Virginia falls short against Southern Miss

It had all the making of his shining moment.

As was the case for his cousin, a former Virginia quarterback, the game was on the line and the precious seconds that remained were ticking off for David Watford.

Unfortunately for the true freshman, the similarities did not stop there with his breakout performance and one from former Cavalier great Marques Hagans in 2002 as Virginia came up one score shy of a victory on Saturday at Scott Stadium in front of a lackluster crowd of 43,220.

With 43 seconds remaining and Watford attempting to lead Virginia on a game-winning drive, the right-handed quarterback threw a fourth down pass behind wide receiver Kris Burd and as the ball bounced off the receiver’s hands and to the ground, it sealed a 30-24 road victory for Southern Miss in the final contest in the two-game series.

“I just watched that film,” said Watford, who was thrust in as the starting quarterback for the struggling Michael Rocco near the end of the third quarter. “I was thinking about that in the shower. He came up short and I did too.”

Virginia (2-2) may have landed a new starting quarterback in the process, something Hagans had to wait for during his career until Matt Schaub graduated.

Thanks to Watford, Virginia made things interesting in a contest that seemed lopsided on the surface.

Southern Miss (3-1) passed for 313 of its 374 yards of total offense and led the final 42 minutes of the game.

Yet Virginia held the Golden Eagles to a 27-yard field goal with 1:31 remaining, pushing their lead to six points, and set the stage for Watford’s final attempt to steal a win.

Watford, who guided the Cavaliers on a touchdown drive that finished with 5:18 remaining to pull Virginia within 27-24, started the final drive with at the Virginia 30 with 84 seconds left and two timeouts in his pocket.

After an incompletion, Watford eluded pressure and raced 15 yards for a first down and connected with running back Perry Jones for a five-yard pass that moved the ball to midfield.

After Max Milien hauled in a pass that moved the ball just one yard on second down, Jones dropped a pass to the left near the home sidelines, setting up a critical fourth-down play.

Needling a pass over the middle through the hands of a defender, Watford’s pass on the 4th-and-4 play twisted Burd around and skidded to the turf, silencing what was left of the crowd.

“He was wide open, but I couldn’t put the ball on him,” said Watford, who played one scheduled series in the first half. “I felt we definitely would have scored had we completed the 4th-and-4. I should have thrown a better ball to Burd. He catches mostly everything and I put the blame on me. It wasn’t his fault.

“I should have put that ball in front of him. He had to stop and come back for the ball, but if we had completed that, we would have definitely scored a touchdown.”

Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis kneeled down three times to seal the win for the Conference USA program.

Plagued by three interceptions from Rocco before he said he was pulled, Virginia was left with its 10th loss in the Mike London era.

It left a somber mood in the Virginia locker room.

“As we all got there and all came out … and gathered around, we just talked about last week: close but not close enough. This week, close but not close enough,” London said. “In order to change the perception of this program and this team in games like that, then we need to come out and win games like that. It’s one of those things that the taste of losing doesn’t taste very well when you’re at home.

“You’ve got to do better. You’ve got to make those plays. You’ve got to get the coverages. You’ve got to stay onsides. It’s different things like that. We just wanted to reemphasize that preparation for this week’s upcoming opponent has to start in a film room, the practice field and everything that they do to rededicate themselves. These are close games, but you can be on the other side of a close game by just executing.”

Trailing 27-16 after Hrapmann nailed a 35-yard field goal, Watford helped make the contest interesting by guiding the Cavaliers on a 10-play, 76-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeremiah Mathis on a bootleg right.

Down five, Virginia converted the two-point conversion at Watford escaped pressure from Khyri Thornton and threw across his body to Burd at the front of the end zone.

“That was an athletic play — obviously, the drama with all of that, what happened to escape the rush that’s coming at him,” London said. “It showed some athleticism and some wherewithal.

“Burd ran, got across the goal line because that’s all he needed. David made the throw on the run. That was a good play and we need more plays like that from everyone on the team.”

Virginia appeared to have Southern Miss stopped on the ensuing drive, but on 3rd-and-23 at the Golden Eagle 43, Davis faked a screen pass to his right and flipped the ball back to the left for Tracy Lampley. Eluding would-be tacklers, Lampley raced 41 yards to the Virginia 18 and set up Hrapmann’s final field goal.

“A lot of the mistakes that we are making are mental errors and we can’t really have them,” Virginia linebacker LaRoy Reynolds said. “All we can really do is go back to the drawing board, go back to practice and get better next week.

“We let this one slip away; we gave up too many big plays. This one hurt so we just have to get back to it and work harder.”

Davis, who was 27-of-41 passing for 313 yards and three touchdowns, opened the game’s scoring by marching the offense 71 yards in nine plays in just 3:05.

Virginia answered with a 6-yard touchdown run from Rocco and a 9-yard touchdown run from Kevin Parks, but the two-point conversion was botched after the first score, leaving the Cavaliers up just 13-7.

Southern Miss took the lead for good in the second quarter as Davis found Ryan Balentine for a 20-yard scoring pass and Bolden for a 3-yard touchdown pass.

Although London said Rocco injured his chest in the first half, the starting quarterback led Virginia on a 17-play drive that ended with a 21-yard field goal from Robert Randolph with 7:31 left in the third quarter.

Rocco, who completed 16 of 24 passes for 140 yards, the longest of which was just 17 yards, said he could have stayed in the game but when he threw his third interception, he was pulled in favor of Watford.

“I felt like I could go,” Rocco said. “I got a little banged up, but that happens in football. I just felt like I could shake it off and go again. I made some decisions that I wish I could take back. We’ve just got to move on.

“I was fine. I shook it off. I really felt fine. I do whatever coach tells me to do. I mean, I felt fine at the time when they thought it was the best decision to put David in there, so I didn’t question their decision at all.”

London said Rocco would remain the starter — if healthy — ending a quarterback controversy.

At least for now.

“The quarterback is Michael Rocco,” London said. “I’ll find out what’s wrong with him physically, and then after that, we’ll talk about if he can perform. I’m worried about the young man’s health right now.

“If he can’t go, then obviously that question is, ‘Who’s going to be the quarterback for this upcoming game?’ Right now, there’s no controversy. I’m more worried about the young man right now.”

Virginia must decide by Saturday when it hosts Idaho at 3:30 p.m. in the second game of a four-game homestand.