Virginia rallies around Peerman

Instead of assembling in their normal fashion, nearly every player inside Virginia’s locker room huddled just a few feet away from Cedric Peerman on Saturday to offer support.
Just minutes prior, Peerman had lost the first fumble of his career, sealing a 24-17 win for Miami in overtime.
It was a fitting gesture, numerous players said, given how Peerman’s resurgence as one of the league’s top tailbacks coincided with a four-game winning streak that made Virginia (5-4, 3-2 ACC) a factor in the quest to play in the league’s championship game.
“Cedric is a guy that we can count on all the time,” said Virginia defensie lineman Nate Collins. “That was just unfortunate how that happened. He will get it back together. Cedric is a great player for us.
“The fumble wasn’t the reason we lost. We had a lot of opportunities to score points and do things on defense and offense and it just turn out at the end of the game in our favor.”
Peerman had fumbled on two previous occasions during his four-year career, but those were recovered by the Cavaliers. Miami ensured that was not the case at Scott Stadium on Saturday.
“Cedric is Cedric. He will be back,” said cornerback Chase Minnifield. “That is a one-time thing. I don’t think Scott Stadium had ever seen that.
“He will be back. He will be fine.”
Having lost reserve running back Mikell Simpson for the season with a broken collar bone, Peerman’s ability to bounce back from his emotional low likely determines how many games Virginia will play the rest of the season. The Cavaliers need one win to become bowl eligible and may need to win out and have a team upend Miami to advance to the ACC title game.
That could be the case because the second tiebreaker in a scenario with three or more teams tied for the division crown is the overall record against divisional opponents. Virginia is currently 2-2 against Coastal Division foes, which trails the current mark of Virginia Tech and Miami.
Virginia’s woes against Miami extended past Peerman’s ill-timed miscue. Yannick Reyering missed a pair of second-half field goals, quarterback Marc Verica fumbled in the game’s final minute with the offense driving and the defense regressed down the stretch.
Spreading the blame did little to ease Peerman’s pain. The senior was so distraught that he was not asked to meet with reporters following the contest.
His teammates, including Verica, where asked what they would say to Peerman in the days leading up to this week’s road game at Wake Forest. As was announced on Sunday, the contest will start at 3:30 p.m.
“What I would say to him is that he wasn’t responsible for the loss. It was a team effort. It was a team loss,” Verica said. “The past four games we won as a team and the same can be said for this game. We lost as a team.
“We didn’t lose because of [Peerman’s] fumble in overtime. We didn’t lose because of my fumble at the end of regulation. We just really lost because of a collective amount of mistakes that happened throughout the course of the game.”
One player, shying away from attribution, said Peerman would bounce back with a vengeance against the Demon Deacons and beyond.
Verica agreed with that assessment.
“[Peerman] played his heart out and he has a lot of fire,” the quarterback said. “He is a very emotional player so I know he is upset, but I also know that he is going to come back ready to have another big game next week.
“We just got to use it to build a fire within ourselves and come back strong.”