Late game penalties stifle UVA's comeback against NC State
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 SPORTS) - Heartbreaking losses continue to be a troubling theme for the Cavaliers this season.
Friday night ACC opener against NC State brought the latest example of that with three penalties in the final 36 seconds of the game helping the Wolfpack to march down the field and convert a 33-yard FG as time expired.
"As I tell them, we got win and lose with class," UVA head coach Tony Elliott said after the game. "We're in the final moments of the game and that's when we have to be at our sharpest and we just didn't have the discipline down the stretch to win the football game."
The Cavaliers played a relatively clean game up to that point with only four penalties up to that point, but things seemed to unravel after freshman quarterback Anthony Colandrea was called for a 15-yard personal foul penalty for taking his helmet off after the team converted a two-point conversion to tie the game.
"We just need to be more disciplined on offense," Colandrea said. "Not making penalties that are going to get us back on a two-point conversion, but I think this week, we're going to execute."
The team will once again have to put this loss in the rear view mirror as they fall to 0-4 for the first time since the 1982 season. They will head to Boston College next Saturday at 2 p.m, a team they've only beaten once in seven meetings.
"The last three games. I mean you all have watched it all. The opponent hadn't beaten us. We have beaten ourselves," UVA offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said. "Self-inflicted wounds that we have to clean up whether it's a turnover, a pre-snap penalty and tonight, the three 15-yard penalties, but I love the vigor and the fight and the passion they have and we just have to keep teaching them, coaching them and bringing them along."