Missed opportunities

In a matter of minutes, Virginia fumbled away its lead in ACC’s Coastal Division and perhaps its chance to play in the league’s championship game.

With an announced crowd of 53,308 watching in disbelief inside Scott Stadium, Virginia running back Cedric Peerman fumbled on the first and final offensive play in overtime, sealing an improbable 24-17 come-from-behind victory for Miami.

Virginia (5-3, 3-2 ACC) dropped out of first place in the league’s Coastal Division with the loss and moves into a tie for second place with Miami (6-2, 3-2).

More importantly, the Cavaliers’ emotional stability may have taken a hit with the setback coming in such stunning fashion.

“We’ve been on the other end of that type of deal before. It’s heartbreaking to our team,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “There are real raw emotions in the locker room. They are in a real emotional state right now.”

There was obvious reason for that to be the case.

Trailing 17-10 with 8:01 left in the game, Miami took over at its own 5-yard line. Having limited Miami to 294 yards of total offense to that point, the Cavaliers had reason to like their chances.

“I think anybody would,” Virginia cornerback Ras-I Dowling said.

Miami, using a balanced attack to overcome three false start penalties, slowly picked Virginia’s defense apart, marching 95 yards in a time-consuming, 15-play drive that was capped with yet another quirky play.

Facing 3rd-and-15, Miami reserve quarterback Jacory Harris rolled to his left and threw across his body as he was hit by Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim. Magically, Harris was able to get just enough on a floating, desperation pass to have it reach wide receiver Laron Byrd, who beat cornerback Vic Hall and was wide open in the back of the end zone.

“I just signaled my hand like, ‘Throw it up,’ and I knew it was do-or-die time — I had to make the play,” Byrd said. “When I saw the ball coming it was bobbling … so I just held my hands like a breadbasket and let it drop in.

“It felt like about a minute that the ball froze in the air.”

It certainly seemed like an eternity for Sintim, who was held without a sack for the first time since Sept. 13.

“I might have got [Harris] right after he released it or as he was releasing it,” Sintim said. “It really didn’t matter because looked pretty good from how I saw it. The receiver went up and got it.

“I was on the ground just looking, hoping it would get broken up, but the receiver made a great play on it.”

Virginia appeared poised to mount yet another comeback as quarterback Marc Verica moved the ball to the Miami 42-yard line with a 22-yard completion to wideout Cary Koch with 44 seconds left.

After an incomplete pass, Verica elected to scramble up the left side and raced 10 yards before he was chased down from behind by linebacker Sean Spence. He forced a fumble that was recovered by Bruce Johnson.

“I was just trying to gain positive yardage and pick up the first down,” Verica said. “I should have done a better job securing the ball there. The guy obviously made a great play stripping me, but it is obviously unacceptable.

“It definitely contributed to the loss. It is disappointing.”

Miami quickly responded and had a chance of its own to win the game in regulation, but a 51-yard field attempt by Matt Bosher landed well short with 4 seconds left.

Miami, which took the ball first in the extra session, scored on its fifth play as Harris targeted Hall again. This time, however, Harris connected on a 9-yard touchdown pass with Aldarius Johnson, who has five inches on the 5-foot-9 Hall.

That set the stage for the first lost fumble of Peerman’s four-year career.

After racing to the right side for a 9-yard gain, Peerman was hit by Lovon Ponder, who reached in and stripped the football out. Bruce Johnson pounced on the loose ball again, starting a massive celebration by Miami’s players just inches from where Peerman was sprawled out on the ground.

“[Peerman] has won more games than any player I have been around with the exception of maybe Chris [Long],” Sintim said. “It is unfortunate — the ball bounces that way sometimes and it is just one of those things … and 99.9 percent of the time I am giving the ball to Cedric. I am going to let him make the play.

“That 0.1 percent of the time, something like this happens. We are going to rally around him. He is the heart and soul of this offense as well as this team and I don’t suspect anything like that will frequently be happening to guy of his caliber.”

Groh echoed those sentiments.

“Cedric has had our backs for many weeks and we have his back tonight,” Groh said.

Virginia should not have been in that position, but the Cavaliers squandered several scoring opportunities in regulation.

In the second half, placekicker Yannick Reyering missed a pair of field goals and Virginia converted just one of its seven chances on third down.

“You never want to lose a game like that under those circumstances,” Virginia nose tackle Nate Collins said. “You want to feel like you got beat fair and square, but we let that game go ourselves.”

Virginia took a 17-10 lead at halftime as it scored a pair of touchdown in each of the first two quarters. Wide receiver Kevin Ogletree scored on a 16-yard reverse and Verica connected on a 2-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jared Green.

“I knew Marc was going to see me and we locked eyes and he just threw it my way,” said Green. “It was a great feeling and I will never forget that. The end zone was calling me today.”

Virginia returns to action on Saturday at Wake Forest (5-3, 3-2). Miami is off until hosting Virginia Tech on Nov. 13.