Connor Hughes kicked a game-winning, 19-yard field goal as time expired Saturday afternoon, killing the dreams of a Syracuse comeback with a 27-24 Virginia victory.
Marques Hagans was both the goat and the hero for the Cavaliers (2-0). He rushed for 112 yards, threw for 145 and a touchdown, but also committed a career-high three interceptions that could have cost his team the game. But despite the mistakes, Hagans carried his team to victory against the Orange (1-2, 0-1 Big East) when it mattered.
With the game tied at 24, the Carrier Dome crowd roaring and just over five minutes remaining in the game, Virginia confronted a looming crisis.
Facing a third-and-six on Virginia's own 45-yard line, Hagans showed that he had one last amazing run left in his bag of tricks.
As he was able to do all day, Hagans wove through the Orange defense for a 26-yard gain, landing at the Syracuse 29, keeping the drive alive and the clock ticking.
Seven plays later, with 1:20 left in the game, head coach Al Groh was faced with a decision on fourth-and-inches.
Groh went all in -- and the gamble paid off.
Hagans handed the ball off to fullback Jason Snelling, who bowled his 245-pound body inside the 'Cuse five-yard line for the first down.
"We were going to have to take a stand someplace," Groh said of his decision not to kick the field goal on fourth down. "We'd have to stop them on four plays in a row with a three-point lead, or we were going to try to make an inch. I think the odds favored us making an inch than stopping them four plays in a row."
The five-yard run by Snelling effectively clinched the game, as Hughes entered the day perfect in his career kicking from inside 30 yards.
Groh ran the clock all the way down to one second before sending out the kick team, and Hughes sent home the winning shot with 0:00 on the scoreboard.
"After the ball hit the net, I knew it was through," Hughes said. "It was like a [walk off] sacrifice bunt."
Hagans weathered a rough stretch in the second quarter, in which he threw two consecutive passes that were picked off.
The first interception came after tight end Tom Santi couldn't hold on to a bullet Hagans threw to the end zone. Instead of putting Virginia on top by a touchdown, the ball caromed off Santi's hands and into the arms of defensive end Ryan LaCasse for a touchback.
The very next time Hagans touched the ball, he was picked off again -- this time on a fade to wideout Deyon Williams.
But the defense was there to pick up its quarterback. Syracuse was unable to capitalize on either turnover, gaining a total of three yards on six plays in the ensuing possessions.
Hagans thanked his teammates by coming back with a four-play touchdown drive that culminated with another bullet throw to the end zone, only this time, tailback Cedric Peerman was able to make the grab to put the Cavaliers up, 14-7.
Tailback Michael Johnson increased the lead to 10 in the third quarter, putting the Cavaliers on top, 24-14. Only 54 seconds after a Joe Kowalewski touchdown got the Syracuse fans re-energized, Johnson turned loose on a 70-yard dash to the end zone -- pressing a mute button on the Carrier Dome crowd in the process.
But as the third quarter turned to the fourth, the buzz in the air had returned -- Syracuse was on the march. A three-yard touchdown run by 'Cuse quarterback Perry Patterson capped an 80-yard drive, and with 13:17 remaining, the Orange were down just three.
It was a whole new ballgame after that.
When John Barker's 27-yard field goal tied the game at 24, a good 6:25 remained on the clock. The momentum had switched entirely. The game was within reach.
No one thought it would be the last time Syracuse touched the ball.
Hagans, Snelling and Peerman took over for the Cavaliers on the final drive, with a little help on a four-yard grab by little-used receiver Emmanuel Byers.
But it was Hagans' run on third-and-six that stayed on everyone's mind after the game.
"As I've said all along, players make plays, and players win games," Groh said. "That's just Marques all the time"
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