Associated Press

Virginia's Eric Thornton (left) defends Boston College wide receiver Colin Larmond Jr. during Saturday's game.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Of all the elements that could contribute to Al Groh's Virginia coaching demise, his inability to win at home could rank near the top of the list.

The Cavaliers saw their slim chances for a winning season vanish for good Saturday, when Boston College -- 0-3 on the road coming into the game -- held on for a 14-10 win before a Scott Stadium crowd of 44,324.

It was the seventh loss in the last eight home games for the Cavaliers, who haven't won a home ACC game in more than a year.

"It hurts," said Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell, who took the Cavaliers from their 21-yard line to the Boston College 12 in the final seconds. "It hurts a lot."

Sewell completed five of nine passes for 55 yards. He also had a 12-yard run on the final drive, but then was stopped for no gain on a fourth-and-1 from the BC 12 with 17 seconds remaining.

Groh challenged the spot, but an official's review upheld the call. There earlier had been a review after BC had scored the eventual winning touchdown on quarterback David Shinskie's 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal with 7:53 left.

Groh, his staff and even UVa's players had been booed at the end of previous games, but fans reserved all of their venom Saturday for referee Jeff Flanagan and his crew.

UVa was penalized eight times for 97 yards, including a block in the back that nullified a 62-yard kickoff return for a TD by Vic Hall.

The Eagles (7-2, 4-2 ACC) were penalized 10 times for 85 yards, but BC outgained the Cavs 303-298.

"They had 5 more yards than we did," said Groh as he reviewed the final statistics. "It was an evenly played game. It's important for me to keep the perspective, despite the bitterness of the loss, that that's all that separated the team."

It was the fourth straight loss for the Cavaliers (3-7, 2-4) and they are assured of their third losing season in four years. There is much speculation that Groh will not return for the 2010 season.

"Really, my thoughts aren't all that important," said Groh when asked for his reaction to a losing season. "What's important is what happened during the course of game.

"We made a lot of progress with our team today. I'm proud of the effort the players put into it and the fight they showed. We've been working for 10 weeks to have a performance like that."

Here's the numbers that pleased Groh:

• The Cavaliers' only touchdown came on a 58-yard interception return by senior cornerback Chris Cook.

• They have yet to gain at least 300 yards in a 2009 ACC game.

UVa has scored six offensive touchdowns in six ACC games, one of them a 2-yard drive against Maryland.

The Cavaliers' best drive against BC was the last one. Although the Cavaliers were out of timeouts, a first down on Sewell's last run would have stopped the clock and given Virginia as many as four chances to throw the ball into the end zone, by Groh's count.

Groh said the play called from the bench was designed for a pass. Sewell said he saw a defender "sitting" on the pass and elected to take off.

"When you run the ball in that circumstance, you've got one option," Groh said, "When the game's on the line like that, the odds say to run something that gives you as many options as you can have. I don't second-guess the player. He's one of our really, really intense competitors."

Sewell did not play a week earlier -- a 52-17 loss at Miami -- and had practiced just once in two weeks because of ankle and shoulder injuries. Marc Verica, the starter at Miami, would have gotten the nod if he hadn't displayed symptoms of a concussion in a Wednesday check-up.

Sewell seemed to gain confidence as the game went along, but Virginia's best scoring chance of the first half was wasted when he overthrew an open Joe Torchia and was intercepted in the end zone by the Eagles' Roderick Rollins.

"I should have run the ball," said Sewell, who had eluded the Eagles' rush and had open receivers all over the field.

BC had the twin threats of sophomore running back Montel Harris, who carried 38 times for 151 yards, and Shinskie, a 25-year-old freshman who gave up a professional baseball career this summer. Shinskie was intercepted twice, including an end-zone pick by UVa's Ras-I Dowling on the Eagles' first drive, but had some critical third-down completions.

The Eagles stayed even with Atlantic Division frontrunner Clemson in the loss column.

"We were going to get [a road win]; it was just a matter of time," said first-year head coach Frank Spaziani, returning to Scott Stadium for the first time since he served as UVa's defensive coordinator in 1990. "Anytime you do something for the first time, it's good."

The Eagles had become bowl-eligible one week earlier with a 31-10 victory over Central Michigan. Groh said he never mentioned the possibility of a bowl -- or even a winning season -- to his team.

There was no need.

"It's on everybody's mind," said redshirt freshman Billy Schautz, who notched the Cavaliers' lone sack.

"We're going out there for pride right now. Play as hard as we can, finish 5-7 and give the fans something to cheer about."