Canes hang on for 19-14 win, extending UVA losing streak to four games

By Scott Ratcliffe

A few untimely errors doomed Virginia in a tightly contested 19-14 loss at No. 11 Miami Saturday night, as the Cavaliers dropped their fourth straight contest.

UVA (1-4, 1-4 ACC) hung around with the Hurricanes (5-1, 4-1) all night long, with starting quarterback Brennan Armstrong cleared for action, and his 35-yard touchdown toss to grad transfer Ra’Shaun Henry cut the Wahoo deficit to five points with 5:27 remaining. It looked like Virginia would get the ball back with just under three minutes left, but Nick Grant was called for pass interference on third-and-eight to keep the chains moving and Miami drained the clock down inside a minute.

With no timeouts to work with, Armstrong and the Hoos needed 80 yards — with just 23 seconds to pull it off — but fumbled the ball away on a desperation, razzle-dazzle attempt, and the Canes escaped with their fifth victory in the last six meetings with UVA.

Armstrong completed 16 of his 30 passes for 181 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and also led the Hoos with 91 rushing yards on 15 carries in his return to the lineup, but it ultimately wasn’t enough.

The Cavalier defense was down a few starters in the secondary, as Joey Blount and Brenton Nelson did not suit up, but held the Hurricanes to 122 yards rushing (2.5) yards per carry) for the game. The problem was, King threw for 322 yards and a touchdown, and the Canes registered eight gains of 20-plus yards through the air, with three of those coming in crucial, third-and-long situations (Miami was 8 of 17 on third down).

UVA put up 366 total yards (185 rushing, 181 passing) on the night. Miami held the ball for 18:46 after halftime (Virginia had it for just 11:14), as the Canes used two lengthy scoring drives to tire the Wahoo defenders — which forced Bronco Mendenhall to burn a pair of early timeouts just to give his guys a breather.

The two Miami second-half drives — one went for 16 plays and a little over six minutes resulting in a field goal, the other stretched just over four minutes and ended with a touchdown that put the Canes up by a dozen with 12:04 left.

The Hoos fought back, as Armstrong hustled for a key 32-yard run into Miami territory on fourth-and-one to set up the TD pass to Henry. But all in all, it was a combination of too little, too late along with a few to many shots to the foot for the Hoos.

It didn’t take long at all for the Canes to get on the board first, in fact it was just two plays into the contest. King found Will Mallory for 32 yards and then Mike Harley for 43 more and a score, and it was 7-0 just 28 seconds in.

That touchdown and point-after resulted in the 55th points given up in the opening quarter this season by the UVA defense.

For the first time all year, the Hoos had an answer. Armstrong led an 11-play, 64-yard scoring drive — with a little help from his friends, Keytaon Thompson and Ira Armstead, who shared a few of the snaps — capped by an incredibly athletic Tony Poljan 2-yard catch in the back of the end zone to tie it at 7-7 with 10:06 left in the opening quarter.

Poljan went up high to haul in the pigskin, then adjusted in midair and was able to just barely tap his left foot without stepping out of bounds. It was the Hoos’ first game-opening drive of the season that resulted in points rather than a punt or a turnover.

The Cavalier defense registered back-to-back sacks — one by Matt Gahm, the other by Charles Snowden — to kill the ensuing Miami drive, and then Zane Zandier got in the act with a sack of his own early in the second quarter on third down to force a Miami field-goal try. Jose Borregales’ 42-yard attempt was blocked, however, by JMU transfer D’Angelo Amos to keep the game tied.

With time winding down in the first half, UVA found itself in a goal-to-go situation with a chance to take a lead into the break, but a false start penalty combined with a Miami sack made it third-and-goal from the 24. Armstrong found Henry in the end zone, but an ineligible-receiver-downfield penalty by tight end Grant Misch wiped away the points. Two plays later, Brain Delaney misfired wide right from 36 yards out, and a huge opportunity was ultimately wasted.

Miami made the Cavaliers pay for it, tacking on a Borregales 32-yarder with 1:02 left in the half to take a 10-7 lead and steal the momentum heading into the locker room.

The Virginia defense came up with an important stop on that first long Miami scoring drive of the third quarter, making a stop on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, and Borregales trotted on and chipped one in from 20 yards out to extend the Hurricane lead to 13-7 with 3:47 on the clock.

As hard rain fell on the turf and the game moved into the final quarter, the Canes wore out the Hoos with that second long drive, as freshman Donald Chaney Jr. capped the march with a 1-yard plunge for the Canes’ final score of the night.

Terrell Jana led the Hoos with 60 yards receiving on just three catches, while Billy Kemp IV added 49 yards on five grabs. Wayne Taulapapa rushed for 56 yards on 10 carries. Nick Jackson led the team with 16 tackles (8 solo), Zandier added 10 stops (6 solo), and Snowden finished with 8 tackles (5 unassisted, along with a team-high 3.5 for loss). The Cavaliers registered 5 sacks on King, but only one of those came in the second half.

Harley led the Canes with 170 yards receiving on 10 snags. UVA held Miami’s leading rusher on the season, Cam’Ron Harris, to just 8 yards on eight carries.

The Hoos will try to end the skid next Saturday night at Scott Stadium against another ranked opponent, No. 14 North Carolina.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia scored a touchdown on its opening drive of the game. That was the first time UVA scored points on a game’s opening drive since the 2019 regular season finale against Virginia Tech.
• UVA blocked a field goal in the second quarter. It was UVA’s first blocked field goal since 2018 at Indiana (Charles Snowden).
• UVA’s five sacks are tied (Clemson) for the most Miami has given up this season.
• Six different Cavaliers recorded at least 0.5 sacks.
• UVA was 7-of-10 on third downs in the first half. UVA was 0-of-6 in the second half.
• Miami was averaging 9.8 TFLs coming into game and only finished with 2.0.
• UVA finished with 11.0 TFLs, marking the second time the Cavaliers have had 10+ in a game (Duke).
• S Antonio Clary made his first career start at SS.
• Three Cavaliers made collegiate debuts: WR Josh Clifford, DB Elijah Gaines** and DB Donovan Johnson**

    ** – denotes true freshman

Player Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• S D’Angelo Amos blocked a 42-yard field goal in the second quarter. It was his fifth career blocked kick. He previously blocked four at JMU. One of those four blocks at JMU was a punt.
• QB Brennan Armstrong’ 49-yard pass to Terrell Jana in the third quarter is UVA’s longest offensive play of the season. 
• Armstrong finished with a career-high 91 rushing yards. 
• WR Billy Kemp IV’s 19-yard punt return in the third quarter was UVA’s longest punt return of the season. 
• Kemp IV finished with five catches, giving him 41 through the first five games of the season. He is the first Cavalier to have recorded at least 40 receptions through the first five games of the season. 
• WR Terrell Jana finished the game with three receptions for 60 yards. He extends his active streak with at least one reception to 21 games. 
• TE Tony Poljan finished the game with four receptions for 26 yards and one touchdown. He extends his active streak with at least one reception to 18 games. The streak started in 2018 while he was at Central Michigan.
• ILB Nick Jackson finished with a career-high 16 tackles. He is the second Cavalier with 15+ tackles this season, joining Zane Zandier who notched 15 against Duke. 
• OLB Charles Snowden tied a career with 3.5 tackles for loss. He also had 3.5 TFLs against Old Dominion in 2019. 
• WR Ra’Shaun Henry notched his first catch as a Cavalier in the fourth quarter on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Brennan Armstrong.

Scoring Summary

UVA Offensive Player Stats