Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall credited turnovers as the difference in the Cavaliers 38-21 home loss to NC State Saturday.

He may be on to something. The Wolfpack won the turnover margin four-to-one and outscored the Wahoos 17-0 off of takeaways which ended up being the final score differential.

"Certainly not the outcome that I was hopeful for today," Mendenhall said. "We started very slow. I think that both teams were pretty evenly matched going into the game, however, we turned the ball over four times, one for a touchdown, and we had a blocked punt. Then a failed attempt from the one-yard line with two plays to push it in.

"Those six plays in and of themselves were the difference in the game. Lots of things that can be improved from where I thought we were. Today made it clear that we weren't as far along as I anticipated."

Despite trailing 24-0 with less than two minutes to play in the first half, the fifth-year Virginia coach never thought the game was out of reach. The Cavaliers scored a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half and were able to shrink the lead to 10 points twice in the second half.

Virginia's sideline continued to hold its breath for a game-changing play.

"It was as if everyone was waiting and just knowing it's going to happen but it didn't." Mendenhall said. "That was the reality, we needed it to happen and it didn't happen. We needed a few key stops on defense and it didn't happen. We needed a touchdown from the one and that didn't happen.

"We just weren't consistent enough, didn't execute well enough and didn't earn the victory, bottom line. We didn't make the plays we needed to. It never felt like the game would get away from us, it just seemed like one or two plays and we'd be right back in it and have a chance to win at the end.

"But there were too enough miscues to prevent it. Either through not getting a great punt at the right time, kicking a ball out of bounds, a turnover for a touchdown or driving the ball and we turn it over. There were way too many miscues to change the outcome of the game today."

Following NC State redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary's 336-yard, four-touchdown performance in the Wolfpack's 30-29 road win over No. 24 Pittsburgh the week prior, Virginia was tasked with finding a way to slow down Leary in its defensive game plan.

It did so successfully to some extent, but Leary was able to make enough plays to help the Pack to victory. The redshirt sophomore was held to 184 yard on 11 of 25 passing and threw one interception, but he still found the end zone twice and went untouched in the backfield as the Cavaliers never recorded a sack.

"While NC State didn't throw the ball effectively for lots of yards today, at the beginning of the game, they had key catches at critical times," Mendenhall said. "Then we adjusted and our execution became better. Pressure wise we have some work to do."

Virginia redshirt sophomore quarterback Brennan Armstrong led the ACC in total offense averaging 337.5 yards per game entering the contest but he had to leave the game late in the second quarter due to injury. Back-up junior Lindell Stone was effective in his absence, however.

Stone completed 30 of 54 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns but threw the interception in the fourth quarter that was returned by Wolfpack junior nose tackle Alim McNeill and was only able to average eight yards per completion.

One of Virginia's longest plays in terms of yards gained came from a jump-pass on a fake punt on fourth-and-five from its own 45-yard line. Senior punter Nash Griffin found a wide-open Nick Jackson for a 26-yard pick up that took the Wahoos to NC State 29-yard line. Three plays later, Stone completed a one-yard touchdown pass to fifth-year senior tight end Tony Poljan to make it a 24-14 game with 2:08 remaining in the third quarter.

"There was a belief at that point that we're going to win the game and that we would execute our way through and finish," Mendenhall said. "NC State's an aggressive block team, that's one of the ways you counter them, and obviously their block worked. They blocked one of our punts and changed field position and that's really frustrating. One of the countermeasures is to make them pay through a fake punt and that's what we did."

Virginia lost the fourth quarter 14-7 and was never able to shrink the lead to one possession in the second half. Mendenhall is now 0-2 against the Wolfpack during his time at Virginia.

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