Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510230053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: AUSTIN, TEXAS LENGTH: Long
From the shores of the Great Lakes to the windswept prairies of Texas, fate has not shined kindly on Virginia's football team this season.
Less than two months after losing on the final play at Michigan, the Cavaliers saw history repeated Saturday before 70,427 at Memorial Stadium.
Phil Dawson, who had badly missed two field-goal attempts with the wind, booted a 50-yarder against the wind to lift 16th-ranked Texas over No.14 UVa 17-16 as time expired.
``Michigan popped into my head as soon as he kicked the field goal and the ref raised his arms over his head,'' UVa offensive tackle Chris Harrison said. ``I don't know what it's going to take for us to win the big one.''
It was the first time that Texas, which notched its 700th victory, had won a home game on the final play and the first time the Longhorns had won a game anywhere on a field goal with no time remaining.
``I was barely kicking 'em from 40 before the game,'' said Dawson, an All-Southwest Conference selection as a freshman. ``I felt we'd have to get inside the 25 for me to have a chance.''
He had to settle for the UVa 33-yard line after Texas quarterback James Brown picked up 12 yards on a designed scramble. Dawson's kick, aimed for the right upright, faded to the middle and cleared the crossbar by two or three yards.
``I've got to give that guy a lot of credit after missing two 50-yarders,'' said UVa place-kicker Rafael Garcia. ``I could see he had a lot of leg in warm-ups. I thought the wind was going to hold it up, but he nailed it.''
Garcia made three field goals, all with the wind, including a 56-yarder that put the Cavaliers ahead 16-14 with 3:12 remaining. It tied the school record set by Kenny Stadlin in 1984 and might have been good from 60.
Garcia was more concerned with his lone miss, a 33-yarder that the officials waved to the right with 12:10 remaining and the Cavaliers ahead 13-7. It was so close that the sideline reporter for the Texas radio network informed listeners that it was good.
``I don't know how that official can go to bed knowing that he made the call,'' Garcia said. ``It was close; I'll give you that, but two of our linemen turned around and gave me high-fives.''
The Cavaliers will also want to watch a replay of a second-quarter pass to Patrick Jeffers, who was ruled out of the end zone on a fade pattern before Garcia's first field goal, which cut an early Texas lead to 7-3.
``I'd like to see it because I thought I had both feet in bounds,'' Jeffers said. ``When I hit the ground, the ball came out, but they weren't signaling incomplete; they were signaling that I was out of the end zone.''
Virginia (6-3) took a 13-7 lead before the half on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Mike Groh to tight end Walt Derey and a 45-yard field goal by Garcia on the final play of the half.
Texas coach John Mackovic wasn't thrilled by the prospect of going against the wind in the fourth quarter, particularly since he had elected to kick off at the start of both halves.
The Longhorns (5-1-1) had moved the ball against Virginia on occasion, but did not have a sustained drive until they went 80 yards in 16 plays for the go-ahead touchdown, a 1-yard drive by Ricky Williams with 5:03 left.
The key play on that drive came with 6:45 on the clock and the Longhorns facing a fourth-and-nine at the Virginia 33. Brown sidestepped the UVa rush and found Mike Adams for a 29-yard completion over a fallen Percy Ellsworth.
The same connection worked for the Longhorns on their final drive, when Texas had fourth-and-10 before Brown hit Adams for 12 yards to the Cavaliers' 45 with 13 seconds left.
Questions were raised about UVa's inability to contain Brown on his final rollout, but the Cavaliers could have done worse than let the game come down to a 50-yard field-goal try.
``If it went over by one or two yards, that scramble got them the win,'' UVa coach George Welsh conceded, ``but I didn't think he could make it 50 yards into the wind. He must have summoned something extra from somewhere.''
Welsh said it was possible the Cavaliers got tired during a second half in which the Longhorns had the ball for more than 19 minutes and ran 46 plays, compared to Virginia's 26.
That was a reverse of the first half, when the Cavaliers had a 50-26 advantage in plays. Nevertheless, their only touchdown came on a 23-yard drive following a shanked punt.
Groh completed 15 of 31 passes for 226 yards and tailback Tiki Barber rushed 27 times for 123 yards. It put Barber at 1,030 for the season - 194 yards shy of the UVa record with three games remaining.
Williams had a game-high 139 yards on 14 carries for Texas, which finished with 256 yards on the ground against a UVa team that had been ranked 10th in Division I-A in rushing defense.
The Cavaliers have led in the fourth quarter of all three of their losses and became only the fourth team since 1971 to lose two games on the final play in the same season.
``We're a good bunch of guys,'' Ellsworth said. ``We go to class, we do well in school, we don't get arrested. Why us, man? Why does it keep happening to us?''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
by CNB