College football

UM happy, not satisfied

A 25-17 win over Virginia helps blunt pain of last weekend's letdown, which killed national title hopes.

MIAMI - Defensive tackle Orien Harris hugged the mascot. Offensive lineman Eric Winston shook every hand he could clasp. Others knelt on the turf, taking souvenir blades of grass.

There won't be a national championship, but at least Miami's seniors left the Orange Bowl happy.

Kyle Wright threw for 248 yards and the go-ahead score, then scampered a careerlong 31 yards to set up his team's final touchdown as No.10 Miami beat Virginia 25-17 on Saturday.

Charlie Jones ran for 88 yards and two touchdowns for Miami, which fell out of contention for the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coastal division crown when Virginia Tech beat North Carolina 30-3.

"We had a good season," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "We didn't have a great season. For us, a great season would be playing Southern Cal or Texas in Pasadena."

His team bounced back from last weekend's 14-10 home loss to Georgia Tech, a defeat that knocked Miami out of the national title picture and put its division title prospects in North Carolina's hands.

Wright completed 23 of 30 passes, including a 17-yard touchdown to Sinorice Moss that put the Hurricanes ahead for good shortly before halftime. His long run on third and 2 with 1:58 left set up Jones' 1-yard score that sealed the win.

"I kind of felt like I was back in high school, running around and trying to run people over," Wright said of his big bootleg. "I haven't done that in a couple years."

Deyon Williams had two touchdown catches for Virginia, including a 6-yarder from Marques Hagans with 27 seconds left. Williams also caught a 90-yard score from receiver Emmanuel Byers in the first quarter, the longest pass allowed in Miami history.

Hagans completed 15 of 28 passes for 206 yards for Virginia, and Wali Lundy had 61 yards on 16 carries. Williams caught six passes for 152 yards for the Cavaliers, winless in 14 trips to Florida.

"We played our best football tonight," Williams said. "Eliminate the mistakes and we win this game."

Trailing by eight late in the fourth quarter, Virginia drove 59 yards with Hagans completing five of his first six passes. But facing fourth and 6 and with 4:04 left, Hagans' pass was too high for Williams.

Miami took over on downs, scored a little over two minutes later and survived.

"We don't care who or where. We just want to play," said Virginia coach Al Groh when asked about bowl possibilities. "If we can have the same effort we did tonight, it doesn't matter what their name is, what color their jersey is, what bowl it is. If we play the same way we did tonight, we'll be all right."

Jon Peattie's 40-yard field goal opened the scoring midway through the first quarter, but Virginia's trickery silenced the half-full Orange Bowl.

Byers took a handoff from Hagans, sprinted right and threw to Williams, who outran Miami cornerback Marcus Maxey to the end zone. Maxey collided with safety Brandon Meriweather on the play.

"We've been practicing that play for a while," Byers said. "I just took advantage of the fact that some of their defensive backs ran into each other and threw it out there."

[Last modified November 27, 2005, 01:18:21]