Defensive Takeaways Spark Virginia to Comeback 24-14 Win Over Boston College

Matt Newton | Oct 5, 2024

Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Despite looking lifeless offensively for most of the game, Virginia (4-1, 2-0 ACC) found a way to win thanks to three forced turnovers that fueled an 18-0 run in the fourth quarter that gave the Cavaliers a gritty 24-14 victory over Boston College (4-2, 1-1 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at Scott Stadium. With the win, UVA improves to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play, both of which are the best starts for the program since the 2019 season.

Boston College jumped out to an early 14-0 lead. The UVA defense, which delivered an excellent performance for most of the game, had a few busted coverages early in the game that directly led to the Eagles' only two scoring drives, which were punctuated by touchdown passes of nine and 29 yards from Thomas Castellanos to Jaedn Skeete and Kamari Morales.

The bigger issue was the UVA offense, which struggled to move the ball and struggled even more to finish drives. With three key receivers missing the game due to injury - Chris Tyree, Trell Harris, and Suderian Harris - the Cavaliers could not get separation against the BC secondary and UVA couldn't get its ground game going early on either. Virginia had just 16 yards of total offense in the first quarter before finally putting together scoring drives late in the second quarter. Both of those drives ended in field goals of 35 and 33 yards for Will Bettridge, which made it a 14-6 game at halftime.

The Virginia defense gained the upper hand in the second half, not letting Castellanos and the BC offense move the ball down the field at all. But with the Cavalier offense still struggling to put points on the board, turning the ball over on downs and settling for another Bettridge field goal on consecutive trips to the red zone, Boston College still led 14-9 as the game entered the fourth quarter.

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Then the UVA defense turned it up a notch, starting with Anthony Britton tipping a pass from Castellanos at the line of scrimmage that was then intercepted by Chico Bennett Jr., his first-career interception. Two plays later, Virginia had its first touchdown of the game. Kobe Pace found a hole for 20 yards and then Colandrea hit Malachi Fields down the left sideline on a 30-yard touchdown pass. Colandrea then found Andre Greene Jr. in the back of the end zone for UVA's first two-point conversion of the season to make it 17-14.

That four-play sequence, started by the Virginia defense, proved to be the pivotal turning point that irreversibly swung momentum in UVA's favor.

On Boston College's next drive, Castellanos rolled out to his right and, facing pressure from Kam Robinson, had the ball slip out of his hands as he was trying to throw. Both Robinson and Ben Smiley III had their hands on the fumble for a moment, but it was Jonas Sanker who eventually scooped it up and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown. In the blink of an eye, Virginia went from trailing 14-9 to leading 24-14 with just six minutes remaining.

Fittingly, UVA's defense sealed the win with two more big-time stops, turning Boston College over on downs on the next drive and then Kendren Smith intercepted Castellanos for UVA's third forced turnover of the fourth quarter alone, all but ending the game.

It was somewhat poetic that, one year after Boston College rallied from down 21-7 to beat Virginia last season in Chestnut Hill, the Cavaliers turned the tables on the Eagles by rallying from down 14-0 and ending the game with 24 unanswered points, including an 18-0 run in the fourth quarter.

Anthony Colandrea completed 15 of 26 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown and Malachi Fields also completed a 29-yard pass to Kobe Pace on a trick play and Tony Muskett completed one pass when Colandrea had to leave the field for one snap.

Kobe Pace rushed 18 times for 83 yards, averaging 4.4 yards per carry. Xavier Brown also averaged 4.4 yards per rush, but had 22 yards on only five carries and also caught one pass for 16 yards.

Malachi Fields, Andre Greene Jr., and JR Wilson, who made his season debut after missing the first four games with an injury, each had four catches, with Fields leading the way with 63 yards and the go-ahead touchdown reception.

The defensive playmakers were all over the place for UVA, with Kam Robinson, James Jackson, and Kam Butler each registering a sack. Kendren Smith and Chico Bennett each had an interception and Jonas Sanker had the fumble recovery and 40-yard return for a touchdown.

Up next, Virginia remains at home to host Louisville next Saturday at 3:30pm at Scott Stadium.

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