Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 2, 1994 TAG: 9401020137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Long
Virginia, snubbed during the first round of football bowl bids and ridiculed when it got a last-minute reprieve, wasted its last opportunity for some much-wanted respect.
The Cavaliers, who were a couple missed kicks away from leading at halftime, fell apart in the final 30 minutes Saturday and lost to Boston College 31-13 in the Carquest Bowl.
"It's hard to continue to say we're a good team without performing," wide receiver Larry Holmes said, "and right now we're not performing. You can't give us the benefit of the doubt."
It was the third loss in a row, the fourth loss out of five and the fifth loss in the past seven games for the Cavaliers, who stumbled to a 7-5 finish after opening the season 5-0.
Boston College (9-3) handed UVa its fourth straight loss in a bowl, all since 1990. The Carquest Bowl had fifth choice of Southeastern Conference teams as an opponent for the Eagles, but five SEC teams weren't available.
"It's a lot more fun this year than it was last year," said BC coach Tom Coughlin, whose 1992 team lost to Tennessee 38-23 in the Hall of Fame Bowl.
The Eagles had 557 yards in total offense, but equally important was the defensive job BC did on the Cavaliers in the second half, when UVa had one possession inside Eagles' territory
UVa, which led throughout the first half and trailed 17-13 at halftime, gained only 60 of its 298 yards in the second half, 15 on the ground.
After stopping the Eagles on fourth-and-1 at midfield with 11:14 left in the third quarter, the Cavaliers moved to the BC 30-yard line before quarterback Symmion Willis threw an incompletion on fourth down.
"We took a calculated risk [on offense] and I wasn't very happy with the outcome," Coughlin said. "We left our defense in a bad situation, but we rose up and stopped them.
"That could have been very critical. Had Virginia been able to take it and score there, it definitely would have changed the overall momentum of the game."
Boston College needed only five plays to go 70 yards, catching UVa in a blitz on the 46-yard touchdown pass from Glenn Foley to Keith Miller that made it 24-13 with 6:19 left in the third quarter.
Foley, offensive player of the year in the Big East Conference, finished 25-of-36 for 391 yards and three touchdowns, including tosses of 78 and 5 yards to Clarence Cannon.
Foley also was intercepted two times, the first by UVa linebacker Randy Neal on the third play of the game. A 12-yard run by Jerrod Washington put the Cavaliers ahead 7-0 with only 65 seconds gone.
BC responded with an 18-yard field goal by David Gordon before UVa sophomore Kyle Kirkeide hit the right upright on a 37-yard field-goal attempt with 24 seconds left in the quarter.
The teams traded touchdowns before Kirkeide hit the left upright on an extra-point attempt, and then Kirkeide was way short on a 29-yard field-goal attempt before the half.
"On the first field goal, I thought I hit the ball well, but the wind blew it left," Kirkeide said. "I definitely rushed the [missed] extra point. That bothered me a lot."
Nobody from Virginia was ripping Kirkeide publicly, but, some said, it was a deflated UVa team that went to the locker room at halftime.
"I didn't sense it was a problem at the half," said George Welsh, UVa's coach. "That's a different football game [if Kirkeide had converted], but we're still going to lose if we play like that."
The Cavaliers, six-point underdogs, had pinned their hopes on reducing the turnovers that plagued them late in the season. Fifteen of UVa's 25 turnovers came in the last four regular-season games.
That was one of the most surprising aspects of the game. The Cavaliers did not have a turnover for the first time this season and caused three but suffered their worst loss since a 40-14 setback at Florida State.
Maybe it was the colors: Garnet and gold for the Seminoles, maroon and gold for the Eagles. Boston College's 557 yards was topped only by Florida State's 560 against the Cavaliers, who allowed as many as 400 in only one other game.
"Maybe they surprised us a little with the way they were able to run the ball," UVa defensive end Mike Frederick said, "but that's not what beat us. I still feel it was the big plays and not the running game.
"At the half, there were probably some people who sat up and said, `That's a good football team,' but we didn't play like it in the second half. I'm sick of ending our seasons like this."
Some of UVa's defensive players agreed that it was hard to keep their spirit when the offense was so ineffective. Boston College had 50 offensive plays in the second half.
"This game was a lot like our season," said Neal, credited with a game-high 17 tackles. "It started off great and didn't finish up the way we wanted it to."
by CNB