QB Jake Garcia struggles in first start, then is hero in fourth OT as Miami defeats Virginia
Almost unbelievably, the Miami Hurricanes returned to the win column Saturday.
With injured quarterback Tyler Van Dyke unable to play, redshirt freshman Jake Garcia struggled in his first career start — then became a hero by rushing for a two-point conversion in the game’s fourth overtime, leading Miami to a 14-12 win at Scott Stadium.
“I can’t say enough about the resiliency of the team,’’ said UM coach Mario Cristobal, lauding his defense, which had multiple goal-line stands along with five sacks and 11 tackles-for-loss. “I’m really proud of our guys for effort, toughness and playing hard the whole way through.
“Offensively, the best part was that the sideline, no matter what happened, they just continued to get together, support each other, push each other and lift each other up.’’
Regulation ended at 6-6, with the crowd of 43,714 likely exhausted from so much futility on offense.
UM kicker Andy Borregales hit field goals of 38 yards as halftime expired, 20 yards as time ran out in regulation, a 42-yarder in the first overtime and a 37-yarder in the second overtime before Garcia collided with the orange pylon to win the game.
Virginia kicker Will Bettridge, a Gulliver Prep alum, had field goals of 27, 24, 41 and 41 yards.
Garcia was mobbed by his teammates near the end zone. They continued the celebration in the locker room, dancing and playing music so loud that the postgame interview room nearly shook.
“Oh, I mobbed him, too,’’ Borregales said. “I ran through their cheerleaders.’’
Is it Florida State week yet?
The Hurricanes, who meet FSU next Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium, evened their record to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The win prevented them from dropping to 3-5 for the first time since 1978 and made the prospect of qualifying for a bowl less daunting. UM must win two of its next four regular-season games to qualify for the postseason.
The Cavaliers (3-5, 1-4) have lost four of their past five games.
“I’m feeling really good,’’ said Garcia as he took a seat in the interview room. “It was a great feeling, a very surreal feeling to see [the pylon] there and just know that we’re walking away with the win. After everything, the ups and downs throughout the day, for me especially but our offense in general. Here’s props to our coaches, to my offensive line, our running backs and our defense.”
Garcia, who missed several of his targets despite saying he felt confident and wasn’t particularly nervous going into the game, finished 15-of-29 for 125 yards. He was sacked twice. “There was a lot of praying going on for me on the sideline during the two-point conversions,’’ he said. “We called that play, we had worked it a couple times in practice, I was ready for it and Coach said, ‘If you have to, go make a play...’ I stepped back, read it, ended up pulling it... I was like, ‘You know what? I see the pylon right there. I’m running this in.’
“Thank you. Thank you, Lord, for giving us a shot — and thank you to my defense and offensive line for picking me up when I wasn’t where I wanted to be throwing the ball.’’
Miami was held to 272 yards, its lowest total of the season. Virginia, led by Brennan Armstrong’s 208 yards passing and 67 yards rushing, ended with 327 yards.
Canes running back Henry Parrish had a season-high 113 yards on 24 carries.
In college overtime, teams must go for a two-point conversion if the game is still tied after two overtimes.
After UM opened the scoring at 3-0 on the 38-yarder, the Cavaliers tied it with a 27-yard field goal by Bettridge at 10:42 of the third quarter. The drive was sustained by a 30-yard completion from Armstrong to Keytaon Thompson on third-and-15, followed by a debilitating 47-yard completion to Lavel Davis Jr. But UM’s defense did a stellar job of holding the Cavs on three consecutive plays, the first beginning at the UM 3-yard line.
The Canes’ defense had another goal-line stand on UVA’s next drive, but this time on fourth down, 6-5, 247-pound Cavaliers tight end Grant Misch, all alone in the end zone, dropped the pass.
The Cavaliers finally went ahead at 12:11 of the fourth quarter on a 24-yard field goal by Bettridge, after the Canes’ defense came through again — Virginia had taken over on the UM 12.
Miami tied it at 6-6 on a 20-yard field goal by Borregales as time expired in regulation.
If not for Borregales keeping his cool through three Virginia timeouts, it would have been a scoreless first half.
At the end of the first half, Garcia was 10-of-16 for 90 yards and the Canes had 151 total yards of offense. But the Cavaliers’ offense was worse: 26 yards passing and 70 yards rushing for 96 total.
“They’ve played incredible,’’ UM coach Mario Cristobal told Bally Sports of his defense at halftime. “Obviously on offense, we have not capitalized...’’
Cristobal added of Garcia after the first half: “We have to get in a rhythm. We’ve had some shots there and we didn’t connect on them. We started running the ball better as the half went on, and then we allowed penetration.”
By the end of the first half there were 10 punts — five for each team. Of the 19 drives in regulation, 14 ended with punts.
UM rush end Mitchell Agude led the Canes with seven tackles. He added a tackle-for-loss and chipped in on a sack, with defensive tackle Leonard Taylor producing four tackles-for-loss and 1 1/2 sacks.
“Everyone just had the mentality of dominating,’’ Agude said. “We came into the game knowing it’s gonna take grit and you’re gonna take fight from every single player. We wanted to out-will every player every down.’’
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 4:18 PM.
