CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Virginia’s Malik Washington caught the ball and turned toward the goal line as multiple defenders in blue jerseys converged on him. He didn’t stop and just kept his legs churning, bouncing off one tackler, then shrugging off another before pushing his way into the end zone.
He immediately raised his arms to flex his biceps muscles in a defiant celebration.
There had been little to indicate the one-win Cavaliers were ready to seize a moment of this scale. And yet, Washington, running back Mike Hollins and the rest of the Cavaliers carried that determined approach all the way to a stunning takedown of No. 10 North Carolina.
Washington’s big catch was the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter, and Hollins rushed for three touchdowns to help Virginia upset the Tar Heels 31-27 on Saturday night, shaking up the Atlantic Coast Conference race with the first road win against a top-10 opponent in program history.
“What you saw,” Cavaliers coach Tony Elliott said, “is just a group that believed.”
James Jackson had the clinching interception with 26 seconds left, picking off Drake Maye as the star quarterback was hit by Paul Akere with the Tar Heels (6-1, 3-1) reaching midfield as they tried to drive for a winning score.
Instead, Virginia players started spilling onto the field to celebrate, and Jackson ran all the way down to the end zone in his own jubilation.
Since losing to Tennessee in Nashville to open the season, three of Virginia’s four losses had come by three or fewer points. When they fell behind by 10 in the third quarter, the Cavaliers looked as if they were headed for another setback.
“I’ve seen this coming for several weeks,” Elliott said. “In all those games that we’ve been close, I’ve seen it coming. At some point, we had to make a decision to finish a game and not be close.”
Washington pushed the Cavaliers (2-5, 1-2) over the top, taking a short feed from Tony Muskett as the Virginia quarterback evaded the rush, then shrugging off those would-be tacklers with 8:51 left.
Washington’s flex — coming after what Elliott called “a big-boy play” — was appropriate considering the way Virginia repeatedly ran the ball at and through the Tar Heels despite coming in with one of the nation’s most anemic ground attacks.
Virginia had averaged 99.5 yards rushing per game this season before Saturday, worst in the ACC and 122nd in the Football Bowl Subdivision, but ran for a season-high 228 yards, with Hollins, Muskett and Perris Jones all rushing for at least 60.
“We knew we had the capability to do it,” Hollins said. “We just had to put it all together.”
According to Virginia records, the Cavaliers had lost their first 30 road games against top-10 opponents, but maybe the Cavaliers have found something with their ground game to help them going forward. They had 221 yards in the William & Mary win on Oct. 7, then topped that by running effectively all night against a rushing defense ranked fifth in the ACC (113.8).
As for the Tar Heels, it was a stunning stumble for a team that had looked like possibly the ACC’s best behind a star quarterback discussed as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Maye threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, including a fourth scoring connection in two games with Tez Walker, who had 11 catches for 146 yards. But Maye completed just 24 of his 48 passes, missing multiple throws while his receivers also had numerous drops. One of his best throws for a touchdown from midfield was negated by a holding penalty.
And the Tar Heels never found the high-scoring form that had helped them to the program’s best start in 26 years.
“I’m disappointed in me,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown said. “I’m disappointed in us as coaches. Kids listen to us, they’re young people. It’s our job to get them ready to play.”
Hollins scored twice on first-quarter runs, then added a tough 1-yard score in the third quarter that capped a critical drive after North Carolina had pushed ahead by 10. He very nearly had a fourth rushing touchdown with a chance to put Virginia up two scores, but he was stripped of the ball before crossing the goal line and it ultimately bounced straight out of the back of the end zone with 4:50 left.
Yet Virginia’s defense hung in, with Maye throwing incomplete for Walker on the sideline inside the 10-yard line on fourth down to end the ensuing drive. North Carolina ended up with one last chance, forcing a punt to get the ball back to Maye with 1:12 left and no timeouts —only to see Jackson haul in Virginia’s clinching takeaway.
It was hard to imagine this kind of outcome, too, considering Virginia’s lone win had come against William & Mary of the Football Championship Subdivision before last week’s open date. Also, North Carolina had scored at least 31 points in every game, while Maye and the offense had seemingly been picking up steam with Walker being cleared to play after a lengthy NCAA eligibility debate.
“I feel like all week, preparation wise, energy wise, I felt like we had it,” Maye said. “I felt like nothing really was different.”
None of that mattered though, as Virginia finally could fully celebrate on North Carolina’s field once the clock hit all zeroes.
The Tar Heels had been adding to what has been their best start since winning the first eight games in 1997, which was the last season in Brown’s first tenure at the school before leaving for Texas (he returned to Chapel Hill ahead of the 2019 season). The talk has been about them playing for an ACC title and maybe pushing for a College Football Playoff berth by completing that run, but things look very different now after a head-scratcher of a loss as a big favorite.