Virginia comes up just short

Never has an adage appeared truer.

In horrific fashion for Virginia, Saturday’s contest against Boston College was clearly a game of inches.

With just 17.4 seconds left, Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell was wrestled to the ground at the Boston College 12-yard line after he scrambled on fourth down. Sewell needed to be at the 11.

A measurement proved it and an official review through a replay official confirmed it: Virginia’s postseason hopes were dashed by a spot that came just inches short as the Cavaliers fell to Boston College 14-10 as 44,324 sat stunned inside Scott Stadium.

“I thought I had it,” Sewell sadly recounted. “Looks may be deceiving.”

The loss dropped Virginia to 3-7 overall, 2-4 in the ACC and extended a woeful losing pattern that dates back to the final month of the 2008 season. It also means Virginia’s senior class will have missed the postseason three of their four seasons.

“We just have to pick everyone up and play for pride for the rest of the season,” said senior defensive end Nate Collins. “A lot of people will say we have nothing left to play for, but we feel like we have everything to play for.”

It appeared that the Cavaliers had a chance to reverse their dismal trend in the game’s final two minutes.

Trailing by four, Virginia took over its final drive at its own 21-yard line with 2:12 remaining.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers had burned all three of their timeouts on Boston College’s previous possession on offense.

“That’s a tough drill there when there are no timeouts,” Virginia coach Al Groh said.

But UVa moved the ball to Eagles’ 21-yard line in just eight plays as Sewell completed five passes and gained 12 yards on the ground.

With the Cavaliers’ final first down stopping the clock with 53.8 seconds left, Sewell threw back-to-back incompletions as he targeted Dontrelle Inman and Kris Burd, respectively.

On third-and-10, Sewell threw a short pass to running back Rashawn Jackson, who scampered to the Boston College 12, a yard shy of the first down.

Thanks to an injured Boston College player, Virginia had extra time to decide whether to run or pass for the first down.

“We had the play called already,” Groh said. “We didn’t need [the extra time].”

After dropping back on fourth down, Sewell said he noticed a defender was “squatting” back in the area of his preferred target.

The southpaw elected to scramble forward, but was pulled to the ground by linebacker Mike Morrisey.

Sewell, who practiced just one day this week due to injuries, tried to stretch his arm out after the tackle, attempting to gain added yardage. A referee then moved the ball back almost a yard for its final spot.

Sewell noticed, setting off an on-field tirade from several Cavaliers, including the quarterback.

“That’s what it looked like,” he said. “That’s pretty much why I was upset. There was nothing that I could do about it.”

After the much-anticipated measurement showed Sewell was shy, numerous Cavaliers continued to scream at nearby officials.

That reaction continued, as well as jeers from the stands, in the direction of the officials after an instant replay confirmed the ruling on the field.

“The closeness of the game is reflected in the fact that there’s a five-yard differential between the two teams and a two-inch differential at the end of the game,” said Groh, who has lost 11 of his past 14 games. “It was an evenly played game. The scoreboard reflects that and the final drive reflects that and it’s important for me, despite the bitterness of the loss, to keep in perspective that very little separated the two teams.”

There is a considerable difference, however, in what the two teams have left to play for. Boston College (7-3, 4-2 ACC) can win the ACC’s Coastal Division if the Eagles win their final two games and Virginia upends Clemson on the road on Saturday.

That remained the case because of a gamble that Boston College took on offense in a fourth quarter that its offense dominated time of possession.

Facing a fourth-and-1 at the Virginia 1-yard line and trailing 10-7, the Eagles elected to go for a touchdown and play for the first road win of the year.

“On third down I thought about [kicking a field goal] but once we got within sneaking distance, I figured we’d go [for the touchdown],” BC coach Frank Spaziani said.

There was some confusion on the field, however, for the Eagles.

“We didn’t have a quarterback sneak on our wristbands, so we had [running back] Montel [Harris] go over and get it really quickly,” said BC quarterback Dave Shinskie. “We didn’t have a lot of time so we had to hurry up and get the play off.”

It worked, as Shinskie followed his center on a keeper and snuck just far enough into the end zone to convince the officials that he scored.

“I just went straight ahead and then rolled to the side and got hit a little bit,” Shinskie said, “but it’s a great feeling, that first touchdown.”

The play was reviewed, as well, but replays confirmed the ruling on the field.

“I was at the bottom of the pile, so I couldn’t really see,” Collins said. “I saw what everybody else in the stands saw on the replay. It’s hard to tell.”

Boston College opened the scoring in the contest in the second quarter as Shinskie connected with wideout Justin Jarvis for a 10-yard touchdown pass.

Shinskie was not as fortunate in the third quarter when he threw an interception that Virginia cornerback Chris Cook returned 58 yards for the equalizing score.

“It was a terrific play,” Groh said. “It was something we had worked on during the course of the week that type of situation. [Cook] had a really good idea where the ball was going to go and he made an aggressive break on the ball and showed a great deal of skill getting the ball into the end zone.”

Virginia took its first lead in the game as the third quarter expired.

Sophomore walk-on placekicker Robert Randolph popped a 38-yard field goal from the left hash mark just over the crossbar.

It was redemption for Randolph — he missed a 47-yard field goal with six seconds left in the opening quarter.

The Cavaliers also missed out on a scoring opportunity when junior Mike Parker was called for a block in the back on a would-be punt-return touchdown by Vic Hall that covered 62 yards.

“We left 10 special teams points out there today that we could have had,” Groh said. “Clearly, that would have been the difference in the game. Those kind of points get forgotten, but they are the kind of points that change scoreboards.

“Leaving those points out there had more effect on the game than the final few plays did.”

Harris paced Boston College’s offense with 151 yards rushing on 38 attempts.

Jackson led Virginia with 61 yards on the ground on 15 carries as former starter Mikell Simpson was benched.

The start time of Saturday’s game at Clemson will be announced today. BC will host North Carolina on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.