Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508280086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ANN ARBOR, MICH. LENGTH: Long
The Cavaliers have a habit of blowing big leads, but they never have suffered a more disheartening or dramatic loss than they did Saturday.
Michigan was down to its last gasp - fourth-and-10 from the UVa 15-yard line - when quarterback Scott Dreisbach connected with Mercury Hayes only inches inside the back-right corner of the end zone.
Time expired as the ball was in the air and, within seconds, there were so many players and fans on the field that the Wolverines didn't bother to try the extra point in an 18-17 victory.
No one from Virginia wanted to prolong the agony.
``I don't ever remember losing a game like that,'' said George Welsh, who has been on the sideline for more than 250 games in his 23 years as a head coach - the past 13 at Virginia. ``I don't know what happened. We just didn't get it done.''
The Cavaliers, who were 71/2-point underdogs for the season-opening Pigskin Classic, led 17-0 after a 30-yard field goal by Rafael Garcia with 12:55 to play.
Many in the Michigan Stadium crowd of 101,444 had headed for their cars and the fans who remained weren't making much noise before the Wolverines' Ed Davis scored on a 1-yard run with 11:36 remaining.
Michigan, shrugging off a missed extra-point kick, closed to 17-12 with 7:47 remaining on a short pass from Dreisbach to Hayes that turned into a 31-yard touchdown play.
Only minutes earlier, the Michigan faithful had been booing Dreisbach, the first redshirt freshman to start at quarterback for the Wolverines. Or maybe the boos were for Lloyd Carr, their first-year head coach.
``It's never nice to be booed, but it was totally understandable,'' said Dreisbach, who threw two interceptions - one leading to a UVa touchdown and the other preventing a Michigan score. ``The boos I got, I deserved.''
Virginia quarterback Mike Groh clearly was the best quarterback on the field until he came out of the game with 8:33 remaining, the victim of leg cramps that felled several players from both teams.
Groh was given fluids intravenously and returned in time to take the Cavaliers on a 43-yard drive that gave them a second-and-two at the Michigan 28-yard line with less than three minutes remaining.
Groh, seeing the Wolverines in a formation that didn't suit the run UVa's coaches had called, tried to change to a pass. On the sideline, offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien was going ballistic.
``We didn't want a check,'' O'Brien said. ``That was what I was yelling at him: `Don't check.' There's no question we should have run the ball. Right then, you've got to let the offensive line and the backs win the game for you.''
Groh hesitated, the Cavaliers barely got the ball snapped before the play clock expired and the result was a 4-yard loss. After an incompletion, UVa punted from the Wolverines' 32 with 2:43 left.
Welsh, having watched Garcia miss two field-goal attempts of less than 40 yards, wasn't about to give Michigan the field position that would result from a missed 49-yarder. However, his plans went awry when the Cavaliers were unable to keep Will Brice's high punt out of the end zone.
It was one of several otherwise-forgettable plays that conspired against the Cavaliers in the final minutes. The last of those came with four seconds left, when a pass from Dreisbach slipped through Tyrone Butterfield's fingers at the UVa 5-yard line.
Butterfield was in the middle of the field, the Wolverines were out of timeouts and UVa defensive back Anthony Poindexter was prepared to make the stop. Butterfield later said he dropped the ball intentionally, but nobody believed him.
``The third-down pass was a mistake on my part,'' Dreisbach said. ``I was supposed to throw the ball into the end zone or throw it away, and I didn't do either. We're lucky he dropped it.''
Dreisbach's final pass was a textbook corner route on which Hayes clearly beat UVa defensive backs Ronde Barber and Paul London. The only question was whether Hayes got a foot inbounds.
``He looked inbounds to me,'' Barber said. ``All I could do at that point was tell the official that [Hayes] was out. Obviously, he saw the same thing that I did.''
Hayes finished with seven receptions for 179 yards, many at the expense of Barber, the 1994 ACC rookie of the year. The Cave Spring High School alumnus did victimize Hayes and Dreisbach on an interception that led to Virginia's first touchdown.
The Cavaliers took a 7-0 lead into halftime following a 1-yard run by Groh, then made it 14-0 early in the second half when Tiki Barber, Ronde's twin, raced 81 yards on a third-and-11 draw play.
Tiki Barber suffered a bruised shoulder on the play and returned only briefly in the fourth quarter. He finished with 12 carries for 113 yards in only the second start of his college career.
The Wolverines outgained Virginia 424-348, despite a running game that was nonexistent after No.1 tailback Tim Biakabutuka suffered a bruised shoulder in the third quarter. Michigan's final 23 plays consisted of 21 Dreisbach passes and two quarterback sneaks.
Dreisbach finished 27-of-52 for 372 yards, setting Michigan records for passing attempts and yardage. He was 12-of-24 for 236 yards in the fourth quarter alone.
``I had the worst butterflies I've ever had in my life,'' Dreisbach said. ``I almost threw up in the hotel before the game.''
Michigan, which has played more games than any college football team, had never overcome a deficit greater than 14-0 before Saturday. The fourth-quarter collapse wasn't the first for Virginia, however.
``Every year is different,'' said Welsh, who turned 62 on Saturday. ``What big leads have we lost? I'm not sure 17 points is a big lead anymore, either.''
Welsh might be surprised to know UVa has lost seven games in the 1990s in which it has led by more than 10 points, including a 30-27 setback to N.C. State last year when the Cavaliers led 19-7 in the third quarter.
``I remember going to the Sugar Bowl in 1990 and losing in the last 23 seconds, and then Clemson coming back to beat us [in 1992] after we were up 28-0,'' said offensive tackle Chris Harrison, a sixth-year senior. ``It kind of makes you wonder if we're jinxed or something.''
by CNB