Virginia snags Senior Day victory over Boston College, 43-32

The Virginia Cavaliers ended its 2020 home slate with an emphatic 43-32 victory over the visiting Eagles of Boston College. Brennan Armstrong was phenomenal for the Hoos, throwing for 287 yards on 19-for-27 passing with one TD and adding 130 yards and a touchdown with his legs. Armstrong’s 130-yard rushing performance was the first time that a Cavalier broke the century mark in a game this season.

With his 417 yards against BC and 435 against Abilene Christian in their last outing, Armstrong became the first ever player in Virginia Football history to record back-to-back games with 400+ yards of total offense.

Ra’Shaun Henry hauled in the lone passing touchdown, with Wayne Taulapapa adding a TD on the ground and Keytaon Thompson scoring two touchdowns with his legs. Overall, the Hoos amassed 549 yards of offense with 287 in the air and 262 on the ground.

Boston College was without QB Phil Jurkovec, who missed the game with a shoulder injury sustained earlier this season. Dennis Grosel was impressive in his stead, passing for 520 yards and four touchdowns in the game. He did throw three interceptions, and two of the picks led to TDs for the Cavaliers.

The Eagles finished with 513 total yards of offense after the Virginia defense held BC to -7 yards of rushing in the game.

Virginia opened the scoring with a 38-yard field goal, but the Eagles took the lead right back with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Grosel. The Hoos responded with another field goal, but took the lead back for good with a 47-yard touchdown reception for Henry on a 95-yard drive that started with a De’Vante Cross interception.

The Cavaliers took a 20-17 lead into the halftime break after Thompson found pay dirt for the first of his two touchdowns of the game. Things were a little rusty to end the half as Virginia gave up a touchdown and field goal in the final 1:10 of the second quarter.

The third quarter was all Virginia as the Hoos scored 10 points and held BC scoreless. Nick Grant ended Boston College’s opening drive of the second half as he came up with a huge pick in the end zone:

On the ensuing possession, Virginia needed just three plays for Armstrong to rip off a 60-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 10 points at 27-17.

Virginia took its biggest lead of the game to open the fourth quarter as Taulapapa ran into the end zone from one-yard out to give the Hoos a 36-17 advantage. On the play before the touchdown, it looked like first year Lavel Davis Jr. got the score, but he was ruled down just shy of the end zone. He took a brutal hit — which upon review led to a BC defender being ejected for targeting — so it’s something to keep an eye on with the Virginia Tech game on the horizon.

Boston College made things interesting with a couple late touchdowns, but Virginia got an insurance TD from Thompson, an interception from D’Angelo Amos, and recovered two on-sides kicks to seal the victory.

The Hoos are now 5-4 on the season, with just the Commonwealth Cup remaining next weekend (unless the FSU game gets rescheduled). Virginia and VPI will square off on December 12 in Blacksburg. The time has not yet been released.