Miami costs itself with dumb penalties in loss to Virginia

The Miami Hurricanes are going to be kicking themselves over the way their game against Virginia ended on Saturday.

Miami lost to Virginia 16-13 and struggled offensively all game. They finally got their first touchdown of the game late in the fourth quarter on an 11-yard run by Malik Rosier with 3:04 left.

The Hurricanes tried an onside kick but Virginia recovered to set themselves up in field goal range. After a few stops, Miami had forced a 4th down situation, but they were called for unnecessary roughness after a late hit on third down.

Miami forced a 4th & 1….but Odenigbo was called for a late hit and gave Virginia a 1st down. Terrible pic.twitter.com/0Hyk49Z6Ra

— New Account (@ftbeard_17) October 14, 2018

Instead of Virginia having a fourth down with 2:39 left and potentially kicking a field goal, that gave the Cavaliers a first down.

Virginia ran a few plays and took the clock down to 30 seconds and was set for a field goal attempt. They actually made the kick to go up 19-13 but Miami committed another penalty — running into the kicker. Virginia accepted the penalty, which took the points off the board but gave them another first down. They kneeled out the clock to end the game.

It’s one thing to play poorly and not execute in a game as Miami did. But it’s even worse to play dumb and cost yourself with stupid penalties. That was just an ugly game for Miami all around.