Wahoo Wire

Al Groh’s Wahoos lost yet again on Saturday, but this latest loss was nothing like last week’s 52-17 thrashing at the hands of Miami. This one was close.

“They call it a ‘game of inches,”‘ Groh said.  “The Boston College touchdown was close enough to review and so was our last offensive play of the game. So, for probably a total of less than six inches in the entire game, that was the difference in the two teams.”

After trailing 7-0 at halftime, the Cavaliers rallied in the third quarter to take a 10-7 lead. Chris Cook tied the game with a 58-yard interception return for a touchdown, and once Virginia got the ball back and scored a field goal to take the lead, Scott Stadium was absolutely rocking.

The Eagles were able to recover in the fourth, though. A drive that featured two fourth down conversions–the second of which took place on the goal line–put BC back on top, 14-10. The fourth-down QB sneak by Dave Shinskie was close enough to warrant a second look via replay, but it was confirmed that the ball crossed the goal line by a few inches.

Virginia’s defense held after that, though, and put the ball back in the hands of its offense with 2 minutes go to. Jameel Sewell engineered a drive deep into BC territory, but dropped passes and a questionable play call on 4th-and-one ensured that the Cavaliers would not go ahead in the final minute. Sewell tried to run the ball up the middle out of the shotgun formation, and was stuffed inches short of the first-down marker with 17 seconds left, ensuring that the Eagles prevailed, 14-10.

Those two near misses were not the only reasons for the Hoos’ latest defeat as they made several other costly mistakes earlier on in the game. Kicker Robert Randolph missed a 47 yard field goal in the first quarter and a penalty negated a punt return for a touchdown by Vic Hall.

“We left 10 special teams points out there today that we could have had,” Groh said.  “Clearly that would have been the difference in the game. Those kind of points get forgotten but they are the kind of points that change scoreboards. Leaving those points out there had more effect on the game than the final few plays did.”

That wasn’t all. Sewell threw an ugly pick as the Cavaliers were threatening towards the end of the first half and the Virginia secondary was flagged for pass-interference around the end-zone on both of Boston College’s touchdown drives. Such mistakes are the reason why Virginia won’t be going to a bowl game this year–a sure thing after Saturday’s loss dropped them to 3-7 (2-4 in the ACC).

“We just have to pick everyone up and play for pride for the rest of the season,” senior tackle Nate Collins said.  “A lot of people will say we have nothing left to play for, but we feel like we have everything to play for.  We will go into practice this week and let everyone know that we have to get ready for these games.”