D’Eriq King threw for 322 yards and a touchdown, Mike Harley had career bests of 10 catches for 170 yards, and No. 11 Miami outlasted Virginia 19-14 on Saturday night.
Harley's big night for Miami (5-1, 4-1 ACC) started with a 43-yard touchdown grab on the Hurricanes’ second play from scrimmage. King completed his first nine passes and finished 21 for 30.
Don Chaney had a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth for Miami.
Brennan Armstrong, back in the lineup after missing a game with a concussion, completed 16 of 30 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns for Virginia (1-4, 1-4). It was the fourth straight loss for the Cavaliers, and this marks the first time since 2013 that they’ve played four consecutive games without ever holding a lead.
Armstrong also ran for 91 yards for UVa.
The King-to-Harley touchdown came just 28 seconds into the game, the fastest TD to open a game by Miami since Tracy Howard ran back an interception 19 yards for a score just six seconds into the Hurricanes’ game against Virginia on Nov. 23, 2013.
That was the first of eight touchdowns that day, Miami eventually winning 45-26.
This one was much different.
Points had been a rare commodity the past two Miami vs. Virginia games — the Cavaliers winning one 16-13, the Hurricanes winning the other 17-9 — and this one followed suit. Virginia tied the game at 7-7 on its first drive, with Tony Poljan hauling in a 2-yard scoring pass from Armstrong.
From there, the slog began. The teams combined for six points on their next 13 possessions, the Hurricanes leading 10-7 at the half after a 32-yard field goal by Jose Borregales with 1:02 left until intermission and stretching the lead to 13-7 when he connected again from 20 yards out with 3:47 left in the third.
Chaney’s 1-yard run with 12:04 left made it 19-7, that touchdown coming 64 plays after Miami’s first of the night.
Armstrong took off on a 32-yard 4th-down run in the fourth quarter to extend a drive, and one play later found Ra’Shaun Henry with a 35-yard pass that got the Cavaliers to 19-14 with 5:27 left.
Virginia, however, was out of time-outs at that point and Miami punted the ball away with only 23 seconds left.
The Cavaliers had a chance to take the lead in the second quarter, but what would have been a 24-yard TD pass by Armstrong was washed out by an ineligible-receiver-downfield penalty and the Cavaliers wound up missing a field goal. They go home for the next month and only leave the state of Virginia once more this season, that being a trip to Florida State on Nov. 28.
Harley’s previous career-bests were seven catches (done twice, most recently the rout of Florida State earlier this season) and 116 yards against Louisville last year. Among his highlights: catches of 20, 28, 28 again and the 43-yarder for a score.