Hurricanes win in 4OT despite not scoring a touchdown
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In 60 minutes of regulation, neither Miami nor Virginia could reach the end zone.
The Hurricanes and Cavaliers combined for 12 points in the first four quarters, scoring on four field goals. In four overtimes, the Hurricanes (4-4) got the edge and beat Virginia (3-5) 14-12.
Quarterback Jake Garcia sprinted for the pylon in the game’s fourth overtime, diving over the line on the two-point attempt to give the Hurricanes the win.
“Can’t say enough about the resiliency of the team, which was something that we felt needed to take a huge upgrade with some of the recent things, some of our games,” coach Mario Cristobal said. “Just really proud of our guys for effort, for toughness, for playing hard the whole way through.”
Neither team reached the end zone until Garcia’s diving try to end the game. They had to make due with four field goals each.
Miami kicker Andy Borregales notched his four field goals at clutch moments. He hit his first, a 38-yarder to give Miami a 3-0 lead, at the end of the first half.
He kicked a 20-yarder to send the game to overtime. He kicked two field goals (42 and 37 yards) in overtime to keep the Hurricanes in the game.
“Wow,” Cristobal said. “But he does it in practice all the time.”
Said Garcia: “My brother, oh my gosh. I already gave him a big ol’ hug in the locker room.”
But Virginia kicker Will Bettridge, a South Florida native,
matched Borregales. He kicked field goals in the third and fourth quarters before notching a pair in overtime.
But the game only went to overtime because both the Hurricanes and Cavaliers struggled mightily on offense. Fourteen of the teams’ combined 19 drives in regulation ended with punts, including the first 10 drives of the game.
Garcia, making his first career college start due to Tyler Van Dyke’s injury, went 15 for 29 for 125 yards. The Hurricanes’ run game improved, but the Hurricanes had just 272 total yards of offense. Despite the victory, it was the second time this season that Miami failed to score a touchdown in a game.
“[Garcia] worked his butt off the entire game and had some good moments, had some other tough ones,” Cristobal said. “But you saw at the end of the game, ball’s in his hands and he finds a way to get in there and make a play.”
But while the Miami offense struggled, the UM defense played arguably its best game of the year. The Hurricanes kept their end zone untouched and racked up five sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
“We continue to do really well at that and get the quarterback on the ground and create pressure,” Cristobal said, “which makes life a lot easier for our secondary.”
Miami’s defense had some of its best moments at the most crucial points in the game.
After a bad first half on offense, the Cavaliers came out firing in the second half. They connected on back-to-back passes of 30 and 47 yards and reached the Hurricanes’ 3-yard line. But the Miami defense held, forcing a 7-yard loss on a touch pass and keeping Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong from gaining more than 1 yard on back-to-back runs. The Cavaliers had to settle for a field goal.
On Virginia’s next drive, Armstrong got down the field in a hurry again, completing a 64-yard pass to Mike Hollins. Miami kept the Cavaliers out of the end zone again, thanks in large part to a dropped pass in the end zone by UVA tight end Grant Misch on fourth down.
The Cavaliers had one last, good chance at the end zone when Armstrong ran to the Miami 4, but defensive lineman Mitchell Agude blew up a third-down run attempt at the 4-yard line, forcing a short field goal.
“I think everyone just had the mentality of dominating,” Agude said. “We came into the game knowing it’s going to take grit, and you’re going to take fight from every single player. We wanted to out-will every player, every down. That’s why we had such good production.”