Cavs’ comeback falls short

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Representatives from the Chick-fil-A Bowl and Gator Bowl, were among those in attendance at Wake Forest’s newly-named BB&T Field on Saturday.
After a putrid start, the visit itself now appears to be as close as Virginia will come to either of the premiere postseason venues.
Instead, UVa suddenly finds its postseason hopes in need of life support.
In fact, in a matter of 27 minutes, the Cavaliers missed a chance to jump into sole possession of first place in the ACC’s Coastal Division and helped shatter any hope of playing in the league’s title game by falling to Wake Forest, 28-17, in front of 34,014 on a wind-chilled afternoon.
Virginia (5-5, 3-3 ACC) fell behind 28-3 before halftime, never recovered and must now beat Clemson on Nov. 22 or Virginia Tech on Nov. 29 just to become eligible for the postseason.
Whether a bowl would want the Cavaliers likely depends on which version of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde operation that they expect to corral.
The model on display in the opening half against the Demon Deacons (6-3, 4-2 ACC) was anything but marketable.
With 8:51 left in the opening quarter, Wake Forest capped an easy scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Riley Skinner to tight end Ben Wooster.
Although it appeared that Wooster stepped out of the back of the end zone, the play was not reviewed, giving the Demon Deacons a lead they would not relinquish.
“I didn’t have enough information to tell me that [a challenge] was going to be upheld, and the one thing that we know in college football is that … they are all supposed to be reviewed,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “We saw how that went last week. Maybe that should have told me to call for it anyway.”
After four possessions and three turnovers, two of which were committed by Virginia, Wake Forest struck again.
Facing 3rd-and-15 at the Wake 42, Skinner fired a deep pass down the left sidelines at Virginia’s Cover 2 defense that appeared destined for the hands of Cavalier safety Byron Glaspy.
“I was definitely thinking interception,” Glaspy said. “I just saw the ball coming out and I knew where he was going to go with it.”
The ball landed, however, in stride with Wake Forest receiver Devon Brown as Glaspy fell to the ground, giving Wake an easy 58-yard touchdown with 2:36 remaining in the first quarter.
“I thought I had got myself on the mark where it was going to come down and it just sailed farther than I had expected. I misjudged it a little,” Glaspy added. “I was just trying to get back into a good position, but at that point the damage had already been done.”
Trailing 14-0, Virginia answered the score with 13:18 left in the opening half as rookie placekicker Robert Randolph, who has stolen the job from Yannick Reyering, nailed a 33-yard field goal.
The Demon Deacons then managed to methodically terrorize Virginia’s defense as they ran on 13 of 15 plays in a 71-yard drive that finished with a 1-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman Brandon Pendergrass, who rushed for a career-best 110 yards on 27 carries.
While it appeared to be a low point for Virginia, it suddenly got worse.
On 3rd-and-16 at the Virginia 36, quarterback Marc Verica attempted to squeeze a 17-yard pass to Kevin Ogletree between three defenders. Seconds later, Ogletree unsuccessfully tried to keep strong safety from reaching the end zone on a 53-yard interception return that ultimately gave the Demon Deacons their 28-3 halftime cushion.
Virginia, which finished with 307 yards of total offense, attempted to mount a rally, something that could not be said for road losses at Connecticut or Duke previously this season.
The Cavaliers’ defense blanked the Demon Deacons in the second half and held them to just 75 yards.
Virginia’s offense chipped in as well, as Verica connected with John Phillips on a 21-yard touchdown pass and with Ogletree on a 5-yard strike.
But the team had squandered its most promising chance in the third quarter after Verica connected with Ogletree for a 48-yard pass that moved the ball to the Wake Forest 1.
After two running plays lost a yard, Verica elected to bootleg to his right on 3rd-and-goal at the Wake 2. The decision proved costly as the redshirt sophomore lost four yards and missed on a play that could have been audibled at the line into a draw to Peerman.
“We probably didn’t make the best decision on the third-down play,” Groh said. “It looked like we probably had a score there if the ball was handed off, but that’s easy to say from the sideline.
“I didn’t have to be out there making the decision under pressure.”
Groh bypassed on a field goal, electing to go for the touchdown on 4th-and-goal and a swing pass to Peerman lost another three yards.
“You are down 25 points so [if you kick the field goal] now you are down
28-6. Maybe it looks better in the newspaper, but that is not what we are playing for,” Groh explained. “We are trying to win the game and clearly we needed touchdowns to win the game.
“We got the ball on the 1-yard line and you like to think that we could do something with that.”
Winning the second half did little, as expected, to excite Virginia’s players who are now in the midst of a two-game losing streak and lost for the first time at Wake Forest since 1983 when Groh coached the Demon Deacons.
“The guys did a good job of fighting back, but there are no medals for trying,” Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim said. “There are no medals for hard effort and great work.
“The medals are for winning and we didn’t do that today.”