter. But Virginia couldn’t convert after setting itself up on numerous occasions.

A turnover on downs, a blocked field goal and a fumble were all killers for the ‘Hoos throughout the contest.

First Quarter

Miami received the ball first and marched down the field under redshirt sophomore N’Kosi Perry, who is coming off of a career-high passing performance after taking over for starting freshman Jarren Williams against Virginia Tech last week. Perry led an 11-play, 78-yard drive, capped by a screen pass to tailback DeeJay Dallas for 17 yards with 8:55 left in the period. Hurricanes 7, Wahoos 0.

UVA went three and out on its initial drive, but the ‘Canes punted right back after only picking up a pair of yards on the ensuing possession. Starting from its own 33, Virginia finally started to move the ball. PK Kier had a couple of nice runs and Joe Reed hauled in an important 10-yard catch on third & 10 to keep the chains moving. Tavares Kelly caught a 12-yard pass from Bryce Perkins on the following play, and the ‘Hoos had a huge fourth-and-one to begin the second quarter from the Miami 24-yard line.

Second Quarter

Perkins handed off to Wayne Taulapapa to keep the ball in the Cavaliers’ hands, but Miami’s Greg Rousseau made the stop on fourth down and the Cavaliers turned it over on downs. UVA linebackers Charles Snowden and Noah Taylor continued to apply heavy pressure in the Miami backfield, as Taylor came away with a sack and both converged for a stop on third down to force another Miami punt with just under 12 minutes left in the half.

The ‘Hoos took more than seven minutes off the clock and got down to the red zone for the first time all night, but Brian Delaney’s 37-yard field goal attempt was blocked and Miami took over with 4:41 to go in the period.

The UVA defense came up big again after the blocked kick, as Mandy Alonso followed up a three-yard tackle for loss with an eight-yard sack on second down, and Bronco Mendenhall called his first timeout with 2:54 left to give his offense a little more time to work with. Billy Kemp IV’s 19-yard punt return gave the ‘Hoos excellent starting field position at their own 47-yard line, despite losing All-American cornerback Bryce Hall to a left-leg injury on the play.

However, Perkins was incomplete on first and second down, and found Kemp for just six yards on third down, and Virginia quickly punted it away, as Miami took over with a full 2:02 still on the clock. Miami couldn’t get anything going either, giving it back to the ‘Hoos with 1:33 to go.

That turned out to be enough time for Perkins and the Cavaliers, as he connected with Hasise Dubois for 49 yards to give the ‘Hoos a first-and-goal from the Miami 8 with 26 ticks showing. After three incompletions, Delaney booted home a 25-yarder to get Virginia on the board as the first-half clock expired. Hurricanes 7, Wahoos 3.

Despite the lack of points, Virginia outgained the Hurricanes, 176-98 in the first half, and Miami punted on all four drives after the touchdown, picking up just 15 yards in the process.

Third Quarter

Virginia got the ball first and got a nice up-tempo strike to start things off, as Perkins hit Terrell Jana for a first down, but Nash Griffin eventually came on for his third punt of the night, a booming 47-yarder to pin the ‘Canes down inside their own 10-yard line. Miami picked up a first down, but eventually punted back to the Cavaliers after failing for the sixth time in seven third-down tries.

Dubois made an excellent 14-yard catch on the sideline to keep the ensuing drive going before Perkins connected with Kelly for 23 more, and the ‘Hoos had a ton of momentum until true freshman Mike Hollins coughed up the ball on the very next play at the Miami 20-yard line as Trajan Bandy recovered midway through the period. The Wahoo defense forced another three-and-out to get something going again with 6:11 on the clock — and that’s just what Perkins and the Cavalier offense did.

Perkins connected with Kemp for a 14-yard screen; found graduate transfer Dejon Brissett for a tough sideline catch; hit Jana for a crucial 10-yard catch into the red zone on third-and-six; and then Amari Carter was whistled for targeting on Dubois on an incomplete pass into the end zone to move the ball inside the 10.

An illegal substitution penalty moved it even closer, and Taulapapa kept his legs churning to get it down to the Miami 1-yard line on the final play of the period.

Fourth Quarter

Perkins kept the ball on the all-important third-down play, but lost three yards and Delaney deflected a 21-yard field goal in to cut it to one point with 14:28 to play. Hurricanes 7, Wahoos 6.

After registering just 40 total yards since the game’s opening scoring drive, Miami found a rhythm on the ensuing drive, as Perry completed four passes — the big one was a 35-yarder to tight end Brevin Jordan on a screen down to the UVA 7-yard line — to get the Hurricanes in striking position. However, the Wahoo defense held Miami to a 19-yard Turner Davidson field goal, the first of his career, with 10:06 to go. Hurricanes 10, Wahoos 6.

Joe Reed returned the ensuing kickoff all the way down to the Miami 27-yard line. Perkins fought for 10 yards and a first down to the 17, but was sacked for a 10-yard loss on third down. Delaney was perfect on a 44-yard attempt to again cut the Miami lead to a point with 7:39 remaining. Hurricanes 10, Wahoos 9.

Perry capped a long drive with a touchdown run with 2:31 to play, but elected to kick the extra point to keep it a one-possession game. Hurricanes 17, Wahoos 9.

Perkins led the ‘Hoos into Miami territory with under a minute left, but took a sack (with no timeouts left) with 37 seconds left. With four ticks on the clock from the UVA 46-yard line, Perkins heaved one into the end zone where three Cavalier receivers made an attempt to haul it in, but the pass fell incomplete and the Hurricanes escaped.

Up Next

The Wahoos will host another Coastal Division rival, Duke, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m, before hitting the road for two more ACC contests.