A pair of fourth-quarter turnovers fueled Virginia’s 24 unanswered points en route to a 24-14 win over visiting Boston College in Atlantic Coast Conference action on Saturday at Charlottesville, Va.
Anthony Colandrea’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Malachi Fields and a Jonas Senker scoop-and-score helped the Cavaliers (4-1, 2-0) clinch their first 2-0 conference start since 2019.
Colandrea completed 15 of 26 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown to Fields, who led Virginia with 63 yards off four receptions.
The Cavaliers recorded 339 yards of total offense, including 223 in the second half.
Three Will Bettridge field goals in four drives helped Virginia begin climbing out of its 14-0 hole, with the lone exception coming after KP Price broke up a Colandrea pass to the end zone on fourth-and-2 with 3:40 left in a scoreless third quarter.
Bettridge’s 27-yarder made it 14-9 with 13:29 left, but the ensuing drive was halted when Chico Bennett Jr. intercepted a tipped Thomas Castellanos pass at midfield.
After an explosive run by Kobe Pace (19 carries, 83 yards), Colandrea dialed up a deep ball to Fields for a go-ahead touchdown and hit Andre Greene Jr. for a 2-point conversion with 10:39 left.
The visitors made it across midfield again, but a fumble turned into Senker’s 40-yard run for another touchdown with 6:03 remaining.
Boston College (4-2, 1-1) led 14-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter, as Jaedn Skeete and Kamari Morales (77 yards) each caught a touchdown pass from Castellanos.
Castellanos, who was injured last week against Western Kentucky, completed his first 11 passes before finishing 22-of-30 for 254 yards but throwing two late interceptions.
Bettridge missed a 47-yarder, but a Kendren Smith pick gave the ball back to Virginia with 3:04 left to finish out the game.
After Virginia netted just nine yards on its opening series, Castellanos got off to a 6-for-6 start while leading Boston College on a methodical touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead.
A key 34-yard connection to Morales set up Skeete for his third catch — a 9-yard score — halfway through the opening quarter.
The visitors doubled their lead 1:52 into the second after Castellanos hit another open receiver in Morales over the middle for a 29-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
A 14-play drive spanning 8:15 allowed Virginia to score on Bettridge’s 35-yard field goal with 4:46 left before halftime.
Multiple Boston College penalties — including a targeting call on cornerback Khari Johnson — put Virginia in position to kick a 33-yard field goal entering the break.
–Field Level Media