CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Virginia had won four of its five one-score games this season. So, when the Cavaliers got the ball back near midfield with 2:28 to play and trailing Wake Forest by a touchdown, their mindset was clear.

“We’re going to win this thing,” center Brady Wilson said.

The confidence may have been there, but the execution was not. Wake Forest defeated UVA 16-9 on Saturday at a packed and raucous Scott Stadium, snapping the Cavaliers’ seven-game winning streak, handing them their first ACC loss of the season and holding them without a touchdown for the first time in three years.

Carlos Hernandez returned a bouncing punt 88 yards for the game’s only touchdown and Connor Calvert connected on field goals of 39, 49 and 50 yards as the surprising Demon Deacons became bowl eligible in their first season under new coach Jake Dickert. 

The Cavaliers never got their offense in gear, struggles that only intensified when starting quarterback Chandler Morris was knocked out of the game in the second quarter. 

Backup Daniel Kaelin finished 18 for 28 for 145 yards, but his fourth-down throw on UVA’s final play, a pass intended for Jahmal Edrine from the 5-yard line into the end zone, sailed over Edrine’s head, ending the Cavaliers’ comeback bid.

“We played with fire,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “And we got burned.”

Virginia had fumbled 10 times coming into Saturday’s game, but had not lost a single one, recovering the ball each time. But against Wake, UVA lost all three fumbles it put on the grass.

Virginia’s defense, while putting forth a strong showing, didn’t produce the kind of impact plays it had been giving the team, failing to record a sack or turnover in a game for just the second time this year. 

The first? That was UVA’s non-conference loss at North Carolina State in Week 2.

And while Virginia’s special teams opened the game with a blocked punt that led to the first of three Will Bettridge field goals, it also allowed Hernandez’s 88-yard return for a score in the second quarter.

“We tried our best but at the end of the day, it’s a team sport,” said defensive tackle Jahmeer Carter. “That still wasn’t enough. We didn’t do enough collectively.”

Virginia’s offense – which was setting school records earlier in the season – never got rolling, wasting another outstanding effort by the defense. UVA held the Demon Deacons to 203 yards and a 5 for 17 showing on third down.

“They did their part to kind of keep us within striking range,” Elliott said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t play complimentary football to be able to put enough puts up to win.”

Taylor ran for 98 yards on 19 carries, with 43 of those yards coming on one run late in the game.

Virginia drew a crowd of over 50,000 for a third straight home game, the first time its done that since 2008.

But while there was plenty of energy right from the opening kickoff, offense was hard to come all night.

After Virginia’s defense forced a punt on Wake’s first possession, the Cavaliers’ special teams made the biggest play of the first quarter. 

Kam Robinson broke in and blocked the punt and Mitchell Melton fell on it at the Wake Forest 17-yard line. 

That set up the only points of the first quarter, a 35-yard field goal by Bettridge that gave UVA the early 3-0 lead just 4:12 into the contest.

Those would be the only points scored until a flurry to end the first half. 

With 8:33 left, Morris was knocked out of the game after being hit by a pair of Wake defenders while sliding. 

Kaelin came in and took his first snap 54 yards on a designed run, stepping out at the 1-yard line. Virginia had just 45 total yards before that run, which set up Bettridge’s second field goal of the half and gave UVA a 6-0 edge with 4:27 left before halftime.

But with 1:33 to play, Wake Forest turned in an explosive special teams play of its own. Hernandez fielded a punt on a bounce and broke off an 88-yard touchdown run, giving Wake its first lead, 7-6. 

The Demon Deacons added a field goal with 40 seconds left before the break and went to the locker room ahead 10-6. 

Bettridge’s third field goal of the night cut UVA’s deficit to 10-9 with 10:35 to go in the third.

Wake Forest responded in kind and led 13-9 at the start of the fourth quarter. 

Calvert’s third field goal of the night extended the lead to 16-9 with 3:53 to play. 

On the Cavaliers’ next to last possession, Taylor got things rolling with a 43-yard run, Virginia’s longest offensive play of the night.

But he fumbled a few snaps later.

Virginia got one last chance to tie but its final possession ended with a fourth-down incompletion from the 5-yard line.

UVA, which also lost a non-conference game against league member North Carolina State, was the last ACC team unbeaten in conference play and had control of its own destiny for reaching the ACC championship game. Now, it’s one of five teams with one loss.